No-nonsense Guide to Freelance Client Project Success

Yes, Virginia (and Virgil). There is a wrong way to approach that client project.

Imagine this scenario: you reach out to Company A with your letter of introduction. You invite them to connect. They do. Now what?

Well, if you’re like our first writer, Carl, you’d get on the phone and go down the list of your accomplishments, showing them how important you are. If you ask any questions, you’d ask them to explain what their company does exactly.

And, like Carl, you’d be out of a job before it began.

If you’re like our second writer, Carla, you’d get on the phone and listen. Then ask questions. And you’d know before you got on the phone what that company does and who their customer is. So your questions would be smarter.

Why am I starting at the introduction stage? Isn’t this a post about project success?

It sure is. And your project success starts right at the introduction.

That’s your first impression. So it’s important to write a killer letter of introduction. From there, it’s about studying the person in front of you.

Tone

I start with trying to set the right tone. That tone is going to depend on the impression I got from their response. If they’re calling you as their response, then you’re going to have to think on your feet a bit, but if it’s in email so far, you can get some clues by how they word things and where their focus is.

For me, it’s about matching the client’s tone and words in my responses. For instance, if you have a client in front of you who is all excitement and lightness, you probably wouldn’t want to go into your conversation with a heavy, authoritative tone. I had one client who was a vivacious, excited person. When I talked to her, I let her excitement influence my own tone. We worked together for a year (until she moved to a new job). Another client was a slow talker. He was indecisive and, well, somber. I didn’t go all indecisive on him, but when I responded with ideas or suggestions, I matched his lower tone. It’s about meeting them on their own plane, more or less.

Presentation

Then there’s the matter of how you present your proposal/project outline. A client who is concerned about budget may not be the right one to hit up with the four-page, heavily worded project scope document that includes formal language and a more somber tone. Instead, I’d use language that was reassuring, helpful, and explained (without overexplaining) how it all breaks down per project.

The goal is to make them comfortable with the notion of working with you. If you think formal and somber will work, go for it. Just know that it could scare off those who are already thinking this could be an expensive endeavor.

Expectations Going Forward

This is the easy part. Once your client has decided to hire you and to move forward, you set expectations. I do that two ways every time: contract language and emails. I spell out in the contract what I spell out in email — project scope, description of each project, delivery expectations, client requirements (their deadlines, too), payment requirements, late fees, revisions, you name it.

While I’m at it, I spell it out in a less formal way in email. We’ve agreed to X. X consists of A, B, C. I will deliver X on this date. You will have Y number of weeks to review and work with me to revise. I expect payment here and here. There are late fees, so please be aware of due dates for payment. Also, this is a first draft, and we’ll work together to revise it and get it to where you’re satisfied with the result. You’ll have two rounds of revisions, and that’s usually enough….

All of this is hammered out both on the phone and in email before the contract is drawn up, but it never hurts to repeat it so that you’re 100-percent clear that you both know what’s happening and what’s expected.

Delivery

Delivering a project to a new client still gives me agita, but not like it used to. I make sure to have plenty of caveats and “first draft only” language so they know that revisions are expected and welcome. My emails usually include a primer on what happens next, and what the client’s role is now, and how I will support that. The more you set up a collaborative approach now, the easier it becomes for clients to make revisions without the “this isn’t absolutely perfect” freak-out.

Follow Up

For me, the project isn’t over until I ask the client if they need anything more and if there were any questions or concerns. That, to me, is a pretty important part of the process. If you let clients  drop out of your orbit when you finish a project, you don’t know if you’ve achieved their goals (which is what really matters here) and not just collected a check for yourself. If they’re not happy and you don’t bother to follow up, that’s going to fester.

Plus, if a client wants to hold some substandard-work claim over you later on in order to get free or reduced-rate work, you eliminate that option by following up. If they come back three months later with complaints and they said nothing when you asked a week after delivery, you owe them nothing. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to make it right if it’s legitimate, but you aren’t working from a position of disadvantage.

Project success starts with setting expectations at the outset, and doing your best to honor those expectations. You won’t eliminate all problems, but you increase your awesomeness with clients, and you get repeat business.

Can you think of a situation in which a new client project didn’t go so well? Would communicating in a different way have changed that?
How do you set expectations with clients? How has that impacted your results?