In this industry it would seem that honesty is by far the best policy.
As funny as it sounds, this month we’ve gained (amongst others) 3 new clients who have all chosen to work with us on the back of the fact that we openly admitted to not being able to handle the project which they had in mind.
Sound odd? Well it does a bit, but this is what is happening…
It is becoming apparent that there are many web agencies out there that will take on a project, regardless of its scale or programming complexities, with a view to tackling challenges in development as they arise, often involving outside parties to take care of coding, bespoke development or design that they themselves are unfamiliar with.
We get asked all the time about huge, complex website projects. For example, we we’re visited just yesterday by a chap who wanted a website exactly like the Autotrader website. And, whilst we could have easily said “yep – we can do that Sir, how would you like to pay your deposit?”, we would much rather say something like:
“Just so that you know exactly what our strengths are… If you’re looking for a brochure or e-commerce website that looks great and ranks really highly on Google, we’re your guys. If however you’re looking for something very specific, where bespoke programming and development is involved, we’re probably not the best partners for you we’re afraid, we can point you in the direction of some people who might be…”
Fair enough.
Of the 3 times this month we’ve said this to a client, all 3 have come back to us saying something like:
“You know what, forget about the fancy stuff I had in mind, we really want to work with you”
Awesome!
It is very important that you choose your internet marketers wisely. Make sure that whoever you work with, they manage your expectations well, and are open about what they can and cant do. Without this kind of relationship, you’ll inevitably run into problems later.