Some Clients
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To kick off, it’s probably best to mention that this isn’t a blog to tell prospects how to make our life easier by providing a perfect brief. In fact it’s the opposite, it’s a post highlighting what prospects should do to ensure web agencies respond creatively, with the best solution, even if that means a little bit more work for us.
There are also a few misconceptions that prospects tend to have about web companies that impair their ability to elicit the best proposals from those tendering for the project. We’ve received our fair share of briefs and Invitations To Tender, and I strongly believe the current process doesn’t really work to either the clients’ or the agency’s favour.
My initial ideas came for this post after a recent experience from ‘the other side’. I’ve recently been speaking to interior designers about some work I’d like to do on my house. Accepted, this is a different industry - but over all I was looking for similar qualities : Creativity, technical experience, project management skills, a timeline and of course an estimation. However, I went through a very different process - a process that benefits me and ensures I get the best result and can therefore chose with confidence, a very different situation to a traditional web project bid which hinders confidence, creativity and still leaves a lot to chance.
Occasionally, we’ll receive a brief whereby it’s clearly stated that there are to be no face to face meetings for the first round, this is generally because the brief has been sent to 10+ agencies, and it’s seen as a poor use of time to have the same meeting 10 times, and meetings will be given to those entering the second stage. If an agency is offering to meet, and give an hour of their time to discuss your project - accept it, it’s free and can only lead to other ideas, whether you appoint them or not. Assuming the agencies have been carefully selected in the first place, then none of the meetings will be a poor use of time. Each one will help you define the brief further, gain new ideas and see face to face if the agency really do know what they are talking about.
Only agencies with a lack of work in the pipeline or lack of experience would consider spending considerable time on a response without first spending some time understanding the project, and successful good agencies will find it hard to dedicate any real time into the pitch. So one of two things will happen, you’ll get long winded, guess work proposals from desperate agencies that don’t really address what you need, or you’ll get quick, cookie cutter proposals from other agencies not wishing to invest too much time given the perceived odds. Make us work at coming up with a solution - we want to show you what we can do and how creative we are! You’ll get a much better response, by carefully selecting 3-4 agencies and taking adequate time to brief them appropriately. Each agency will individually spend a lot more time on the pitch, and 4 concise proposals will be of far greater value than 10 boilerplate, thoughtless proposals which are a Frankenstein of Copy-Paste . An agency will be happy to put far much more effort in a proposal if effort and time is given in return.
Perhaps; but before we do, we’d have spent time working out the most effective solution for your budget. Specifying a project to a set budget is a good thing right? By knowing the investment you are prepared to make, we can work towards ensuring the solution is going to give you back your return. Without a specified budget - or even a budget bracket, you’ll receive a large range of quotes, and it’ll be impossible to chose who would be the best agency for the job as there’s no level of comparison. Why is one £5k and one £15k? Chances are the 15k agency isn’t three times as expensive, they’ve just considered more options or quoted on what they believe is required. If I had not told my interior designers what my budget was for a new bathroom - how could I compare like for like? How can I tell who’s spending my money in the most effective, and well thought out way?
Make the agency think, get them to work out the best possible solution for your budget.
The answer to any question is information that can be used to provide a better solution. We need to ask questions so we can come back with a perfect proposal. The best agencies extract the exact requirements during the sales process, and are able to give additional value by responding above and beyond the original requirements. When buying the services of a web agency, you are also buying their expertise, experience and processes - if denied the option to explore the project further, it’s not easy to add value, and you’ll simply end up with an exact solution to what you’ve asked for - with no additional thinking or ideas. By asking questions and raising issues, we’re adding value, even during the sales stage. Not only do questions eliminate guesswork, they will show you which agencies are thinking smart, which agencies are looking and thinking above and beyond the immediate expectations. Dare I say, it, thinking outside the... no I can’t bring myself to write it but you know what I mean.
Any agency that provides designs before going through the process of consultation, wireframing, audience profiling, analytics, or a messaging exercises doesn’t appreciate the level of work required to create an effective and successful homepage. The design was probably created by a designer with some down time, and briefed by a salesman who doesn’t yet know what’s best.
Moreover, you may then be in the very dangerous space of choosing an agency based on pure chance. It could just be that that agency simply had more down time to fill - is that necessary a good indication of the best web company to partner with? I remember a pitch we lost to someone who practically designed every page of the site as part of the pitch, in the client’s eyes, this was perfect as the project was half way done. I was happy to walk away because that was a situation whereby neither the client or the selected agency had any appreciation to the correct web design processes to ensure the highest success, so it wouldn’t have been a good fit anyway.
A far better way to gauge a company’s creative talent, or to see if they’ve understood the brief, is to ask them to take you through similar projects from their portfolio. Or, ask them to give some insight into how they see the customer funnelling working, or any thoughts on a sitemap. This takes real IP investment from an agency, rather than just dedicating a junior designer to a pitch. The agency may be giving away slightly more IP during the pitch stage, but it’s a much better barometer of their skills and understanding of your specific brief.
So to summarise, follow the four points above and you’ll get fully rounded, well thought-out proposals from keen agencies looking to secure your business. Your selection criteria will be simplified, you’ll soon know who talks the talk and walks the walk, and you’ll ultimately get a much better product at the end of the project.
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