Quick Guide to building long lasting relationships with your clients

Building fruitful relationships with your clients is not very difficult – it only requires a little investment in terms of time and effort. Here are a few easy-to-follow tips that can help you maintain keep your name on the radar when a client is on the look-out for a writer.

Make Social and Business Networking Sites Work for You:

Connect with your clients on networking platforms like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter but don’t spam them with unsolicited messages. Keep it friendly, yet professional. Also, if you decide to include your business contact in your list, make sure your profile is appropriate or adjust your privacy settings accordingly. You don’t want o give out the wrong impression!

Keep it Friendly:

Every freelancer worth his or her ink knows how many mails and, phone calls and conferencing it takes before a project actually takes shape. With so much communication happening, it helps to ease things a bit with some light humor and chit-chat. Talking business should always remain a priority but a little small talk never hurts. It helps the client connect to you as a person rather than just a service provider up for hire. You may talk about mutual interests and other things but steer clear of personal issues like family, religion and political opinions. Keep it warm without getting intrusive or personal. And don’t be afraid to show who you are as a person.

Drop in an Occasional Mail:

Once in a while (but not too often), mail your clients with a warm greeting and politely enquire about their business and if there are any projects you could be a part of. Don’t spam them with meaningless messages and keep it short and crisp in each of your correspondences. You can also refer them to any resource that might be of interest to them or mail them with new ideas that may benefit their business. Whatever you do, don’t go overboard.

Offer Incentives:

If a client has hired you more than once, it clearly means that you have lived up to the standard expected of you. Consider offering incentives and discounts to regular clients to ensure a long-term association. For example, you could throw in a free mailer along with website content or offer discounts on your project rates if it happens to be a bulk-writing assignment. In any case, make your client feel valued and important.

Deliver Your Best:

No amount of PR strategies will help if you don’t have the goods to back them up. The most important factor that keeps clients coming back for more is the quality of service you deliver. Work with honesty, integrity and perseverance and you will have a strong, trusted client base in no time.