The path of the freelancer. The road to success or gaining customer confidence

Wolf legs are fed, and freelancers are customers. So these customers do not fall from the sky, but adequate customers who are willing to pay an adequate price and not splash even less. In this article I want to collect all my observations, which allowed me to fill a good customer base, which are sometimes waiting for me for 1.5-2 months. I will also tell you about the mistakes that have happened to me during my work as a freelancer.

This note is valid for web developers, but for other freelancing niches it will be partially fair.

First communication with the customer

Here you receive a letter in the mail or message in ICQ / Skype / etc. from a person who is interested in your services and wants you to write a site. Most importantly, do not think about money! First you need to think about work, and take money as a reward for the work done. The customer should feel that you are working on the result, and not just for the money.

When you first communicate with the customer, you need to take control of the whole situation and not wait for the steps from the customer, but do everything in advance so that the customer sees the initiative that comes from you. Never wait for the customer to say something to you, ask him yourself! Ask the customer in detail what he wants to see on the website, what is the main thing.
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Never ask for TK. Not every customer knows how to write TZ, and many do not even fully know what they want to see on the site. Compose the TK with the customer, this will allow you not only to better understand the essence of the project, but also help to establish good relations with the customer.

Agree with the customer deadlines. Never promise more than you can do, it is better to abandon the project than to break the deadlines and let the customer down, undermining your credibility.

You have all agreed, you have a clear picture of what should be implemented, you understand the idea of ​​the site and start writing the site.

We are working ...

From the moment we started to write the site and until the project is completed, we must not forget that the customer is also a person and he wonders how the work is progressing. Therefore, do not forget to unsubscribe at least once every 2-3 days to the customer and notify him about the work done.

It is very good to bring parts of the project online and not just write what has been done, but also show the demo. At this step, very small details can be discussed with the customer, which may have been missed when drawing up the TOR. Such a move will not only save you time and nerves, but also raise you in the eyes of the customer. Remember, at every step you need to consult with the customer, this will allow you to avoid all sorts of misunderstandings, and also allow the customer to save money, and you will not have to delete your code and write again.

Never disappear in the process of work, it can greatly undermine your authority in the eyes of the customer, because there is nothing worse than not being confident in the performer. Understand that to achieve results, you need to work with the customer in tandem.

All is ready

When everything is ready, and you are ready to show the work done to the customer, do not forget to test your work for the presence of various kinds of errors, both spelling and incorrectly working the site. After all, there is nothing worse than giving a product of poor quality. Do not be lazy to check everything.

Also, do not forget to provide a platform for tests and the customer himself, let him also take part in the testing, this will help avoid customer dissatisfaction when he starts to find errors on a running project.

Happy end

As a result, you get your money, and the customer your order.

Do not forget to remind the customer that if suddenly there are any errors, then you will fix everything for free. There are also modest customers who think that he will have to pay for fixing your jambs.
Also do not forget to thank the customer for a pleasant time.

Dark side

Above, I described how my work with customers has been going on lately. Everything is very beautiful, simple and without problems, but this is not always the case. There are very impudent customers who think that if they pay you money, you have to do absolutely everything for them. I immediately say goodbye to such customers, nothing good will come of them. Remember, if the customer does not want to spend time on his order, it means he doesn’t really need it, and this threatens with many unpleasant moments in work.

Total

Observing such a scheme in my work, for a long time I have only positive emotions from cooperation. After each completed order, I leave myself a few days to rest and correct possible errors that I could make and did not detect when testing. My customers are ready to wait for me because they are comfortable working with me. They are confident in the quality of work, as well as in the fact that I will not disappear anywhere and will correct all my mistakes, if any. They can count on me, they are even willing to overpay, so long as I take up their project, such trust from the customer is the best that can be, because a good old customer is better than two new ones.