Ignore the pearls, swine, and root your way along

I made a phone call to a potential web client earlier this week, following up on a sales presentation days earlier where I presented two totally decent designs and two very low prices, $350 & $500. It was the first time in a while I was non-plused.

I was mildly stunned because I was expecting some questions from a client who wasn't very web- or tech-savvy. I was expecting some haggling. What I got was: "We're not interested because it looks a little pricey, and we don't think it will do us much good." It still amazes me; since I have either already explained these things to this negative person and can't go any further without being myself (read: "rude"), I'll vent here.

First, "pricey?" Half-a-grand or less for some top notch designs, plenty of pages to support a Ma-n-Pa business and some fancy back-end widgets to pave the way for easy client contact is such a gift of services it should be considered theft! This client should have greedily written a check and snickered all the way back to his/her dank little office, congratulating herself at his/her business acumen at having some money-hungry web noodge over a barrel!
I only quoted such a low cost (about half what the service was worth) because I have the unfortunate compound of excess time and a dearth of money. This cost and these services were definitely stacked in his/her favor, but s/he didn't see it. Should s/he ever stumble over a bargain like this again, I hope that she grabs it by the balls and runs like Hell.

Second, the value: the designs were templates from very gifted sources, had colors that matched his/her business's design scheme, and offered plenty of room for this business to market its regionally-based services and products. They looked great, and would represent her professionally and positively. One included Flash animation, Webforms for the easiest of contact, and an e-mail list builder, allowing the client to easily reach out to interested parties for pennies. There is virtually no web presence in this region for the clients' competition. As it is now, clients Web-searching for this profession will go to Lodi or Stockton for this need, or go with word-of-mouth recommendations of better-known local businesses, having no idea an alternative exists! Bah!

All of this rushed through my head in the space of 0.75 seconds, and it was all I could do to stammer out: "er, ooookay, thanks a bunch...!" and keep my car on the road. Having expurgated this mental soot onto digital paper, something occurs to me. If I can drain the venom off this message, I can send the remainder to the client in a final effort to change his/her mind. Couldn't hurt...