This blog post by Big Bang Technology was pointed out to me by Josh Knowles and it resonated with me. Please read it first then come back. I’ll wait.
Ok now that you’re back: This is a problem that we run into at Integrum on a regular basis. There are plenty of software companies who are willing to use unrealistically low prices and shiny portfolios to wow clients into using them. They then bail on the client midstream after not being able to meet promises, or they turn in ugly code that doesn’t do all they promised. These clients then come looking for help from a professional development shop but blew their budget on the scuzzy developer(s).
Max Cameron at Big Bang came up with a great response in his post there – so good in fact that I’m going to steal some of the ideas there and make my own version. He admits that it may lose him some clients – but I’m willing to guess that some of those “lost” clients would not have been ideal for him anyway. These clients often are so burnt by the previous development staff that they are overly cautious or controlling through the process. Additionally I think his honesty and expectations setting are going to earn him more clients than he loses – and more loyal ones. His focus on value over price is the real key.
Kudos to Max for coming up with a great response to a difficult and growing problem.
More from Conrey
- The Rules of Sales
- Everyone is a Salesman
- Selling in a “Down Economy”
- Let the Customer Decide
- Get Out The Way
Conrey Recommends
- The FruitGuys – Changing the World One Apple at a Time (Tomas Carrillo)
- The Phoenix Tech Community (Brian Shaler)
- Seth Godin is a quitter (scrollinondubs)
Chris, thanks for your kind words and backing our ideas. Max is a smart cookie and has been trying to figure out a way to deal with this issue for a while now, but we can’t take credit for it really. I’d say the Rails community and it’s focus on well built software has really inspired us to lay it on the line. There is a reason QUALITY is written at the top of the white board in our office in big green letters.
P.S. Integrum looks HOT. Glad to find out about you folks.
Cameron, thanks for the response! Glad you guys saw it. Big Bang looks cool too, its great to see people who are as passionate about QUALITY as we are.
Cam pointed out the other day that a good web developer is always empathetic towards non-technical people – “civilians” for the lack of a better word. True empathy means actually caring about doing something right.
[...] Originally posted at http://www.chrisconrey.com/2009/04/23/the-anti-pitch-a-response/ [...]