How2Freelance

Earn more by firing 80% of your clients!

Posted on 01. Oct, 2009 by Amod in Strategy

Remember Pareto’s principle? It applies to your clients too. You will get 80% of revenues from 20% of your clients (by corollary 20% earnings from 80% of clients). This implies that you will earn most by retaining SOME of the existing clients. Here are some pointers for you to consider:

• Ruthlessly cut down on 80% of exising clients who are a drag on you. Say no to that difficult client who always pays late, shortchanges you or extracts lot of work for less. Ofcourse you must exercise discretion in this e.g. some projects may be low paying (say, for a non-profit), but it might provide you a wide exposure.
• Concentrate on the top 20%. These are the ones who provide 80% of business either directly or indirectly (references etc). Don’t miss deadlines, avoid being too friendly, provide regular feedback and yes, greet them on festivals. I usually email each of my clients on say, Xmas or Thanksgiving.
• Don’t spam clients. Infact, you must ask for permission before including their email address in your mailing list. And never ever refer anyone else to your client before you ask them. It will also be a good idea to seek permission before you post your client’s name for your portfolio.
• Provide them value added service. Give them more than what any other pro would. Those extras will delight them in hitting a gold mine (in terms of a valuable freelancer). Point them to information that is relevant to their business. e.g. Has your client heard of that new accounting software which will help them in their business? Who knows, it might just open another business avenue for you.
• Consider yourself a stakeholder in their business. Unless you do that, you will fail to see what is required to help the business. e.g Is the website good enough to meet the required sales target? How will my copywriting position the brand? Consider this – all my big clients have asked for past references and projects done. They want to know what my contribution was to the business.

So go ahead and fire those pesky clients and greet your favorite clients – if you have a contrarian view, I would love to hear it.

Tags: clients