MODx Consultant

Hey guys,

I live in the UK about 60 miles from London and I mainly do freelance web design and development - today I got a call from an old friend who’s landed himself a sweet job as a web designer for a medial company in the capital - he said they’d seen my blog (through his recommendation) and they wanted me to go in for a meeting about being a MODx advisor for a network of sites they’re launching...

of course I said yes, nobody would turn down an opportunity like that - but I’m not sure how to approach the role, I think they’re expecting some kind of presentation in our initial meeting, and then for me to overlook the MODx and content management side of things...

I know they’re meeting with someone about a commercial content management system - which obviously wouldn’t be free and open source, but if they pay for a CMS it must be better, right? - and also paying for a product also comes with the belief that their data is more secure - and since they’re a medical company they will be fussy about that.

My old friend is leading the web team, and he needs to select a group of people to work with him - and we’d like to work together again - so if i can nail the meeting I’d be able to go up to London every week or so and act as MODx Consultant.

I’ve been using MODx since 0.9.5, however long that’s been, a few years I guess - so I’m pretty comfortable with it.

Anybody here got any advice or ideas for how I could approach this? Any really good selling points for the framework?

The benefit of commercial CMSes is that there’s a "company behind them". That doesn’t make them more functional or usable, but the perception with some clients is that it’s safer.

The guys building modx also happen to have a company that stands behind the product as well. If they need a security blanket we’ll be happy to offer a support contract "from the source", and one of our team members just-so-happens to be in Lincolnshire, so it’s a local time zone as well.

Thanks Ryan,

I will certainly let them know that we’ve spoken and that all the normal security and support features are available

Is there anymore advice anybody can offer for this kind of meeting - I’d preferably like to go back once a week or something, what could I say to make my consultations regular?

Any really good selling points for the framework?

modx sells itself. I have found that it is very easy to ’sell’ using modx to a client. Tell them about the flexibility, about the ease of use, the powerful manager interface, the commitment to the project that the developers have shown (why would they be working on the next level if they were not committed), the strength of the community, the cool snippets. Tell them about how the design is dicteted by the designer not by the cms. Tell them that the developers can use straight php as well as benefit from the api.

Anyway, you get the picture.

If you really want to dazzle them do a quick ’demo’ site (not THE demo site, do a custom one) and have it available for you to walk them trough adding pages and editing the template and stuff like that. 

Also don’t be surprised that they may be reading this post as well 

Yeah that’s a good idea also - I’ve only done a little consultation before, and showing them a working demo on the day didn’t actually occur to me.

And saying that the design is dictated by the designer and not the CMS is a great way to describe that side of things - which is one way many CMSs take control away from a site owner.

I think they’ll be more interested in how their web team can quickly learn and become familiar with the CMS and how powerful it can be - although I will also mention the community behind it and the commitment of its team.

haha, and yeah, I think if you Google "mallmus MODx" this topic comes up - I don’t mind them doing a background check on me...

Those are some really great points - I like the idea of duplicating a live site and neutralizing the branding - I might just do something like that...

I’ve just had another chat with one of their developers and it sounds like the management (not tech savvy) are skeptical of ’open source’ because it could mean anyone can edit the code that runs their CMS, and the MODx development team is just free reign and open to all... which obviously isn’t the case, but I think this is something I will need to make them feel comfortable with...

Adam,
Just noticed a typo on your home page.

What’s a Framework?!

Good question - coming from more of a design background that programming, I’ve always had difficulty grasping the...

Just noticed a typo on your home page.

Fixed

That sites getting a redesign, and I’ll scrap those blog posts - I should sort it out quicker...

So much to do, so many distractions...

The co i work for uses ModX as one of many CMS/CMF solutions for all kinds of business, and the data is only as secure as you make it whatever the language or licence or server technology.

Just remember to do all your homework on the security side!