The “What Should I Do When” Freelance Post

Not long ago, I followed up with a client with whom I’d gotten all the way to the part where they send the NDA and contract.

It never arrived. It wasn’t as though they weren’t eager to get going on the projects, nor was it that I’d done anything to make them bolt. A pandemic got in the way. They had to take everything in house.

But we’re just shy of a year into said pandemic. Things change. Maybe things change for the better, not just the worse. So I reached out, hopeful.

Silence.

In a previous life, that silence would have me terrified that I had screwed up. But I know I didn’t. We’d talked three days before the corporate rug was pulled, and they were excited and welcoming me to the team. They’d outlined projects. We were good to go.

Even so, silence is a damn tough thing to stare down. I could take the lukewarm “We’ve decided to go in another direction” response. Silence? That leaves the mind to wander in unhealthy ways.

But that was then. Now, I see that there could be any number of reasons why that happened. The person I emailed may be sick, or out of the office, or unable to respond because she’s seriously overworked. Or going through personal crisis. Or no longer on the job. Or still not able to hire outside help (and embarrassed to say so).

So what should you do when something like this happens? That, my writer friend, is the theme of today’s post.

[bctt tweet=”What should I do when…. #freelancewriting issues and solutions” username=”LoriWidmer”]

There are any number of things that can go wrong in your client relationships. Here are a few, and some of the ways you can navigate uncharted waters:

The silent client.

Let’s just start here. What you can do, what I’m doing, is contact the other members on the team, if there were any. Or reach out with a phone call. Some people suck at email. They look, figure they’ll answer later, then forget entirely. Try a call. Just reach out and see how things are going, if they’re still in a holding pattern, if they’ve made any decisions on future projects, whatever your situation is.

The talkative client.

This comes up pretty regularly — the client who, for whatever reason, has no Off switch. I remember one resume client years ago who’d spent 45 minutes on revisions, and the more I tried to veer him back to the points we were trying to make (I did not need to hear so much about his soccer coaching), the louder he talked over me. So when the next call came, I did this:

“Thanks for making time for me today. I have about 10 minutes until my next call, so let’s see what we can accomplish in that time.”

It was as though I’d kicked the wind out of him when he responded in a low voice, “But I’ll need more time than that.” To which I promised if we needed another call, I’d be happy to call him the following week. Funny, but we had everything wrapped up in 6 minutes. Imagine that. When he realized I wasn’t there to listen to tale after tale after tale, he got to the point.

That client who just will not focus, try one of these:

• Interrupt: but do it gracefully — “Sorry, let me see if I understand what you are saying.”
• Keep interrupting: every time they veer off point, ask a question “That brings up a few questions, if I may” and don’t wait for the response to ask them.
• Remove “uh huh” and “yes” from your vocabulary: These are signals to the client to continue because you’re actively listening. Don’t. Be quiet. The silence should redirect their energy.
• Excuse yourself: “I’m sorry, but I have another call in two minutes. May I follow up in email later?”

The client who can’t afford you.

Every now and then, a client will question why you charge “so much.” The knee-jerk response would be to say “Because I’m worth it” (I hope that’s your immediate reaction). But I think this is a great time to answer a question with a question: “Why? What were you expecting to spend?”

Turn that question around. If they can’t afford you, they need to tell you how far apart their expectations are from your pricing. It could be just a small amount that can be negotiated (though I’d not be too eager to negotiate with someone who would imply I’m overcharging). Or it could be they’re worlds apart from what you charge. In that case, part on good terms. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out. I wish you the best in getting your projects completed.”

The scattered client.

They don’t know what they want, and they’re having trouble making you understand. Time for you to take charge.

Start with a few questions:

• What is your goal for this project? What do you hope the end result will look like?
• Who is the person who will be reading it?
• What’s the takeaway message you want people to get?
• What one thing do you think people need to know about your company?

The client who won’t listen.

Headstrong clients can be tough, but you can find a workaround. I had a client once who, no matter how many times I told her not to, would repeatedly load down the projects with self-promotional material. For thought leadership pieces, that’s not going to read well.

Here’s how to handle it: Be blunt. I did. I said “Look, the editors will take this out or worse, reject the article entirely. I can work in a little promotion, but it has to be very sparse.”

Writers, how do you handle those tricky client issues?
What one issue did you resolve well? What was it, and what worked?