When you ask for a quote from someone, you really have to give them some information to base a quote on.

Not that I'm complaining or anything, but let's just say I got the following quote request the other day:

"NEED A WEBSITE WRITED END ALSO NEED SOME OTHER STUFF HOW MUCH WILL IT ALL COST ME?"

And that's all I got.

I'd like to say this is an isolated incident, but it isn't. I get stuff like this at least several times a week. It makes me wonder. It really, truly does.

Now I realize English isn't everyone's first language, so I'll forgive grammar, spelling, the use of ALL CAPS, etc. But I do need a little more information to go on.

So I e-mail this person back asking for more information. Specifically, the theme and size of the planned website, etc.

I get a reply that says "I ALLREDDY TOLD YOU WHAT I NEEDED IN MY PREVOUS EMAIL SO HOW MUCH" (this person really needs a new keyboard with a functioning caps lock key.)

And that was that. Not that I encourage not pursuing a lead, but to be frank, I'm too busy to continue this dance any further (although I obviously have the time to come here and write about it.)

Anyway, my point is, don't be like this non-client. If you need someone's services and request a quote, give them as much information as you possibly can. This is a rule I follow religiously, as it makes everyone's life easier.

Have a great day!

There are times that I'm asked something like "why do you charge 'x' to write a simple letter?" (or webpage, proposal, etc)

While many professionals get annoyed when justifying their price, I have found that it's really better to make the asker understand that they aren't paying for the actual "work", but for the results that the work produces.

Take my line of work for example: Let's face it - anyone can put words on paper and write a letter. Or copy for a webpage. Or a marketing proposal. There's nothing to it - press a few keyboard buttons. A child can do it.

But will it be read by strangers?  And get you the result you want? THAT'S what you are paying me for.

This reminds me of a great story that's been floating around the net' for a few years (I do not know who to credit for this - if anyone knows, let me know):

"The huge printing presses of a major Chicago newspaper began malfunctioning on the Saturday before Christmas, putting all the revenue for advertising that was to appear in the Sunday paper in jeopardy. This was a big problem. None of the technicians could track down the cause of the malfunction. Finally, a frantic call was made to the retired printer who had worked with these presses for over 40 years. "We'll pay anything; just come in and fix them," he was told.

When he arrived, he walked around for a few minutes, surveying the presses; then he approached one of the control panels and opened it. He removed a dime from his pocket, turned a screw 1/4 of a turn, and said, "The presses will now work correctly." After being profusely thanked, he was told to submit a bill for his work.

The bill arrived a few days later, for $10,000.00! Not wanting to pay such a huge amount for so little work, the printer was told to please itemize his charges, with the hope that he would reduce the amount once he had to identify his services. The revised bill arrived:

$1.00 for turning the screw

$9,999.00 for knowing which screw to turn. "

I'm a gamer. Been one since I saw my first arcade in the 70's. I've owned the Atari, Intellivision, Nintendo, Playstation, etc. I've also been interested in computer games since I played "Mystery House" in high school on an Apple 2c.

Right now, my gaming machine of choice is an X-Box 360. I like my 360 an awful lot, so I wasn't all that interested in a Playstation 3 or a Wii when they came out in November.

Good thing, too, because I probably couldn't get one if I wanted to. 

And that just blows my mind. In my mind, Nintendo and Sony have lost the right to EVER have a bad financial quarter. You can't tell me business is bad when people were lining up to throw money at you for your new product, which you couldn't deliver. Logistics, manufacturing snafu's... whatever. They blew it.

They have hundreds of thousands (likely millions) of people who would buy one RIGHT NOW if they were only available. That's just inexcusable, and a lesson for every business on what NOT to do. Under-estimating sales are one thing. Missing it by hundreds of thousands of units is another altogether. And it's not like they couldn't see this coming.

The bad PR and angry customers will never be overcome or won back. How many new converts did Microsoft get because they have plenty of 360's available? Millions? Probably. The 360 is a nice machine.

No real overrriding reason for posting this except that to point out that even huge, famous companies sometimes make colossal marketing mistakes.

You'd be surprised how many small businesses don't use professional (non-personal) e-mail addresses. Every now and again, I'll get a quote request from an entrepreneur with an e-mail address like lonlygrrrl6969p@aol.com or  kickurass3595@earthlink.com or something similar.

Of course, I answer the quote requests (from the ultra boring "dan at clear-writing dot com" address), but it always makes me wonder - just what are these people thinking? Don't they realize what an awful impression that makes?

With web domains going for ten bucks, e-mail accounts on that web address going for maybe $50 a year, and an astonishingly easy "click here" setup, there is no excuse - none at all - to not have a real e-mail address. You don't even need to have a website. You can buy the domain name and setup an e-mail account, and never have any more than that. Your e-mail comes just like it does now, with the same program (just follow the instructions.)

Fair or not, if you don't have a real e-mail address (you at your company URL dot com), you are projecting one of two things:

• The few bucks are a real problem for you.
• You don't know how to set it up.

Neither is conducive to doing business. Seriously - I don't mean to belittle anyone without a real e-mail address, but it's such a basic function of doing business that it's a real eye-opener when you don't have it.

Trust me - Charles@bigbiz.com is much more appealing than UPCHUCK6969@earthlink.com