9 Success Steps To Dealing With A New Client
We often hear horror stories of freelancers who got burned while working for a client. Stories of non payment or delayed payment are not uncommon and the fact that we are dealing with people we don’t know and are hard to track down on the other side of the world makes it all the more complicated. Freelancers who have had a negative experience couldn’t do much else but to bite the bullet and get on with life.
In theory this sounds very noble and generous, but in practice it can burn us big time. Sometimes so much that some freelancers quit after experiencing such a misfortune.
But before you worry about misfortunes, let me tell you that they are rare. I’m not saying they don’t happen, but generally clients are people just like us wanting a service they pay for – we as the freelancer provide this service and that is how an often verbal contract gets entered.
By verbal I mean email communication. Some clients require us to sign a digital contract (these are usually the long term jobs) and others are fine to state their terms, offer and job description through email.
If you prepare yourself adequately you can minimize the risks of getting burned and the following bullet points will point you in the right direction.
9 Success Steps to Dealing with A New Client:
- Make sure you totally understand what is being asked of you. It pays to double check with the client if you are not sure about something before you start your work.
- Decide whether you want to be paid upfront for your services or a percentage of the agreed pay. This will become more an issue once your pay rate increases and the stakes get higher.
- Arrange payment method upfront (PayPal, Check, Direct Bank Deposit)
- Get the details of your employer if you can (Address, phone number, email which you should have through your conversations) And don’t be shy to return the favor.
A note on email: I’m always cautious when I see a business person using a Yahoo email address. It is just not professional enough.My alarm bells go up and this usually makes me check the clients credentials even harder.
- Discuss delivery method of the finished product. Does your client want the work delivered in Word, Excel, PDF or Notepad? Understand what’s is needed. You probably know that delivering big files via email is a pain in the butt. Many email providers have file size restrictions and even if you zip up your work some email providers simply can’t cope and your work will never be sent.
Tip: I always zip my clients work files and upload them to my server. It is easy for them to click on the download link at their end and I don’t have to crash my email provider.
- Agree on a delivery date! And then deliver on that date! This is important if you want to gain credibility. ALWAYS check with your client when he wants the work delivered by. If you are snowed under with existing work don’t be shy to tell your new client that it will take a few days longer. It is far better to state this upfront than having to email the client on the delivery day and say you are sorry but the work isn’t ready yet.
- Be courteous when engaging in email or phone conversation. Remember, your client isn’t your buddy yet. He might become one in the future but for now remember to treat him with respect and courtesy at all times.
- Once you deliver the work be sure to ask whether all is to the clients satisfaction. Offer to change things if needed.
- Ask for a testimonial after you are done and paid for. Many freelancers fail to ask because they might be afraid or feel too self conscious to do so. Testimonials will become part of your branding efforts and will help to attract new clients.
Bonus Tip: Once a client becomes a regular and you have worked for him for some time be sure to ask for a pay rise if deemed deserved. Since you become more experienced and provided you keep up your great work standards you fully deserve a pay rise and if you don’t ask – you might not get it.
If you stick to these 9 success steps to dealing with a client, you should be fine and your freelance gigs will go smoothly.
Please let me know if I forgot some important step, I will gladly add it as a bonus tip with a link back to your site.
Monika
Technorati Tags: freelance clients,freelance gigs,working with clients,writing,freelancing
About the Author: I'm a passionate freelance writer and problogger. To further build my business I'm also in the process of building my own niche empire which pays me residual income.
jblu | Dec 8, 2007 | Reply
Your list was very thorough, and I can’t think of anything else to add to it. I agree with the testimonials, or some sort of feedback system. Thanks for the great tips.
Tay - Super Blogging | Dec 9, 2007 | Reply
This was a very detailed article and I don’t think it could have been explained or written any better than this. Thanks for writing it!
Nicky Mares | Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Cheated by Client Story
The work done for this project may be seen at http://nickysworld.net.
I was hired for a straightforward case of web design; this person approved of
the work; she discussed ongoing maintenance and requested that I
upload the site and supplied the account info in order for me to do
so. The agreement to maintain the site was made on my part only in
exchange for the unused disk space on the server, and free of charge;
basically an act of good will and the best intentions on my part; she
also requested to pay half at that point, half after upload; here is
when things got interesting. Although my policy is work first, pay
later, upload last; on the assumption that I would be maintaining the
site I foolishly thought I could trust the her.
This person never paid half first but I went ahead and uploaded the
site. Agh. A few days later she informed me that the site was “funky”
and had reverted seemingly by itself to its previous state, which was
a generic template that she had made using the template builder
provided with the web host. Hmm. This time she made a $50 payment,
which was 1/2 of the ‘half first’ or 1/4 of the total payment;
requesting me to again upload the site, and informing of the new
password to the account, which had inexplicably been changed. Ok-? In
an effort to be helpful I stated the obvious in asking this person
whether she had used the template builder, which still had the old
copy of the template stored, which the client denied as if being
accused of something.
It was only a few days later when no further payment or instructions
appeared from the client that I realized what was happening. Ms.
Menage had waited for me to upload the site, then promptly changed the
password to shut me out. The client then stupidly attempted to use the
template builder to modify the new website, inadvertently reinstating
the old one by mistake. I sent a two-page email, which went
unanswered, patiently explaining the differences between the template
editor and alternative means to edit the site, something I had
contacted her about two weeks earlier, requesting to set a time when
we could put our heads together to implement a customized solution; a
request that also had gone unanswered. I then wrote another two emails
over the course of two days patiently explaining my position in our
agreement, all the things I had done and were willing to do for the
benefit of her website, and explaining that the agreed upon fee for
the site was more than $50.
After a few days this person responded. This time I had apparently
crossed the line and been irrevocably disrespectful in some way with
my ‘smart comments’; and no further pay would be forthcoming. Two
separate conversations are presented below.
Sadly, it is apparent that THIS CLIENT NEVER INTENDED TO PAY ME. It is
unfortunate that so many take advantage of Craigslist’s open market
system to cheat and connive their way through the system. Thank you
for taking the time to listen.
On 2/17/08, I wrote: (this is a small part of a 2-page letter)
Okay. Please don’t confuse content management with that Globuild
template builder they have got up on there. Templates are very limited
in that they can only allow you to change pictures and stuff around
within the look and style of a premade layout.
——————————— (etc.) ————————-
Because this is kind of starting to drag on and it seems we haven’t
been communicating very well and time has been getting wasted. I have
been trying to do everything you wanted me to do but when I asked you
a couple of weeks ago if we could set up a time to hook you up with
the content management you never got back to me; then last week you
On 2/17/08, Tanisha Clayton wrote: (apparently replying to a
completely different conversation)
> no. Any what else is new with this?
On 2/17/08, I wrote:
What part of what I said are you saying no to? I don’t know what else
is new with this because I don’t know what you are expecting me to do.
On 2/19/08, Tanisha Clayton wrote:
I dont even remember what this email was about. What’s with the bad
attitude? I spoke with Danielle and she says that you are very rude.
On 2/18/08, I wrote:
> Please complete payment for the site this week. You have my ongoing full support for minor issues such as technical problems with Globat, in addition to the number of pages in the Cover section, ad placement, and anything else relating to content management; in exchange for the extra space on the server I will be here to continuously support and update the site. But this is dragging on for too long and I really don’t know what more you expect from me. Please don’t dole out payments at me $50 at a time like that. This is a business and I am worth more than that.
On 2/19/08, Tanisha Clayton wrote:
I know that and I really don’t need all the smart comments. For all
that you can keep the $50 and take down the site. you and I both know
why I asked to only pay $50 and further you saw for your self that
something was funky with the site. Now that it’s up I have no problem
paying the remainder balance. The problem that I have is the smart
attitude further irritating me is the fact that I just got my email up
and running only to see emails like the one below.
And my “rude” email to her referral, Danielle:
What changes will you be wanting to make on a monthly basis? I assume
you said something about having monthly specials on there so we can do
that. I can start by suggesting that we put your slideshow from your
myspace page on to your brands page, instead of having “To view
current collections click here” link to your myspace page – that seems
kinda unprofessional. Also having “for map and directions click here”
link to Msn Live Maps is pretty sad especially since it is only
showing a map of the entire western half of the U.S. on my computer
when I click on it. I really hope you didn’t have to pay your previous
webmaster to create this for you.
Monika | Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
@ Nicky: I think you will go down in blogging history for the longest comment ever.
I think your comment must have been longer than the actual post itself.
When things go horribly wrong with clients I think the best thing would be to just forget about it. I know that is hard, since you have lost money but what goes around comes around belief me and this person will get her share of her own medicine in the future.
As hard as it is, sometimes we learn from exactly these clients and become even better at what we do.
I’m sorry for the anger and loss you went through and I have to say that dealing with Craigslist users equals highest caution! There are a lot of shoddy operators abusing the system to their own terms, so be careful.
Cheryl McNeil | May 6, 2008 | Reply
What a great post about dealing with clients. I would have to say I would probably add 1 item, and that is knowing how to read the client “cues” even in the information gathering stage before you agree to take on the project, hereby making informative decisions. You may decide that it is too complicated, or the client may be hard to work with, or the content is in too “raw” of a format to work with. That is the benefit of working for yourself! We can say yeah or nay on any project whenever we desire.
Monika | May 6, 2008 | Reply
@ Cheryl: Thank you for adding this valuable tip. I’m glad you liked the post and hope to see you back at some stage.
You are so right with the freedom of choice we have. Although I admit it does become easier the more our income grows. In the beginning stages of working as a freelance writer we might have to work with clients we are not so happy about because we need the money.
Karan Goyal | Jul 25, 2008 | Reply
And here is a website where you can research Job Titles and Descriptions, http://www.jobtitles.org