Something has occurred to me recently that has really changed my perspective on communicating with my freelance writing clients.
Before I tell you what it is, though, Let me start off by telling you a story.
When I was a younger man, I was horribly shy.
No, strike that. Shy isn’t the right way to say it. I had plenty of friends, and was pretty outgoing in most social situations. I was very involved in student groups, even taking leadership roles.
My problem was that I couldn’t seem to talk to a pretty girl to save my life. I’d get all nervous, tongue tied. I’d be scared to death that I’d say something stupid, embarrassing or awkward.
And then I would say something stupid, embarrassing or awkward.
It was 1994, and the Internet was still a young pup (at least, the public side of the Internet was). Everyone that was on the Internet was on AOL or, like me, Prodigy. The web was still fairly new and something of a novelty; online services were where it was at.
Now, today we take for granted the online dating services. Match.com, eHarmony and all the others hit us with TV and radio ads. Back then, however, the best you could find was a sort of “classified ad” section on your online service.
And I did find it. And I used it. You see, I discovered that I could write to pretty girls all day long. I never had to worry about getting tongue tied, or that my shirt would be buttoned wrong. To make a long story short, that’s how I met my wife. If I’d have had to meet her in person first, chances are I’d have chickened out and we would never have met.
(And, yes, I know the whole “we met online” thing is old hat today. But, in 1994 it was still a bit of a novelty. It was fun to watch, as the years went by, the changing reactions people would have to us “meeting online.” In the early days it was a confused “huh?” After a while it became “ooh, that’s interesting. How do I do that?” Eventually it was “I have a friend who met her husband that same way.” Finally, today it’s “You got lucky. She could have been an ax murderer!”)
At any rate, here’s my point: I’m much better at writing than I am speaking. When I write, I can carefully craft what I want to say into a cohesive whole. I’m much more likely to close a deal in writing than I am in person or on the phone.
What does that have to do with clients? Plenty.
You see, most of my writing clients aren’t writers themselves. I realize that’s pretty obvious in itself, but hear me out.
At times, it’s easy to become frustrated with clients. Communicating with them about specs, project details and even costs can be challenging via e-mail. So, some clients prefer to talk on the phone or meet face-to-face.
I don’t mind face-to-face meetings or phone calls, especially when they result in more business. But I also know that my strengths aren’t in those situations. My strength is in writing - which is why they’re hiring me in the first place.
So, I naturally prefer to negotiate on my terms - in writing. But I realize that this, in many cases, puts my clients at a severe disadvantage. So anytime a client requests a phone call or meeting, I try to accomodate it.
And these days, I try to be more understanding of those requests. After all, some clients probably feel about written communication the way I used to about verbal. They’re not sure what to write, and when they do write it comes out awkward. In other cases, they’re just playing to their strengths, and I can’t begrudge them that.
So, what do you think? I know freelancers on both sides of this issue. There are some who will not - under any circumstances - take calls or meetings. Others prefer it. How about you?
photo credit: Foxtongue
9 comments ↓
Heh. James bait?
Major no-phone rules over here. We hire that out and do have someone who will talk with clients on our behalf (and she does a fantastic job!), but we’ve had bad experiences with phones. I once spent a whole week - nearly 60 hours - on almost back to back phone calls.
We had to make a choice for us. We love our clients and really want to make them comfortable, but we couldn’t do our jobs well for them by opening up the phone lines.
So we shut ‘em down. The interesting part? Most of our clients thank us - they hate phones too.
James Chartrand - Men with Penss last blog post..Drive-by-Shooting Sundays: The Antisocial Social Worker
I am not quite that shy, but I know what you mean. I also met my husband online ~ 1991. It was actually an almost entirely local network with only a few portals to the outside world. It was a good way to get to know people and our little social group has done a pretty good job of staying together all these years.
I think that setting an absolute no-phone rule can cause problems, not just for clients, but for you. It makes it that much harder to deal with the occasional phone call. However, I absolutely agree with setting limits and arranging to have as much communication as possible via email/chat/etc.
For some backstory, I got over a paralyzing phone phobia because it was that or be fired, and I really needed the job. What I found was that as long as I was constantly on the phone, I did ok, but the occasional phone call out of the blue would throw me. That’s why I would advise not shutting off phone communication with clients completely - but let them know that you prefer email.
@ James - heh heh. Can you blame me? You hadn’t visited in a while. I was beginning to think you’d forgotten I was out here.
Seriously, though, I did think of you in this article. The 60-hour phone week horror story has stuck with me ever since I first heard you tell it.
@Jenn - You beat me by 4 years! Impressive.
I agree with what you’re saying about a no-phone rule. My instinct says to cut it out altogether, but then I recognize that some clients really just need it. Now, I don’t mind when its requested, though I still don’t prefer it.
I know exactly what you mean, and I prefer e-mail for the same reason.
But I’ve come to accept the fact that some clients just prefer phone calls or face-to-face meetings. I do like face-to-face on some occasions myself, so I usually suggest to do one for our first meeting. After that it’s usually e-mail and a phone call once in a while.
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Ugh, this is the issue I keep going back and forth on. At first, I always did calls at the clients’ request. Then, I started charging because I was wasting way too much time hour-long calls with prospects that never panned out. Now, I’m getting some larger clients who want to chat first so I’m starting to bend a little again. Round we go.
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[...] Effective Client Communication - Do you communicate with clients exclusively by email? Or are you open to phone calls and meetings as well? [...]
Hi, I completely agree with you, I always try to follow these advises and I think it helped me a lot.
Good article.I’ve come to accept the fact that some clients just prefer phone calls or face-to-face meetings. I do like face-to-face on some occasions myself..
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As a frequent hirer of freelancers, the only two things I really ask is that you listen to what I’ve asked for and that you get it to me on time. I’ve met a freelance manager and he’s constantly rushed off of his feet so it would be selfish to take up more of his time for a project that didn’t really need it.
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