I'm just a website-makin' maniac the last few days. I realized last night that I didn't have a website for my book, and thought that I kinda should. So I got to work. Here it is:

www.danfurmanonline.com

I have a few other URL's pointing to it as well (including the book title.) It's hard to describe how exciting this is. I just re-read my manuscript last week, and I still like it a lot (a very good sign!) This should be a very good book.

I have a policy here at Clear-Writing. If your project is going to be more than $1,000, I take a 50% deposit up front. If it is going to be *under* $1,000, I take full pre-payment up front.

This policy was developed after my first year in business. I noticed, far and away, the biggest source of payment problems were on tiny jobs where I'd split up a $500 invoice. Now, I don't want to make it sound like people don't pay - I would say 99% of the time, payment isn't an issue. But it wasn't just non-payment. Because these jobs were usually for small, startup entrepreneurs, the chance of the project being cancelled or whatnot was higher than if a larger company spent a few thousand with me.

Anyway, my policy has served me well. But yesterday, someone had a problem with it.

I was discussing a job with a guy via e-mail when he stated he would never prepay any amount (even a deposit) for anything creative until he liked what he saw. So basically, in a nutshell, he was asking me to audition - if he liked what I did, he'd pay.

No dice on my end. I just cannot do that.

Here's what I wrote him:

********************

Dear XXXX

We cannot do business then. I'm sorry.

Let me explain the payment issue: I am a member of the BBB, have an
impeccable record there, and can be looked up on Dun and Bradstreet, where I
have an exceptional rating. I have an extensive website that's been up for
years, and it includes plenty of links to satisfied clients. In all honesty,
I look at it the same way as you - I'm not going to take the risk of doing
work and have someone not paying me. You saying "I will pay if I like it"
isn't enough.

I take 50% deposits on any project over 1k. 100% prepayment under. It's too
much effort and chasing to invoice twice for little jobs. I've been doing
business this way for years, and never - not once - have had a problem.

If it makes you uncomfortable, that's fine and I respect that, but I do
think I provide enough material and credentials to judge whether or not I'd
be worth the risk.

***********************

Truth be told, I sort of wanted to say "hey, I pay to be a BBB member, I have a huge website that's been up for years, I have tons of client links, and I have a stellar DnB rating.... what do you have?"  

But I didn't - I'll kvetch here in the blog, but snotty / rude I am not (besides, we may very well still do business.) But it does puzzle me when someone just ignores the credentials I so carefully have established, offer none in return, and want ME to take the leap of faith. I guess that's part of business, but I will say that it's something we should all be mindful of - there are indeed times to "watch out", and there are times when it's ok to take the risk. Credentials help.

Anyway, I just needed to vent a little   Thanks for reading!

Just wanted to give a quick update - we are doing business. And are both happy about it.

I love happy endings!!

I just realized you can put an equal (=) sign in your adwords ad. It looks rather nice, and makes your ad stand out. It's very eye catching.

Take note.

I have struggled with the pricing issue for a while - should I or should I not have prices on my website?

For the longest time, I had prices on my website. And business was good. And then I took the prices off, and business was good. But I started to notice something - once I took the prices down, I got more e-mail and quote requests, but I also started getting plenty of "you mean it's NOT $25.00?" people. I never got that when I had prices up.

This in itself wouldn't be a bad thing, except that some people can get downright nasty when you start to converse about a job and then they find out you aren't in their price range. I never like having to deal with that, so I toyed with the idea of putting prices right on my quote form.

But I didn't. Know why? Because my wife told me not to.

My wife is a pretty smart woman. She also works for a lawyer, so she used this analogy: "how much business do you think lawyers would get if they advertised $250 per hour?"

It made me think... they'd get none at all. All the prices would do is keep almost everyone from calling. Yea, I might not like having to deal with the occasional rude person, but you know what, it's part of being in business.

I'm a professional. Professionals don't advertise rates. End of discussion.