Bush Mackel

“You may not know this Joe Rogan”, but I run a web design company. And despite the fact (at the time of this writing) that I have not uploaded any of our work online, and the only site I HAVE posted is a crappy one that yours truly designed (hence its crappyness), I continue to get some decent clients.

Yesterday I met with one of them (who truth be told) isn’t really a client, but will be very very soon. I have supported them and their website for probably a year now since I was the ones who pretty much put it together -And the whole time without compensation. (I know that probably sounds like a losing proposition, but there is a lot of story here that I probably shouldn’t divulge…) To put it another way, I wasn’t really ALLOWED to help them, but if I hadn’t, their life would’ve been hell and their brick and mortar business might have started out being a veritable disaster… So I helped them anyway. Hopefully I can tell the full story one day but this should be enough to catch you up for now…

People First – It’s a Karma Thing
At my last employ, the company certainly didn’t think about people first. For even the smallest of changes to this client’s website, you best believe we were charging them upwards of $100/hr. Now that may work for big clients like the US Government, but for smaller clients who are just trying to get their footing… I think showing them some compassion in those early months of their business pays dividends down the road. Now don’t think that I’m advocating to do everything for free (because I’m not) but if you’re getting paid anyway from them and you know that they’re struggling as it is, why not extend some free help to them once in a while? Case in point…

My previous employ didn’t really follow this thinking and my clients told me that at sometime during the whole process of getting their website “up to snuff”, they realized that any text they wanted to change and any question they had was going to cost them money. A lot of it. And because at the same time they were dealing with a myriad of contractors who were squeezing even more money from them, plus all the other headaches that come from opening up a brick and mortar space – They just stopped asking my employer for help.

And Where Do You Think This Leaves Everyone?
In a horrible spot – That’s where. In a place where the client had already spent tens of thousands of dollars on their website alone, it still wasn’t what they wanted and they didn’t have the money or energy to fight on its behalf any longer. And what’s worse, we (as the website provider) had completely fallen out of favour as their trusted advisor to all things Web. Sounds like a lose lose situation to me. They’re not getting what they want, and my employer had basically killed all future business with them but were either too dense to notice or too cold-hearted to care.

Honestly, I think what happened was as we were nearing the end of this project, a huge supposed money maker came in that El Jefe wanted us to devote most of our time to. Now I get that but on the other hand, you can’t really just abandon your clients because you think another project will be more fruitful. I’ve always felt that I had a responsibility to my clients, and especially with things like computers and the Internet – They’re coming to you because they don’t know anything about it. Furthermore, how do you know what is going to be a better return on your investment 5 years down the road?

Fast Forward a Year Later
And this past client of my employer has done over a half million dollars in sales, and by their estimate – 95% of which were completed through the technology we (or largely I) put together for them. And do you know how happy they are that I stuck by them when all the other S was hitting the fan? Do you know how much trouble I was getting in for working on their site on my own time ensuring that what we as a company delivered to them, WORKED? I know – The concept is a BIT out there. So anyway -

Yesterday they invited me to their space for what can now be described as a thriving business. They can finally get a decent night of sleep knowing that the million dollars they raised from investors will be repaid, and that they’re not going to lose the shirts on their backs. And not only did they treat me to a FANTASTIC three course meal with as much wine as I could drink, but they also prepared an exquisite gift basket for me, complete with a TON of chocolate, wine, fancy cooking ingredients, freebies from their business for myself and my wife, and yes – More wine! Oh and did I mention that they also invited me to put together a proposal for more work for them? Now I find myself with not only great new friends, but great new clients.

Moral of the Story – Care for your clients.