Freelancers: How to Build Strong Client Relationships That Grow Your Business

Building strong client relationships was the secret to growing my freelance copywriting business. My goal was to have a few clients who gave me a lot of business. I didn’t spend much time hustling, chasing after random clients. (To be clear, I was always on the lookout for the next client)

Think about your client relationships. How would you categorize them? Are they strong, or do they need work?

Here are tips you can use to strengthen your client relationships.

5 Benefits of Strong Client Relationships

1. You become their favorite creative partner. Whenever they have a suitable project, you’re the one they call.
2. There’s no competition. The job is yours as soon as the client accepts your estimate.
3. The client has appropriate budgets for their projects. They accept your estimates with few questions.
4. You understand each other’s needs. You get complete briefings and reasonable deadlines. The client is happy with your work.
5. Conversation is easy. If you have questions, you get good answers. You work like partners to turn in successful projects.

What do Clients Value Most in a Freelancer?

To build strong relationships, you need to understand what’s important to clients.

Take a minute to look at these five freelancer characteristics. Put them in the order you think the clients ranked them.

1. Price: are the freelancer’s rates reasonable, or should they be lower?
2. Talent for the job: could the freelancer show they had the required talent?
3. Reliability: does the freelancer deliver the expected projects on time?
4. Personality: is the freelancer easy to work with?
5. Hygiene: how professionally does the freelancer present themselves?

Here, in order, is what clients value most in a freelancer . Are you surprised?

Talking About Money: The Signs of a Strong Client Relationship

In your freelance business, like any other business, you have to talk to your clients about money.

“Money talk” usually comes up when a client reviews budgets, when you submit an estimate, and when project scope changes.

Many freelancers find money talk difficult. They’d rather avoid it. But speaking freely and confidently to clients about money are signs of a strong relationship.

Here are some of the critical areas covered in the post how to talk to clients about money :

• Talking about money takes practice
• How to take control of the budget discussion
• How to avoid some money talks
• With the right clients, it’s easy to talk about money
• When not to talk to clients about money

Best Clients for Freelancers (How to Find Them)

Before building strong relationships, think carefully about who you want as your clients.

Here's a strategy: look at your niches, and find more clients like them. I wrote about how to find new clients , using your existing niches.

What are the characteristics of “best clients” for you? Once you’ve narrowed down your niches:

• Search for clients who have a high demand for the services you provide, so there is a potential for ongoing business
• Look for clients who are a personality match with you, someone you get along with
• Ideally, you want clients who are willing to share budget numbers
• The best clients understand how to work with processes
• Find clients who respect deadlines

How do you find these ideal freelance clients? Here’s how to find the best clients for freelancers .

Learn more ways to grow your freelance copywriting or design business in my book, How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. It’s the essential business guide for graphic designers, copywriters, filmmakers, photographers, and programmers.

Buy Your Book Here

Over 300 pages and 23 chapters, available at Amazon (Paper & Kindle), Kobo (ebook), Apple Books (ebook), and?Gumroad (PDF).

The book is packed with useful information to help creatives start and grow their business.

?Learned a Lot of Things I Haven't Found Anywhere

“Freelancers and agency owners, if you're struggling with pricing, writing good estimates, profitability etc., get @StroteBook 's book. Finished it yesterday and learned a lot of things I haven't found anywhere.”

Kasun Pathirage, Freelance B2B Writer, posted on Twitter

Want a free taste first?

Sure! Sign up here to get a free PDF of Working With Clients , which is Chapter 14 of the book.

This chapter covers essential areas such as Clients vs. Projects, Corporate Clients vs. Small Business Clients, How to Create an Opportunity Document, Benefits of Finding a Niche… and much more.

Questions? On Twitter, I’m @StroteBook . D.M.s are always open. Ask away.