What can go wrong while negotiating with an agency?

Sanjay Pandey — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 14:13:24 +0000

Most of us have the habit of negotiating the initial price of the product or service and getting it at a cheaper price, which puts us on the winning side.

While negotiating, if you are getting everything at a dirt-cheap price, then there are high chances of your project getting compromised. An agency’s quotation is based on two components ( Resource Cost + Profit Margins ).

Process of Creating Quotations — Based on the initial discussions with the client, we choose the resources from our pool suiting best to the requirements. Combinations may comprise a Project Manager , Product Designer , Tech Lead, Senior Developers, Mid-level Developers and, in some cases, Junior Developers as well. Based on their engagement time Resource Cost is calculated. After this calculation, we add Profit Margins to this cost (which varies from agency to agency).

When we lower the cost (taking my company’s example), it’s from the Profit Margin’s part, not the Resource Cost because it may directly impact your project quality. And when an agency offers you an unbelievably discounted price, it compromises on the Resource part and that is where bad time starts for the future of your project.

Below are a few complaints that we hear after choosing the wrong agency:-

“My application is crashing again and again”.
“It doesn’t look like the designs we agreed upon”.
“The agency is avoiding communication and making the same mistakes again and again”.
“The code quality is poor”.

And the list goes on…

Common mistakes during a negotiation

Negotiating without domain knowledge.
Taking a competitive approach rather than collaborating. Don’t negotiate only to win, but rather to develop a relationship of trust.
Even after getting a quotation, constantly pushing the agency for a lower number based on other quotations without any logical reasoning.
Money isn’t everything, and the price isn’t the only thing that you can negotiate. You can leverage the deal with add-on benefits like maintenance services or branding etc.
Letting your emotions impact your judgement which keeps you away from making a rational decision.

Here I would like to emphasise on choosing a tech partner rather than choosing an agency. The right partner will understand your business goals and your client’s needs, which will significantly impact your business.

Remember, smart negotiators, are those who always look for win-win solutions.

How to generate leads when nobody knows about you?

Sanjay Pandey — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 15:34:14 +0000

This is the most common question asked by budding entrepreneurs and a harsh reality that leads to the shutting down of businesses within their first five years.

I will start with the problem that is “trust”. If nobody knows your brand, they won’t reach you-” as simple as that”.

The most difficult part about being an entrepreneur is convincing your first customers to buy your product or services.

So, what is the solution?

My answer is based on the “inbound” approach (will discuss the outbound approach in my upcoming article) and the solution is to create your presence or brand awareness. You must have heard of the term “digital marketing” and its most common practice, i.e.,

Search Engine Optimization — a long process that takes months to generate organic traffic, but once done, there are high chances of getting continuous leads.
Social Media Marketing — is also a time taking process. The important thing here is to choose the right social media platform and post strategically to create your brand presence.
Paid Advertising — the quickest way to promote your brand is by running paid campaigns, but once the campaign is over, you won’t get any leads.

Now, where to start?

The answer is “All of the above”. The mix of these strategies will give your brand the initial required “push”.

Conclusion

So to conclude, you will only be able to generate leads when people start noticing you, and after that, conversion depends on how good your sales guy/team is.

My suggestion would be to start with -

Competitive analysis
Listing your brand on all relevant platforms (It’s a very important step).
Making a social media plan with monthly goals.
And working parallelly on the SEO of your website and blogs.

Things will take time, and that is normal. You have to invest at least 6 months of your time to see some satisfactory results (I know because I have done it!). Just don’t run after “overnight success” and things will turn up for you.