I’m a IT department of one so I get a lot of those "reset password" requests and have to do a lot of hand holding I feel I should not have to do. Its 2014 and a certain level of computer literacy should be expected of you if you want to function in corporate America. (or whatever country you are from). I have a Masters of Science in IT Security, a B.S. in electronic engineering and my RHCE with 10 years experience and feel that being pulled away from "real work" to reset a password is extremely annoying. However its a lot less annoying when the client services team is not available and the receptionist passes the call directly to me. In most cases the client tends to be very friendly and thankful and makes you want to help them.
The problem with this is geeks are generally not business people and do not know if the client is up-to-date on their billing or if they are notorious for trying to get free work and need to be kept in check. When I do take personal interest in solving a clients issue I risk promising things I should not be promising them or putting way more time and effort into a client who is already behind on billing than I should be.
I also have a very hard time quoting a client an appropriate amount. I work for a interactive and design agency and when you work with us you have a team of individuals working for you including but not limited to an account manager, producer, designers, art directors, user experience, strategy, front end developers, back end developers, system administration in some cases. Having a team of 5-10 specialists working for you is expensive. Just having a 1hr meeting with everybody is probably going to get billed at around $1000. I feel really weird giving clients numbers like this and responding to the sticker shock.
The problem with this is geeks are generally not business people and do not know if the client is up-to-date on their billing or if they are notorious for trying to get free work and need to be kept in check. When I do take personal interest in solving a clients issue I risk promising things I should not be promising them or putting way more time and effort into a client who is already behind on billing than I should be.
I also have a very hard time quoting a client an appropriate amount. I work for a interactive and design agency and when you work with us you have a team of individuals working for you including but not limited to an account manager, producer, designers, art directors, user experience, strategy, front end developers, back end developers, system administration in some cases. Having a team of 5-10 specialists working for you is expensive. Just having a 1hr meeting with everybody is probably going to get billed at around $1000. I feel really weird giving clients numbers like this and responding to the sticker shock.