5 Tips to Being a Good Client

Search the internet and you’re liable to find a gazillion articles, blog posts, and tips for providing good service to your clients. It doesn’t matter what field you are in, what kind of business you run, you can find a wealth of information available about being a good service provider.

Unfortunately, that’s only one side of any business relationship.

Yesterday I posted a tongue-in-cheek client termination letter. While it was meant as a giggle for those of us who write for a living (specifically, those of us who write for the web for a living) there is truth in the humor. Some people just do not know how to be good clients.

Here are a few tips to help ensure you don’t get the “Bad Client, No Biscuit” award (thanks George!) and subsequently drive your freelance writer (or any other service provider) over the edge.

#1 Know What You Want

If you are going to hire someone else to do a job for you, know what you want in terms of results. While you may have a rough idea of “something” you want, that’s not really enough for a professional to go on. Can you imagine hiring a contractor to build your home and telling him “I want a house on this property.” What kind of house? How big? How many bedrooms? One floor or split level? Where on the property would you like it built? Do you want brick, wood, stone, or vinyl siding? You really have to give a professional more to go on than just “something.”

#2 Know When You Want It

Just like vague project details are a surefire way to frustrate your service provider, vague deadlines for project completion or project milestones will drive them nuts too. Deadlines and milestones are an integral part of how we prioritize work as freelance writers. The same is true of almost every service provider I can think of, from web designers to administrative support professionals.

#3 Know How You Want It

What file format would you like that in, pdf, txt, rtf, docx, what? I have clients who want articles sent only as .rtf documents. I have clients who don’t care. I have clients who need .doc rather than .docx. My father’s sign business had options for cloth banners, vinyl banners, plastic signs, metal signs, lit and unlit, etc. My VA friends use all sorts of programs from spreadsheets to Word docs, from pdfs to ftp clients. How you want to get your finished product is an important part of the project.

#4 Know Why You Want It

Does something about your project need to be done a certain way for a certain reason? In freelance writing, many clients want articles for marketing purposes. Some want them to post on their blog. Some want to use them in newsletters or ezines. Some want press releases. Some want email campaign text. Some just want a way to drive traffic to their side and get links. Each of these venues might need a slightly different approach. Blog posts are less formal, more conversational so first and second person is expected. Articles for directory submission, newsletters, or ezines are usually a little more “professional” or formal in their tone. Third person is usually the best way to go. Knowing why you want something helps the service provider determine approach.

A web designer needs to know the field you’re in and the kind of market you want to attract in order to create a design that would be appealing to that crowd. The guy at the body shop needs to know if the paint job you want is for a sports car, a show car, a race car, or just something you drive daily. That affects the recommendations he/she makes. Purpose is important and can affect the approach and end result of whatever service you hire, for whatever reason.

#5 Communication is a Two-Way Street

Communication involves both speaking and LISTENING. Communicate what you want in detail so there are no blurry lines between the finished product you envision and the finished product you get. But equally important is listening to your service provider’s input. After all, you hired them because they are the professional. It stands to reason they know a thing or two about what you’re hiring them to do. As such, listen to their advice carefully. That doesn’t mean blindly follow what they tell you, but it does mean you should pay attention and listen, then think it through.

If your expert SEO writer says a 5% keyword density is too much for a human reader, no matter what the search engines say, think about it. After all, if your goal for a particular piece is to help drive traffic, remember that traffic needs to have a reason to stick around. Writing for the search engines only is like bussing a crowd of people to the mall. It will get them there, but then what? Once that bus arrives, you want those people to get off and go shop, right? They won’t do that if the mall looks like it might fall over on them. Badly written content is the same thing. It might get folks to your site, but once they get there they need to be able to read the information you present and act on it.

The same is true for virtually any professional. We’re in the middle of restoring an old 77 Chevy step-side pickup truck. I brought it to my mechanic and told him to gut the drive train and start over. He said, wait a minute, we might not need to do all of that. He went over everything and suggested we try a few minor changes first, just to see how the truck ran. Ultimately, it still needed a new motor, but the transmission was fine. Rather than spending $5k on a whole new drive train, I’m only spending about $2,500-3,000 because I listened to the professional I hired to handle the job for me. His judgment is better than mine simply because of his knowledge base and experience.

In short, to be a good client, think before you leap. You don’t have to have all of the finite details worked out to the nth degree, but you do need to have more than just a vague idea. A good professional can help you work out those tiny details and make suggestions for improving on your plan. However, you have to first know enough about your own project to help them see where you are trying to go and why. It can make all the difference in whether you become a good client or a bad client.

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