Three Easy Ways To Keep Your Clients For A Lifetime
You’ve worked hard to get the clients you have, and the last thing you want to do is risk any of them having second thoughts about looking for another freelancer down the road. But in the real world, competition is fierce and you can’t guarantee your clients won’t develop a wandering eye. Or can you? Check out these slick moves that can transform a lukewarm client into a “raving fan” customer – for life.
Before We Begin: Why The Little Things Matter So Much
Your clients are busy people (just like you are) and anything that makes their lives more difficult or slows down their projects leaves a bad taste in their mouths that just doesn’t go away. Missed deadlines, sloppy work, or even “innocent” rework based on incomplete planning can reflect poorly on you and jeopardize your chance of drawing ongoing business from them.
But the coin has two sides – exceptional service, attention to detail and those little touches that show just how professional you really are – they have the exact opposite effect, coloring your clients’ perception in a positive way and making them fans for life. And once you’ve captured their hearts, you’ve got them forever. Here are three “little things” that can make all the difference for your freelancing success.
Slick Move #1: Cover All The Bases (Even The Ones They Never Thought Of)
How many times have you started on a project thinking you had all the information needed – and then discovered that you had to touch base with the client again and again to get “just one more thing?” All those little check-ins are an interruption for your clients, pulling their time and attention away from what matters most. While they may write it off to “Yeah, I never thought to ask that either” and sympathize, it still slows the process down. And that doesn’t help you at all.
The Move
Every time you have to touch base with a client to get information or decisions that you missed addressing in your earlier planning sessions, make note of it. Take those notes and build a template of questions to ask for the next similar project with them. Within a short time you’ll have a detailed checklist that will help you get all the information you need – and all the necessary decisions made up front – and your client will be impressed by how thoroughly you understand the needs of their projects.
Slick Move #2: Respond Quickly And Anticipate The Next Conversation
Your clients’ positive perception of you can live or die based on the speed at which you respond to their emails and phone calls. And while you shouldn’t be a slave to your clients, you know firsthand how much a quick response makes you feel better about a business. When your clients know that you’re on top of it all, and you aren’t going to leave them hanging, they’ll feel safe keeping their business with you.
The Move
Set a strict response time that you’ll hold yourself to when a customer contacts you and make sure you stick to it. But do more than just answer their initial concern – look ahead to see if additional issues might be just over the horizon. Think of what questions they might ask you next, and pre-emptively check in to see if they need more information on other things. The way to develop this “sixth sense” is to keep track of all your client communications and recognize the patterns within. Often one question will lead to another – and if you can do the leading, you not only save them time but also wow them with how on top of things you are.
Slick Move #3: Say What You Mean, And Mean What You Say
When clients ask you “How long will this take?” it’s tempting to give an answer that will make you look like a high-achieving powerhouse. But that’s a gamble that doesn’t pay off if you can’t deliver. Your clients will be arranging schedules around your deliverables – and if you’re late, that not just bad news for you. Your client may have to pay the price as well … and that doesn’t bode well for future work.
The Move
Become a better estimator by tracking how long your projects really take – not just the work itself, but the interruptions, setbacks and obstacles that happen as well. Over time you’ll develop a powerfully accurate ability to estimate the true timeline of a project, and you’ll be able to confidently give estimates that reflect real-world conditions. And that leaves you with two ways to win – you either make the client happy by delivering on time, or you have fewer setbacks than expected and deliver early. Do this consistently, and your reputation becomes golden.
Slick Move #4: Only You Have The Answer To This One …
When it comes to wowing your clients and giving them great reasons to stick with you forever, what slick moves do you have up your sleeve? Take a minute right now and share your best tips for impressing your clients and check out the tips others leave as well.
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Comfortable client relationships are founded on trust. I oftentimes will break down my hourly estimates so they can see specifically where my time will be going, and I guarantee them that if for any reason I complete the project faster than projected, they will not be billed. People love to say this, but are loath to actually do it when wrapping up a job. But I stick to my word, and I only charge for my actual time worked with no rounding up or padding.
Example: A recent client had a project I projected at 28 hours which pushed her budget to its max. She agreed anyway, having worked with me in the past, and when I finished the job in less than 18, she was extremely grateful at my honesty and ethical stance. After she received my discounted invoice, she decided to pay me for the full projected cost anyway and told me that I’d earned it in her eyes.
Moral: You can’t go wrong with good, ethical business practices.
I liked the “Slick Move #1″. I never thought of that.
Slick move #3, risky, but if it’s done right – the client will be yours
Great post, great writing,
Cheers mate! Hope to see more from you
Thanks for the post. I have a couple of clients that I have had for a couple of years and definitely don’t want them to go anywhere. Any tactics or techniques I can use the keep them around I appreciate.
Great tips, I’m going to start #1 because it seems I’m always forgetting something.
Number #2 is something I do frequently. I actually set and alarm on my calendar for a reminder of when to re-contact a client. Helps especially when you have the clients that ask you to contact them in 3 months. lol
Good article.
Agree with number 1. theres nothing worse than being interrupted multiple times for stuff that could have been covered earlier if it was thought ot.
Number 2 – definately a key factor. No one likes to wait for answers. Give them you mobile, msn anything, so they know that you will sort stuff out quickly for them. I have a client that used to wait weeks for some simple things to be done by their web designer, and sometimes to do similar things, I will take 2-3 minutes, while speaking to them via messenger. Makes a big difference for clients to know that you don’t disappear.
In regards to number 3, if you give a client too shorter time frame they may question why they are paying you so much, so best to be honest with how long it will take i think.
Slick Move #4: Be clear on the rates and stick to the price for every client: This I think is the 4th most important, because no one wants to be under paid and if you give a discount one time, just to get the job, you will have a client for a life time, but He will always ask for less. Discounts are made in really special ocasions and cannot be confused with your real rates.
Very good article indeed.
Slick move #3, risky, but if it’s done right – the client will be yours
Great post, great writing,
I have two tricks to add to this.
One is “a good magician never reveals his secret”. Even tiny tasks (especially technical ones, like tracing a low-res GIF of a logo in Illustrator or fixing page numbers on Powerpoint slides) can seem insurmountable to many corporate clients I deal with. I’ve learned not to be so quick to tell them how easy it is, or explain the 2 steps it took to do it (unless they ask, of course, I wouldn’t intentionally exaggerate something’s complexity). When, 20 minutes later, I send the client back their file, etc., with a nice note not to hesitate to contact me if they need anything else on this, and they thank me profusely and call me a life-saver, I just take the complement. It’s a tendency (in dating as well) to be TOO humble and a little self-deprecating when being appreciated. It’s a bad instinct to say “Oh, it wasn’t anything really, I just clicked the blah-blah button and did this with my software’s automated tool and boom, there goes the dynamite”. It’s nice to be the magician who can fix anything quickly. Give a client a fish and he buys fish from you forever; teach a client to fish and you’ll be looking for a new client.
The second is that sending emails at 7am makes you look professional, enviable and industrious; sending emails at 3am makes you look like a young slacker nerd. I can’t explain it, but somehow I think clients picture you as a sloth or a freak or a kid when you send emails at times when normal, professional, married adults would never be awake. I just think they’d be more likely to picture you with a nose ring and tattoos when they see emails that were sent at 4am, and you really want them to see you as a white-collar consultant. So I always schedule my 3am emails to be sent at 7am instead (using Outlook’s “do not deliver before” feature), and leave my computer on. (Caveat: this can backfire if the client Blackberries you back at 7:01am and you don’t reply until 10am when you roll out of bed.)
Very Interesting!
Nice post,
at Dan:
2 very good points! and the last sentence in the 2nd tip made me laugh!
‘Give a client a fish and he buys fish from you forever; teach a client to fish and you’ll be looking for a new client.’
Genius!
Nice one Dan, made me laugh out loud!…that’s LOL to you young wippersnappers
“Caveat: this can backfire if the client Blackberries you back at 7:01am and you don’t reply until 10am when you roll out of bed.”
I had a similar problem but nearly the opposite. I sent out an email at 1am and then didn’t bother checking outlook again until the morning (who else would be checking their business email right?) Turns out he responded back at 1:05… yeesh
Also something I did when I worked in office: I always had whatever project I was working on, and whatever emails/info I had on it on screen even when it was unnecessary during brainstorming & idea gathering when I do most of my thought process out on paper. Nothing worse then going through ideas in your head and on a notepad when your boss walks in and sees, not the notepad but your back and the blank screen! Thankfully this isn’t necessary at home.