Plus the ones you give good deals to or give them slack are the ones who you are constantly chasing for payments or whatever. I have a client right now that i gave 75% off price and a year and a half to pay and then they came back and tried to not pay and have been bad mouthing me to everyone because I got my attorney after them for payment, needless to say we are settling tomorrow and they are getting checkbook out but still a PITA. And then the clients who want to pay full price are the ones that are on time with payment and little or no hassle.
The problem is for the small guy to get those good clients because when you need business you will do about anything to get it, which leads to trouble and you end up with clients who are the "buy here - pay here (aka bad credit car buyers)" types of customers. And if you notice the busy shops or developers are the ones with a solid and firm price who don't discount everything which commands respect from the customers and they have far fewer hassles. ~Dave the disruptor~ google will pay you money to getting rid of ie :) http://explorerdestroyer.com/ http://www.killbillsbrowser.com/ ---------------------------------------- From: "Jennifer Gavin-Wear" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 2:30 AM To: CF-Talk <cf-talk@houseoffusion.com> Subject: RE: A Contractor or Two A few years ago I ran a small IT dealership. I learnt that problem customers stay problem customers, things never get better. And the longer you keep them on your books the worse it gets. While I was dealing with the idiots (and that's being kind) my competition was getting the good stuff. Had I had more sense and experience I would of dumped these idiots very early on and they would of been knocking on the door of my competitors and giving them the grief. Bad customers aren't just bad news because they pay late and their feedback to you is never good. The longer you keep them on your books the longer they are bad mouthing you behind your back to other potential customers. So get rid. I currently charge 50% up front and 50% on completion for development based on total project cost, not an hourly rate. The idea of the 10% on hold I think is really good, but I think 90 days is a bit long and I'd probably go for 30. I'm seeing some extremely wide variances in project costs in the market. >From the stupidly cheap (how can they live on that level) to the incredibly expensive (the customer won't come back when he finds out he has been ripped off). So I am wondering what realistic rates are in the UK and would appreciate feedback. Thanks, Jenny ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:227970 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
