Before learning the tips to retain freelancing clients, let's first set the context...
The gig economy is flourishing, and freelancing trends are becoming increasingly popular due to the practice of remote working during the pandemic. However, being a freelancer is not easy, especially when it comes to finding clients and retaining them.
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Why is it Important to Retain Freelancing Clients?
If you aspire to freelance at some point in your career or are already doing so, one of the first things you'll need to figure out is how to retain your existing clients. While working for various clients keeps your task from becoming mundane, developing long-term client connections may go a long way toward keeping your firm thriving.
"A study by Bain & Company found that clients retained for a more extended period of time will increase profits by 25-95%."
Whenever you pick up a new client, you've got to learn about their business, brand, product, voice, tone, etc. You must also become familiar with their company procedures and systems. As a result, countless hours are spent trying to adapt to something new while at the same time trying to get work done.
Wouldn't it be great if you could scale down the time you spent on pitching new clients while still maintaining a healthy workload? Wouldn't that be handy to know a few tips to retain freelancing clients?
Read on to know the proven strategies to build a long-term relationship with your freelancing clients.
9 Tips to Retain Freelancing Clients
1. Clear and Concise Communication
The finest base to build relationships with freelance clients is good communication. Your skills bring you clients, but your communication keeps them coming back to you. This is one of the ultimate tips to retain freelancing clients.
By fostering clear and transparent communication with your clients, you reduce the risk of misunderstandings, errors, and delays while helping to instill trust in you. So remember, the clearer you communicate with your client, the less likely they will seek revisions.
In addition, wishing them on their birthday or during any other festive season makes a difference, as it shows them you care about them and remember details about them.
2. Clarify and Set Clear Expectations
Although everyone's experience is different, managing client expectations is a must-have skill for every freelancer. In fact, maintaining realistic expectations is the absolute key to building a relationship with freelancing clients.
Before initiating your engagement with the client, you must spend enough time to fully grasp the client's expectations for your efforts and deliverables. Hash out a list of all the questions you have and make sure you have a clear idea of what the client wants.
As a result, exceeding their expectations may significantly influence the client's relationship and help you establish a professional reputation.
Be a good listener. When you actively listen, you set higher standards for yourself and your client, ensuring everyone is on the same page. Remember, open communications will help you develop a smooth client workflow.
3. Do a Client Study
Take the time to learn everything you can about their mission and agenda. This is probably the most important step you need to take before signing a contract. With this research, you will be able to discover everything you need to know about the needs and wants of your client, which will help you tailor an offer that will suit their needs.
It is important to keep an eye out for possible agenda changes to better understand your client's needs and how you can assist them. A strategy like this will help you decrease the likelihood of losing clients and establish yourself as someone worth doing business with.
4. Never Skip Out on the Quality
The most straightforward way to increase client retention is to deliver a high-quality service. Delivering quality work is what matters to your clients. Therefore, you will only be able to win future projects if you give quality service to your clients and please them; if you fail to do so, your prospects of acquiring future projects will drop.
You strike hard; You strike hard the first time; You strike hard every time. Never let anything to hamper your quality of your work if you want to retain freelancing clients.
5. Be at Hand
We live in an age of immediate gratification when everyone expects to get everything instantly. For this reason, your client may get dissatisfied if they do not receive what they want from you right away.
If you don't want to let your clients down, you should respond to their queries as soon as possible—set business hours during which you can reply promptly to any inquiries or concerns your clients may have.
As a freelancer, you may occasionally work with clients in various time zones, making it difficult to locate the best time to speak. Therefore, before you begin a contract, you should negotiate with your prospective clients on what time of day you would be accessible. It will assist you in avoiding misunderstandings and increase client satisfaction.
6. Cut to the Chase
Your clients will value you much more if you speak the truth and are honest rather than committing yourself to something you can't fulfill. In any circumstance, be honest, and don't hesitate to say "no".
It is advisable to clarify the points to avoid any mismatches or unexpected consequences. If you need someone's support to tackle an issue, be honest about it. Maintain a friendly relationship with them, be consistent with your words, yet remain professional.
7. Hit the Deadline
Being on top of deadlines is of particular importance to freelancers. Often, the client expects to see an actively engaged professional, dedicated, and committed to their project.
Whenever setting timelines with your clients, ensure you leave enough wiggle space in your calendar to be comfortable with your deadlines. Be honest with your clients if you are unsure whether you can complete a project by a particular deadline.
This is one of the most effective strategies to keep your clients pleased and keep them coming back to you.
8. Freebies and Gift Vouchers to Regular Clients
Discounts never grow old. Gifts and offers are favorites, aren't they? These have proven to be one of the evergreen tips to retain freelancing clients. Providing your existing clients with discounts and goodies for taking your services for a long time makes them feel like they're getting a special treat.
A valuable client can suggest you to other clients or recommend you and bring you freelance work. But how can you treat them special?
Offering surprise gifts and discounts not only motivates them to come back to you, but it also helps to improve your sales. For example, Mastercard employed this method to reward loyal clients by delivering complimentary cupcakes, concert tickets, and VIP celebrity meets to cardholders.
9. Value Client Reviews
Client reviews and feedback is one of the most underrated tips to retain freelancing clients. Client reviews matter a lot when you're a freelancer, whether word of mouth or positive comments. So, request feedback from your freelancing clients regularly. This allows you to understand what they anticipate from you and work on it to keep them happy.
You can use surveys for general feedback, and clients can sometimes amaze you with heartwarming testimonials.
Upon receiving their feedback, work on it and deliver quality results. This plays a crucial role in retaining freelance clients as a gig worker.
All Set to Hold your Client's Attention
When it comes down to retaining freelancing clients, it is all about building relationships and establishing your value and expertise. Working as a team with your client is essential to keep a long-term freelance partnership with them. So use these proven tips to retain freelancing clients like a pro.
To retain a client, you must first gain them. This is why we built a service that finds gig workers and connects them with potential clients. As a result, gig workers and freelancers on Workflexi are likely to get hired straight away and paid for each task. So, register for free on Workflexi to connect with your potential clients.
