Communication is always key, but make sure your “train” your clients!

It has been over three years now since I started my journey of self-employment. From working full-time and receiving my monthly pay packet – on time, every month – I moved into a world of uncertainty but excitement, with no guarantees of success. Fortunately, I have managed to make my business work, and whilst it is in a relatively healthy position at this point in time, I can’t say it has been without it’s difficulties.

Along the way, I have encountered a number of hurdles, gained invaluable experience, and have learned some incredible life lessons. In this series of articles, I continue to share some tips and general nuggets that I have picked up from this adventure – many of which a budding web developer or sole trader might find handy ahead of taking the leap!

« Points 7 & 8: Maintain Your Own Policies & Utilise SMS

9. Communication Is Key

As a responsible business person, you need to be on the ball and reply to every text, voicemail and email that you get, no matter how long it takes – because you don’t want to be the person who is known as the “he never gets back to me” guy. It’s unprofessional.

Therefore, you might it helpful to use your “downtime” to carry out the menial tasks that would otherwise get forgotten amongst the plethora of projects! This includes things like replying to texts whilst the kettle is boiling, giving quick email replies any time you’re waiting for an upload to compete, or logging a taxable expense on FreeAgent whilst you’re on the toilet! Any productive usage of these short amounts of time can prevent the inevitable communication build up that can frequently occur otherwise.

I receive emails which require lengthy replies, and the temptation to procrastinate is all too prevalent.

I must admit there have been really difficult phases of my work where I have potentially taken on too much work, and I receive emails which require lengthy replies, and the temptation to procrastinate is all too prevalent. However you should remember that whilst sending an emailed reply may not be necessarily be lucrative, ultimately, an opinion will be formed based on the time it takes for you to get back to them.

Don’t be a slave to email, but don’t disregard it either!

10. Train your clients to be sparing with their support requests

Being the approachable guy that is “always available” is a great way to win clients. When I started out, I noticed that one of the top links for Bournemouth Web Design was Gumtree (now it is me), and on the site were a number of ads for local businesses, many of whom presented themselves with a photo of a laptop or the “internet superhighway”, or a screenshot of a website (that they may or may not have designed) – all pretty meaningless.

It is humbling to be trusted, but, it’s quite difficult to get up to 15 emails in a day, all for people looking for advice on general web questions which are outside the scope of what I am offering.

Without sounding narcissistic, I placed an ad, but my photo was of me – and people seemed to like the fact they could see the person they would be dealing with. This worked very well to “get the sale”, however it also meant that I was also treated as the “go-to” person for anything vaguely technical. It is incredibly humbling to be trusted like this, but at the same time, it’s quite difficult to get up to 15 emails in a day, all for people looking for advice on general web questions which are outside the scope of what I am offering. Am I getting paid for this? Of course not!

Therefore, it is worth opening yourself up to the idea of creating a knowledge-base where you can create an FAQ of everything you have ever been asked. It will soon build up to be an incredibly valuable resource, not only for your clients, but also your SEO. Accompany these with video tutorials if you can. Any time you get an enquiry via email, answer it – but upload the answer to your website initially and then simply direct them to it. It will hopefully then get them in the mindset of checking for answers before they ask you first.

Should you wish to, you can even go to the extent of changing your hosting pricing to provide a package that includes support. So, you might want to offer them, say, one complimentary support ticket a month for your basic package, but if they want more help, you can offer more at a premium. Of course, there is a basic level of service people should expect from you, and if there are questions people are asking that are not above and beyond your call of duty, you will need to look at improving your communication and providing full documentation of all the aspects of your service.

Points 11 & 12 Reaching Deadlines and  Planning Your Days »