Some questions about web design

[Black_Dragon43]

The reason I made up that scenario is because we disagree on the pricing of a logo. You say that no logo should cost more than $1000. So I was trying to figure out how you come to that conclusion.

My example was trying to figure out how you price something, and you said you based it on what your competitors do and its utility. So it really doesn't matter if the person you hired for the logo charged you $10, $200, $500 or $1000 to come up with a logo. You would price it at say $1000 because you believe the utility of a logo is only worth $1000.

I feel like a logo creation is alot like the hammer story. The person that you hire has to know what logo to create.

" There was once a rich businessman with a broken beloved car. Despite several attempts, he was unable to fix the engine of that car. He called several engineers but no one was able to fix it. Finally there was an old mechanic who visited him. That old guy inspected the engine and asked for a hammer. On front side of the engine, he tapped few times with his hammer and brrroomm…brroom…It started Working! Next day, the old mechanic sent his invoice for $1000. The businessman was shocked.

He said, “ This was merely a $1 job. You just tapped the engine with your hammer. What’s there for $1000 that you are asking?”

The old mechanic said “ Let me give you a detailed invoice.”

The Invoice read:

Tapping the engine with hammer: $1

Knowing where to hit the hammer: $999"

Right, I see where you're coming from. Just as in the detailed invoice in your example, I do look at things here as really two different services. One service is the consultancy ("knowing where to hit the hammer" or "what logo to create") - the other is the actual creation ("tapping the engine with hammer" or "actually making the logo"). The point I was making in this thread has been that the actual creation is cheap, really manual labor. It's knowing what to create that is the really precious bit.

So knowing what to create, is that a matter of sales skills, or mindset? I would say sales does play a role, because sales has in part to do with gathering intelligence from your customer. But much more important than that is understanding the mechanics of business, sales and marketing so that you can actually come up with a solution that solves whatever problem you identify.

That is something that comes with experience and by studying the different fields involved. It's not something that better sales skills or better mindset or better technical skills will help you with. One problem these days is that we have many people "solving problems", when they really lack the skills necessary to do that. And getting those skills is a long journey... it took me YEARS of work to get to the point where I could actually advise my clients and get results for them.

For web design specifically, I have no problem setting up websites and designing them myself. I'm proficient in HTML, CSS and JS/JQuery, and also Wordpress hooks. If I were to do it myself, for a new website install I'd set up hosting, change the nameservers to a CDN, customize the .htaccess for security, install and customize security solutions based on the client's needs, design the pages (these days it's super easy via Elementor, you don't need any coding pretty much), and so on. Do these technical details help me consult clients? To a limited extent I would say yes... but I would never call myself a web designer. If you compare my SPEED of execution with theirs, there's no comparison there. I'd take ages to do the same work that a web design pro does in 30 mins.

Personally, I would never pay someone more than $1K to make a logo, because I wouldn't expect them to know what to create. That's my job. Even from a position of being the client, I would want to have a very clear vision of what I want, and then get someone to implement it for me. I can see some exceptions, when the client would simply be too busy to put any thought into it.

 

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[GatsbyMag]

Informative discussion.

I don't see anything 'wrong' with either approaches if they generate revenue.

Perceived value > actual value.

And perceived value is based on people's perceptions.

As a salesperson, you're doing your best to influence perception so prospect can spend as much as they are willing to spend on your product/service.

You could argue that this is an immoral approach, but if all parties involved are genuinely happy, what's wrong about it?

Elon Musk can afford to spend $100k on Tesla logo from a famous designer because he recognizes that it will increase the prestige of the Tesla brand and influence more people to buying or at least being interested in the brand.

A small business owner may not be able to afford it and will need to be smart. This type of person won't be cheap (if they're smart), but won't overspend either. The job of a salesperson will be to ensure the owner spends as much as possible if it's a one-time sale or help the owner get it at a reasonable price knowing that this is an entry into long-term, profitable relationship where more value exchanges can occur.

Overall, thanks @Fox for being transparent with your business. And appreciate all the 'skeptics' as they are also important in this ecosystem to prevent BS and ensure critical thinking continues to be practiced.