Q: What's your name and position in the company?
A: Julian Hockings, owner.
Q: Describe your company in 5 words.
A: Affordable quality custom websites.
Q: What's your business philosophy?
A: Find out what the client wants and provide it as quickly and inexpensively as possible while still keeping a high standard. Not a cut-rate service, but not out to gild the lilly either.
Q: Describe your office environment.
A: High speed Mac computer with Windows virtualization software for testing. Dual monitors for efficiency. High speed broadband.
Q: Describe how your team interact and work together.
A: Most work is done by me, but for things such as data entry or other low-level work, I will bring in lower priced helpers. We communicate via email.
Q: What makes you different from other web design companies?
A: Who knows? Crunch42 is small, agile, and more interested in effectiveness than flashiness.
Q: How do you get the majority of your business?
A: Client referrals provide 75% of my business, and the other 25% find me online through web searches.
Q: Describe how you manage projects from the initial client contact to completion and handover.
A: It depends on the client. Some clients need more hand-holding than others. Some clients prefer the phone, and some prefer email.
Q: What do you think is the most crucial element of creating a good client relationship?
A: Understanding the client's expectations is crucial, and I'm able to explain whether the expectations are realistic or not.
Q: How do you manage demanding clients?
A: Since I charge by the hour, I'm happy to spend as much time with the client as the client wants to spend.
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: Try contacting them to see which ones returned your call or email within 24 hours. Provide a good description of what you're looking for and include your budget, and see what their replies are. Good replies should attuned to your request. Good replies should reference your budget and provide a breakdown of fees. Check for past client references and/or testimonials. Lack of testimonials is a bad sign.
Q: Where do you see your company in 10 years time?
A: Ten years is too long a timeframe to predict the future. By then all web design could be being done by an iphone app.
Q: Where do you see the web design industry in the future?
A: I see artificial intelligences creating all websites in the future, bringing costs way for the client. But that's ten or twenty years away.
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: It was short, it was available, and hopefully it's memorable.
Q: If you were to give your clients one tip on how to get the most from their website what would it be?
A: Sign up for Google Analytics and learn how to use it to measure your website's effectiveness so you can constantly implement small changes that add up.
