Intro
There are four key concepts I've found vital when establishing a connection with a new client: professionalism, communication, trust, and access. Professionalism should permeate everything you do—take notes, be punctual for meetings, and deliver as promised. All of this hinges on communication. Clear and consistent communication, coupled with professionalism, leads to trust. Once you've built professionalism, communication, and trust, you'll likely gain access to third-party programs that can save you hours of work. With this foundation in place, you're better positioned to discern between the client's wishes and when to suggest alternative solutions.
Professionalism
The cornerstone of professionalism is documentation. It's crucial to document everything and maintain a centralized database of your notes. Take notes after meetings, during tasks, and about any blockers or difficulties you encounter. This comprehensive record-keeping ensures you're well-prepared to discuss and defend your work with your client.
Advocate for recording your meetings. This allows you to stay fully engaged with your client without interrupting the flow of ideas and conversation to write. Use the tools at your disposal. There are helpful apps such as free AI tools to generate transcripts, enabling you to summarize and capture the key points from each meeting.
Maintain a detailed list of tasks you perform for your client. While this may seem obvious, it serves purposes beyond invoice itemization. Take precise notes on each task—remember, your client has hired you for expertise they lack. When discussing your work, these notes help the client better understand the effort involved in each task.
Being able to justify your work is essential. Having thorough notes on why tasks took the time they did prepares you for each meeting. This level of preparation and transparency appears highly professional to the client.
Lastly, and perhaps most simply, maintain a professional appearance. Present yourself well for video calls or in-person meetings. Wear clean, fresh clothes, style your hair, use deodorant, and don clean shoes. This not only enhances the client's perception of you but also boosts your self-confidence. When you look good, you feel good—and that confidence is attractive to clients.
Communication
Clear and consistent communication helps to both look professional and build trust. Be reasonable with your response time. Don’t put off replying for days. One of the biggest killers between you and your client’s relationship is lack of communication. From personal experience, the reason I’m being contracted with a company is they couldn’t get ahold of their developer.
Your messages should always read professional. What this looks like to you can be a little different to me. I always maintain correct punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. This keeps things clear and leaves nothing up to assumption. I also refrain from using profanity to maintain a professional image with clients.
Effective communication minimizes misunderstandings and reduces the risk of errors. It saves you time and your clients money by eliminating the need to redo tasks due to miscommunication. All of this, leads to trust.
Trust
Building trust with your client is, in my opinion, the most crucial aspect of a successful working relationship. It prevents micromanagement, allows you to work your way, and most importantly, enables you to say "no" to the client when necessary.
When a client doesn't trust you, they tend to micromanage (if they haven't already ended the relationship). This constricts you, slows down your work, and removes your creative freedom. It can also lead to a worse product. Remember, clients hire you to perform tasks they can't do themselves. When they're busy micromanaging you to do a task their way, it's not being done by the expert—you.
You're the expert! You have the experience! Do the task the way you think it should be done. Even if you don't know exactly how to complete a task, you know how to figure it out. When I started my Web Development company, I worried about charging clients for the time it took me to figure out how to do a task. A friend told me, "My value proposition is being an expert at figuring things out for my clients more so than knowing exactly how to do X, Y, and Z." You don't know everything and never will, and that's okay. Clients don't just pay for you to get something done; they pay for you to figure out how to get it done.
When you're in control of your work and have your client's trust, you can say no. You're the expert, not the client. They don't know as much as you do. When they want you to perform a task but you know a better way, don't stay silent! Share your opinion respectfully. Sometimes, your way might take less time and mean less money for you. But it also means you're saving your client money. When they see this, it builds tremendous trust. They recognize that you're putting their needs ahead of your own and helping to build a better product. This leads to more work, and money, for you down the line because they see you as dependable and committed to doing what needs to be done.
Access
In web development, there's no single "correct" way to build a site. You can create everything from scratch or leverage various third-party programs to assist you. When joining a project midway, your client may already be using some of these third-party tools. Many of these programs contain sensitive information and require login credentials. Without the trust and communication I've discussed earlier, gaining access to these programs can be challenging and significantly slow down your work.
Let me share an example. A client once asked me to create a popup with a third-party embedded form on their homepage. I didn't have access to the form-building program, so I worked with the embedded code the client provided. Implementing the form was straightforward, but there was a hitch—once users confirmed their submission, there was no way to close the form. No "X" or "Dismiss" button existed.
I spent hours—and consequently, my client's money—trying to solve this issue. I asked the client if they could add a dismiss button through the program, as I was struggling to implement it on my end. When they couldn't find a solution either, I invested more time and more of my client's resources attempting to resolve the problem. Finally, I requested access to the program itself. Within five minutes of gaining access, I had added a dismiss button to the form's confirmation section.
While I take some responsibility for not requesting access sooner, this oversight cost my client an additional hundred dollars or so for what should have been a simple task. However, thanks to the trust I had built with my client, when I finally asked for access, it was granted within minutes—no haggling, no lengthy discussions, no resistance. Had I not established that trust, I might not have gained access at all. The client could have been forced to seek help elsewhere, potentially resulting in my loss of trust and future opportunities with them.
Outro
In conclusion, these key principles—professionalism, communication, trust, and access—form the foundation of successful client relationships in contracting. While there may be additional important aspects, these are the key principles I've found most effective in my line of work. By maintaining a high level of professionalism in all interactions, communicating clearly and consistently, building trust through transparency and expertise allowing you to use discernment in decision-making, and securing necessary access, you can create a positive and productive working environment.
Remember, each of these elements are interconnected. Professionalism and effective communication foster trust, which in turn can lead to better access and the ability to provide more valuable insights. This holistic approach not only benefits your current projects but also paves the way for long-term client relationships and future opportunities.
As you apply these principles in your work, you'll likely find that they not only improve your client relationships but also enhance your own professional growth and satisfaction. By consistently delivering value and building strong partnerships, you position yourself as a trusted expert in your field, setting the stage for continued success in your contracting career.