>I treat clients as adults. If the client is at a point to actually contract work, that means the following:
>
>1. They know what they want (it may be hard to get an understanding of what they want but that's a different matter < s >)
>2. They have done the responsible thing beforehand and shopped their need around - this means they have looked for off-the-shelf products to meet their need. If they found something then they wouldn't be in a position to contract work.
>
>These are big assumptions on my part but I feel they are valid.
>

I think it depends who the client is. I know that I've talked to small businesspeople who haven't a clue about the difference between custom software and off-the-shelf. They've heard I'm in the software business, so call. More often than not, their needs can be filled by an off-the-shelf package.

Tamar