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[wow_h3]DON’T ASSUME ANYTHING[/wow_h3]
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Even though I have been doing freelance web design for almost 15 years, there are still many things to learn when it comes to dealing with web clients. For example, if a client contacts you with questions regarding their web site and it takes more than a few minutes for you to provide them with answers; at what point does this time become billable?
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While 95% of clients would accept the fact that they had to pay for this service, it’s that other 5% you need to watch out for. Normally these types of questions occur after the original work has been completed and hopefully you have already received payment for that work. Personally, I have developed a sense to assess clients early on in the preliminary stages of bidding to determine if they are going to be more work than their project might be worth to my company.
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And why is it that nearly 100% of the time it involves clients you have done a favor for already by agreeing to work after hours on their project or going above and beyond with your best pricing? It always amazes me how quickly people can forget the help you’ve given them when it comes to even the most minimal of charges they are faced with paying for your additional time.
[highlight]Most of us in the web design industry are in it because first of all we love what we are doing and secondly because we’d like to make money in the process.[/highlight] If I wanted to offer FREE ADVICE, I would advertise this on my services page! While this practice is more common in other industries such as real estate or insurance where an agent is working for a commission, it should not be the case as a freelance web designer.
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To sum things up, make sure to communicate in advance with your client about what freelance web designer consultation services are going to be billable beyond the scope of the initial web project costs. Don’t assume just because 95% of people out there will not have an issue when you send them a bill for your time/consultation that your client might be among those other 5% out there looking to get as much free information out of you as possible.
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