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Joomla! Is Our Core Technology If you're planning to build a website or revamp the one you have, you should start with an inventory of your needs. Just about nobody does this, mostly because we're too busy juggling balls while putting out fires. Who has time to plan and design? Our primary focus is helping Michigan-based technical firms (not just Ann Arbor and Dexter) improve what they do, however we couldn't do this unless we already figured it out. For the sake of this example, let's consider a web development group. How would we make them better? Step 1 - Gather Requirements We recommend you start with a client needs form to make sure you're asking all the right questions. This forces the customer to think about what they're building and why. If you don't have such a form, create one! Step 2 - Sell the Foundation If you're planning to do Joomla-based sites, we recommend you get your customer started with the foundational part as soon as possible. We tell customers that if they want us to help with a website, they must pay $x to get what we call The Baseline. By doing this, you can get the ball rolling while you're still gathering requirements. Step 3 - The Fixed-Price Portion - (Joomla! Foundation) Telling someone they need to purchase a "foundation" can easily mean nothing to a customer that wants to sell their widgets online today. They want a website and have very little respect for people who might conspire to waste their time with technical explanations about things they don't understand. When this happens, you should have a document that explains what "foundation" means, showing them exactly what they get for whatever you're charging them. e.g., Here is our Baseline installation service. Step 4 - The Variable Price Quote Before you can give customers a quote on the entire project it's important they understand how the design process works and what role we play, where they fit. There are parts of every project that are variable and often it's frustrating for customers to hear "it depends" after each "how much" question. When you can explain how it works, some customers will respond with "I get it now!" (that's the exception, not the rule) Step 5 - Preach The CMS Gospel Getting customers to listen to you is key in getting to the part where the issue a purchase order/cut you a check. If you don't have some way to get their attention, then it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. We do something once a month that is a great way to meet new customers. We carve out two hours of time at a bar/grill type of place with wireless internet then tell people to show up with laptops. Here's the happy hour flyer we used for one such event. Here's the handout we gave to each person who attended. We created this page to boost our search engine standings as it pertains to Joomla, but we sincerely hope some of this material is useful to you.
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