Since the pandemic started, I’ve had just a sprinkling of in-person meetings with clients. Every time I did, I felt out of shape. As if I no longer really knew how to carry myself when I’m around clients.
Since February of 2020, my clients have perceived me through a combination of emails, Slack messages and the completed assignments I submitted to them.
Now, my whole self is having to interact with clients more and more, be it in person or in video meetings. Guess what? It turns out I no longer know how to impress clients.
Take a call I was on recently with a commissioning client and another freelancer who’d be working with me on the project.
Me: asks two or three fairly pertinent questions about the assignment, but otherwise mostly nods and listens.
The other freelancer: asks a lot of semi-relevant questions and drops several references to past projects, her busy agenda and other clients she was working for.
If I could insert a quiz-style buzzer sound for a wrong answer here, I would. I’ll use a GIF instead.
And I’ve had similar calls like that recently. Meetings with recurring clients where I’m expected to contribute thoughts and ideas, but there’s also an implicit understanding that I should remind everyone on the call why they’re working with me and not someone else. Which I then fail to do.
My approach lately has been to ask what I need to know and to then, er, do it. But I’m not – drum roll – performing my expertise. During the last 18 months, I seem to have unlearned that it’s not just about doing the work; I also have to explicitly communicate to clients the value I create for them. Or, business jargon aside, they need to understand I’m a boss.
Why does this matter? Well, if you had to choose between two freelancers of seemingly equal talents, but one of them seemed to be juggling several deadlines and clients, while the other made no such references, which of the two would you pick?
You and I know that you’d pick the second. We want to work with people who seem skilled and in demand.
Of course, I would like my work to speak for itself. And I think it does. But with new clients, there might have to be a bit of subtle bragging – nothing too off-putting. The goal should be to simply communicate to clients that I’m good at what I do and that this is not my first rodeo.
And it’s worth reminding regular clients that you’re a pro every now and then too. To leave them thinking: wow, we’re so lucky she can fit us into her schedule. Instead of: yup, that’s a freelancer we work with.
What are your thoughts on this? Are you good at flexing? Do you have any tricks you can share? Let us know at freelancerthefriendly@gmail.com
Linda