I love my clients and it is my primary goal to have them thrilled when their website is complete. That isn’t possible without identifying expectations and meeting them. I start with terrific clients (most of the time) who have a good understanding of what they want. The biggest challenge in any relationship based on delivery of a product or service is expectation management.
Contractors Have Expectations Too
Good contractors clearly state their expectations of what the client needs to do or provide, when and how. My clients receive a proposal with pages of information intended to manage and clarify expectations. I ask hundreds of questions of my clients in the discovery part of the process in order to understand their time, design, and feature expectations. Every client approaches a web project with a different understanding of what I do and what is or is not included in the proposal.
I use and provide services, both in business and personally. Some of those relationships went well and some not so well. At the end of the day, the ones that worked had someone in the process who was sure that identifying expectations on both sides was part of the process. It’s on both the contractor and the client to be sure that expectations are identified.
Guidelines for identifying Expectations
Following are some guidelines to being a terrific client when hiring a contractor (or a web designer for your next business website):
- Identify Your Expectations
- Be sure you are clear how the contractor will meet your expectations
- Determine Your Budget
- Know Your Limitations
- Read The Contract
- Understand the expectations of the contractor
- Ask Questions
- Do Your Part