7 Tips for How to Hire the RIGHT Technical Providers
I recently had contact with a new client who explained that she’d spend more than $14,000 on her website and she wasn’t happy with it. One designer who simply took her money and ran and another who didn’t comply with the client’s wishes about design elements and some other issues. It really bothers me when designers/developers take advantage of clients and don’t deliver what’s wanted or expected. It gives us all a bad name and creates an environment of distrust – not to mention that it leave the client in a weaker position from a business perspective. However, there are some tips you can use to avoid this costly mistake in YOUR business.
First and foremost, your website should reflect your unique voice and personality. Your website is basically your job interview, and it should both accomplish your goal (whether that goal is sales, conversions, or conveying information) and let people know exactly who they are working with. It’s difficult sometimes to accomplish with images, but it can be done and, in the hands of the right designers and developers, it IS done.
That being said, your website stops being about YOU on the front page. From that point, it’s all about your target audience, ease of use, and the action you want them to take while they’re on your site. So, if you want to hire the nerd, you should:
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Make sure they’re a personality match
The right developer needs to have the required skill set, sure, but let’s face it – no one wants to work with an asshole. If the best developer in the world is constantly arguing with you over every little thing, defying your wishes at every turn, or assuring you that your way is “wrong” and their way is the only way, it will suck the energy right out of you and steal every bit of joy from what should be an amazing journey of creating the foundation for your business or personal brand. Just say no!!! Hire a designer/developer that you feel comfortable talking with and that you’re confident will use his or her best judgment in rendering your unique personality to the Web while still making sure that all of the right technical aspects are in place. You’re more likely to find a dev who’s more ready to align with your goals and objectives rather than meeting his or her own objectives.
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Start small
Don’t give your new designer/developer the farm right off the bat. Start with a small project to check out the fit and evaluate skills and then move on to bigger projects when you’ve developed some trust and had an opportunity to see what kind of person or team you’re working with. This may sound impractical if you’re just getting started in business and need a whole new website, and if you’re in that position, the best thing you can do is ask the developer for three of their best sites and the contact information for those clients. Any worthwhile, reputable developer won’t have any issues providing a prompt response and contact information for references – and then it’s your job to actually CHECK those references and don’t assume that everything is roses and sunshine simply because someone provided the information. Take the time to make a phone call or send an email.
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Understand that skills become obsolete, but aptitude doesn’t
About every couple of years, everything a developer knows is basically out the window, and if your developer hasn’t made a personal commitment to lifelong learning, their skills won’t be current. Aptitude, on the other hand, is a much more accurate representation of innate talent and ability – and it’s generally stable over time. Ask you designer/developer how they feel about learning new things, what their primary resources are for continuing education and building skills, and other related questions is a great way to get a feel for the individual’s aptitude.
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Hire slowly – fire quickly
Take your time when selecting a developer. I know we all get in a hurry to get our businesses online, but this is really a critical decision that can make or break a startup or a solopreneur, no matter how well-funded. Once you’ve made your selection, pay attention to how things are gong: communication speed and responsiveness, attitude, willingness to offer suggestions without being aggressive or adamant, etc. But if you see warning signs, fire your web dev. Seriously. The wrong web developer is going to be an energy drain and a disruption to your entire business. If you’ve hired a web developer and it isn’t working out, fire them and begin the search for a replacement. For all ethical developers, ALL WORK PRODUCT belongs to the client unless clearly stated otherwise in your agreement. Make sure you specify that and protect your information so that firing a developer doesn’t need to become a lengthy and expensive legal process. At the end of the day, you’re going to get nowhere fast with the wrong tech team. Do yourself a favor and don’t be afraid to say “you’re fired” if that time comes.
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DO NOT outsource the final decision
Even if you have a VA or a staff member who screens applicants, make the final decision yourself after YOU communicate with the designer/developer directly. This is YOUR business and the buck stops with you. Don’t let someone else make this critical decision for you. It’s great to personally know who you’re working with, your direct point of contact if they have a team, how projects will be managed, who to complain to if something is wrong, and how to expect complaints to be resolved.
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Know what you want
Saying that you want a website is never the best place to start with a designer/developer. That’s the kind of stuff you discuss with your best friend, spouse, business partner, mentor, or a stranger on the bus. NOT with your designer/developer. At minimum, you should have some idea of the 5WH of websites: WHO your anticipated audience (target audience) is going to be | WHAT you want your website to accomplish for you (and your website should work as efficiently as you do, but that’s a post for another day) | WHERE are your website visitors coming from | WHEN do you want to launch the website | WHY are you creating the website (what’s your purpose?) | HOW do you want those 5 Ws to be accomplished in a manner that reflects your voice, your personality, your mission, and your vision? If you come to me and tell me you want a website, I’m going to tell you that it’s $5,000. If you come to me and tell me you want a 7-page website for a specific type of audience that begins with a sales page or opt-in to launch in two weeks to build your XYZ business and email list, that number just got knocked in half, at least. The more YOU know, the more your designer/developer knows and the more accurate he or she can be in terms of quoting prices and timelines. Now, if you need help clarifying your 5WH, I can help you with that, as any reputable designer/developer can….but you have to have some idea of what you’re doing before I can help you get there. No one can clear the fog but YOU.
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NEVER, EVER say THIS to any designer or developer
More than once, I’ve gotten requests for proposals that include phrases like “this should be simple,” “it can’t be too difficult to code this,” or “I’d code it myself if I had time.” DO NOT DO THAT! We do not run around disrespecting what YOU do as easy peasy or act as though just anyone can do it, so don’t do it to us. If it’s that simple, it’s beneath me and you aren’t going to be willing to pay my rates – so your RFP ends up in my recycle bin post haste. If it can’t be too difficult, then do it yourself. If you COULD do it yourself, you would. The only thing that this communicates to a developer is that you don’t value their expertise, and it’s a very poor beginning to any relationship. We respect you a lot more when you just say that you don’t know (we don’t expect you to know) and any developer worth his or her salt will give you an explanation you can easily understand, tell you how long it’s going to take and provide a reasonable estimate of what the cost is going to be.
Using these simple tips will help you get much closer to making sure you’re tech team is the right fit for your organization. If you’d like top open this dialog with me, feel free to shoot me an email and use HIRE DEV as your subject line (it’s actually built in – just click the link). I look forward to chatting with you.
