AW: [Typo3-marketing] Freelance auction for TYPO3 web development?

[Mathias Schreiber [wmdb]]

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: typo3-marketing-bounces at lists.netfielders.de 
> [mailto:typo3-marketing-bounces at lists.netfielders.de] Im 
> Auftrag von JoH
> Betreff: Re: [Typo3-marketing] Freelance auction for TYPO3 
> web development?

> I doubt that it is very good for the image of
> TYPO3 when there is legal action taken against people just 
> because other people don't like their low prices. Since TYPO3 
> itself is GPLed you simply have to live with the fact that 
> service might be sold by amateurs who want to make some money 
> beside their main job for a cup of coffee.

I think the legal action was also taken because logos were used without permission and some other stuff.
After all I have to admit that I was bidding for the auction as well and if we would have won this one we would have given those guys hell :)
We all know how annoying paying-customers can get. Change a pixel here, remove two pixels there :)
All in all the project would have taken up a lot (!) of their time - far more than the calulation could ever have thrown out :)

> One thing you should be aware of: The German market is getting weaker.

Hmm, according to our stats it is getting stronger each day.
I talked to a lot of clients within the enterprise environment and they all (indepentently) told me the same.
2003 and the first half of 2004 was a phase of "commercial reconstructioning". This means all big players held their budgets back to a complete minimum so that all those "Post dot com" companies with lots of talk and mostly no knowledge would simply pop off the market.
Now the budgets are free again and, belive me, they are being spent :)
So all in all at least we atre looking into prosperous times.

> People don't want to pay the same amounts of money anymore 
> they have been throwing away some years ago. So if such a one 
> man show has to face the
> situation: Do it for 3.000 instead of 6.000 or don't do it at 
> all. Then maybe he is forced to say OK just because he wants 
> to make a living during the next month.

Agreed.
I just like the idea of "feel free to say no".
Example: Client calls me and says "we get your offer by half the price."
I say: "Then go do it there."
Client: "umm... Don't you wnat to think over your offer again?"
I: "nope - since you get it much cheaper anywhere else I as a sales person can only tell you to go there."
Client came back after 10 days and we did the project.

I understand that one needs a certain "financial backbone" to do so - but as you said:
It is almost impossible to raise prices after they are down.

> Sooner or later the many men shows will have to do the same 
> ... and they are already doing it.

See above

> The above example is a good one to show that it is not the 
> one who offers the service but the client that is "dumping" the price.

See above one paragraph later.

Peace
mattes