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| Thanks to www.clientsfromhell.net |
What you can learn from us (well, it was me really; sorry Dominique) being The Client From Hell
As a writer, I spend a lot of my time shaking my head over
other people’s grammar or their attention to detail or their basic inability to keep
to deadlines. Generally, there is a lot of muttering over all the things that
humans do that means we turn to a professional for assistance with writing.
I was determined that, when we set about engaging a website designer, we were going to do
all the things that an ideal client does to make the job of redeveloping our
website as simple and straightforward as possible. It was going to be a
pleasure, really.
You are ahead of me, I know, because you know we did
everything that the perfect Client From Hell does.
The Brief
We wrote a beautifully, detailed brief – and then we
changed our minds. When we changed our minds we did a 180 and then a 360-degree
shift in our thinking. I think we ended up back where we started from but I
could be confused. Having a very clear
idea of what you want the website to do/be is a very good idea and it is one
you should adhere to through thick and thin.
The Deadline
We developed what we thought was
a realistic deadline – three months.
We’d created that beautifully detailed brief, set out the timeline and
milestones, said what we’d provide in that time and when we’d provide it by –
and then ignored the lot.
We were late with copy (we didn’t
have time to write copy – we are too busy writing for other people, we had to
employ a copy writer and, fortunately, we know about 50), we didn’t supply
stuff we said we would, we forgot things, we changed our minds on the site
architecture plan after we’d signed off on the design and the site architecture
plan. Yep, we committed all the cardinal sins that a client could possible
commit without being struck by lightning.
We extended the deadline to six
months and backtracked to four, back to six and – in the end – it took what it
took, which was eight months from concept to “go live”. Be realistic in your
deadlines. Don’t fix a date based on a
Ministerial launch, the calendar or financial year or any arbitrary nonsense
such as when the moon is in the 7th house or Jupiter aligns with Mars.
The Rabbit Holes
In Alice in Wonderland, Alice
keeps disappearing down rabbit holes pursuing some fantastic idea or creature
and going completely off track[i]
from achieving her ultimate purpose. In website redesign, there are an
inordinate amount of rabbit holes to tempt you – even for the strong willed.
We decided – mid-way through the
process – that we wanted to achieve integration of our customer relationship
management (CRM) software with our website’s
content management system (CMS).
We thought it
would be a good idea that if we were collecting data from our website, it should
funnel that data through into our CRM, so we could serve our customers better. We
also wanted to be able to update the site ourselves for minor things without
having to go back to the web design company.
Well, it is a nice idea in theory
and you can do it if you have a spare $28,000 floating around (and I know by
writing this I will be instantly pursued by every web designer/CRM/CMS software
sales person in the world with a
workable, cheaper solution – big tip, don’t bother; I’ve already spoken to you).
Pursuing this particular rabbit
hole delayed our “go live” date by about three months. Decide what is really important for the website to do – from the
outset – and stick to that.
The Budget
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| http://lifehacker.com/5725282/how-to-create-and-stick-to-a-realistic-budget-with-mint |
We set a realistic budget, I know
we did. We worked out how much time it would take and how much it would cost to
write the copy, design, develop and collect all the images and illustrations, film
and edit the videos, obtain permissions and testimonials from clients, take the
photos of the staff (we had to do that three times because we kept hiring more), purchase the CMS licences and approve the design from the
designer. I mean, this is our business; we know these things.
Unless I’d been there, I’d say we
plucked some number
out of the air that had no reference to anything. In the end, I decided the
best way to establish a budget for a website redesign is what I’ve been doing
with renovating houses for years.
You
take the biggest, most ridiculous number you can think of (based on what you
know of costs through the most expensive builder you have ever met), you then double it
and then you add 20 per cent. If it comes out to be less than that, you will
be happy. This isn’t to say our website designers were expensive, they weren't.
It’s just that, like shopping,
when you add up all the different product elements, the total makes you cough a
bit.
The Design
Some of our clients instantly
become experts in copywriting after they’ve engaged us to do their copywriting.
It’s a phenomenon I’ve noticed before.
Well, I suddenly became an expert in web design. It was clever of me
really, without any training or experience I became more expert in design than
our long-suffering designers. I fiddled, I suggested, I offered specious advice
about fonts and positioning, I consulted other designers (who I hadn’t
entrusted with my money) about the ‘flaws’ in the design.
Thank you Beena and Nupur at Blazing Designs. We made it.
