20 tips for freelancers to maintain long-term relation with clients

Working as a freelancer is a challenging job. It is not easy to find and maintain clients. But it is beneficial to keep a client for long. This will definitely give you more time to work as you are not going to spend time looking for new jobs. Below are 20 tips you can try to maintain long term relation with your customers.

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1. Provide Excellent Service.

It all starts with doing a great job for the client and keeping them happy. A customer will give you more contracts if you attain the quality they want, because no one will spend on shoddy jobs.

2. Offer a Range of Services.

Freelancers have the opportunity to offer a wide range of services to buyers. You may be able to give a wide array of services to your employer; so make sure that your employer understands all your capabilities.

3. Discover the kind Services your clients need.

Offering a variety of services can be pretty in freelancing. This can improve your chances of getting a long term relationship with clients. However you may not exactly know the kind of services your clients may need. It is therefore advisable that you go through your buyer’s previous job posting and get to know the kind of skills that he/she wants

4. Be honest with clients.

A long-term freelancer/client relationship must have open and straightforward communication. This will lead to a greater degree of confidence and assurance, and that is when the client will want to maintain your services, or in any case, hire you again at some point in the future.

5. Ask for feedback and input from your clients.

You can always do this at some intervals as you work on the client`s project. Plead though professionally for feedback and some input. Ask them how they feel working with you and let them give you suggestions on how you can both improve your working relationship. They will see you as the right person to work with.

6. Share resources with your small business’ clients.

Being a resource person, you can suggest some resources for your clients who are new in the market. You can for instance tell your clients of the web page they can visit and gain in their business, or tell them a book they can read. They will know you have well mastered the skill and definitely they will want a long term relationship with you.

7. Keep learning.

Learning always is the best way you can increase the quality of services that you offer. The more you focus on gaining more knowledge, new experiences as well as new skills the more you have in store to offer your clients.

8. Have fun with your freelance projects.

A project may not be easy to handle bearing in mind that you have deadlines to meet and the kind of work you do must impress the employer in order to establish a longterm working relationship with your employers.

9. Allow yourself to connect with your freelance business’ customers.

Try to know more about your customers, you can seek to establish a rapport with your customers, know their interests by asking questions that encourage a deeper sense of shared understanding. The more you do this successfully the more you will have a mutual satisfaction.

10. Target your current and previous clients to sell your services.

Your previous and current clients know very well about you and your style of work and they are more likely go with you again. This way you can save time and focus on current clients to provide them quality work. Be deep rather than wide in your explanation.

11. If you do commitments to your small business’ clients then you must ensure to full fill it

Honor the promises you make to your clients. Be sure to make a follow up if you made that promise. You may be one among few professionals who promise to send information and later on send it. This will definitely make you the best.

12. be consistent in your approach and interactions with your customers.

Make sure you treat your customers with frankness, humor, and esteem. This should be repeated over and over again to win the confidence of your clients.

13. Position yourself as a resource to your customer for life.

Let your customers know that you will be always available for consultation even in the aftermath of the ongoing contract. This will position you as an expert in that area and definitely they will want to maintain the contract.

14. Do what’s best for the client.

Make sure to always focus on the client`s interests; you cannot develop an ongoing relationship with clients by offering services that they do not want, or services that will not help them achieve their goals.

15. Offer Competitive Rates for On-going Work.

Give your, ongoing contracts a cheaper rate to maintain them for long periods. Actually it is going to be the best deal because you are no longer going to spend much time looking for a job. Everyone wants cheap things.

15. Contact past Clients.

This can be a good tool for regaining your past clients. Contact them and see if they have something you can assist them do. They will probably hire you if you impressed them in your previous assignments, this time if they employ you offer the best and they will certainly gain confidence in you.

17. Have a Client/Customer Newsletter.

One of the ways of keeping ongoing relationship with clients is basically staying in close contact with them. You can do this by sending out periodic newsletter to your customers. In the newsletter include your updates on the contractor profile, especially if you recently added a new task. Remember to include industry news that may be relevant to them in the newsletter.

18. Be a problem solver.

Avoid being a good sales person, and instead be somebody who can solve problems for his/her clients. Remember they have come to get solutions to the problems they might be having.

19. be professional and maintain ethical codes of conduct.

Always use professional terms and pleasantries when you talk to them, no matter how far you can go informally with your clients.

20. Communicate your expectations.

Know what your clients expect during and at the end of the contract. Remember too to make him aware of what you will need to make all ends meet. This is especially crucial on matters related to time and availability. Uncover all the uncertainties at the start of the contract.