Check out this infographic from www.staff.com our sister site.
How to prepare quotes for clients that get accepted
No connection to this article, I just think the monkey is cool.
Let me set the scene for you.
January 2009, Sitting in front of a boardroom of 50 something year old men. I was brought in to speak about how to get their website more traffic for their high end political consulting firm. These guys were making a decision between buying a 50 thousand dollar interactive green screen monitor to do ‘podcasts’ on statistical relationships between US and Canadian sociopolitical environments or hiring my team for three months to build their online presence.
After 2 presentations, multiple phone calls and a full board meeting, they went with the TV…
This is not a how to, as I’m not an expert. I used consulting to fund my crazy entrepreneurial projects down the years so it wasn’t my core business. This post will be more of a basic set of guidelines to navigate the do’s and don’ts of how to put together a quote and get it accepted.
1: Don’t tell people you can do something unless you can do it
This is a big one and the mistake that most entrepreneurs make. Most consultants worry first about getting the contract and then worry about providing the deliverable. This may get you a few contracts but long term it won’t make anyone happy and your first few clients are crucial towards you getting your next job.
So, what do you do if you don’t have any experience in the field? Go get some! I would never tell a client I could do something without having done it myself. The vast majority of the time this was something that I did in my business or did for a friend pro bono. This gives you the added bonus of having real world case studies which I talk about later.
2: Only take on high end clients
Don’t waste your time on clients that can’t afford you. Poor clients usually follow up more, bitch about minutia, eat up your time (which you could spend finding more clients), and generally are more difficult to handle than high end companies; therefore, don’t work with them. Instead, target companies that would see your costs as inconsequential to their bottom line. They’re not only going to be able to pay you on time but they’re usually a much easier sell and the clients get your more legitimacy in your industry.
3: Presentation is almost everything
Presenting your pitch to clients should be the most proficient and refined practice in your consultant toolbox. Every question should be answered immediately, succinctly and most importantly with supporting evidence. The easiest way I would close clients while I was doing site development would be to go through my case studies, showing them what I did for those clients and challenging them to find somebody who could match my successes. Even if you haven’t worked for others yet, use your own examples as showing people real numbers is the most persuasive way to close deals.
4: Putting together a quote
So if you’ve gotten to the point in which you’re ready to present a formalized quote the presentation is crucial. One application I’ve been liking quite a bit is quoteroller.com which allows you to instantly put together quick amazing looking quotes and also allows the client to accept the quote right there. One of the best examples of a great quote can be found on their proposal automation template page.
In essence, you need to present a quote that first clearly defines the deliverables and when they will be achieved, provides adequate margins (I usually look at my costs and then add 60% on top of that), and gives the client examples of successful projects you’ve completed in the past.
In Conclusion
Selling somebody doesn’t need to be complicated. Make sure you can do the job, show how you’re the best and for god sakes charge the proper amount. Don’t try to compete with other bids, figure out what you need to complete the project and then add your margin.
The Lazy Man’s Guide to Outsourcing Customer Service
Outsourcing work is an appealing idea – It can save you money, resources, and sometimes, a great deal of stress. Farming out your customer service cut overheads significantly, but it’s definitely not a one size fits all solution and there are no magic outsourcing beans.
If you going to take the jump with any sort of outsourcing where company will be directly interacting with your customers, it’s important to weigh up your options carefully. Shabby service will almost guarantee a mass exodus of customers.
In this article you’ll find some best practices for outsourcing customer service, and a practical guide to help you decide if this type of outsourcing is the right choice for your business.
Find out more
2011 Startup funding: A summary of seed and angel investments in the first half of the year
Looking at possible avenues for investment or trying to gauge where your own company might fit into the current investment landscape? Read on.
2011 has seen a lot of new investment categories – and investors – put their hands up. There’s a full list of funding rounds in 2011 available at Crunchbase – this article though, aims to provide an overview of startup seed and angel funding activity in the first part of 2011, to see which categories are white hot (and which are over-heating).
To keep an even keel, we’ve only included businesses where the funding amount was disclosed (data is for Q1/Q2 2011). Find out more
Wasted Time in the Workplace Infographic
Wasted time in the workplace is a massive problem. How big is exactly unclear, but from our research, the cost to business is in the millions (if not billions) in lost productivity every year. The infographic below explains just how much time we waste at work, the ways we waste it, and how businesses are grappling with the issue. The results are surprising, if not alarming:
Click on the image below to view the full infographic
Everything you need to know about Internet & computer usage policies… and why your company needs one
In a perfect world common sense and a solid work ethic would keep employees on task throughout the day, but the world we live in is full of online distractions. Personal email, games and social media are all elements contributing to a slump in workplace productivity; a 2010, Salary.com survey indicates that on average, around 64% of workers wasting one hour or less each day at work, while 14% waste 3 or more hours each workday (48% of this time is spent surfing the web which I’m sure isn’t surprising).
Once thought of as draconian or needlessly complex, the implementation of computer usage policies (often coupled with monitoring) is on the rise. The American Management Association, suggests that up to 45% of employers tracking content, keystrokes, and time spent at the keyboard (2008). Interestingly though, more than half of all businesses do not have social media and networking policies in place despite the fact that 76 percent use social networking for business purposes (Proskauer). By all accounts, there’s a massive divide – both in the way Internet monitoring is considered, and the way it is commonly policed.
There is an obvious need to computer and network usage in the workplace; an effective computer and network usage policy, with the assistance of sensible monitoring tools can help address a number of real problems that are costing businesses thousands of dollars in lost productivity every day. Find out more
100k developers are dead – Why and exactly how to build software at a fraction of the price
Use virtual office software that allows you to communicate efficiently and provides accountability.
It is possible to develop high quality scalable software for a fraction of the cost and time in comparison to the classic San Fransisco Valley development model? By optimizing any of the these three factors: Creating a bullet proof hiring process, having an efficient virtual work space, and accountability; we think you can.
In the production of Time Doctor we’ve hired dozens of developers from all over the world (we currently have workers in 8 countries) at a fraction of the cost of what we would have paid in San Fransisco and have built in almost instantaneous scalability into our company through our hiring techniques so we can quickly expand or contract dependent upon what we need done. Here are the rules we’ve followed to do this. Find out more
How to make sure you always get paid as a freelancer or consultant
One of the nice things about freelance work is not reporting to anyone – it also means there’s no billing department to call, and no payroll department to cut you a check if clients don’t pay their invoice. If you work online, work from home, or do any kind of contract work, it’s vital to have a plan in place to make sure you’re paid for the work you do.
DISCLAIMER: The article below is relevant to any person or small team that does work for hire, from pure consultancy, graphic design, to writing or marketing. While I’ve done my fair share of contract work, I am not a lawyer, and I don’t pretend to be one on the internet, so please hire a lawyer to advise you on any of the information below.
Do some detective work
When a potential client approaches you about a project, it’s perfectly within your rights not to respond right away. In addition to giving you the time to mull over pricing and the time needed to complete the assignment, search for mentions of the company online. If a Google search finds another freelance worker telling a billing horror story about your prospective client, that’s a definite red flag. Find out more
5 Steps to double your income in your freelancing job (with the same effort)
When a potential client decides to do an internet search for your name, what will they find?
As a freelancer navigating the world of lowball offers and underbidding competitors, you may find yourself doing a great deal of work and wishing it added up to more cash in your hip-pocket. The good news: it is possible to start making more money without taking on more assignments or working longer hours.
Yes, you most likely become better at what you do, gradually over time, and the projects you’re working on now will eventually bear fruit in the form of referrals and feedback (but we’re not talking about that). There are positive steps you can begin taking now that will make a difference now.
These 5 tips will help any freelancer generate more revenue quickly, simply, and professionally. Find out more
SVN, Git, Mercurial, and CVS – Comparison of version control software
If your next big business idea is based on software development, involves an elaborate technical concept, or simply requires a large distributed team working on one task, you need to learn two words by heart: version control.
Version control (also called subversion control, or revision control) helps large projects from spinning out of control by letting individual programmers (or writers, or project managers), each tackle a project from a different angle without getting in each other’s way and without doing damage that can’t be undone. There’s a great visual introduction to version control here if you are completely unfamiliar with the concept.
Which version control is right for your project?
There are a number of solutions out there, and we’ve put together a definitive feature comparison so you can decide the best solution for you. It is a fairly technical topic, so if you don’t have a software background, read our comparison carefully, and consult with your lead technical personnel before you make any final decisions. Find out more
