Some type of profile of customers I had that I know sure will face problems, do you fall into one of them?
Shopper :
The type of people that find dozens of quotations in order to know more opionion and comparing the best quote. The tendancy will also be that half-way while doing the project, they change their mindset and change provider. And it keep repeat itself...
Learner :
People that is always hungry for knowledge. While developing the project, halfway they will learn a new idea and concept, and hope to implement it together.
"In house" :
Business that already have "in-house designer" that can do the "initial designs". The easiest type to get conflict as they simple refuse to accept that A4 word document will never look exactly the same online.
24/7 :
Clients that expect consultants to be on-call 24/7. I've people that cancelled contract because I was not able to pick up calls like 7am in the morning, public holidays, 10pm in the late nights?
Monday, October 29, 2007
Rule 4 : Get it done NOW!
"I want the things to be done NOW!"
Alot of clients tend to be impatient when coming to work to be done on schedule. In many cases, on the date of meeting, a deadline will be requested to finish the project. Take an example, the projected started on 1st Feb, and agreed on to be finished by end of Feb. Sadly, many clients will then dragged their feet to submit the requirements within the agreed time-frame, leaving impossibl timeframe for the work to be completed in time. However, they will still be the one come screaming at the consultants. To make things worst, some may even call on weekends, early morning, late nights to expect immediate responds.
Clients need to understand that majority of designers/programmers are handling more thna just one tasks at any point of them. It is impossible to expect they are able to "immediately complete" the tasks.
On the other end, some consultants are getting empty promises of "work can be done in time" in order to clinch the deal. Clients need to be realistic and equip with proper knowledge to understand the timeframe required for work to be completed.
Alot of clients tend to be impatient when coming to work to be done on schedule. In many cases, on the date of meeting, a deadline will be requested to finish the project. Take an example, the projected started on 1st Feb, and agreed on to be finished by end of Feb. Sadly, many clients will then dragged their feet to submit the requirements within the agreed time-frame, leaving impossibl timeframe for the work to be completed in time. However, they will still be the one come screaming at the consultants. To make things worst, some may even call on weekends, early morning, late nights to expect immediate responds.
Clients need to understand that majority of designers/programmers are handling more thna just one tasks at any point of them. It is impossible to expect they are able to "immediately complete" the tasks.
On the other end, some consultants are getting empty promises of "work can be done in time" in order to clinch the deal. Clients need to be realistic and equip with proper knowledge to understand the timeframe required for work to be completed.
Rule 3 : Teach your consutlant what to do!
"You just do what I want!"
Very typical that I've encountered clients that asked me for advice, but eventually tell me to simply follow what they want. Alot of business owner tend to hold on to their pride that their view must be correct, even in area that they have no prior knowledge of experience. This is a typical reason why we don't really hear of much success online stories in Singapore!
Been able to read emails don't means you are an Internet Expert!
It's funny that consultants are engaged not for their experience and knowledge, but simply for the purpose of "listening to clients request".
Best Quote "Follow EXACTLY what I tell you to do. And I expect you to IMPROVE on it."
Well, how do I follow exactly, yet still able to make improvements?
Very typical that I've encountered clients that asked me for advice, but eventually tell me to simply follow what they want. Alot of business owner tend to hold on to their pride that their view must be correct, even in area that they have no prior knowledge of experience. This is a typical reason why we don't really hear of much success online stories in Singapore!
Been able to read emails don't means you are an Internet Expert!
It's funny that consultants are engaged not for their experience and knowledge, but simply for the purpose of "listening to clients request".
Best Quote "Follow EXACTLY what I tell you to do. And I expect you to IMPROVE on it."
Well, how do I follow exactly, yet still able to make improvements?
Monday, October 1, 2007
Rule 2 : Ask your friends to do it!
"Friend is doing it for me"
In general, alot of SMEs tend to look for "friends" to handle their IT solutions. It could be the same vendor that does their PCs to networking to web hosting, anything IT related. Alot of people didn't realised that "IT" itself is cover various aspects, not to mentioned "Internet".
Asking friend to help out to do an ecommerce website could be a good idea as it may help you save costs and the requirments may not be rigid.
However, on the other hand, it could be a drastic results that it may turn out to be. More often, "friend" will turn out to be the worst candidate!
For example, normally such friend are helping out on a vounlteeraily basis (ie, no payment), he or she may not be fully committeed to develop or maintain the website. While times token sum are given, it may not be enough to cover the time and effort put in.
In some cases, the friend may not really understand the needs and solutions. Out of friendship, he or she may simple try to help to develop a solution that is not suitable.
It will be good to listen to recommendation by friends, but do beware of any potential idden risks or cost.
In some cases, an IT-savvy "friend" may be roped in as part of the team. However, the risks invovled is the person may put things like domain name under personal rather than under the business. At such, if there is any argue/fallout, the person will still retain the "ownership" of all the contents. To prevent such case, it would be good to always insists to know the registrar details and ask how many years it had been in this line.
In general, alot of SMEs tend to look for "friends" to handle their IT solutions. It could be the same vendor that does their PCs to networking to web hosting, anything IT related. Alot of people didn't realised that "IT" itself is cover various aspects, not to mentioned "Internet".
Asking friend to help out to do an ecommerce website could be a good idea as it may help you save costs and the requirments may not be rigid.
However, on the other hand, it could be a drastic results that it may turn out to be. More often, "friend" will turn out to be the worst candidate!
For example, normally such friend are helping out on a vounlteeraily basis (ie, no payment), he or she may not be fully committeed to develop or maintain the website. While times token sum are given, it may not be enough to cover the time and effort put in.
In some cases, the friend may not really understand the needs and solutions. Out of friendship, he or she may simple try to help to develop a solution that is not suitable.
It will be good to listen to recommendation by friends, but do beware of any potential idden risks or cost.
In some cases, an IT-savvy "friend" may be roped in as part of the team. However, the risks invovled is the person may put things like domain name under personal rather than under the business. At such, if there is any argue/fallout, the person will still retain the "ownership" of all the contents. To prevent such case, it would be good to always insists to know the registrar details and ask how many years it had been in this line.
Rule 1 : Don't waste your time to read this!
"No Time"
It's a common situation that a person may be interested in setting up online business but yet cannot commit time in developing it. This problem in fact lies in general for most IT projects like designing simple website for the company or wanting to embark on e-commerce.
Time has to be spent on an online business to ensure it's success. Interested parties will has to be open-minded and committed to learn how does the solutions works to ensure that it is what they are looking forward. To ensure the online business can help generate online income, the owner must be willing to commit time and effort to work on it.
Be prepared to make arrangement for finding time to ensure your online business success!
To fail your online business, it's easy :
- don't waste your time to read further!
Common problem I had encounter before
- no time to meet up to discuss requirements
- no time to prepare content for the website
- no time to do market research/survey to test the ideas
- no time to discuss with intended users for feedback
- no time to take the images/photos of products
- no time to test the solutions
It's a common situation that a person may be interested in setting up online business but yet cannot commit time in developing it. This problem in fact lies in general for most IT projects like designing simple website for the company or wanting to embark on e-commerce.
Time has to be spent on an online business to ensure it's success. Interested parties will has to be open-minded and committed to learn how does the solutions works to ensure that it is what they are looking forward. To ensure the online business can help generate online income, the owner must be willing to commit time and effort to work on it.
Be prepared to make arrangement for finding time to ensure your online business success!
To fail your online business, it's easy :
- don't waste your time to read further!
Common problem I had encounter before
- no time to meet up to discuss requirements
- no time to prepare content for the website
- no time to do market research/survey to test the ideas
- no time to discuss with intended users for feedback
- no time to take the images/photos of products
- no time to test the solutions
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