How Can Freelancers Impress Their Clients?

Now more than ever, people are choosing to go freelance. But why is this? Well, the simple answer is because of technology. Technology has improved so much in the past decade and given anyone and everyone the tools they need to go off and work for themselves. Call it self-employed or freelancing, regardless of the term you are working on your own terms in your own way. You are essentially your own boss. Who wouldn’t like to be their own boss? So it’s little wonder then that freelance markets have exploded and businesses and professional individuals in their own right are taking this new well of talent very seriously. However, it does carry with it an unfortunate stigma in that those that are freelance don’t bridal as much confidence from clients. The old school image of the corporations standing behind the person you’re doing business with does give some people more confidence. If it’s just one person standing in front of you, you kind of have to go on what they’re saying. So how can freelancers make a bridge of steel rather than wood for their clients to cross?

The first big investment

No matter what you do as a freelancer, if you do not have a professional website you will always be second-guessed and most likely passed over for another freelancer. On the website, you can explain who you are, what you believe in and the kinds of work you can do. Your skills, abilities and credentials can and should be displayed online for everyone to see. A potential client should not have to open up new tabs in their search engine to find the main information about you professionally. However, the most important reason for why you need a website is that you are accessible from anywhere in the world. Your have a haven from which anyone can view your work, contact you and also share everything about you to anyone else. You need to showcase your previous works as well to give evidence to any doubters of what you are capable of. This is the first investment in yourself and your career you must make if you’re going to lure in clients.

Make communication simple and reliable

Okay, so a client is interested in what you do and they like your work. Contact should be easy, so put your links in your ‘about me’ page or possibly in the bottom permanent banner on your webpages. Share your professional email and telephone and or mobile number. However also provide your social media contacts such as Twitter, Facebook and even Instagram. Times have changed and many people want to contact using simple, fast and effective methods such as social media. Equally as important is your professional profiles such as LinkedIn. This allows multiple ways of contacting you and just increases the chances of having a successful message meet you.

To make your contact reliable you should leave some kind of message informing clients as to when would be the best time to call them in their time zones. For example, you have EST, CT and GMT. If you’re from the UK, then the east coast of America would be 5 hours behind. Your communication should also be reliable in the fact that, once you have established your first contact then you must meet your obligations to remain in good contact all throughout the client’s dealings with you.

Make an irresistible display

In this modern world, clients of all kinds are using their options wisely. It’s very common for clients such as businesses or individuals to play the field as it were. They want to see what their best options are in this new freelance world. Thus, they often give their briefs to multiple different freelancers and depending on their initial communication responses and the quality of the responses, they will make their decision. How can you lock them in and impress to the point that they just have to go with you? Well, selling them on your idea is how you can do this. Your vehicle is, of course, the presentation.

However, presentations have evolved far beyond where they were just 10 or even 5 years ago. Now you have the option of making your own templates, being creative in how you explain ideas, statistics, facts, graphs, charts and stages in a project. However, the translation and access to your presentation is still a moderate challenge. Something like Beautiful.AI lets you export your work to PDF/PPT, so that your work is able to be printed off and digested in a boardroom as well as displayed on a large monitor or screen using a familiar software. Pretty much every corner is covered also, because you have different templates for bar charts and pie charts. It’s incredibly easy to use as the controls are intuitive and simple to use. For example, you have a horizontal scroll bar for elongating or shortening a bar chart. The less time it takes for you to make an impressive presentation, the higher your chances become for securing that deal with the client.

Be willing to cater

Clients come to the freelance market because they want a unique talent to work with them. They haven’t gone the corporate route, they have come to find skilled individuals that can provide something bespoke for them. That’s the angle you should cater to, whatever the clients desires you will try your utmost to provide for them. Be adaptable, willing to change the way you do things if the situation and demand from the client calls for it. If you are willing to cater to their work schedule as well, this is a big plus; especially for international clients.

It’s an amazing time to be a freelancer in the world of business. You can work how you want to, where you want to and most importantly when you want to. However, clients will be hard to come by if you don’t make a big investment in your professional website. Be accessible from around the world with a brilliant website that showcases all your talents and previous work.

This is a collaborative post.