Before I can offer any advice, I need to know more about your situation. Are you a one-man team trying eagerly to get your first contract, or are you working for a larger company with dozens of websites under their belt.
I have personally done websites as an individual where I knew the client well enough to get the job with little or no interview process. I have also been part of a company bidding 6 and 7 digits contracts. There are MAJOR differences between the two situations.
BrianH was right on track for the later situation, but let me add to his wisdom. Here's the typical story...
Company A invites several companies to bid for a contract. They send a RFP (request for proposal) to the various bidders. Those bidders explain how they will get the job done, and WHY company A should choose them. They list key personel assigned to the project, and similar projects they have done. My company includes screenshots from our previous work, and letters of recommendation from previous clients. We give a brief paragraph or two about each person assigned to the project. We also get paid a small fee (compared to contract price) just to submit a proposal. It's not uncommon with larger contracts, considering the work (research) that goes into the project.
However, I believe your situation is different. You are probably an individual, competing with small companies. So here are a few pointers to help you get started.
1. Spend some time doing research on what other people are charging, it is not uncommon (at the low end of contract sizes) to get turned down because a bid is too low.
2. You are most likely to get turned down because you did not impress your client. Take some time to put together a proposal that impresses people. Be sure to understand your client. If they are not tech-savy, don't overload them with tech-jargon.
3. Make your company look bigger. Clients love the idea of a small army of talented people working on their project. After all that's why they are hiring someone else, rather than doing it themselves. If neccessary, ask friends to join you when ever you meet the client. One person alone gives a bad impression of either not caring, or being understaffed.
4. Consider a worst case scenario and possible problems when bidding. Does that website need to look absolutely perfect on all browser, all platforms, all vesion of each OS ?
5. (stolen from BrianH) Make suggestions. Show you understand the request, and understand what needs to get done.
It's hard to build a reputation. It will be tough in the beginning, but learn as much as you can about how other people are going about it.
The most important thing you can do when you start out is to make your company stand out. In you proposal, make suggestions (suggest, not tell), talk about follow-on work, but don't get too techincal or complex.
No one with a MBA wants to read why you have chosen Apache, PERL, mySQL, PHP or whatever. Just explain how it is going to work to the user, how easy it will be to use, not how your going to write some code.
The only part I have been uncertain about is how to handle clients who can't explain what they want in any detail. When a client asks for a website with "forums", but doesn't explain how they want them to work, you can't submit a proposal asking them to clarify, and determing a fair bid is nothing more than guesswork.
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BrianH's was the best post I have read so far.
Before I can offer any advice, I need to know more about your situation. Are you a one-man team trying eagerly to get your first contract, or are you working for a larger company with dozens of websites under their belt.
I have personally done websites as an individual where I knew the client well enough to get the job with little or no interview process. I have also been part of a company bidding 6 and 7 digits contracts. There are MAJOR differences between the two situations.
BrianH was right on track for the later situation, but let me add to his wisdom. Here's the typical story...
Company A invites several companies to bid for a contract. They send a RFP (request for proposal) to the various bidders. Those bidders explain how they will get the job done, and WHY company A should choose them. They list key personel assigned to the project, and similar projects they have done. My company includes screenshots from our previous work, and letters of recommendation from previous clients. We give a brief paragraph or two about each person assigned to the project. We also get paid a small fee (compared to contract price) just to submit a proposal. It's not uncommon with larger contracts, considering the work (research) that goes into the project.
However, I believe your situation is different. You are probably an individual, competing with small companies. So here are a few pointers to help you get started.
1. Spend some time doing research on what other people are charging, it is not uncommon (at the low end of contract sizes) to get turned down because a bid is too low.
2. You are most likely to get turned down because you did not impress your client. Take some time to put together a proposal that impresses people. Be sure to understand your client. If they are not tech-savy, don't overload them with tech-jargon.
3. Make your company look bigger. Clients love the idea of a small army of talented people working on their project. After all that's why they are hiring someone else, rather than doing it themselves. If neccessary, ask friends to join you when ever you meet the client. One person alone gives a bad impression of either not caring, or being understaffed.
4. Consider a worst case scenario and possible problems when bidding. Does that website need to look absolutely perfect on all browser, all platforms, all vesion of each OS ?
5. (stolen from BrianH) Make suggestions. Show you understand the request, and understand what needs to get done.
It's hard to build a reputation. It will be tough in the beginning, but learn as much as you can about how other people are going about it.
The most important thing you can do when you start out is to make your company stand out. In you proposal, make suggestions (suggest, not tell), talk about follow-on work, but don't get too techincal or complex.
No one with a MBA wants to read why you have chosen Apache, PERL, mySQL, PHP or whatever. Just explain how it is going to work to the user, how easy it will be to use, not how your going to write some code.
The only part I have been uncertain about is how to handle clients who can't explain what they want in any detail. When a client asks for a website with "forums", but doesn't explain how they want them to work, you can't submit a proposal asking them to clarify, and determing a fair bid is nothing more than guesswork.