We’re working with some consulting firms to bring on some people to support a Big Project we’re kicking off. One firm sent us a note describing their costs, terms and conditions, which seemed high.
But, more importantly, the sales guy had an animated sig block.
I’m not talking about an animated GIF, which would have been goofy. This was some sort of crazy-ass Java or CSS or something animated sig block, where stuff dropped from the top and slid in from the sides to make an elegant signature area.
And my very first thought was … jeez, how many programmer hours did you burn to do that, and why, and how many of them did you bill to a client?
I make fun of my company for even the CEO traveling coach and renting mid-sized cars. But we do it because the philosophy of the company is show the client we’re not marking up their contracts in order to spend their money on frills.
The animated sig block is very clever, but not only is it distracting, it’s style over substance. It indicates that either they had people with time on their hands that could be wasted like that, or else they billed a client for their time to do it.
Neither of which makes me want to hire their people.