How much time do you burn setting up quotes for clients who are just shoppers? Most times I can feel these people out earlier on but I think my talents are slipping me. Its hard to give a random price for something that is always a little different than the next guy over, you know?

Unfortunately, you'll always have window browsers. I don't mind being told NO - at least much more so than a prospect just dropping off the face of the earth after they've asked for your assistance and you've taken the time to put together a solution you think will work for them.

I work closely with two design companies in that while I'm not their manager, I play management roles when it comes to how the business operates. One strict rule that I have is that quotes are ballpark figures which will go up or down. If a client wants a detailed quote, that takes time, and that costs money. In my experience they're happy to pay for the quote or if they choose to go through the design process with the company then that price is absorbed into the design price as a credit (so the quote is essentially free).

Time is money, it's ALWAYS money. Granted, we're not dealing with the guy that wants a design from scratch for $500, we're dealing with a different base of clients, but they're the market that we are after. Those in the busienss with the money needed to hire our services have no problem spending the $75 or $100 on a quote.

I'm also a believer in the NO-SPEC (do not do sample designs on spec work). http://www.nospec.com for more information. You'll see at the bottom of the page that Hands-on believes strongly in this frame of thinking and we provide the hosting to their organization. NEVER do work without being paid for your ideas.

I do some very simple design work and I absolutely cannot stand for people to ask and ask, I've had one lady who comes back each month and asks for quotes then never orders but you know I just go on and walk it out with her because I aim for customer service to be a+. I do need to workout a TOS for this specific thing as quotes have always been free but I am going to have to take time to figure something out as I spend way too much time doing free quotes.

The only reason I have not done the quote/credit/apply method is that honestly, most people never want to deal with it (from my own experience), however thinking back to the time I have burned in the past few months knowing I could very well be doing a number of other things, I am rethinking my original thought.