More client-relations Stories

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While many of us love working in our home office or other alternative venue of choice there will often be times when your projects take you to a client site for an extended period of time. I’ve spent time on and off client sites for a […] Read more »

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Client questionnaires should be easy. You can send your questions over via email, your client hits the “Reply” button and answers away. But, for some reason, it’s not always that straightforward. Some clients might skip questions or answer them incorrectly, while others might want to skip […] Read more »

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We’ve all heard the horror stories of difficult clients. Anyone offering client services has been there. No company can function effectively when confronted with clients who operate from a place of fear — which is often at the root of most difficult clients you encounter. You […] Read more »

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Most of us don’t just work on the web, we kind of live on it too. And our virtual neighbors are people who speak our language. But you must not forget that people like us are still the minority, even in places that have universal Internet […] Read more »

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Every time I apply for a new job, I am always excited to start working. Despite this, some prospects don’t always seem to share my enthusiasm. They might seem uninterested and may stall negotiations or contract signing. How can you tell if a prospect isn’t serious about working with you and what should you do about it? Read more »

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Many freelancers, especially at the beginning of their careers, may find themselves working with very difficult clients. When this has happened to me, either I helped change the client’s working behavior or stopped working with them altogether. While I always aim for the former approach, sometimes the better option is to end the working relationship. Whenever this happens I hope that if I do work with the client again in the future, they’ll be more cooperative — but that’s not guaranteed.

When one of your more difficult clients contacts you for a new project, how do you work with them again, without repeating the problems you previously had? Read more »

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Recently, I was subcontracting for an ad agency when things went unexpectedly wrong. There had been points in the process when I felt things weren’t quite right, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. In retrospect, I can see that those moments were actually blatant warning signs that the project was going awry.

Now I keep these warning signs in mind. They’re indicators that I need to take immediate action to keep my project on track. If you’re working remotely, that can be much harder to do than if you have daily face-to-face contact with your colleagues, but hopefully these tips will help you avoid the trap I fell into. Read more »

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“Just do your work and then I’ll pay you.” I couldn’t believe what I was reading. My client told me to “just do (my) work” and yet he didn’t want to discuss any of the things that I needed to know to get the work done in the first place.He wanted to do away with the needs analysis stage and just get me to write a 50-page e-book based on a vague one paragraph description. If there’s a web app for telepathy I haven’t seen it, so he shouldn’t expect that I know how to finish a project after the first two emails.

To avoid this problem in the future, I’m reevaluating the way I work with clients. How do I include them in my work process? Can I improve on my current methodology? Read more »

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With their latest lineup of products, Apple is pushing the new environmental features in an aggressive way. Rightly so, they are proud of their achievement — going from a heavily criticized Mac and iPod lineup a few years ago, to a set of very environmentally friendly […] Read more »

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When I started freelancing, I worked with every potential client who contacted me.  This is normal for someone who is starting out.  After all, you want to get all the experience you can get your hands on.  But after a while, you’ll realize, like I did, […] Read more »

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Ok, you’ve had days where you felt the way that this guy looks. Smaa-ck! Now consider this: He got on base. It’s just one more way that founding is like baseball. “Not everyone gets a home run, but sooner or later you’re bound to get hit […] Read more »

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Google recently announced a new feature: forms. By combining spreadsheets with bulk e-mail, the new function (which was revealed on the Google Docs blog) lets a spreadsheet author send out a mail with fields for recipients to fill in. As they do, the spreadsheet gets completed. […] Read more »

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[qi:013] This week I read a fascinating article by Joe Weinman that was published in Business Communications Review. In it, he proposes an innovative concept that could initiate a paradigm shift in Internet search, fixing what may be its biggest problem: too many results, many of […] Read more »