Do we actually value attention?

I have always believed it is important to give attention. Whether it is to the work you do or the people you are talking to. But I have also experienced many times, that you can’t make people pay attention if it doesn’t come naturally to them.

The questions is, do we actually value attention? And the more I look around the less I believe so. I see companies hire agencies and consultants to do work, that they surprisingly want to pay for.

It reminds me of a fun little story. I have been working with a client from Denmark for several years. I have been helping with catalogs, newsletters, campaign management, exhibitions, concept designs etc. And on top of that we have been maintaining their IT systems and infrastructure, and helped expanding to a newer platform and so on. We know their company and ways of working pretty much inside out.

For at least a decade they have been in the need of a new website. It wasn’t easily maintainable, not mobile friendly, had no SEO support, running on an outdated and insecure codebase and it was UUUUUUGLYY!!! I could go on. Several times I had informed them about the importance in remaking their website, but they always had excuses not to.

Finally one day, they reached out to me and asked me to provide them with an estimate on making a new website, that could interact with their new ERP system, and be maintainable from each department and so on. I provided them with an in-depth proposal covering all aspects of data exchange, API, ERP communication, integration with a custom built headless CMS, and all other necessities. I knew exactly what the needed and made it clear how things had to be carried out.

Now…. I am not cheap.. I have to admit that… But they took my proposal into consideration.. And then I never heard back from them regarding this matter for a long time. Then suddenly about half a year later, I get an email that they just switched to their new website, but they have encountered some issues that they wanted help to resolve. This is where I realised that they have hired a different company to build it - but with a few surprises.

Firstly, they actually didn’t use any of the elements I had described in my proposal. The new website didn’t include any of the needed features. It is built on top of an Open Source CMS with a tweaked theme (not WorkPress at least, but almost as bad). No custom web design. No way to use their new ERP system or have representatives communication using API. And probably the biggest surprise of all - they paid almost the exact same for it, as my initial estimate. They probably saved 20% but they also only got 20% of the solution the needed.

So.. yeah…. Apparently attention is not as valuable to some companies as sales spiel, fancy Copenhagen offices and a few thousand euroes saved.