[Sigia-l] site redesign sales proposals

[Ziya Oz]

Jonathan Baker-Bates:

>> How a client and a consultant get together is subtle
>> choreography. A two-hour site critique would be like a
>> consultant jumping on a table to do a summersault just to
>> impress the client.

> I don't see what's wrong with doing (metaphorical) summersaults.

If a consultant can figure out a client's problem and come up with a project
strategy and map in a couple of hours, then either:

the problem space is too simple,
the consultant is an utterly unique genius who got lucky, or
the client is being suckered into a blind alley.

The summersault on a table is an indication of flash, of momentary
athleticism. The fact that a consultant can do that is not necessarily an
indication of how well he will endure a full Pasa Doble, how his timing will
match with the client's, how closely he can follow the choreography, how his
strength or floor leadership will carry the dance, etc.

If I were a client I'd be amused by the summersault but I'd really pay
attention to the latter qualities, qualifications.

> Personally, I'd say that a client who awards me a significant contract
> based on the content, rather than the style, of what I said in the pitch
> isn't the kind of client I'd want to have six months into the real
> project.

Hmm. If I read this literally, you seem to be saying that it just doesn't
matter what you say or that how you say it is much more important than what
you say. Since when do we have to separate the two and choose one or the
other? 

As a client, (if I didn't know or trust a consultant) I'd be interested in
learning how well he understands my problem and not (just) how he says he
can understand it or what he might do if he really tried.

This isn't a matter of style over substance (or vice versa). It's whether 2
or 20 hours is just enough time to grok a a substantial problem to create a
strategy and blueprint which will then dictate the course of the entire
project thereafter.

I say that if a client is spending only 1/100 of the budget on the most
important part of a project, then something is wrong.

--
Ziya

"Every problem comes from a solution."