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I am not yet in this situation, but see it coming in the near future, so I
thought I'd get a jump start on this.
My business primarily designs web sites and provides internet/computer
training for small businesses. I am wondering how other consultants handle
working with more than one firm in the same industry. For example, I have
been approached by two different residential real estate firms for
information. One is serious about a web site now and has requested a
full-blown proposal after our initial meeting. I have spoken with the other
by phone, but they do not seem interested at this point and have not
requested a proposal.
Since a web site acts as a marketing tool, how do people handle working with
competing businesses? I have thought about creating a policy that says I
will provide training for anyone, but will only design sites for one
business per industry. But that really limits my market in this area. I
have also considered working on only one web site at a time from any given
industry, but what happens when customer 1 wants maintenance while I'm
working on a site for customer 2? I do have one client who insisted on a
non-compete agreement, which lists specific business types for which I
cannot consult. I had no problem with this now because it is a very small
market segment (only 2 or 3 other firms do what they do) and it has been
well worth my while in billable time.
If people want to reply privately, I'm happy to summarize for the list.
Beth Moeller
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Beth Weise Moeller
Interactive Media Consulting
beth -at- imediaconsult -dot- com http://www.imediaconsult.com
