There’s always enough money to do it twice

Last week a prospective client emailed that our quote for a website was higher than others he had received and he was letting me know because he didn’t want to waste my time.  While I appreciated his candor, I realized many other business owners make this same mistake so here’s the story behind this post.

Debating the cost of a website

There’s an old saying-There’s never enough money to do it right the first time but always enough to do it twice and here’s a real life example that proves it.  A couple of years ago, I gave an estimate to a business owner and he quickly told me it was more money than he wanted or was willing to spend.

I stated my case as to why we were more expensive than some and he still was not interested as he couldn’t afford to spend that amount of money.  Well, 9 months later, the same business owner called me back for an estimate.  While I remembered talking to him, he didn’t remember talking to me.

Cheaper solution is never the best value

In an effort to save money, he had gotten the son of a friend to set up a website for him.  He wasn’t happy with the look of the website but he was even more unhappy with the results.  Even though he was getting found on the search engines, not a single person had called as a result of his website.

He reasoned (and rightly so) that since his website was getting found, the website itself must be the problem.  He concluded, and I agreed, that it didn’t look professional and potential clients were probably questioning the quality of his service and product as well as his credibility.

Your business is worth the investment

His business was down and while he didn’t really have much extra money, he knew he needed to invest in a professional website as he was losing money every time someone came to his website and then, didn’t call.  He learned his lesson the hard way and once the website was done, agreed it was money well spent.

I’m happy to report his new website is producing results by bringing in new customers.  So, here’s a real life story to prove “there’s always enough money to do it twice.”  The moral to the story?  Learn from other people’s mistakes and you may save yourself some money.