Who is Right? The Customer or the Writer?

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Customer Service
I live by the “customer is always right” philosophy. I may not always agree with my clients but they’re the ones paying me to do the job their way. There are times when I might offer a suggestion if I feel they’re going in the wrong direction, but I always defer to them. It’s that paycheck thing.

I saw an online conversation today with two freelancers arguing over whether or not the customer is always right. The first freelancer felt the same way I do, that the person who is paying has final say in the decision. The second freelancer feels that the writer is the expert. The client is hiring the freelancer for his creativity and expertise and the writer should have final say.

While I do get that we’re being hired for our expertise, I don’t think it’s up to us to insist the clients do things our way. It’s one thing for me to offer advice to one of my freelance writing or social media clients, quite another thing to have a creativity hissy fit because my client doesn’t want to do his project MY way. I’ll suggest and guide, but I’m being paid to write the best representation of the client’s business or brand. This isn’t necessarily my voice. I get that and it’s not a hit to my ego to write in my client’s voice. It’s also not a hit to my ego if the client wants to do things HIS way.

What says you, FWJ community. Who makes the ultimate decision on how a project should go, the client or the writer?

Sending Holiday Cards to Your Freelance Writing Clients

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business holiday card

It’s only September yet Lowe’s and Kohl’s both have Christmas displays. They’re thinking of the holidays already and so should you. Among your considerations should be whether or not to send holiday cards to your clients. You may laugh, but business holiday cards are good customer service.  They tell your client:

  • You’re wishing him/her well
  • You care about his/her business
  • Good customer service is important to you
  • You go the extra mile

Keep in mind it’s better to send holiday cards as opposed to Christmas cards because you don’t want to offend your client or his religious (or non-religious) affiliations.  Some freelancers order specific business holiday cards, while others will buy a generic box of holiday cards when they’re getting their own personal greetings to send out. Some freelancers buy a stamp with their business details to post at the bottom of the card, others write their names at the bottom while including a business card. A few even put out the extra money to have imprinted holiday cards made up. It depends on your budget, and all options are fine. If you’re thinking about ordering your holiday cards online, order sooner rather than later. The closer it gets to the holidays, the more expensive it can get.

Here are a few places to get business type holiday cards:

  • Cards Direct has a nice assortment but they’re rather pricey for the average freelance witer.
  • Classic Designs offers an elegant variety, but again, many freelancers don’t have this kind of a budget. They’re offering a discount if you order early, however.
  • As always, Vista Print offers a much more affordable solution.
  • Executive Greetings has a selection of corporate holiday cards.

How do you say “happy holidays” to your clients?

The Phone is Your Friend – Use it!

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Telephone - stock xchnge

If I had my druthers, all of my freelance writing business would be conducted via email and Skype. It’s so much easier. I don’t have to put on my happy voice. Don’t have to wear my game face. If I don’t feel like getting all schmoozy, I don’t have to.  For me though, a telephone is an essential tool, one too many freelance writers are quick to avoid.

Let me explain a bit more…

I have a client. She hired me to help build her online presence and she hates the phone too. We’ve been emailing back and forth for weeks and I’m still failing to see her mission. Finally I insisted on a phone call and she reluctantly agreed. In 20 minutes I was able to determine what it is she really wanted and now we’re rocking the gig.

By taking to the phone I was able to:

  • Use her voice to gauge her feelings about my ideas
  • Use sincerity in my voice to reassure her that the project will go well
  • Flesh out her wants and needs
  • Take our relationship to a whole other level

Email, instant messaging and social media are great tools. They’re tools used to build relationships and land business connections. Sometimes a face to face meeting or a phone call is needed to hit that home run.  When we hear voices we can judge emotions better as tones can’t be conveyed as well via email. Voices help to build trust and confidence.

Many writers don’t want to do the face to face or voice thing as they insist they can do all their business via email. This is true. A phone isn’t needed nowadays at all. Just because something isn’t necessary doesn’t mean it doesn’t make good business sense though.

Don’t just go the distance, go the extra mile. You may think your clients won’t notice, but they will.

5 Reasons Not to Burn Your Bridges

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Dewey Bridge Fire

So you lost a gig. Maybe your client felt you weren’t a good fit. Maybe she ran out of funding or maybe  it was you who wasn’t feeling the job. Does that mean you should go openly badmouthing your former employer all over Twitter or the forums? Does that mean you should ignore this former clients emails and questions? No. No, it doesn’t.

You may be unhappy with the present circumstances, but burning bridges doesn’t do anyone any good. Before you start talking smack about the people you used to work for, consider this:

5 Reasons Not to Burn Your Bridges

1. Your Client May Be Back in Business One Day

If your client had to let you go or take a break because his funding ran out, that doesn’t mean he has no intention of using you again in the future. That money may begin flowing again soon. By burning your bridges, you’re erasing the possibility of him contacting you once he’s back in a position to hire your services.

2. Your Client May Want to Recommend You to Others

If you did a good job for your client and parted on good terms, she may want to recommend you to others. If she doesn’t trust you anymore, this won’t happen. Every future client has the ability to recommend you to another client or two and so on, don’t blow it by saying or doing things you may regret.

3. You May Need that Client One Day

What happens when you need a job recommendation or testimonial? If you’re bashing your former clients on your blog and it’s not pretty, they’re not going to want to put in a good word for you.

4. No One Wants to Hang Around with Mr. Grumpy

Self explanatory, really.

5. It May Turn Off a Potential Client

Why would any potential client want to hire someone who is indiscreet or saying unkind things about the people he has worked for before? Before you bash a client, keep in mind that words do stay online forever and they can come back to haunt you.

Bad feelings happen, it’s only natural and writing is a good release. Before you fire off angry missives and hit “enter” or “send”, think about what you’re doing and how it will affect your future.

When you burn bridges you’re not hurting your client as much as you’re hurting yourself.

Blowing a Deadline or Saving the Day?

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The deadline’s approaching, you haven’t started yet – or worse, you did start and you’re stuck. Each time you sit down to write, nothing comes. Well, something comes, but it’s pretty awful and you can’t send that to the client.

Your heart starts pounding. Your stomach twists. It’s the project from hell… and it’s due for delivery. You’re not going to make it. What do you do?
[Read more…]

The Difference Between an Internship and Unpaid Labor

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Discussing interns and internships are what I consider an “annual” topic. Every year at about this time we talk about interns, or rather, the folks who like to present a job as an internship in order to get away with hiring free labor.  So let’s talk about what internships are, why they are necessary and why they are not free labor.

What is an internship?

An internship is a job one takes, usually working for a business, corporation or the government, in order to gain experience, build up a reputation and learn from the best. The focus is on the job training, rather than monetary compensation. Most interns are in college and work in this capacity in hopes of having a very good job lined up upon graduation. [Read more…]

Where Are All the Good Writers?

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I had a recent conversation with a peer who mentioned that finding good writers to work with was more than a tad difficult. She’d been disappointed time and again by writers who just weren’t what they seemed to promise.

That’s a problem. When you don’t deliver on your promises, you end up costing yourself repeat business, long-term clients and better jobs. You move from client to client with no stable customer base and no guarantees of future work.

You also screw up business for your customers as well, leaving them facing extra expenses and cleaning up a mess. You create a bad reputation for yourself – and quickly, too.

Here are three issues that my peer and I discussed so you can make sure you aren’t one of those writers who falls short and disappoints.
[Read more…]

Want More Work? Don’t Pitch Your Diplomas

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What traits, characteristics, and qualities make for a good freelancer?

Well, they have good attitudes. They’re positive people who like to help clients while providing fast service. They often have an ability to think ahead and suggest alternatives or better solutions. Sometimes they propose new ideas to make the client’s company better.

There are plenty of other qualities on the list. If you had to put them in order of importance, where would you put ‘skilled’?
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Introducing Kommein

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kommein-community-rocks

New project alert! David Peralty and I have a great new project launching tomorrow. It’s call Kommein and it’s a blog about building community and community management. Kommein, by the way, is an Indo-European term meaning “shared by all”. In other words, community.

As you know, community is very important to me and we wanted to create a place to share ideas and tips with other community minded people.

I hope you stop by and read our posts and offer your own thoughts about community. This is so far a great, fun project. One that I hope keeps us busy for a long time to come.

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