How to Manage Effective Client Communication – Tips for Freelance Writers

Effective Client Communication

Effective Client Communication

If you watch any TV shows or movies at all, what causes the most problems and drama on your favorite shows? It’s a lack of communication. If you’re afraid to speak up to clients (or anyone) about things it will be difficult to deliver to them what they want. As a freelance writer, your job is to find clients that want what you can deliver. If you communicate well, you will be able to avoid misunderstandings and even scope creep.

Avoid Misunderstandings – Not talking to each other can cause problems that don’t even exist. If your client is secretly upset about something you wrote and doesn’t tell you, that is going to cause a rift in your relationship. What’s sad is you won’t even know until you lose the client.

Increase Project Clarity – There is no dumb question even if people sometimes think they are dumb. When you get a project always ask questions. If you have no questions, state what you think the deliverables should be so that you can ensure that you are right with the client.

Get New Ideas – When you regularly talk to your clients about their projects, you’ll naturally end up with new ideas for them and for other clients too. When people communicate you an come up with so many new things because you never know what will spur you to greatness.

Stop Scope Creep – It’s natural for clients to come to you with other things to do. Finding good people is hard. If you’re a good person, they are eventually going to ask you to do something that is outside of your scope or even out of your comfort area completely. When you communicate about these issues, you can stop this.

Choose the Right Communication Channels – There are so many ways to communicate today. You can use email, snail mail, SMS, Zoom, Phone, Landing Pages, Video, customer handbook, and so forth are all ways to communicate. You’ll want to choose several to give your customers a choice. A customer handbook with your welcome kit can’t be beaten for helping them work with you more.

Builds Trust & Builds Relationships – The best client relationships are long-term ones. By communicating regularly and having an open-door policy for them, you’ll end up building stronger relationships with your clients. This can build your business bigger than you may have thought possible because when you have a relationship with a client, they will sing your praises and recommend you.

To ensure that you keep communication open, make sure your clients know how you prefer to communicate so that they know what steps to take to get answers. For some clients, you may need to schedule regular meetings to stay updated, and for others, they will prefer to email for an appointment just when they want one. It’s up to you how you do it but accommodating what your client needs while also ensuring it will work for you will make it that much easier to communicate with your clients.

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