Website development to order: who and how pays for the preparation of technical specifications?

Question

Freelance

Situation:
The customer needs a website, he does not have a technical specification and he wants to know the cost in order to understand whether to work with us or not. There is a salesman who found this customer and made him a "warm contact" and there is a PM techie who will lead the project with the developers and advise the customer on technical issues. moments.
Given:
We proceed from the axiom that for successful interaction between the customer and the contractor , competent and clear technical specifications are needed.
We form the problem: the preparation of technical specifications costs from 3 hours of time, and they must be paid, but when, how and in what form?
First, let's reveal the concept of the word "TK", which implies 3 documents:

• Prototype (mockup) of all pages of the site
• Description of the logic and algorithms of the website functionality
• Wishes for the design (for example, a completed brief)

Now it is clear why this should be paid, because. after drawing up the technical specification, there is still its coordination with the customer. Each document has its own requirements and level of detail. We are not going into the methods of compiling the TOR itself now, but we are operating with general categories, because this is generally a separate conversation ... For now, let's omit this moment.
There are 2 options for receiving money for compiling TK:

1. Train, talking about the need for technical specifications and receive money from the customer for compiling it
2. Draw up for free, but include in the cost of the project

Option 1: unlikely, because the customer needs to be trained and instilled in his mind the very idea of ​​TK. That he pays not to hear the cost and he does not need this piece of paper, but to draw up a clear step-by-step plan-guide for creating his site. And this point is unlikely, because a good half of the customers are not ready or do not want to study for various reasons.
Option 2: Not the fact that it will pay off, because order may be cancelled. Time will be spent, and the person will not be satisfied with the price.
Solution
In principle, Option 2 is the most viable, but it can only be applied if you have a statistical sample of conversion from stage to stage. But there are also disadvantages: the frustration of the PM when its TK is not accepted, statistical error, force majeure, the vulnerability of the system itself (you can artificially bombard with projects), and so on.
Question
What can be improved in the current system and is there a better alternative?

Answer 1

Calculate as the ratio of the net cost of the project to the cost of designing the TOR.
If TK is more than 3-5% - take money for TK. Otherwise - it makes no sense.

Answer 2

A sane customer is absolutely not interested in your throwing about paying for some kind of TK.
He needs a solution to a problem/problem.
Until you offer a specific solution to his very specific problem, no one will run to pay for a "piece of paper".
The best option is to have a project manager who will identify tasty clients, conduct a dialogue, work through the documentation (presale), offer a solution and lead to a deal. After the customer is determined with the contractor, the TOR is written, which is a mandatory annex to the contract.
All together, this is called a service, which in practice you will not find in the afternoon with fire - and therefore there is no competition anywhere in Russia.

Answer 3

Several times I personally was the so-called. "contact person" for customers.
As usual, everything happens, I think, they roughly understand: "our site is not modern enough / functional / does not work on the new director's iPhone / I just want it in green tones." That's about such a "TK" is lowered to this very "contact person". As you understand, it’s not particularly convenient for me to deal with pictures “what the site will look like” - I need to at least draw, but run around, coordinate, and in the end, I’ll probably be extreme, because I didn’t take into account something there (of course I didn’t take into account ... but I have no idea that this needs to be discussed / that such a thing exists at all / etc.).
Therefore, I will make every effort to ensure that the thankless work is done by specially trained (underline the previous two words) people and agreed directly with the wisher. They want money for it - so be it. It's not my problem.
BUT! When I come to the one who gives money and say "first you need to give money for TK" - I will most likely be sent.
And there are also cases when I first need to study the market, draw up a "competitive table" and put it on the table to the authorities. And here the fact that you have to pay in advance for something there will essentially put an end to cooperation with you, because there will certainly be companies in the tablet that don’t take money for this (about quality and other matters that are not in the tablet convey I represent).
The conclusion that I would make: do the TK yourself, do not take money (or imperceptibly). It is unlikely that you have such single mega-original orders - because this TK will be partially or completely usable in the future. 3 hours you say? Well, let him. This is your bread. Do all managers-draughtsmen-designers (or who do you have there? honestly - I don’t know) work so tightly that this opportunity cannot be found?
Added after the conclusion: in theory, if you are paid for technical specifications, then you will not be able to use these developments somewhere else.

Answer 4

Each individual project has its own TK, for a specific order, system, customers. Also, the TOR includes page sketches, prototypes and options agreed with the customer, if possible, business models, UML models, etc. In general, the better and more written in the TOR, the easier it will be later for both the developer and the customer to understand what he wanted. And since such a situation, then such a TK usually costs money. Separately pay or include in the project budget, negotiated with the customer. But pay for sure. If not a simple landing page, albeit with a landing page, a simple TOR or a list of requirements can be drawn up.

Answer 5

3 hours are enough to draw up the TOR and the field of activity (website construction) pushes towards the hypothesis of streaming production. Why, if this is the case, not have a standard TOR (well, two, three, five) as a template for a separate document or addition to the contract? The finished template, by virtue of human nature, spurs creative zeal in the customer (well, or in some cases, on the contrary, flatters the customer's conservatism and his commitment to the beaten paths).

Answer 6

TK is nothing more than a formalized result of negotiations between the customer and the contractor. Sometimes it's not just one phone conversation, but a multi-month saga. Firms take this risk to get a profitable customer. And only after verbal agreements have been reached, you methodically describe it in the ToR. If after that the client refuses to sign the ToR, then your manager screwed up epically, and it’s generally unclear what he was doing with the client.
That is, you take out the TK in some separate essence, for which you want money, but you don’t want money for previous conversations. And I want to convey to you the idea that the TK is the tip of the iceberg, which hides a much more difficult job - to understand what the customer wants.
There is a risk that a formalized TK has an independent value, and with it the client can go into the sunset, laughing terribly. But in practice this does not happen. And if it does, then he has no right to use it legally.

Answer 7

If it takes more than an hour or two to draw up the technical task, then it is mandatory to take the money

Answer 8

Development by prof. tz, sometimes it costs more than the project itself. But of course the customer, the price is included in the price of the project.