Is it necessary to make a client a friend, and a friend a client?

I wanted to write this post, having read today published “What to do if the client is a friend / good friend?” . The majority are of the opinion that it is impossible to work with friends, that it is necessary, if possible, to reject such proposals, that the friendship will eventually grow cold, that relations may break. And I - for customer-friends and friends-clients.
I believe that it does not matter who is a friend or a completely unfamiliar person before you - the approach to work, there must be one approach to the process - a professional one. This means that the project manager (it’s about web development) should always :

• Justify the feasibility of developing a project (to evaluate at the level of logic, but it may not be worth starting a web project at all, or you need to start not with a super online store with gadgets and fashion trends zababahat, but rather a regular business card site).
• To make a clear and detailed technical specification. And to discuss the design and functionality in great detail, using examples, diagrams, not sparing time, understand the client, every word, and most importantly, be able to convey to the client his idea in such a way that he also understands.
• Tolerant to the manifestations of criticism in the evaluation of the result, especially if the project is done for friends. Be prepared to calmly answer all the questions of the client, without tsykaniya and jerking.
• You should always evaluate your work adequately, and if you owe someone something, then it’s a matter of conscience, if you set to work for free, be patient.
• Well, prepayment is generally a sacred thing, a ritual, a mantra "no money - no chairs."

Those. The implementation of these items should not be called into question at all; it should be mandatory.

My experience with friends could be negative - friends really often strive to build work on the “faster, higher, stronger, and free” principle. After the first project with one of my friends there was such a sediment!

But at the moment I am doing the fourth project for my friends, and more than a dozen are made for friends of friends, I apply these simple principles - it helps. Perhaps the point is the adequacy of the people who surround us, in their trust in us, in their attitude towards us, by and large in our ability to communicate. But the fact remains that if the project manager does not distinguish between the approach for the client from the outside and for the friend, then the probability of a positive result in both cases is equal.
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Of course, the output product must be of high quality, even if it is something ordinary and unpretentious. And the attitude towards each client should be constructive, partnership from the very beginning, with the desire to help in solving the tasks set, to help in such a way that the result is not just a site, but sales from the site.

The concept of the “highest point” of customer relations is common in business literature, when a customer becomes not just a faceless figure, they have made a website and have forgotten it. And when work with a client gradually moves from dry business communication to human communication, when both the customer and the manager begin to need each other in everyday communication, when the customer calls, invites for lunch to consult on the development of their project, and at the same time communicate on distracted themes, when a client opens, devotes some details of his life, talks more deeply about his business, shares successes and difficulties that arise. When a manager can call a client and not just find out how things are going, but ask for advice in the area in which the client is an expert, go on to discuss the development of his project, offer for his part some interesting way of increasing his sales, etc. At this stage, the client becomes not just a man from the street, he becomes familiar, good acquaintance, the face begins to blur, the client becomes a partner or even a friend.

My experience confirms the positive effect of maintaining more friendly relations with clients - the number of those who came on the recommendation is growing, confidence in the solutions we offer from such clients is higher. My friends recommend my services to their friends. The process is demanding and already such a trusting attitude makes me keep the bar , improve the level of professionalism, constantly undergo training, read, study on my own a huge amount of specialized literature, etc. And if you analyze, then it is these clients, friends, and friends, clients (about 30%), their recommendations, the additional services that they order, at the moment (and I have been working in this field for the 5th year) give 80 % of income - well, that is those by Pareto.

And here it has its own - the quality of staff (project managers, client managers) in the regional labor market, to put it mildly, is low. In order to find a manager who is not indifferent and understanding the essence of the work, you need to spend a huge amount of time, effort and nerves. And even more resources need to be spent to train the manager for yourself, so that the person will begin to understand his own benefit from this approach. Here from the very beginning it is necessary to work to find such an "asterisk". So it turns out that the state of this “highest point” is most attainable when the client service is monitored and cultivated by the business owner , rather than when little motivated students are involved in project management, employees are simple on the street, and the company’s main task is to attract New customers at the expense of broad advertising, the flow of hot customers, having organized a conveyor belt, cakes, “made a website - do not want to move - roll back”, etc. Hence, a huge amount of negativity, which spills both on clients and on agencies - negative reviews, customer dissatisfaction with the work of an individual manager, agency and industry in general.

The market will surely pass this stage, now it is oversaturated, unorganized, still raw. Competition is already acutely felt. I think it will benefit those who, in addition to a high-quality product, will provide a quality service, who will be ready to find a common language with any client and will “love” in any way and will appreciate the result.