One of the biggest complaints I hear from prospects as they make their initial call to our offices is that their previous web development firm didn’t move quickly enough or that the process simply took too long and was too expensive. I am always cautious to jump in and say “yeah screw those guys… hire our firm… we’re much faster and our rates are better!”

That type of self-promotion would obviously be the kiss of death. I know all too well that the previous firm more than likely worked diligently on completing their assignments on time. In fairness, there are firms that get in over their heads and have too much on their plate, but from my experience, I know that time issues typically fall in the lap of the prospect’s perception of web design.

Web design/development is a problem solving art

Because web design/development is a problem solving art, it is important to document and log each “problem” as they arrive. It is equally important to document and log how you and your firm went about solving that problem.

For example: If you took your car to a mechanic because it was smoking and chugging and coughing, and you handed over the keys, dropped the car off, and came back the next day to a car that wasn’t fixed and a bill that was already $2500.00, you might freak out and say “why did this cost so much and why isn’t the car fixed already?” If the mechanic simply said to you, “it costs so much because we’ve done a lot of work and the car is in sad shape,” you might get a bit testy and chances are you aren’t going to be in any mood to refer that mechanic to a friend or family member. In fact, you’d probably take your car to another mechanic and complain that the last guy took too long, didn’t complete the project and the costs were entirely too expensive.

Now for an opposing example: Let’s say you took the same chugging, smoking car into the mechanic’s shop and turned it over and returned the next day to a car that still wasn’t completely finished and the bill was already $2500.00. Initially you may freak out but once the mechanic explains that they’ve replaced the head gasket at 5.5 hours, purchased 3 new hoses at $85.00 a piece and installed them at 4.0 hours, they drained the transmission fluid and replaced it at 1.5 hours, and while replacing the head gasket they noticed another glaring problem that needs to be fixed and they should be done with that operation by 10:00 AM tomorrow, your reaction will more than likely be much different than in the previous example. Why? Because the mechanic laid out the problems, they explained the labor and they clarified what remained to be done in order to have the car in optimum operating condition.

All of this seems so elementary in nature. All great web developers meticulously lay out their work in a way that their clients can clearly see the justification in time and price right? Apparently not.

Using Project Management Tools

BasecampOne popular tool our firm uses to combat this misinformation and perception gap is BaseCamp by 37Signals. With BaseCamp, our company can create projects, log time, archive communications, store related files and keep a running tab of all problem-solving issues that arise in the development process. Anytime a task is performed, it is diligently logged into BaseCamp and our clients receive an email update, with a link to that particular post. There they can download examples, graphs, images, files and anything else that corresponds with that portion of the process.

(We pay 37Signals to use their service and they are in no way sponsoring our firm and we are receiving no compensation of any kind for this article)

What we have often found is that our communication may go unanswered for 3 or 4 days. But that’s OK because we know that the client received our alert in a timely manner and we know that the client now has a clear understanding of everything that went into solving that particular problem. If time becomes an issue down the road, we can show them where their lack of engagement slowed the process down dramatically. When the client begins to understand that their slow response actually cost them time and money, they typically begin to engage more appropriately. This undoubtedly increases your turn-around time and allows you to recognize more profits as your projects are not being strung out over longer periods of time.

Once our firm became more proactive in the logging process, we noticed a drastic decrease in the number of time complaints and cost complaints. Now when a client questions our processes, our timeliness or our costs, we simply export a full-length log of everything that has gone into the process and hand it over to them. Typically, when they see the entire process in black and white, they realize that getting from point A to point B in web development isn’t as simple as they once thought and they are generally more likely to continue their project with your firm.