We are currently doing some big work for a major client. We hire some forth party vendor to do some heavy lifting for us because we are swamped with other work. I was never in any of these calls so I don’t know the whole story. Maybe the vendor has some really great reasons for dropping the ball but here’s my take on it. Apparently the vendor was talking the right talk and promising us the moon. They had a good amount of time to create several Flash sites. Time passes and we need to see progress. The vendor literally submits an FLA with an imported PSD file in it for graphics. Some minimal code which was in AS2 when in the contract we specifically stated AS3. What they submitted may have taken one of us here maybe 30 to 45 minutes to do. We now have a week to bring the project inhouse and spit out 5 sites along with all the other work we are supposed to deliver to our other clients. If you ask me who really gets scarred in this transaction it is the Digital Media team. Its crap like this that keeps us at work till 2 am instead of 10 pm.

A good rule of thumb if you are a vendor is to under promise and over deliver. That gives your client that “HOLY CRAP THESE GUYS ARE AMAZING” bang factor that compels them to keep you as a vendor, send you an ungodly amount of work, and pay you your well deserved hefty fee (within reason of course). If a vendor wants to run with the Pros, he has to train like a Pro, commit like a Pro, and deliver like a Pro. Don’t jerk your clients around especially when there are reputations to uphold and potential millions of dollars at stake. If you make a commitment and you don’t know how the hell you are going to pull off some magical whurly gig that you have never done before, work your ass off and do everything possible to figure it out. Get some consultation before you commit if necessary. Maybe we just expect everyone to put out the quality of work we do. Maybe we are part of the few that strive to do fantastic work. But Good Lord man, If you make a commitment, keep it. If you get a scope of work that you know is way over your head, consider not taking it and keep learning. After reading this if you are an Interactive Vendor or Freelancer and want to be considered to do some great work, contact me with your info and portfolio and I’ll see about hooking you up with some ICG projects. Check out my portfolio section, it is 99% ICG work.