I never charge for the first meeting because it offers me the opportunity to evaluate the customer.
Some customers really don't know what features they need on there website, and as a result will generally not be prepared to pay the amount I would ask for for designing the site. If they don't know what features they need on there own website ~ which is supposed to be a reflection of his own company ~ I won't take him seriously. Just like he probably won't take my quote seriously.
However, if a customer seems determined to make a real attempt to get noticed online I will gladly send them a detailed quote for free also. The meeting allows us to throw plenty of ideas back and forth and I include all of them in the quote, priced individually.
This way a customer can see exactly what he is paying for, and if it is a little out of his range he can always suggest removing some of the unnecessary features.
When his site does "take off" and the customer sees a return on his money they have always come back and requested the features that were a little out of his price range to begin with 
It's also worth noting that a detailed quote can really impress the client. I provide a brief 1 page summary at the start of the quote and a further 6 pages of details, showing how long I expect it to take me to work on each area of his site. I even go so far as to include details on what each "technical term" means, for example I explain what HTML, PHP, etc all mean. If a client is interested in making his business a success online, he should be interested in the very basics of how his site works.
The last client I signed informed that this was the reason he chose me for the job. He received 8 different quotes (ranging from £50 - £4000) and he loved all of the detail I had included because it showed the client that I really understood what his needs were.
Cheers,
Will |
