13
votes
Accepted
Starting freelancer career while already having customers
If you aren't already charging market value it's highly unlikely you'll retain any existing customers once you do start charging market value.
Chances are, clients you currently have are clients ...
- 17.5k
12
votes
Accepted
How to handle interpersonal relationships and expectations from client's marketing department
The easiest way to handle the short-notice work is to set up a Service Level Agreement (SLA). You can document how much notice the client must give, and how soon you will act, with financial ...
- 1,040
9
votes
Dealing with a customer that was satisfied with your services but is mad about the price
Neoflash,
If a customer's #1 motivation is to get a service done as cheaply as possible, then you can't fix that whether you are at the pre-service stage, performing the service, or done with it. ...
- 5,363
8
votes
Accepted
Dealing with a customer that was satisfied with your services but is mad about the price
Personal opinion... don't engage too much. If the relationship is damaged, then it's damaged. Get paid and move on. Too much discussion will only inflame issues. In addition, any reduction not cited ...
- 17.5k
6
votes
Accepted
How do you curtail too much customer input on website design?
Directed Choices.
Most clients I experience want to feel as though they have input into how things look. I think that's just human nature. The key for me has been to always provide directed choices ...
- 17.5k
4
votes
Accepted
Best behaviour to have in meetings with people trying to impress / confuse others with unnecessary technical jargon
Quiet confidence gets me the kind of clients I want. Bold, boisterous, technical arrogance often garners clients I don't want. It all comes down to a person's selling style really.
I actually get ...
- 17.5k
4
votes
Best behaviour to have in meetings with people trying to impress / confuse others with unnecessary technical jargon
While it is annoying having other people show off, this could work to your advantage, as the contrast between their redundant word-salad and your client-targeted communication will be quite evident.
...
- 3,967
3
votes
How to convince customer to buy its own products
You shouldn't have put yourself in this situation in the first place.
We order PCB's from a dozen places across our product lines. We sign multiyear staggered shipment contracts when we don't want to ...
- 131
3
votes
Starting freelancer career while already having customers
Agree with the answer stating that you will not be able to retain current clients. Once you've 'anchored' your price level, it turns out to be virtually impossible to change it.
In addition, new ...
- 3,967
3
votes
Asking Vendor for compensation for failures in their products
Like @AlexD said, it depends on the license agreement.
Also, did you pay for the vendor product? If it's free or open source then you can 100% forget about compensation.
If you paid and they ...
- 226
3
votes
Accepted
What expectations are there of support when handing development over to a different contractor after my contract is terminated?
I don´t think there are any "business norms" on support after cancellation of a contract. As already stated by @candied_orange, if it's not in the contract it doesn't exist
I think it would seem ...
- 1,033
3
votes
How to handle interpersonal relationships and expectations from client's marketing department
YOU are in charge of how the client (or their staff) treat you. People will walk all over you if you allow them to. But they will also learn to plan better if you refuse to let them. So it's your ...
- 17.5k
2
votes
How do you curtail too much customer input on website design?
I would suggest adding language to your contract specifying how many design revisions will be allowed, free-of-charge. Be frank with your client when discussing this part of the contract and tell them ...
- 275
2
votes
Best Management tool for self-employed: Tasks, Calendar, Multiple Customers, Multiple Project, Invoice, Time-Track
Google Calendar, Google Spreadsheet and Google Drive are great for these tasks, are free and accessible from desktop and apps anywhere anytime.
- 866
2
votes
Accepted
Business plan for developers
We won't tell you what needs to be done for your particular needs, but we can help with a business plan. Essentially, you want a road map for how your business is going to succeed.
How will customers ...
- 6,943
2
votes
How do I communicate with a customer about the bad quality of work I'm delivering?
Whatever you do about your work and for your customer, you should never frustrate them.
You should be result-oriented as a freelancer, if the outcome is good, you don't have to change your current ...
- 121
2
votes
How do I communicate with a customer about the bad quality of work I'm delivering?
This all depends on what constitutes "bad quality".
If you are making bugs, then the answer is to change how you are working. For example, use a more structured work process, add testing to ...
- 1,972
2
votes
How to drop customer balance costs for an hardware instance upscaling
This is a tough issue, but goes to show that extra planning ahead of time would work wonders for the client, and for you as the expert.
Coming from a SysAdmin-type standpoint, maintaining one server ...
- 6,943
1
vote
How to deal with an arrogant client who gets intensely upset with even the smallest of communication gaps between us?
Fixing an unsatisfactory client relationship is generally the freelancer's responsibility. Upon failure, the only real option is to end the relationship.
A plan to move forward could be scheduling a ...
- 3,967
1
vote
Accepted
Best Management tool for self-employed: Tasks, Calendar, Multiple Customers, Multiple Project, Invoice, Time-Track
I've used a self hosted solution called 'Freelancer Office' that does similar tasks, I'm sure there will be others out there. You list an item and can then add that item to an invoice. It's a good all ...
1
vote
What expectations are there of support when handing development over to a different contractor after my contract is terminated?
In the world of contracting if it's not in the contract it doesn't exist.
That said, if people come to me with questions about systems I've touched in the past I'm generally willing to provide a few ...
- 119
1
vote
Dealing with a customer that was satisfied with your services but is mad about the price
I'm going to play devil's advocate, I guess.
The comment,
the better we are at our job, the harder it is for the customer to see the value in our services (holy %$?! that seemed easy, quick and ...
- 131
1
vote
Asking Vendor for compensation for failures in their products
I did not read the entire thing.. just the first paragraph synopsis.
... (real scenario, not fabricated) I purchased a Adobe Photoshop.... While using Photoshop I discover a few "show stopping" bugs, ...
- 17.5k
1
vote
How do you curtail too much customer input on website design?
It's very important that you talk very well with your client, before starting to work, to understand as much as possible what he expects to see in his web site. This is a crucial part that when well ...
- 2,294
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible