Building Long-Term Client Relationships - Part 6: Nine Tips for Success

In previous posts, I’ve described how I build long-term client relationships. My goal was to provide examples that might be helpful to other freelancers. This final installment in the series will summarize the key points from the previous posts in nine tips:

• Focus your business on providing services that you enjoy, that you are good at, and that your clients want and need.
• Begin with the end in mind. Start off each client relationship in a way that will lead to a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship.
• Operate with total integrity and honesty, and always treat every client with respect.
• Take time to get to know each client and understand his projects. This will build confidence and trust in your client as well as making your job easier.
• Offer suggestions and expert advice that will be helpful to your client.
• Become a valuable resource to your client. If you don’t perform the service the client needs, consider outsourcing it. At the very least, offer a referral to help the client find a reliable service provider.
• Stay in regular contact with your client, whether you are working on a project or not. E-mailing interesting and useful information periodically will benefit the client and keep you top of mind.
• Strive always to make the client’s life easier.
• Treat each client, even on a small job, as a valued long-term client because every client has the potential to become a long-term client and to refer other long-term clients to you.

My long-term clients are the foundation of my freelance business, and I love to hear them say I seem to be able to read their minds.

I hope these tips have been helpful to you. Please share your own tips for building long-term client relationships in comments.

[tags]long-term client relationships, freelancing[/tags]

Building Long-Term Client Relationships - Part 5: Example - The Relationship Continues

I’m sharing the story of how I developed a long-term relationship with a hypothetical client, Susan, who is really a composite of several clients. As in the previous post, I’ll share my client experience and intersperse comments about how a long-term client relationship developed.

Now that Susan’s book was edited, we discussed the next steps. She had read the Self-Publishing Primeras well as several of the resources listed in the primer. She had registered her company name, got a mailbox and a business phone line, and opened a business checking account. Although she had the information she needed to purchase her ISBNs, she gave me her credit card number and asked me to place the order online. She didn’t mind making phone calls or even going to the county office to register her business name, but she wasn’t comfortable placing an order online.

Susan had developed enough trust in me during the editing process that she was more comfortable giving me her credit card information than placing an order online herself. By respecting the confidentiality of her information and ensuring the order was placed properly, I reinforced her trust.

I offered to provide Susan with a list of cover designers, formatters, and printers. However, she asked if I would get quotes and give her my recommendation in each category. Along with the quotes, I showed her samples of work done for other clients. I gave her a quote from a formatter who had many years of experience in book layout, and I gave her a quote for me to do it. The price quotes were the same, and I pointed out to Susan that the other person had more experience than I did. However, she said she preferred for me to do because she knew me and trusted me.

She chose the cover designer and the  printer that I recommended. In comparing printers, I had asked for quotes for 500, 750, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 copies. I shared with her in general terms - without identifying individual clients - the quantities of books my other clients typically order. She should consider the following in determining how many books to order, I suggested: the unit cost, the total cash outlay in relation to her budget, her available storage space, and the amount and kind of marketing she intended to do. I also mentioned that other clients who had written similar books had discovered new information they wanted to add or other changes they wanted to make in a second printing, which was much easier if the original order wasn’t a huge quantity.

Susan had a statistician help her determine the number of descendants of her ancestor who was the main character. She learned there were probably at least 10,000 living descendants, and she expected that descendants of other characters in the story as well as people interested in history of the period would also be potential book buyers. Although the unit price was the lowest for 2500 copies, Susan decided that 1000 copies was the best quantity for her.

Giving Susan the information she needed to make the right publishing decisions showed her I was working in her best interests and continued to build a collaborative working relationship. Susan felt that I was as interested in the success of her book as she was.

Throughout the process, I was available to consult with Susan on any aspect of self-publishing. I gave her feedback on the cover design and proofread the text in final format. We discussed the timing of the release of the book and scheduled it in time for Susan to have copies available for a family reunion. I suggested a news release about the book; Susan agreed, and I wrote a release for online distribution as well as for local media and the media in the community where the family reunion would be held.

I registered Susan’s domain name, provided Web hosting, designed her Web site, and installed the shopping cart. To encourage early orders, she took my advice to offer a free e-book that could be downloaded immediately when someone ordered a print book. Susan asked me to create a business card with her contact information on one side and the book cover and blurb on the other. I also made up a pre-order flyer that we sent to Susan’s family mailing list. At my recommendation, she offered a discount for books ordered in advance for her to deliver at the family reunion. We started a blog on her site - Susan sent me draft blog posts in e-mail or dictated them over the phone.

Susan began to think of me first for whatever advice or services she needed for publishing or marketing her book. By this time, she felt that I knew her book as well as she did so I could do a better job of just about anything to do with the book than someone who had not spent months getting to know Susan and her book.

Since the book was published, Susan has continued to call on me - to send out review copies of the book; to register with Amazon.com and with a distributor; to submit her book to contests and promotional sites and her blog and Web site to directories; to maintain her Web site and to edit and post blog posts; to send news releases about booksignings; to make the initial contact for potential appearances …

Susan doesn’t have to learn to do these things herself, and she doesn’t have to look for a different provider for various projects she wants done. She is confident that if I can’t provide the service myself, I can recommend a reliable person or company.

I stay in regular contact with Susan and all my author clients. I have a distribution list in Outlook, and whenever I find something that I think would be interesting or helpful I sent the e-mail to myself with a BCC to my author client list. A marketing tip in a blog, a new promotional opportunity, statistics on the publishing industry, anything they might want or need to know. Often Susan and several other clients respond to these messages asking me to take advantage of the promotional opportunity for their books.

For example, an acquaintance e-mailed me asking for donations for a silent auction at a gala fund-raising event for a literacy organization. They wanted to keep the auction items related to books and reading and would provide good publicity for the donors. I passed the request along to my author clients, and I’m assembling a number of donations - individual books and a gift basket of several books. The literacy organization benefits from the income generated at the auction, and my clients benefit from the publicity.

The messages provide valuable information to my clients, and the regular contact keeps me top of mind. Several of my author clients give me anywhere from as little as two or three hours work to as much as thirty  or forty hours in a given month, depending on where they are in the publishing process. I keep a running tab of the hours worked (not charging for a quick phone call or e-mail but rounding everything else to the nearest quarter hour) and invoice monthly for all the work done.

Two recent comments, the first in an e-mail and the second in a phone call, exemplify my long-term client relationships:
“You make my life easier.”
“You know me and my book so well it seems like you can read my mind.”

In the final installment of this series, I’ll summarize tips to build long-term client relationships. Ask any questions or make any suggestions of tips of your own in comments.

[tags]client relationships, freelancing[/tags] 

Building Long-Term Client Relationships - Part 4: Example - The Beginning

I’ve talked in general about my business model. Now, let’s discuss my long-term relationship with a single client. To maintain client confidentiality, my example will be a hypothetical writer who is a composite of several clients. I’ll share my client experience and intersperse comments about how my actions helped create a long-term client relationship.

Susan was referred by a writing consultant friend who told me Susan was looking for an editor for her novel based on her family history. When Susan called, she said that another client had also recommended me.

Since two different people that she respected had referred Susan to me, she already had a favorable impression of me. Starting off with positive expectations is an excellent beginning for a long-term relationship.

I asked about her writing experience and learned this was her first manuscript. Susan had not joined a writers groups, taken a class, or done anything else to develop her writing skill. She wanted to get the book published, but she didn’t know anything about the publishing industry.

Taking the time to learn about Susan’s background guided me in how to best meet her needs.

I told her how difficult finding a traditional publisher is and explained that an edited manuscript would have a better chance of being published than an unedited manuscript … but the odds were still heavily against traditional publication. I also warned her that she might hear some things from me that she didn’t want to hear. If someone is going to pay me for my advice, I’m going to give the very best advice I can. If the writer is looking for someone to tell them their words are golden, I’m not the right editor for them.

Absolute honesty builds trust and confidence. Aspiring writers, like many other people, often hear all kinds of false promises and don’t know who to trust. Telling the truth is in the client’s best interest.

After Susan assured me she was serious about publication, I sent her information about how I work with clients along with a short questionnaire. Susan answered the questions - genre, word count,  how much self-editing had been done - and returned the questionnaire with a synopsis of the novel and five pages for a sample edit.

I edited the five page sample, using Word’s Track Changes feature and including lots of comments to explain why I recommended specific changes. Then I used my experience with the sample and the information Susan had provided to estimate how long the project would take.

Time and effort to ensure a good understanding of the project  by both parties before the prospect becomes a client pays off down the line.

I also added a general critique pointing out recurring problems: dialogue was written incorrectly (no paragraph breaks between speakers and improper punctuation) and there were numerous run-on sentences. If Susan would use the examples I gave to make corrections throughout the manuscript, I would revise the price quote since editing would require less time. I also suggested she would benefit from joining a writers group and getting critiques from other writers before hiring a professional editor.

Giving the prospective client alternatives that can save her money gives her the opportunity to find the services that meet her budget and also builds trust.

Susan decided she would rather pay me to edit the manuscript in its current state than spend more time and effort herself. She signed the agreement and sent me the manuscript and a deposit for the first two hours of work.

I edited the first chapter and returned it to Susan with an invoice. Again, I made extensive use of comments to explain why I suggested changes to ensure she understood my reasoning. My goal was to keep Susan’s voice and excellent story but correct grammatical errors and make the book more readable. Susan approved the revisions and sent a check for the balance due. This process continued one chapter at a time until the book was finished.

Working on one chapter at a time ensured that I didn’t get off track and that payments were made on time.  The frequent contacts also built the relationship.

While I was editing the manuscript, I encouraged Susan to learn more about her publishing options. I sent her my Self-Publishing Primer. Periodically, I e-mailed links to helpful articles or blog posts, and I recommended several resources on publishing and marketing. Susan determined that her ideal market was her extended family members, people descended from the main character in her novel, an ancestor from several generations back. She decided she could reach that niche market better than a large publisher targeting a mass market; therefore, self-publishing would the best route for her.

Providing useful resources to help the client make an important decision strengthened the relationship and built trust.

After the first round of editing was done, Susan took my advice and found three readers to give input on the manuscript. Two family members and a history buff could offer perspectives that I could not. To encourage the readers to respond candidly without fear of hurting Susan’s feelings, I sent the manuscripts and asked that the feedback be sent directly to me. Susan would know what they said only if they told her. We found that Susan had made a factual error, which the history buff pointed out. I verified the information and made the change.

Going the extra step to solicit other opinions produced a better product and continued to build trust.

I did a second edit of the entire manuscript. Then, since Susan is local, she came to my office for several hours a day for several days in a row for a read-aloud edit. Reading aloud reveals awkward phrasing and errors that were missed on the earlier edits.

Spending so many hours working together on the manuscript created a stronger relationship.

That completed editing Susan’s manuscript, but it didn’t end the relationship. The next post will cover what happened next.

Share your suggestions on building long-term client relationships in comments.

[tags]client relationships, freelancing[/tags]

Building Long-Term Client Relationships - Part 3: My Business Model

My business model won’t work for everyone; in fact, it probably won’t work for anyone reading this. My goal is for you to find some useful information that you can adapt to fit your own business model.

Although, my blog title says I’m a writer and editor, my services are actually much broader than that. I’ve toyed with several ways to describe what I do: virtual assistant, author’s assistant, book midwife, writer’s right hand … but none cover the full scope of what I do.

When I first started freelancing I took every job that I could get. I spent several hours and interviewed four sources (one in person and three by phone) for a local business newspaper. I helped a professional in solo practice to organize files. I edited doctoral dissertations and legal documents - at least one lawyer wanted ordinary people to read and understand their contracts. I wrote letters of complaint and business proposals. Some of these projects were fun … others merely boring. I never accepted another assignment from the business newspaper; $130 for an article that took several hours to research and write wasn’t a good use of my time, especially when it seemed like work.

I wanted to do things I enjoyed and still earn a decent income. So I started turning down jobs that bored me, such as academic papers. I started letting people know I would accept virtual assistant work. I know some writers don’t want to do that kind of work; in fact, they hire virtual assistants themselves. But I enjoy doing a wide variety of things, and I like to organize and research.

In the 12 years I’ve been freelancing, I’ve discovered that I prefer to work with a few clients during a variety of tasks than to specialize in one kind of work for many clients. Now, I have a handful of long-term clients, and I do just about whatever they ask me to do. Sometimes I’ll work only a few hours for a client; other times I’ll work more than 80 hours in a single month for a single client. I’ve learned many new skills - I say “Yes, I’ll do it” if it sounds interesting … whether or not I know how at the time.

I charge by the hour and bill at the end of the month for the hours worked during the month. Although many freelancers advise against charging by the hour, charging by the project would be too complicated for me since some my “projects” are to file a few documents and delete a few e-mails.

Several of my clients trust me with their credit card information so I can register them for a paid Web site or make purchases for them online. One client gives me remote access to a computer in her office so I can organize her files and e-mails.

Perhaps a list (in no particular order) of some of the tasks I have performed in the last couple of months for my long-term clients will give a better picture of what I do:

• Upgraded WordPress on six client blogs
• Created YouTube account and uploaded videos
• Edited and posted blog posts drafted by clients and either sent to me in Word or dictated over the phone
• Updated several Web sites
• Searched for an obituary and ordered the archived obituary from the Web site
• Formatted a book for printing; created e-book
• Wrote news releases and edited releases drafted by clients; submitted releases to media and PRWeb
• Modified logos to fit the Revolution theme header space
• Changed photos to grayscale, changed resolution, and enhanced for print book; laid book out in InDesign
• Resolved formatting problems in Word and Excel documents
• Negotiated with cover designer, ordered cover for client’s book, and made payment
• Created bar code for book cover, made payment for online service, and sent bar code to designer
• Wrote back cover blurbs for books
• Created and uploaded advertising flyers and posted property descriptions for real estate site
• Developed book of sample documents for client to give to clients
• Researched a topic for a consultant and drafted a plan of action; after several rounds of editing, finalized the document as PDF for my client to submit to his client
• Performed cost analysis and created Excel spreadsheet for consultant to use in calculating prices to quote in a proposal
• Drafted survey questions based on previous surveys; after client’s edits and final approval, created the surveys online, sent to participants, and compiled the responses
• Edited and formatted resumes
• Drafted business proposals based on previous proposals for similar projects by client, along with research and additional information from client via phone, fax, and e-mail; after several rounds of back and forth editing, finalized the documents and created PDF
• Created PowerPoint presentations based on information provided by the client
• Organized files and e-mails on client’s computer, deleting unnecessary documents and ensuring that folders for each project contained complete information
• Edited employee handbook, including making recommendations for the policies as well as the structure of the handbook
• Created Web site, purchased shopping cart service, set up shopping cart, and uploaded products
• Advised clients on publishing and writing
• Recommended a company style guide to a client; compiled style guide after receiving approval
• Composed reports for consultant and finalized after several rounds of edits
• Proofed printer’s proof of book and submitted changes to the printer
• Listed books at Web sites; drafted answers for author interviews and promotional questionnaires about clients and their books
• Created advertisements (post cards as well as magazine, newsletter, and program ads)
• Worked with an author on development of his manuscript; copyedited

Some items (such as “sample documents”) are deliberately vague to protect client confidentiality. I’ve also mixed up the list so the work for individual clients isn’t listed consecutively. My purpose isn’t to describe specific projects and clients but to give you a scope of the kinds of things I do.

Next, I’ll give you the perspective of how I work with an individual client.

[tags]client relationships, freelancing[/tags]

Building Long-Term Client Relationships - Part 2: Getting Started

If you want to build a long-term relationship with a client, you need to start off correctly.

The best way to get long-term clients is by referrals from existing clients. People who know - and like - your work are the most effective at referring other people who are apt to also like your work. Your current clients also know your personality and probably won’t refer people who aren’t a good fit.

However, if you aren’t getting enough work from current clients and referrals, you may have to do some marketing to find new clients. Although I don’t recommend that you commit to a long-term relationship immediately, I do suggest that you think about whether each prospective client might turn into a long-term business relationship.

As Stephen R. Covey wrote in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:

Begin with the end in mind.

Not every client will develop into a long-term client, but if you don’t begin as if they will, you can begin in a way that doesn’t produce the end (a long-term relationship) you’d like.

For example, if you are bidding on a freelance site, you might think twice about submitting an extremely low bid to “get your foot in the door.” Chances are, if the client selects you on the basis of price rather than other factors, price will continue to be his most important criteria. Seldom can you start off with a low price and expect to earn substantially higher rates from that client on future jobs.

However, in a seeming contradiction to what I’ve just said, I give free samples to prospective editing clients. The sample is small - about five pages of a book-length manuscript. However, it serves two important purposes: 1) it gives me an idea of both how much work will be required and how the client will be to work with, and 2) it gives the potential client an idea of how I work and what suggestions I will make to the manuscript.

The small amount of time spent doing the sample edit is an investment in determining whether the client is a good match for my services. Some self-publishing clients are serious about publishing and want to take the right steps to make their book a success. Unfortunately, there is a large number of writers who decide to self-publish because they want to do it their way, which means not taking advice from anyone. They think they want an editor, but when the editor makes suggestions for major changes - sometimes even for minor changes - they want their beautiful prose to stay just as they wrote it. Although I don’t expect my clients to take every suggestion, I expect them to be willing to consider the recommendations I make and discuss any differences of opinion. If they aren’t open to making changes, they’re not a good client for me. That free edit has screened out a lot of people I wouldn’t want a short-term, much less a long-term, relationship with.

A free sample isn’t necessary for writing jobs because you can show the clients clips of other work you have done. They can see that you are a competent writer without having to see what you would write for their project. But since each editing job is very different, I think it’s a good idea to make sure you and the client have the same expectations.

Next, we’ll talk about my business model, and I how I create long-term client relationships.

[tags]long-term client relationships, freelancing[/tags]

Building Long-Term Client Relationships - Part 1: Why

Perhaps I should title this series “How I Build Long-Term Client Relationships.” Many of my methods will not be appropriate to everyone. If you are interested in writing for magazines only, you won’t be interested in my advice on expanding your services. However, I hope you will find some helpful tips that you can adapt to your own situation.

I have two types of long-term clients - continual and intermittent. I do work for continual clients every month, sometimes every day, and bill them at the end of the month for all the hours I’ve worked that month. I do work for intermittent clients only every few months or even a couple of times a year, but whenever they need any of the services I offer, they come to me. I bill them at the end of each project.

Why should a freelancer want to establish long-term client relationships?

• It’s much less expensive and time-consuming to sell more to an existing client than to acquire a new one.
• Having a base of regular clients can ensure that you will always maintain a steady income without experiencing the famines that are so common in the freelancing life.
• Having that steady income can ameliorate uncertainty and worries about money that can lead to stress.
• Referrals from satisfied long-term clients can lead to additional business.
• Clients you work will regularly and closely can become friends.

Is there a downside to long-term client relationships?

• Having a significant portion of your income coming from one or a few clients can be risky; if you lose that account, you’ll be in a famine until you find other clients to replace the income.
• If you don’t screen clients properly, you could be stuck working closely with someone you don’t like or who makes you uncomfortable.
• You risk experiencing the feast of freelancing if several of your clients have large projects at the same time.

Do you have other reasons for pursuing or avoiding long-term client relationships?

Next, we’ll talk about starting off the right foot.

Other thoughts on building long-term client relationships:

Building Client Relationships at Entrepreneur.com

How to Build a Strong Relationship with Your Customers - a Guide to Customer Relationships for Freelancers and Self-Employed at All Freelance Directory

Long Term Client Relationships at Small Business Bible

The Six Laws Of Authentic Client Relationships at Robert S. Warren

[tags]client relationships, freelancing[/tags]