Listen to your Freelance Writing Clients
When speaking with freelance writing clients, you need to listen and listen well. While you may think that this goes without saying, some people have a difficult time taking direction from clients. To be a successful freelance writer, you need to learn how to listen to clients and then translate what you hear into the successful completion of the project at hand.
Many freelance writers have a difficult time listening to clients because email has more or less taken over their business. When it comes time for them to speak on the phone or meet a client in person, they are either intimidated or so excited that they jump way ahead of themselves. As you can imagine, this can be an easy trap to fall into the first few times that you personally speak with a client.
The best thing that you can do is to calm down, keep your mouth closed, and listen to your client’s needs. Of course, when appropriate you will also want to lend your insight and answer any questions that are being asked of you. Generally speaking, you want to be a useful piece in the conversation without interrupting and making the client feel inferior. Believe it or not, this is easier said than done.
The first few times that I talked to freelance writing clients on the phone I was quite nervous. This led to jumpiness, speaking out of turn, and often times getting ahead of myself. Basically, it reminded me of all those bad public speaking classes that I had to take in high school. Over time I became more comfortable speaking with clients, and now I know exactly how to act.
All in all, it is important to listen to your freelance writing clients. If you are not communicating by email, it may take some time for you to catch onto your “part†in the conversation. But remember, everybody makes mistakes. Do your best to communicate well and listen to everything your client has to say. After a few phone calls or meetings you will be a pro!
