4 Ways to Improve Your Client Relationships

Like any good relationship, you’ve got to earn and build trust on both ends. And that begins the moment a prospect contacts you. You want your prospects to have confidence in what you’re going to deliver and you’ll want to have confidence in that they’ll participate in the process.

When those prospects become paying clients, they’ve put their trust in you. You’re entrusted with their website, their brand and their online presence — and that’s a lot of trust.

This post, we’ll show you 4 ways you can strengthen the trust with clients (which improves profitability).

1. Don’t assume and don’t let them assume

You’re the professional. They’re the client. It’s your job to translate their hopes, dreams and goals into tangible deliverables that can help them. For example, don’t assume they want a WordPress website because they said “WordPress”.That could mean “I want a CMS” to them.

• Ask follow-up questions to get to the root of what a client is actually saying. Like with the “WordPress”, clients may not be able to express what they really want or what’s really bothering them. You have to probe and ask why something bothers them.
• Always make things clear, even if they feel obvious. They’re only obvious to you because you’re the professional.
• Be their trusted guide. As clients negotiate the tricky waters of design, lead them through the process. Don’t let them go it alone.

Doing these things will alleviate any uncertainty for the clients. If you don’t, then they’ll have to face the unknown and fill in the blanks with assumptions.

2. Time apart and lack of attention are relationship killers

Relationships require time and attention. Here’s what you can do to ensure the relationship doesn’t sour.

• Don’t disappear for weeks. Keep clients continually updated as to where the project is at. Weekly updates that outline what work will be done and delivered that same week reassures clients.
• Repeat back client feedback. Summarise the major points of feedback, especially if you’re on a call or in a face-to-face session. This allows you to double check whether you accurately captured their feedback. It also give clients a chance to clarify any points brought up.

Communication is key while working with the client. But, believe it or not, it’s also important long after the final work is delivered.

If you make a great set of designs for a client, then disappear for years, you’re far less likely to be chosen when they need more work doing. Instead, you’ll have wasted the time and emotional energy you invested in a relationship. Don’t let your relationships go to waste.

3. Invest in your relationships

Your clients are people, and people were made for relationships. Be a trusted source in the networks of your clients and stay in their lives so you can help them however you possibly can, whenever you possibly can.

A few things you can do to keep in touch.

• Put out a newsletter. Have an opt-in newsletter that your clients can subscribe to, where you can regularly update them on all that’s fit to print about your business.
• Send a holiday card. And maybe a gift too. However, something simple as a card let’s your clients know that they aren’t forgotten. It’s also a good way to remind them you’re still around.
• Send business their way. Invariably, we all get asked if we know a guy. Well, if someone you know is looking for a service or product that your previous clients have, then recommend away.
• Return the favour. A client may ask you for help in recommending another service or if you know someone they can hire. If you can, return the favour. Help them out and they’ll remember you.

4. Collaborating as a freelance designer

Sometimes, projects call for more than one person. Projects that require skills other than your chosen mastery give you 2 options:

1. Hack it together yourself, or
2. Find people who chose different masteries to you.

• Make it clear what specific skills you bring to the table. This will prevent confusion or assumptions about your abilities and it’ll let you all leverage talents that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
• Be a go-to for designers for other designers. Consider becoming a logo designer’s web designer, or a brand designer’s graphic designer, or a web designer’s web developer.

  By becoming the go-to for other people in the industry, you’re providing a service both to them and to their clients. This is a great way to add value to the marketplace and to add new streams of potential clients for your business.

• Be clear with yourself about where you’re going. Collaborative relationships can last as long as a project, or they can last for a long time. It’s important to keep in mind where you want to go in your self-employed design career.

If you want to stay solo, protect that! Don’t let the collaboration overtake you and disconnect you from your flow of clients. In any case, be clear about where you want to go and think about what you’re creating, every day.

• Let them know what you can do. Everyone is unique, so let collaborators know what skills you have to offer.
• Add value to other designers and their clients. Give them the opportunity to resell you. If you and the other designer both have the client’s best interests, this type of relationship will be very natural.
• Remember your goals. Spend your time building towards where you want to go, rather than being carried away by the tide of your peers.

Conclusion

There’s no such thing as overcommunicating, especially with clients. If you leave them in the dark too much, they’ll make assumptions about what’s happening with the project. More than that, they’ll feel as if they aren’t being hard. And that could be disastrous.

One thing to always keep in mind: an engaging designer-client relationship is critical to a successful project. And building trust builds momentum at the same time.

SOURCE: Creative Bloq