Lees Brothers

Q: What's your name and position in the company?
A: Noel Lees - Lead designer

Q: Describe your company in 5 words.
A: Local, Focussed, Determined, Modern, Current

Q: What's your business philosophy?
A: We are a local company so we like to keep things local. Being a family based company also we like to ensure that all decisions are made as a group or family. We work with the clients to make sure that their choices are implemented and as a family work together to make sure the client receives the best that they come to expect from us.

Q: Describe your office environment.
A: We are quite flexible with our office, working long hours that stretch between 9am and 2am. Studying computer science and learning from my role models we agree with the phrase "work quickly and break things" which allow us to always test our limits and push new ideas.

Q: Describe how your team interact and work together.
A: We all work of each other, throwing ideas around. No idea is set in stone so if the client changes their mind we will be fine to change things, and often break things in order to get them to how the client wants them. Nothing is out of our limits.

Q: What makes you different from other web design companies?
A: Being a family based design company and also having our roots all locally we all understand that family comes first. So we try to bring that to our business, having a nice atmosphere in the office along with treating our clients as one of the family really does set us apart.

Q: How do you get the majority of your business?
A: The majority of our business is local and by refferals. We ensure to do the best job we can so that you feel confident to tell your colleagues, family and friends about us so that they feel they can trust us also.

Q: Describe how you manage projects from the initial client contact to completion and handover.
A: Initial contact is usually via email, we then move to telephone conversations and have informal discussions on what they want the website do do and say to the world. We get their target market and try to understand how we can help the client. No web design is set in stone also so after the first quote and initial designs, if the client is not happy, we are not happy. once we have agreed on a design and have coded it, integrated any additional features such as social networking etc we then pass it on for testing, When the client is happy with the look and feel we then pass the site to them, along with guarantee that at any time they can contact us for help on the site. We do not have a fixed contract, if something goes wrong two years down the line, we want to fix it.

Q: What do you think is the most crucial element of creating a good client relationship?
A: Communication is key, if the client doesn't feel like we have listened to the brief then he will doubt the relationship we have. By talking and offering different ways for the client to contact us (email, phone, skype, Ichat) we are always around day and night, for informal talks about the site or for more detailed meetings. We do not mind coming to you to get a feel for what you like and what you would like your website to be.

Q: How do you manage demanding clients?
A: We manage all of our clients differently, and based on their needs, if it is demanding or not we can cater. If a demanding client needs the site to be completed by a set date and we feel under pressure, we will bring in additional designers and coders to ensure that the site is done on time.

Q: If a client was trying to decide between a shortlist of web design companies, how would you recommend they go about selecting the right one for them?
A: I think this is the hardest part not for us but for the client. The client would want a design company that they feel they can trust and also feel that they don't have to compromise on anything. We offer all of that but we believe that if the client truly wants to work with you, you shouldn't offer false promises but only the truth.

Q: Where do you see your company in 10 years time?
A: We would like to be made more available to the mass market of design but also keep our unique ability to keep each site different and fresh. Each design is a piece of art. We would be happy to still be where we are at the minute.

Q: Where do you see the web design industry in the future?
A: Semantic search is key here. Search Engines will understand your sentences and understand your brand. I believe that the web design industry will reduce significantly as the big players offer more "automate" systems for the lower end users and the more bespoke websites will become premiums which smaller companies can not justify the cost. However we do not aim to be either of these and appeal to all markets.

Q: What computers do you have use in your offices, PCs or Macs?
A: Both PC and Mac

Q: How was your company name chosen?
A: If you can believe our surname is Lees so it was fitting for us to go with the family name and being brothers (watch out it gets good from here) we went with Lees Brothers! (shock)

Q: If you were to give your clients one tip on how to get the most from their website what would it be?
A: Don't accept what the company say they can do for you. Make sure they can do what you want to be done. Compromise is not an option.