Are You Protecting Yourself with New Writing Clients?

By Dana Prince

Getting a new writing client feels great. But there could be a lot at stake when you develop that new relationship. There’s your time, there’s your reputation, and there’s money at stake as well.

Protect Your Time

There is a certain degree of pre-sales activities required to help you make money. This depends on a lot of factors such as the project and the client’s level of expertise. You’ll have to answer questions, you’ll have to do some research, and you’ll have to dedicate a certain amount of time to developing that new relationship. You won’t always get the deal although you’ve spent that time and it’s a gamble you have to take.

That said, as a freelancer your time equals money so be careful about people just fishing for information. I’ve had more than one occasion where I’ve given away what amounts to free consulting and never seen an order out of it. I’ve also felt, at times, that I was just being milked for information so I’ve backed off. I’m sure that in some cases I’ve given enough info away to help someone go out and find someone cheaper to use strategies I’ve suggested. Try to provide enough value to get the deal but hold some of your cards back. Also consider how much hand-holding you’ll need to do when quoting a client so you don’t end up dreading dealing with them because of the time vs. money ratio. It’s a good idea to develop a new client package that you can re-use to help you with the pre-sales work so that you’re not re-inventing the wheel each time you get a new query.

Guard Your Reputation (And Investigate Theirs)

In a new business relationship, you’re hoping to wow the customer and get a glowing review out of it. This is a gamble as well. There’s a chance they won’t like your work. There’s a chance they’re going to be less than ethical. There’s also the chance that they’ll love you and refer you to all their friends. Guard yourself carefully. When using a job bidding site, if you’ve got a great reputation and high satisfaction score, you’ll want to be careful to pre-qualify your customers so you can continue to have that good reputation. Just as clients screen you, don’t hesitate to screen them. Look at their reputation as well before you decide to do business and carefully consider whether you want your name attached to their brand.

Show Me the Money!

Don’t be afraid to protect yourself. There are people out there that will take your hard work and run. Don’t shy away from talking about how payment will be handled and make it clear that you retain copyright until the work is paid for in full. It’s not rude to iron out the financials in detail before you begin work. Many “burned’ freelance writers have ignored gut instinct with respect to payment because they wanted a gig really bad. It’s pretty standard to set up milestone payments with a deposit requirement, use escrow services, or even ask for payment up front. The client is going to want to protect themselves as well so don’t be surprised or offended if they try to protect themselves financially. Mutual trust needs to be built for almost any business relationship to work.

Strut Your Stuff

Creating successful new relationships requires results so do your best to wow your writing clients with that first order so that you’ll get future orders, make money, and improve or maintain a great reputation.

Have you got any words of wisdom through your experience, trial, and error with new clients? Please share!