BootStrap

You know why people stress so much on refining communication skills, not just because it’s an important part of your personality, but simply because you NEED THEM! You need them to be able to efficiently put your message across to others, making a point which the other person feels worth listening and understanding for.

Effective communication - when talking about a client-provider relationship – can only take place when both the parties have a clear shot of what needs to be done and what strategies to adopt to give 100% output in terms of final result of the task assigned.

Communication – and I mean “effective communication” – with your clients is the key to success, that’s how some put it.

True, but I believe that effective communication is the demand for success, particularly if you are a freelancer. Working in the freelance world, your communication ethics are the only bridge to winning a project and then taking the client’s work to give him/her what they need, without hassles. Once your proposal gets accepted, that’s your fist victory but not where you make big celebrations.

You need to maintain the communication mannerism consistently throughout till the end of the project to get an excellent feedback. That’s where you should celebrate big time.

But, the question is how to sustain an effectual communication throughout the project? I’ll show you how.

Firstly, when the client funnels his thoughts and briefs you with the needs and requirements of the project, you should listen carefully and then convey your thoughts and ideas, be clear and precise – most importantly, sensible! Pay attention to the details the client wants and show complete assurance. There are some clients who convey their idea and project details once and don’t want follow ups on updates, they are simply concerned with the result and that’s when they communicate with you again. While, there are others who like to stay informed for every little task that you accomplish before you show them the final draft. Therefore, you need to understand these communication needs of your client and know which client requires what level of attention and communication.

This article will give you step-by-step understanding of how to be able to effectively communicate with your client. But, of course, there is no standard methodology which can be adopted; nevertheless, this article helps you get the gist of it. It works for most of the freelancers out there including me. Consider these as guidelines to help you understand and treat each of your clients differently and uphold a successful communication throughout your work relationship.

Listen To Reason

Rule#1 Listen carefully and hang onto every word your client says.

Remember, you do what the client wants you do is, so pay attention to every word the client speaks. It’s about them, the work they need, how they want the work to be done, what type of people they target etc…these are important details you need to lend your eyes and ears to. How about penning down the details or making a separate doc. file where you make points to help you with through your work. It helps, really. This way, you will be able to manage the task well, presenting an absolute reflection of what your client needs in the final draft. Make your client(s) happy, earn good bucks and to top that, a good feedback to help you receive excellent work reviews for other potential clients in future. Remember, it’s less about you and more about the client and his/her needs. The less you jabber about yourself and your business, the more fascinated your client will feel to work with you. In fact, he might even consider you again for some other future projects or refer you to someone else.

Work systematically or work with a System

Ever heard about client communication systems? In case you are working with multiple clients, managing communication with each and every one of them at the same time becomes a headache. Then,

it’s recommended that you use a system for keeping track of your chat logs, message records, and work files by using a system to manage everything in place.

Although, you can even develop your own system for this matter, by making separate folders on your desktop and name them according to the client’s or project’s name. Keep all your files, quick lists, messages, emails, and suggestions in sub folders for each client and arrange them accordingly on your desktop.

Moreover, you can also use software applications to manage them for you. Try out CRMs such as Highrise, BatchBook, ZohoCRM, Work etc. and many others, to help you manage your work and keep them massed neatly and properly. You can even use Basecamp collaboration tool to help you maintain a documentation of every message relayed, arrange tasks, and keep a track of time.

The bottom line is to keep a record of all your work efficiently and separately so that it helps you in finding all your records and work requirements easily in one place, plus save much of your precious time.

Collaborate, Communicate and Involve the Client

In the today’s digital age, everyone knows that internet is the fastest and best medium for communication with customers and marketing the business. That is why, majority of the people with businesses –either big or small – are moving to create a corporate identity on the worldwide web, to catch global audiences. Some of these clients might be aware of the essential elements and terms of designing a website, while others might not be that internet savvy, for e.g. a shipping business or a law firm etc.

Most of them might know of what exactly they are looking for in their website but don’t exactly know how to explain it to the provider or illustrate the idea clearly and conspicuously.

Where some can at least infuse an effort in telling you what and how they need it, you might come across others who might not be able to say much of how to carry out the work. They leave it all in the expert’s hands – your hands. To deal with such clients, try to get them involved too. Present them with an easy-to-comprehend idea of helping you explain how to execute the work, to give an outstanding result.

You can craft up a quick summary of how it can be managed, fill in your piece of mind, ideas, and tips and send it to them for reviewing.

This will help them much in understanding the work and in view of that guide you how to plan it out and present to you. Collaborate with them and communicate your idea forward. This also develops a good friendly work environment for both the client and the provider.

Speak your mind if you have any Sage Advice

If you feel you have something in your mind that can perk up the project more, then don’t hesitate to present them. But make sure when you do, you have a solid reason and a quick and brief way of making it work. This is highly appreciated by many clients, since they see you as an expert who knows too well since you have been in this business and has catered many clients previously. They will seek your advices, suggestions, or any propositions on how to enhance the original idea. Give them with a demo and give logical reasoning to support your idea. This is again a chance to prove your expert skills and clear conceptual thinking.

Make things easier with Examples and illustrations

Relate your project by giving some brilliant examples. It isn’t necessary that explaining a certain proposal or concept is lucid and comprehensible, particularly when presented via means of a telephone call, IM or an email. In that case, it’s best to give examples to relate it with what you understand about the project. This not only is a safe mode, but is also highly appreciated by many clients, because by giving examples, you never know you might brim with even more brilliant ideas and improve the original work even more. Therefore, not only does this clears the air and leaves no ambiguity, but helps in generating newer methods to pursue the project.

I bet this was easy and conspicuous enough to give you a clear idea of how to improve your skills for the best.


Break a leg!

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 2:32 pm

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