Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Choosing A Service Provider (part 2)

Business people and companies that are seeking internet marketing and website design services frequently make bad choices on who to hire. This often happens becuase they are completely baffled about what to do and default to that "wonderful" choice of lowest price. Our industry is riddled with hacks and low-talent people that mislead clients on what they can do for their business and these are almost always the "low price guys".

I am a strong advocate for taking some time to qualify vendors at two levels. This posting will focus on the first level which are static facts to qualify a company. These are:

1) Does the company have a business license? Ask them for a copy of their license to verify that they are legitimate.
2) Do they have a Federal Tax ID number? If they don't they may be the kind of person or company that will disappear on you.
3) Do they have a regular business office, and/or personnel? Any company with their name on a lease and a support staff is poised to handle business. What you need to beware of are the folks that do this work part-time or "as they feel like it".
4) Do they have any credentials like a Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating, membership in industry associations or a long list of references?
5) How long have they been in business under their current name? Any business that changes names has something to hide. Ask to see copies of their business license for at least 3 years to verify.

These are simple FACTUAL things that you can check to do a preliminary evaluation on any potential vendor. In our next post we will discuss the subjective criteria such as qualifications, work quality and reputation. Check back soon for part 3 of our series on choosing a vendor.

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