Ah, alas, like many others here, I've also been there. How much do you love doing the work? If this is something you intend to continue long, then as another poster suggested, you should certainly develop the skills and code library that would enable you to build a site that the customer can maintain. Yes, the best jobs are those that provide a long term relationship, but there are people who want to or for a variety of reasons need to maintain the site themselves. She sounds like a perfect candidate for that. While I agree with another poster in that you haven't sold her on the value and concept of a website, I also know that there are some people who just don't get it, and maybe never will. Websites for them, are the current 'thing' - everyone has one right?
Learn how to develop a website that the customer can maintain. I agree that it should be done on your tie, and not for a particular customer. Then explain to her that if you are going to do work for her, you will need to charge her for it. Then explain that you can set it up so that she can take over the maintenance, and how much that will cost her. If she doesn't go for it, ask if she wants to maintain her website at all, that you've been getting hints that she may not want to. Do you have a stats on visits to her site? If she's been getting traffic, let her know, then ask her why she feels that the website is losing money. After all, a website can be a singularly effective for of advertising, how can she be sure that the site isn't bringing people into her shop? If she still wants to drop the site, drop it. If she wants to continue it, explain her options 1)self maintain, 2)maintenance agreement at what cost, 3)hourly rate FOR ANY WORK DONE!, with a surcharge for emergency work (anything without sufficient notice - you define sufficient). Diane -----Original Message----- From: Todd Richards [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 2:46 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [wdvltalk] [OT] Problem with service after the sale - LONG Happy Monday to All ~ I am looking for some input/suggestions regarding how you all are taking care of your clients after the job is done. I'm not sure how to go about asking the questions that I have, so after all of this if you have questions please feel free to reply. I built a site for a relative's floral shop (wife's side not mine). She is very happy with the work, but her business is not doing as well as she would like (fill in your own definition). So she has made several comments lately while discussing her website and doing updates such as "avoiding your labor", "save your time and our money", etc. Naturally she has new things to add to the site in terms of products, gallery photos, upcoming sales and events. So it's not like I could have just given her the site and never talked with her again. And she knows absolutely nothing about HTML, and even has problems operating her computer. In fact she is often very disorganized and I have made small updates to the site which she totally forgot about. Recently during a face to face meeting, she made the comment that they are losing money on the website. So naturally I'm starting to get a complex. I've done everything that I could for her in the past in terms of giving her a reduced rate (which she knows), doing little things at no charge (which I will probably do for other clients in the future), and pulling the occasional late night when she forgets to tell me about an update that she is advertising on the radio the following day. The reason that I do this is because she one of my first clients in my attempt at free-lance work. She knows a lot of people and I just don't want to disappoint her. Anyway, to get to the real questions: How do you normally service your clients after the website is up? Do you teach them how to update it themselves? I have offered a "monthly maintenance" plan for her which would include a couple of hours of my time per month at an even cheaper rate, but I think that she is avoiding that because I informed her that she would have to pay even if she didn't use the full two hours - an attempt to keep her on top of the content. I have also thought about providing them with an interface in which they can update their site themselves, but I don't have the skills to just throw one together. However, I would take the time if I thought it would be something that could be used over and over again for future clients. Because of her comments, I'm starting to feel bad when I have to send her an invoice. However, I feel that what I am providing her (technical support, marketing tips and research, quick response time, oh yeah - and a current website) are worth much more than she is paying. Is this making sense? Is it common that you maintain a long-term "billing" relationship after the initial site goes up? Sorry for all of the rambling but I've ended up putting more time and energy into worrying about this than I have doing what I love - developing the sites. And I want to establish more of a policy for (hopefully) future clients. Thanks for any feedback. Todd Richards Omaha, NE ____ The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM ____ To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Send Your Posts To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change subscription settings to the wdvltalk digest version: http://wdvl.internet.com/WDVL/Forum/#sub ________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%% ____ � The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM � ____ To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Send Your Posts To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change subscription settings to the wdvltalk digest version: http://wdvl.internet.com/WDVL/Forum/#sub ________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
