Is Quality out the Window??

[Tina Walker]

This is really more of a rant - but here it goes! I am a provider on Elance and have noted it is becoming harder and harder to win a bid. Mostly because I am confident that if I quoted to be competitive I would not make a dime. So, I have continued to quote where I need to be and hope that a few people actually look at the quality of the work, verses the pricing.

So, this brings me to this morning. I had been working - providing information - educating - on a daily basis for a week with a gentlemen who was wanting this website. I was one out of 32 providers bidding. A 5 page website was needed with the ability for the owner to make some minor changes here and there. Minimial graphics wanted - and I would provide the hosting, which made me lower my cost to build slightly. My bid was $900.00.

The email this morning stated - I accepted someone locally who's price was very competitive to yours (Georgia). I accepted his proposal because I could work with him face to face. I wanted to provide you some feedback on your quote since this was a sealed project. The average cost for this project was $350.00. You we're the ONLY person who responded to any of my questions and you responded to all of them in a very timely manner. Most of the other bidders we're foreign and without a response from any of them I feel I would have been unhappy with the work. Thank you for all your time, your work ethics are greatly appreciated.

So, I am happy and perfectly fine that he went with a local web designer as he is comfortable with face to face contact. The part I am unhappy with is - how in the world could I ever compete with someone's pricing that is 250% less than my price, and remember - I did not bid the typical I would, because I was going to get the hosting.

Why do people not get what this guy got! They did not respond to questions - meaning to me this would be a WHAM BAM thank you MAM type of job and who cares if your happy or not - just as long as I get my money.
Who care's if it did not provide exactly what the guy was wanting....he wouldn't know until after he paid.

So many people look at the lowest price, and just choose the bid, rather than looking for quality providers, even though it might cost them a little more! So I ask, is quality out the window??

[Karen Swim]

Adam, that is a great point! Although you can also get Madison Avenue firms that charge lots and are completely out of step with "real world" client, i.e. you are not Nike or Coke. Firms like yours are not only an option but a preferred source offering the best of both worlds. Let's also remember that many smaller firms that service clients are "Corporate Survivors" who bring their Fortune 500 expertise to the little guy without the Madison Avenue price.

Karen

[adam fiveson]

OK: so you’re not Nike. You’re not Coke, or Johnson and Johnson. You’re a guy or a gal, a partnership, or a small group with a small to medium-sized business, and you need some advertising.

It’s probably not a good idea to try Madison Avenue. There are lots of top-flight agencies and design houses out there, but they cost a fortune. They’re also going through something of a crisis right now, trying to work out if there’s a future in TV ads in the internet age. So unless you’ve got in excess of, say, $3 million to spend, they won’t risk creasing their expensive suits to talk to you.

You could try a more middle-of-the-road organization. They’ll probably put together your brochure, ad or display materials for you. But the chances are they’ll reserve their in-house talent for their biggest clients. They’ll probably farm your job out to freelancers. So you pay the freelancers’ fees and the agency fees. And you help pay the agency’s electricity bill, their receptionist and janitor, the guy who fixes their photocopier and the CEO’s daughter’s piano teacher – and any other small costs that they need to pass on.

You might as well cut out the middleman and find the designers and writers yourself. But there are more dangers lurking – see this month’s other article, Who Is Your Designer? At least an agency will know some good ones. Trawling the internet for lone wolf freelances will throw up some real talent and some complete jokers. In the initial stages of negotiation it can tough to tell one from the other – and a lot of money, potentially, is resting on your ability to do so.

There is a third option – a virtual design house. There are plenty of guys out there who form a single creative unit – designer and copywriter – although they might live on opposite sides of the world. Virtual design houses don’t have to pay the rent on several thousand square feet of downtown Manhattan real estate, and they’re often just as talented as the guys in those ivory towers. Also, the fact they’re working as a team is more of a guarantee of their talent: nobody likes to work with a partner who’s no good.

So the VDH hiring model can be the best option for small-to-medium businesses. 5webdesign offers a VDH service through our network of contacts in the creative community: outsource you material to us and we can be a ‘one-stop-shop’ for your design, publicity and advertising needs.

We can do for you nearly anything an upmarket design house can – at a fraction of the cost.

Best,

Adam Fiveson
Creative Director
www.5webdesign.com

[Karen Swim]

At 10:39pm on December 14th, 2007, Karen D. Swim said…
I am a "high priced" American writer who will not write $5 articles. I too have faced global competition but have also benefited from global customers. There are people who buy knock off Louis Vuittons who don't notice or care that the logos don't line up, the zipper is crappy and it feels like plastic. They only care that they have something to carry that from a distance if you have cataracts looks like a real Louis. There are others who want the real Louis and demand the same quality but they only want to pay the knock-off price. And finally there are those who want the Louis, understand the workmanship that makes it happen and would rather pay a high price for the real thing. Our market is exactly like these buyers. The trick is to find the people who do still care about quality and educate them on what they're getting for their prices. I no longer consider hack street hawkers my competitors. They're welcome to put words on a page and call it writing. I offer something far more valuable and deserve to be paid for it.

--Karen

[adam fiveson]

Yes Tina,

Quality is TOTALLY out the window.... in fact it's hopped on an airplane and is now looking through the cushions on my couch for loose change.

Here is the long and the short of it: Cream ALWAYS rises to the top but crap floats too.

Unfortunately this will always be our hurdle... international competitors who believe they can accomplish a website, a logo, a brochure... for a fraction of what we can do the work for will ALWAYS be there.

This is PRECISELY why I created this network. To educate our consumers and HOPEFULLY.... to establish a symbiotic network to share our skills and offer more to our clients... a BIG PACKAGE.

Youve got me pretty steamed up.... now I'm going to have to post a blog about international versus US.

~Adam