Twice in my career as a web developer I have lost a client.

One was a high-paying customer who made a few bad business decisions and began paying the price for that with market-share. When they finally realized the need to invest in marketing through this crisis, rather than avoid it, they thought they should seek out a less expensive option. This is OK, we’re not the cheapest in town, we’re the best.

The other was a one-person small business for whom I “did a favor”, helping them to get started with a simple website. If you have to chose a client to lose, this is the one you let go. (By the way, don’t do favors for people. I’ve learned how bad this is for the market since I did this. Clients are educated by this and they’re learning the wrong lessons, but I’ll save that for another post.) So why would this upset me?

Well, I don’t want to sound condescending, but in both cases, the organization replacing my company was (quite obviously) inferior.

That’s really all it was. My client was “firing” me and replacing me with someone who had nowhere near the technical skill or design sense that I offered. Being the perfectionist that I am, these situations severely pained me. I pride myself on providing a level of quality and professionalism that nobody in the Dayton area offers. I am always pushing myself, and always pushing my clients, to take calculated risks and find a solid balance between form and function. I spend a LOT of time writing semantic markup, separating style from content, ensuring accessibility and working to create a usable experience for my customer’s customers. The truth is, most of this stuff doesn’t mean much to a business owner. Wanna know what they think is important?

SEO.

Now, I understand that not all potential clients think this way, but this was the key factor that pulled both of my clients away. The website development firms replacing me were both offering search engine optimization as one of their primary services. While I understand that there are a few SEO folks out there doing some good work, for the most part, I agree with Derek Powazek. Build something good and take care of it, then you’ll get good results. What business owners don’t really understand is that all the stuff I listed above that sets my company apart is the stuff it takes to “build something good”. In essence, what I offer is SEO, I just don’t call it that because it’s common sense stuff. It’s what everyone should be doing.

Telling me that your web development firm offers SEO is like telling me that your computer does multimedia.

The Amiga 4000 Baby

I wish I had the statistic on the number of people who bought a computer because it offered “multimedia capabilities”. Maybe you’re even reading this article on a computer that is capable of multimedia. Congrats if you are. Please send me a photo (if you can figure out how to get the pictures off your camera).

Alright, I’m taking this a bit too far, but you get my point. Every reasonable computer out there is capable of doing the kinds of things we classify (or classified) as multimedia. Managing your photos, music, video, etc. However, when people don’t understand something, they follow the buzzwords.

To Business Owners

Don’t hire a company to build you a website if they try to sell you SEO in addition to the web project. They are scamming you. Find a firm that actually knows how to build sites properly, someone you can trust, and let them do what they do best. Even more importantly, don’t move away from a company that understands all of this simply because some other organization is promising you amazing search engine results. Make sure you’re communicating these desires/goals with your firm.

In both of these cases, my client never even mentioned any specific goals. (NOTE: I understand that I have some responsibility here. Both of these cases happened before we were using any kind of measurable results with these projects. I should have had these conversations in a much more specific way than I did.)

All of that being said, just building something right isn’t going to put you on the first page of Google. That takes time and a commitment that most organizations are not willing to give. It takes a content strategy and an understanding of your audience. A good website development firm knows this and will walk you through these concepts up front.

How Could I have Prevented This

I’ve asked myself this question many times. I honestly believe that the real failure in both of these situations was communication. I needed to communicate more regularly with my client about what they were needing and expecting. They needed to communicate more regularly with me about things they’d like to see change. It’s a two-way street, but we (as designer/developers) need to lead this charge. Being proactive in your client communication will dramatically change your business for the better.

The “Graceful” Part

When this happens to you (hopefully it won’t, but when it does) make sure that you remember your brand. You probably want to be known as an organization people desire to work with, your response in difficult situations will show your true colors.

Also remember who own’s the site. Most work for hire contracts explain all of this and typically, your client owns their site files. This doesn’t necessarily mean the hi-rez (original) photos or the PSD’s you layed out, or your FLA files. Of course, this is dependent on your contract, but in general, you should be gracious through this. Show them that you’re not desperate, that you have their best interests in mind, and that you want them to be happy with their design firm selection.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to make a case for them staying with you, but do so with respect. Avoid the political temptations of belittling the “new firm” in front of your client. Nobody wants to work with someone who does that. In general, ask yourself what would be best for your client before making any rash decisions. In fact, it might be a good idea to have a trusted friend or partner review any correspondence to make sure you’re not being over-emotional.

This is tough stuff. However, in situations like these a little grace goes a long way.

Got a good “losing a client” story? Share it in the comments below.