Number twenty-three: Don't bore them
Good day, I'm Troy Dean from Video User Manuals and Agency Mavericks. This is the 101 Ways to Elevate Yourself and Demand Higher Fees. A practical guide for WordPress consultants to start attracting better quality clients, work on better more interesting projects and get paid better fees. Now, let's go elevate.
Number 23, don't bore them. So, here's the thing. I don't write functional spec documents for two reasons. First of all, I think it's very, very difficult to explain in words what a client login section looks like in an eCommerce store for example. There are several questions that need answering. When the client logs in, can they access past invoices? Can they track orders? Can they update their payment details? What is it? Can they download previous files if you're selling digital products? What is it that the client can do once they're logged in?
Those functional specification documents can get extremely long and extremely complicated. I know that there are people who still swear by them and live and die by them, but one reason I don't write functional spec documents is because it's almost impossible to explain in words what is going to happen in the browser once users start using a website or a service. The other reason that I don't write functional spec documents is because a lot of other people do.
One way to differentiate myself straight away is to say, okay, I'm not going to write about what it is we're trying to achieve here. I'm going to show you. In one of the future videos in this series I'll actually give you some tips and techniques on building interactive prototypes to show your clients what it is we're talking about rather than trying to explain it in words. So, don't bore them with functional specification documents. Too many other people are doing it. That's one good reason not to because we're after extraordinary results here. We're not after average results. Start doing things differently and second of all it's really difficult to explain in words a visual medium like the web. So, don't bore them.
In the next video, I'm going to give you a book that you should read. Until then, go elevate. Make sure you subscribe to the 101 Ways Podcast in the iTunes store. Just search for 101 Ways to Elevate or visit us at wp101ways.com and download the free 101 Ways ebook.
