Part one of this blog covered the first five tips for caring for your clients as a freelance writer.
Clients are essential to running a successful freelance business. They keep the lights on and the dream alive. It pays to learn how to care for those relationships.
The first five tips included:
—Being a consultant first
—Building strong relationships
—Finding out who the real client is
—Forgetting your ego
—Understanding that you can only write as well as you listen
But we aren’t done yet.
Five More Tips for Caring for Your Clients:
Six: Get to the First Draft as Soon as Possible
This may sound like an odd piece of advice, but not once you understand the role of the first draft. At the start of any project, let your client know that you will offer a sketch (rough) draft of the project for their review. The purpose of this first draft is to make sure you are on the right track. It doesn’t make sense to spend all of your budgeted time writing and perfecting something that misses the mark. If you explain how to read your first draft ahead of time, your client will see the value of this approach.
After a meeting, I dive in and sketch out either a treatment (for scripts) or a rough version of a speech/article/white paper/etc. I run this by my client, which may be a direct client or an agency rep. If the sketch or treatment is on track, I move onto a full draft. This step has saved me so much time over the years. I prefer using a treatment instead of a sketch draft, when possible. This gets everyone on board with an approach and idea, which makes subsequent work less likely to be rejected. It also helps the client refine their approach and intent. This is particularly helpful when the client isn’t quite sure what they want.
Seven: Deadlines Are Important, but Not as Much as Quality
This tip is tough for me because I am deadline focused. It goes against everything in me to miss a deadline, but there are times when it is necessary to move them. Quality is one of those reasons. If keeping a deadline will adversely affect the quality of the work, ask for an extension.
There is a proper way to do this. You must alert the client know ahead of the deadline (the earlier, the better) that you will not meet it and why. Explain in detail why you need additional time. Give them enough warning that they can adjust their schedule. Do not wait. It is better to alert your client of a potential delay even if you hit the deadline anyway.
Why might you miss a deadline? There are many reasons. Here are some acceptable ones: a delay from the client’s side (for example, sending materials later than promised, leaving you no time to write); a family emergency; a serious personal illness; a delay from a subject-matter expert that is essential to the project. Sometimes external factors mess with the best laid plans. You can’t do much about delays beyond your control. Try to limit excuses from your end though. Not managing your time well enough is not an excuse. Neither is claiming writer’s block. Only delay a deadline when absolute necessary. Being on time is part of the golden rules for writers for a reason.
Eight: Remember Your Audience, Even If the Client Doesn’t
Every written document has an audience. It is up to you to keep that audience in mind as you write. Ask your client to define the audience. Refine it as much as you can. Clients often want to address multiple audiences (or markets) in a single piece. This isn’t effective. Each audience should get a tailored approach for maximum impact. It is up to you to understand that and communicate it to your clients.
Once the audience is established, write for that audience. Always. If a client wants to add things during the edit that expands the message for other audiences, remind them why doing so will dilute the message (if it will). As the writer, you serve the client but write for the audience. You are their best advocate and defender. Ultimately, this serves both the audience and the client.
Nine: Documents Tend to Expand During Approval
Keeping track of changes, opinions, and paperwork is your job. It isn’t easy sometimes. Clients love to edit by committee, which makes the writer’s job a difficult one. Be sure to ask for one contact person who can sort out the priorities for changes. You don’t want to edit your piece based on one person’s comments only to find they are not the most important person on the chain of edits. Keeping track of who has priority and how to rank conflicting requests for changes is part of the job. This takes diplomacy and a good relationship with your client. It can get dicey sometimes. Be aware that your project is not being created in a vacuum. It is subject to office politics and outside influences. This is why you need to couch your ego and stay diplomatic throughout the process.
Ten: Watch for a Point of Diminishing Returns
There are projects that turn into nightmares. It happens. It may be too many people involved in the process or clients who have no idea what they want and ask for endless changes. There isn’t enough time to list all the reasons why projects go wrong. It is up to you to look for that point of diminishing returns—the moment when the project should end because it cannot be saved or because it has dragged on longer than anticipated and far beyond your fee with no end in sight.
There are a number of ways to handle this type of situation. The first is to talk to your client about the state of the project and ask for advice. Explain to your client why you feel the project is at an impasse. Go back to tip one and be a consultant. Step out of your role as the writer and talk to your client about options, including adding more money to find a suitable solution, if possible. Recommend steps to bring the project to fruition. It may not be the project you wanted it to be, but it is your job to make it as good as you can despite complications. Do not contribute to the complications. Offer ideas and solutions. Be flexible. Diplomatically bring an end to the project.
You typically won’t make a profit on these types of projects, but you need to be professional and finish the project as well as you can. And you need to do that in a way that ends the project before it consumes your production calendar. If you are missing out on other paying jobs because this one is lingering, then something is wrong.
Ending a project professionally, particularly a difficult one, is part of caring for your client. It may not seem like it, but it is. Your client has many projects and has hired you to take care of this one. It is up to you to keep an eye on the state of the project and the budget. It it gets out of control, you must speak up. Be direct, but polite. Stay professional. Even if the client does not. How the project resolves should determine whether you work with this client again. Sometimes these types of projects lead to better client relationships. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Then again, sometimes these types of projects end of the relationship. How it resolves is largely up to you and how you handle the situation.
Bonus Tip: Follow Up and Follow Through
When you complete an assignment, send an email or note of thanks. This can accompany your invoice or not. Tell your client you are interested in additional work and an opportunity to work with them again. Stay in touch. If you come across an article or information you know they would be interested in reading, send it to them. Follow them on LinkedIn and other social media sites. Post relevant information for them. Stay present so they think of you next time a project comes up.