Susie Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Just curious...how are you guy responding to quote requests these days? Do you take the time to draft a detailed proposal or are you simply replying via email with only the necessary details and price? I've been receiving several quote requests per week lately, and I wonder if it's okay (professional enough) to respond via email with details and price. For one, I'm finding that when I take the time (sometimes an hour or two!!!) to write out a detailed proposal, my potential clients are confused by all the information. They just want the facts. And for two, I'm getting a little tired of spending the time on the proposals just to hear nothing back from these potential clients. It becomes obvious that they are just putting their feelers out and getting quotes from several designers (totally understandable!). So, how are you guys handling it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virtual Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 If their request is detailed then a detailed reply is necessary, but if they are rather vague about their requirements then I give them a standard per page quote subject to further discussion to determine their needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
administrator Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Hi, I would not spend too much time on quotes from cold leads. I would send out a 'preliminary quote' of sorts ... basically a very simple quote based on limited data. Try to find a middle ground in terms of features and then present say: 1. Opening paragraph 2. Bullet points with main features 3. Closing paragraph 4. Your ball park price Then note that a detailed breakdown of the project, will be required for you to be able to produce a detailed quote. This detailed breakdown is valuable to them since it helps flesh out their options ... that means you should charge for that. BTW, nice site. Stefan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falkencreative Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 I do something like what Stefan is saying above -- provide a general proposal including a price range for the project that covers the basics but specifies that the price may change depending on the exact details. This way I don't spend too much time on something that may not turn into a paying job. This depends on the features though... for proper web development (sites that need actual PHP based functionality rather than a simple static site or CMS powered site) I do try to settle on the project scope before I provide a quote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie Posted March 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Thanks for your input, everyone. I just sent an email today that basically consisted of an intro paragraph, a bullet point list of what's included for the price, and a closing paragraph with the ballpark price. It didn't contain any details or explanations as to what everything is. I guess I could have put all that on letterhead and made it look more official. Maybe I'll just do that from here on out. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newseed Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 If you want to expand on what the client is looking for you could always send up and ready made fill-in-the-blanks comprehensive questionaire to extract as much information as you can from a prospecting client. Serious prospects will fill that questionaire out and it will then be worth your time to give them a detailed proposal. I personally don't have one but maybe this can be a good time for all of use to pitch in to come up with a generic but detailed questionaire that will help developers like us with determining the serious prospects from the ones that potentially waste our time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
administrator Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 I personally don't have one but maybe this can be a good time for all of use to pitch in to come up with a generic but detailed questionaire that will help developers like us with determining the serious prospects from the ones that potentially waste our time. Good idea! ... And we should be set up within a day or two to handle that kind of collaboration. ... News is pending. Stefan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newseed Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 (edited) Good idea! ... And we should be set up within a day or two to handle that kind of collaboration. We might want to do something like John did where we can supply suggested questions to be used and add them to a doc file (zipped) which is updated periodically. Have this file listed on the very first post. So basically, one of the mods will need to oversee this. Of course a non-mod user could open the topic first and do the updates but I figured it might be best with a mod. Edited March 15, 2010 by newseed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
administrator Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 We might want to do something like John did where we can supply suggested questions to be used and add them to a doc file (zipped) which is updated periodically. Have this file listed on the very first post. So basically, one of the mods will need to oversee this. Of course a non-mod user could open the topic first and do the updates but I figured it might be best with a mod. We will be able to do better than that I think - we are putting in a new system that should help with all this. Stefan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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