RE: UKNM: Yell Awards

[James Tarin]

>I didn't see it myself, but allegedly Eddie Cheng (Yellow Pages New Media

>Services Director) suggested that many agencies rip clients off by charging

>over-exorbitant fees for building websites. I understand that the figure of

>�100k was mentioned.


Well, there are undoubtedly instances where agencies have charged fees for

"building web sites" which could be considered as exorbitant. There are also

many instances of agencies underpricing the build of web sites (even when

they are charging more than 100k). 


It has obviously been difficult for clients to determine how much they

should be paying for something when the quotes can vary by an order of

magnitude, or in some cases more. In our experience there are just as many

instances of companies undercharging as there are of those overcharging.


>Apparently, the interviewer then asked him what clients could do about it,

>whereapon Eddie recommended that they talk to Yellow Pages about its

>services which offered 'value for money'.


Mmmm... well I don't have any direct experience of the range of services

that they deliver or of their value proposition for this stream of services.

Maybe they do offer a good value service for "building web sites". This is

of course different from offering a credible set of online marketing

consultancy services, or a highly creative communications development

service, or a full service offering. 


Value for money probably revolves around what the price is for what you want

to buy (or achieve). In many instances if a client buys a "web site

building" service they will not get great value for money, as they will get

a Web site which may not meet their business objectives or satisfy their ROI

criteria (there are of course exceptions to this statement).


So, I'm not really sure what he means or whether it is valid as I did not

hear *exactly* what he said.


James

_______________________

James Tarin

Director of Strategy, Clarity

Tel: +44 171 397 2911

Fax: +44 171 397 2939


http://www.marketing.co.uk