To prepare in advance for a conversation with a manager

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Here is a simple example that we have come across in our work more than once - the customer calls and says: "We need a business card website." Some assume that this is a website with one text page telling about the company, and someone will consider it necessary to make a website with a unique design, a form for capturing contacts and comprehensive information about all the company's products and services on 5-10 pages. Accordingly, the price for these two products will differ greatly.

we advise you to answer 5 simple questions:

What do I want to place on the site? Product belarus company email list catalog, description of services, prices, contacts, completed projects, news, certificates, awards, recommendations, etc. This question needs to be answered in as much detail as possible.
What kind of sales flow from the site do I expect? What is the final goal of the project? Is the site needed as additional support for current sales, so that the manager could tell the client: "look at our catalog on the Internet" or is it needed as one of the main sources of clients? Maybe it will be just an image element or a source of information.
What monthly budget do I plan to allocate for advertising and promotion? This is where you need to start, and not ask about promotion later. If a minimal advertising budget is assumed, then the expected return will be barely noticeable and will stretch out over many years, and there is no point in bothering with the site, take a simple solution on a ready-made template. If advertising costs are quite high, say 30-40% of the total marketing budget, and great hopes are placed on this sales channel, then savings at the development stage will result in huge losses of potential clients and money.
Who should you follow? Choose 3-5 of your competitors' websites to follow and one to surpass. This will immediately eliminate all unsuitable offers. Agree, there is no point in making a website worse and cheaper than the main competitors from the TOP of search results. When making a decision, the client will open 2-3 websites according to his request and call the company whose website is more convenient and pleasant for him to be on, but on condition of a similar pricing policy.
What are your special requests, features, unique components? Do you need integration with your CRM, calculator, 3D visualization, personal account or some special design – be sure to tell the manager.
It is better to formalize all these requests in writing in order to convey the same information to each company without distorting it. This will allow you to give a clear task and then compare the proposals received. It is possible that not all contractors will be able to fulfill this TOR completely without resorting to the help of third-party narrow specialists. In this case, it is worth thinking about it, since your site will be more complete and thoughtful if a close-knit working group is already working on it.



Don't settle on the first studio you come across - always compare several competitors

After receiving an offer, the most important thing you need to study is the estimate. It should be as detailed as possible. One line with the final cost or even a breakdown of the cost into large stages such as design, layout, development does not actually provide any information about the scope of work.

Remember, a commercial proposal must necessarily have a detailed estimate, where it is written out point by point what functionality costs how much. So that you understand “aha, so I pay 15 thousand for integration with CRM, 50 thousand for a personal account, let's just make an online order without a personal account for now, and use the freed up budget for advertising.”

A detailed estimate is necessary even if you don't understand half the terms and don't want to delve into the details, but just want a website made without any hassle. If something goes wrong, the estimate will allow you to determine the costs in advance and will not allow the contractor to inflate the budget during development.

Okay, but what if I don't know what kind of website I need, you say? For example, in the case when you just want to turn to professionals, and have them offer suitable solutions themselves, taking into account the specifics of my market, competitors and the allocated budget.