Customer Relationships
When we talk about working with customers, the first thing that usually comes to mind is our relationships with customers. It's true that the way the customer feels about you is one of the major factors in determining if that customer asks you back for a second, third, or fourth project. Keep in mind that "difficult" employees may not get promotions, but "difficult" contractors don't get work!
“Difficult” Contractors Don’t Get Work
You can write your own definition of “difficult.” And then you can work diligently to be excellent instead of difficult. Here are some items to consider:
- Do you offer superior customer service? Have you attended a customer relations training seminar? Do you practice what you learned?
- Do you practice common courtesies of being on time, saying please and thank you, returning phone calls, and responding to e-mail messages?
- Are you generally an upbeat person?
- Do you know what is going on in your customer's business, the local news, sports, and other topics that your customer is interested in?
- Do you take responsibility for your own work and for your own mistakes? Are you willing to help the customer “save face” when the situation warrants?
- Are you as competent in your work skills as you can possibly be? Do you keep up with emerging technology?
- Do you meet deadlines? Do you report progress as well as problems to your customer? Do you prevent surprises by sharing information while there is time to do something about it?
- Are you realistic about your fees? Can you estimate projects with accuracy? Do you occasionally do something for your customer without charging, such as making a special, bound copy of a document for your customer's boss or sending a rush document by courier? Do you have an unobtrusive way of letting the customer know that you did this?
You can probably write your own list of many additional items that affect your relationships with your customers. The point is this: Your customer relationships better be excellent if your business is going to be the most successful.