Conduct an extensive interview using the Proposal Kit interview worksheets or fill them in yourself from the information you already have. In order to generate an estimate, you must have a complete overview of the project and all of the components. Lack of information leads to underestimating the project and dissatisfied clients. Our kits have been used for years to develop estimates accurately within 10% on sites from 3 pages to over 500 pages. Our Proposal Kit contracts (in the Standard and Pro Versions) and other documents also are written to protect you from clients who make changes. Frequent changes increase the scope of the project far beyond the original quote.

Our 80 question interview worksheet is now online and can also be licensed for customization and integration into your own web site. This allows you to conduct remote interviews and manage multiple proposal questionnaires online. The source code version of the interview worksheet is a separate product called the "Interview Software".

You must have a consistent method in place for gathering all information needed to design a proposal and generate an accurate quote. You will need a way to protect your designs taken by prospective clients and used by other companies or individuals. (Doesn't everyone have a 'friend' who can do it for less?). Our Pro version includes a Pre-Proposal Protection contract to protect your designs before a proposal is submitted.

When approached to build a project, there are a number of ways to do it. For projects which take a great deal of time to create a design and proposal, you may decide to charge a fee up front. Small business projects are usually uncomplicated which would allow for rolling up-front time developing the proposal into the price of the project. You can also offer to sell the design to the customer if they've hired another firm (or friend) to develop it based on your proposal design. It is a common practice for businesses to get "free" consulting for design work by asking for a detailed proposal, then give development of the project to an in-house employee or lower priced consultant. Protect yourself from this by minimizing the design time. The larger the scope of the project, the more information you must gather to give reliable estimates. The larger the project, the more time the analysis and design will take. A common problem in software design is underestimating the amount of work involved in a project. Getting as much information as you can before you bid a design, the better chance you will have of giving a reasonable estimate. To help minimize this problem use the estimate spreadsheets (in the Pro version or Estimate Pack only) to calculate time not usually accounted for and to pad the estimate by a percentage (i.e. 10% to 20%).

 

a) You can use the Non-disclosure Agreements or Pre-Project Protection Contract to help protect work done during the proposal phase or to weed out window shoppers. If your materials are not protected, your clients may distribute your designs and information to other potential developers. Your prospect may also take your comprehensive proposal design, say you didn't get the job and then turn your work over to someone else who will do it for less. They just got "free" consulting and you didn't get any compensation. If a client will not even sign a non-disclosure form to protect information you are giving them without a contract, it could be a sign the client is not serious about working with you or should not be trusted with detailed information.

There are Non-disclosure forms included in Proposal Packs, Contract Packs and Proposal Kit products. A more verbose Pre-Project Protection Agreement is included only in Proposal Kit - Pro and Contract Pack - Pro.

b) Use the information worksheets to guide the customer through the questions. This will help determine the budget and scope of the project. It will also uncover unknown issues before the project is started or estimated. Add your own questions specific to your business, industry, etc. Since many people are not Internet or technically inclined, personally walk them through the questions. It can be overwhelming for customers to be presented with long lists of questions. You might consider creating a short form questionnaire for small projects using a subset of the questions. This can be an educational process to assess your client's understanding, perceptions and knowledge of the Internet. It will help the client understand what is expected from you. Unanswered questions can lead to serious problems. As a developer, you create the site and facilitate submission to search engines, etc. The client must realize that their marketing strategies will be responsible for generating expected traffic at the site and end results. Many people still do not understand the intricacies and nuances of web marketing and site traffic. Everyone has heard the Cinderella stories about Internet web sites and businesses and many customers may be lulled into believing such success can 'happen overnight' with little effort. If your client needs a budget and staff to handle marketing aspects once the site is completed, they should be made aware of that up-front.

The information you gather up front will be used to design your storyboard diagrams, create your estimate and contract specifications.

Show your prospects that you are the right solution for their project by conducting a complete interview. This shows the client you are dedicated to learning their needs and their business. This is part of a client-centered approach to creating a proposal - and it takes some work. When writing the proposal make sure to restate their most important concerns and how your design solves their problems.

 

Continue to : Generating your storyboard diagrams

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