The Secrets to Keeping Your Freelance Clients Happy
Written by Cedric Solidon on January 28th, 2009 at 4:43 PM
Keeping your clients happy, that is, delivering what they expect, should be at the top of your list as a freelancer. Having happy clients can translate to long term work and even referrals if they’re really happy working with you.
The great thing with having regular clients is that you spend less time looking for new clients, giving you more time for other worthwhile activities (e.g. doing that side project you’ve been planning to do for years).
But just how do you keep your clients happy? Below are surefire tips that will ensure your clients will love you and give you steady gigs in the future.
Submitting Your Deliverables on Time
Most of your clients work within a timetable and part of that timetable includes your deadline. So if you fail to send the deliverable within the deadline, it will affect your client’s entire schedule.
So make sure you deliver your work on time. Better yet, deliver it earlier than you promised. I haven’t heard any of my clients complain because I sent in my work early. But of course make sure that the work’s clean and doesn’t indicate that you made it in a hurry.
But sometimes, things don’t go as planned and you miss the deadline like when your computer suddenly crashes or your internet connection gets, well, disconnected. When things like these happen, you should get in touch with your client immediately. Don’t delay.
Next time, put a buffer on your deadlines to accommodate unexpected events. If for example you think you can finish the work in day, add another day to it just in case something wrong happens.
Follow Your Client’s Instructions
Nothing’s more frustrating for a client than when his writer or designer fails to follow his instructions. I experienced the same thing while working as an editor for an online company a few years back. I sometimes edited works of writers wherein the focus is off from what we talked about or the number of words are still lacking, etc. It was a waste of time.
Your client’s time is as valuable as yours so don’t waste it. Make sure that the details are clear before you start the project. Or if there are things you don’t understand, ask your client for clarifications.
Submit Works That You Can Put Your Name On
It’s a fact of a freelancer’s life that there are clients who won’t be completely happy with your initial output. They’re the type who will ask for several revisions until they’re satisfied.
But even if this is the case, your first draft should be good enough that you can be proud to tell people that you’re the one who did it. Who knows, your client just might decide to publish your work without editing it. Once it’s published and you think you did a crappy job, you might cringe everytime you see your work and wish you spent more time perfecting it.
How about you, do you have other secrets to keeping your freelance clients happy? Type them away on the comments box below!
Photo courtesy of kirsche222 @ sxc.hu.
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3 Responses to “The Secrets to Keeping Your Freelance Clients Happy”
By website design on Jan 29, 2010
The trickiest part, I’ve found, is when a client wants something that one would not be proud of posted somewhere, and they won’t take a critical word or suggestion against that.