Is there such a thing as too professional?

I’ve had a bit of a shock. Last Friday I had a telephone conversation with a prospective new client who thinks we’re too professional for his company.

This is a person who employs 4 or 5 people in his small but successful business. He already has a website but it’s not really delivering any leads, it’s difficult to update (the original developer has long since disappeared) and it doesn’t really convey the right impression of his firm.

He wants a new website. There’s just one problem in that (in his opinion), his budget’s really small.

He came across our website but hesitated to contact us because, in his words, “you look really expensive”. When I asked what he meant he said that he got the impression that we were “too professional for my budget with project processes and terms and conditions“.

When I asked him whether or not his customers viewed him as a professional, the entire tone of the conversation changed. He agreed to let us provide a quote which we did this morning and he’s just contacted me (Monday afternoon), to commission us to design and build his new website.

He’ll get a lovely new site delivered on time and in budget that will prove the theory that his site could be working harder. Because of the way that we work, if he wants to expand the site at a later date to include, for example, an e-commerce element he can do so quickly and easily.

So again – is there such a thing as too professional? As I understand it you are either professional or not. Which would you rather your web design company were?

Ursus Media undertake web design projects of all sizes for all budgets for businesses throughout the UK. Contact us for a free, no obligation chat and let’s see if we can help you.