As the holiday season comes to a close, I wanted to tell you all about my friend Kelly.

Kelly runs a small business here in mid-Michigan. He and his father are appraisers. The look at homes and businesses and assign a value to them, usually for purposes of getting loans against those homes or businesses. They also do assessing for several of the local townships, which involves determining the value of properties for tax purposes.

Each year, Kelly buys a number of cheese trays from one of our other local businesses – a cheese store. He takes those trays and drives them to the offices of some of their best customers. Township supervisors, bank loan officers and other folks are on the list.

While he’s there delivering those trays, he’ll spend a few minutes just chatting. He’ll talk with clients about their kids, about what traveling they may do for the holidays, and even about the weather.

This small gesture serves a couple of purposes. In part, Kelly does this because he enjoys the Christmas season and wants to spread a little bit of Christmas cheer.

There’s another purpose, too. This one isn’t as noble, perhaps – but it’s not ignoble either. You see, those cheese trays are one little part of what Kelly and his dad do to let those clients know how much their business is appreciated. The conversations he has with them at this time of year are almost always personal – it’s not about business.

I’ve been thinking over the past couple of years about how I could translate that sort of demonstration into my business. It’s not realistic for me to deliver cheese trays; I’d have to go to Canada, Australia, New Jersey and California to hit some of my biggest clients.

I could probably have gifts mailed to those clients, but it just seems impersonal. I’m not sure it would have the same kind of effect that Kelly gets.

Still, I do try to take a few minutes and send a “thanks for your business” email, at least to my ongoing clients.

I’m going to make it my goal this year to think of something I can do, though, to spread a little extra Christmas cheer to those big clients, and make that same kind of connection. Maybe by next December, I’ll have come up with something truly original.

As always, if you have ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments. Oh, and Merry Christmas to one and all!

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I’m a big fan of Borders. It’s not that I don’t like Barnes & Noble (I do). It’s not that Borders has a better selection of books in my areas of interest (they don’t). Prices are the same between the two (well, OK. At the online versions of these two stores, BN has the better price structure).

No, I like Borders because I feel like they appreciate me.

You see, both stores have a membership program where they’ll send you coupons and special promotions. The typical Borders coupon is 25% to 40% off any item. The typical Barnes & Noble coupon – well, it’s typically 40% – off one specific title. Strangely enough, it’s almost never a title I’m interested in.

And that’s problem #1: I don’t feel like their target market or ideal client.

I get that I might have niche reading interests. But Borders doesn’t care: they want me to enjoy a good book, without judging me. (Before you start thinking something nefarious here, I’m talking about roleplaying game books, not books on the mating habits of New Guinean wallabies or something).

At any rate, there’s another issue at hand, too.

If you want a Borders membership, you simply walk into the store and ask for one. Usually, the cashier will hand you the week’s member coupon right there to use on your purchase.

If you want a Barnes & Noble membership, you simply walk into the store ask for one. You pay your $25, and your member discount will be applied right away, assuming you’re buying Andre Agassi’s autobiography or whatever the book of the week is.

That’s customer appreciation problem #2: To become a valued customer, I have to pay.

I get that a company can’t stay in business if all it ever does is give things away. I can’t run my business that way. But if you want to show your appreciation to me as a customer by offering an occasional discount, don’t make me pay you for it. If you do, your customer appreciation program becomes a profit center rather than a promotion.

Now, I’m not saying I don’t shop at Barnes & Noble – I do.  All the time. How could I not? Sometimes, the book I want isn’t at Borders, and sometimes it’s nice just to browse the bigger selection. But all other things being equal, I’m shopping at Borders first, and I won’t pay for a membership at Barnes & Noble.

How does this all apply to your freelance writing business? If you want loyal clients, you need to truly value them. Offer an occasional discount with no strings attached. Call it a “customer appreciation day.”

If you can’t do a discount, find other ways to let them know you appreciate their business, whether it’s something as simple as a Christmas card or buying them lunch if they’re a local client. Oh, and if you do take a client to lunch, please don’t ask them to pay.

(And before you all correct me, I do realize that Barnes & Noble members get 10% off every item, as well as the coupons. Not especially a mitigating factor for me. I don’t start saving until I’ve bought enough to pay back my membership fee – the first $250 I spend in a year gets me no effective discount.)

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People in the marketing world either love Seth Godin or they hate him. I personally enjoy him; he has a new-millennium sort of wisdom, but he delivers it in something of a folksy way.

At any rate, I ran across this post of his last week. Go ahead and go read it, but the gist of it is that sometimes, in business, it doesn’t matter if you’re right. If your customer is unhappy, she’s unhappy. No amount of arguing can change that. If you want her to remain your customer, you need to acknowledge that she’s unhappy.

This got me to thinking about revisions.

I rarely get asked for revisions. I always offer at least one revision for any given project. Customers want to know they have recourse if they don’t like the product. On top of that, it doesn’t happen very often. If I get asked to revise one project in a hundred, that’s probably a lot.

In many cases, the revision represents a change in project requirements. It’s more of an “oops, I  needed to have these three keywords” or “hey, can you write this in Top 10 format?”

My instinct, when I am asked for a revision, is to recoil. I could argue with the customer. I could tell him that he’s changing the scope of the project, that my time is valuable and that I don’t appreciate being asked to do the work twice. Technically, all of those things are true.

But you know what? I don’t usually do that. Once I get over my goofy artistic pride (“WHAT?!? Did the Pope ask Michelangelo to revise the Sistine Chapel?!? This is OUTRAGEOUS!”) I usually just do the work.

And you know what? Those customers – the ones that ask for revisions – almost always come back. In fact, they come back over and over again. And usually, they don’t ask for revisions again.

So, what about you? What’s your revision policy? Will you only revise if you didn’t meet the project specs, or do you allow for customer error? I look forward to hearing how everyone approaches the issue!

(Oh, and if you’re interested in more Seth Godin, here are three of his best books to get you started):

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

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Just about any freelance writing blog will tell you how to keep clients. They’ll tell you things like “do your best” and “meet deadlines.” Heck, I’ve done it myself. Unless you’re new to the freelance writing blog niche, you’ve heard it all before.

What they don’t all tell you is why you keep losing clients. In my mind, that’s a better lesson, and one that can help grow your freelance writing business quicker than anything. Here are 53 of the things you can do to keep those clients from coming back:

1. Keep your customer records in your head. There’s no reason to create a contact list or database of names and contact info. You’ve got a big brain, use it.

2. Meet deadlines. If a project is due at 5 PM, turn it in at 4:59.

3. Learn to proofread quickly. Those mistakes will jump right out at you anyways.

4. Ask for more work. Daily.

5. Or, you can go the other route. Don’t ask for more work. They probably don’t have any for you anyways.

6. Don’t be afraid to put a finished project in your portfolio. Online. Without asking.

7. Buy Rockstar Freelancer and Unlimited Freelancer. Don’t read them.

8. Subscribe to The Writing Journey and Freelance Writing Jobs: Business Tips. Don’t read them.

9. Stand up for yourself. If your product doesn’t need improvement, tell the customer.

10. Stay away from social media like Twitter and Facebook. They’re just fads and don’t really work for building a writing business.

11. Work hard for at least a few minutes a day. Work smart the rest of the time.

12. Borrow ideas from others. Frequently.

13. Use a Spell Checker. Warning: the following video contains (unintentionally) adult language.

14. Always think outside the box. There’s probably not a good reason it was done that way before.

15. Never give anything away.

16. Follow up on every lead (within a week or two). Writing is a long process, and customers are patient.

17. Answer emails weekly, too.

18. When someone asks for a free sample of your work, give them a lecture and some good links about “spec work.”

19. Covertly outsource. Clients aren’t hiring you, they’re hiring your business, right?

20. Meet expectations, but charge extra to exceed them.

21. Run down other writers. After all, they’re the competition.

22. Be overly casual with your clients. It’s harder to fire a friend.

23. Never admit mistakes.

24. Be humble. Don’t toot your own horn, or potential clients will think you’re conceited.

25. Template your customer service. Know what your customers will complain about and answer those complaints immediately.

26. Create a complex pricing structure. That way, you can always be sure to make enough on any given project.

27. Don’t follow the hot trends. You’re a leader, not a follower.

28. Never work for less than your best rate. It devalues the market.

29. Do all of your own design work. You’ve got a great eye for what works.

30. Don’t ask for the sale. You don’t want to be pushy.

31. Spam. Frequently.

32. Only work for cash.

33. Keep SEO #1.

34. Don’t spend any money on marketing.

35. Don’t offer revisions. Clients rarely ask for them, anyways.

36. Don’t hone your craft. You already know what the hell you’re doing.

37. Never collaborate with another writer. You’re a one-woman writing crew.

38. Put new customers first. Your long-term clients will understand.

39. Squeeze as much business from each client as you can. Don’t let them go anywhere else for anything.

40. Design and price your service offerings based on your time, not on the market.

41. Marketing is an art, not a science. Be artistic.

42. Worry about today. Tomorrow will take care of itself. This goes for deadlines, too.

43. Assume that your customers are looking only for the lowest price.

44. Forget about small accounts.

45. Once a client tells you “no,” don’t ask again.

46. Remind clients and potential clients of how good your writing is, rather than how your writing can increase their business.

47. Ignore word-of-mouth and in-real-life marketing.

48. Be completely flexible in your schedule. Work when you can, or when you want to. Customers will adjust.

49. Treat email correspondence with your clients like you would correspondence with a close friend.

50. Talk smack about former clients. This will help your new clients know how to act.

51. Don’t argue with a customer, even if they want you to do work that you know will fail them.

52. Only do business within your target market.

53. Ignore your critics completely.

Obviously, there are more. What are some ways you’ve lost business? I’d love to hear them!

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If I had my druthers, all of my freelance writing business would be conducted via email and Skype. It’s so much easier. I don’t have to put on my happy voice. Don’t have to wear my game face. If I don’t feel like getting all schmoozy, I don’t have to.  For me though, a telephone is an essential tool, one too many freelance writers are quick to avoid.

Let me explain a bit more…

I have a client. She hired me to help build her online presence and she hates the phone too. We’ve been emailing back and forth for weeks and I’m still failing to see her mission. Finally I insisted on a phone call and she reluctantly agreed. In 20 minutes I was able to determine what it is she really wanted and now we’re rocking the gig.

By taking to the phone I was able to:

• Use her voice to gauge her feelings about my ideas
• Use sincerity in my voice to reassure her that the project will go well
• Flesh out her wants and needs
• Take our relationship to a whole other level

Email, instant messaging and social media are great tools. They’re tools used to build relationships and land business connections. Sometimes a face to face meeting or a phone call is needed to hit that home run.  When we hear voices we can judge emotions better as tones can’t be conveyed as well via email. Voices help to build trust and confidence.

Many writers don’t want to do the face to face or voice thing as they insist they can do all their business via email. This is true. A phone isn’t needed nowadays at all. Just because something isn’t necessary doesn’t mean it doesn’t make good business sense though.

Don’t just go the distance, go the extra mile. You may think your clients won’t notice, but they will.

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So you lost a gig. Maybe your client felt you weren’t a good fit. Maybe she ran out of funding or maybe  it was you who wasn’t feeling the job. Does that mean you should go openly badmouthing your former employer all over Twitter or the forums? Does that mean you should ignore this former clients emails and questions? No. No, it doesn’t.

You may be unhappy with the present circumstances, but burning bridges doesn’t do anyone any good. Before you start talking smack about the people you used to work for, consider this:

5 Reasons Not to Burn Your Bridges

1. Your Client May Be Back in Business One Day

If your client had to let you go or take a break because his funding ran out, that doesn’t mean he has no intention of using you again in the future. That money may begin flowing again soon. By burning your bridges, you’re erasing the possibility of him contacting you once he’s back in a position to hire your services.

2. Your Client May Want to Recommend You to Others

If you did a good job for your client and parted on good terms, she may want to recommend you to others. If she doesn’t trust you anymore, this won’t happen. Every future client has the ability to recommend you to another client or two and so on, don’t blow it by saying or doing things you may regret.

3. You May Need that Client One Day

What happens when you need a job recommendation or testimonial? If you’re bashing your former clients on your blog and it’s not pretty, they’re not going to want to put in a good word for you.

4. No One Wants to Hang Around with Mr. Grumpy

Self explanatory, really.

5. It May Turn Off a Potential Client

Why would any potential client want to hire someone who is indiscreet or saying unkind things about the people he has worked for before? Before you bash a client, keep in mind that words do stay online forever and they can come back to haunt you.

Bad feelings happen, it’s only natural and writing is a good release. Before you fire off angry missives and hit “enter” or “send”, think about what you’re doing and how it will affect your future.

When you burn bridges you’re not hurting your client as much as you’re hurting yourself.

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The deadline’s approaching, you haven’t started yet – or worse, you did start and you’re stuck. Each time you sit down to write, nothing comes. Well, something comes, but it’s pretty awful and you can’t send that to the client.

Your heart starts pounding. Your stomach twists. It’s the project from hell… and it’s due for delivery. You’re not going to make it. What do you do?

Freelancers typically have one of three reactions when this situation occurs:

1. The writer goes AWOL. He disappears. She doesn’t answer email. The person pretends those increasingly angry requests for delivery don’t exist and hopes that by ignoring the whole situation, the incensed client will just… go away.
2. The writer makes excuses. A lot of cherished family members die suddenly around project due dates, and sometimes even twice or three times. Kids get terribly sick, car accidents happen and emergency surgery occurs.
3. The writer takes a deep breath, sits down, and admits that the truth is, the work didn’t get done.

Which reaction would you choose when you know you aren’t going to make it?

We’ve all been there at one point or another. Family emergencies do happen. We sometimes underestimate projects and fall short of time. We do take on jobs that seem like fun but end up being energy suckers. Everyone – at some time – has had to face the music of a missed deadline.

But you know what? Owning up offers the best solution. Admitting you just couldn’t make it this time is the most honest answer you could give. It’s also the most effective, because clients can often understand the situation. They’ve been there too, after all.

Writing an email that says you won’t make the deadline isn’t the easiest thing to do, of course. There are ways you can help minimize the damage, though, and turn a difficult situation into a proactive solution.

• Admit the truth. Just come right out and say, “Hey, I’m sorry. It looks like I won’t be able to make the deadline on this one.” Be sure to apologize with sincerity.
• Don’t pour on excuses, heap on justifications or try for pity. The less you say here, the better. Choose one realistic reason you didn’t make the deadline – you overbooked, you underestimated the project, or it’s been a crazy week. Leave it at that.
• Immediately tell the client what you’re going to do to correct the situation. Be proactive. Give a solution and show that you’re already moving forward.
• If you’re not sure what to do, offer the client a choice of possible solutions and ask which is best for that person.
• Be clear about what you’ll do. You’ve futzed once. Now’s the time to say exactly when you’ll deliver – and don’t miss that deadline.
• Apologize again. Just a brief restatement of the fact that you’re sorry you dropped the ball is enough.

You’ll probably get a response from the client after writing in, and be prepared for the tone to be disappointed and upset. That’s okay. Stay calm, keep that positive attitude, be sympathetic and be understanding. Your client has a right to be unhappy (without being rude, of course).

What’s important is that you’ve acknowledged the situation, apologized and moved into action with a plan that resolves the problem. You may end up actually saving the day – despite having missed the deadline.

How about you? Have you ever knowingly come too close to a deadline? What did you do to resolve the situation? And what was the outcome?

Want more great ideas on how to never miss another deadline and even deliver before the day comes? Get the Unlimited Freelancer today. It’ll teach you how to set up fail-proof systems to rock your writing career.

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I had a recent conversation with a peer who mentioned that finding good writers to work with was more than a tad difficult. She’d been disappointed time and again by writers who just weren’t what they seemed to promise.

That’s a problem. When you don’t deliver on your promises, you end up costing yourself repeat business, long-term clients and better jobs. You move from client to client with no stable customer base and no guarantees of future work.

You also screw up business for your customers as well, leaving them facing extra expenses and cleaning up a mess. You create a bad reputation for yourself – and quickly, too.

Here are three issues that my peer and I discussed so you can make sure you aren’t one of those writers who falls short and disappoints.

Reliability and Dedication

Writers often proclaim to be reliable and dedicated. Most of them aren’t. At first, they seem eager and always deliver, but within a few short months, reliability starts to slip. Deadlines aren’t met, or they’re only met at the last minute. Quality slips. They lose track of time. They answer their email more slowly. They get comfortable in a nice job working for a nice person and become flat-out flakey and lax.

Reliability is a long-term quality that you need to maintain. Your clients need to be able to count on you now, tomorrow and in a year from now.

Making Clients Work

People hire writers to do what they can’t do or what they don’t want to do. They trust that the work is going to be done well. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen often. Clients get work that they have to double-check and verify for quality, which costs time – and time is money. Even worse, many times they have to pay someone else to edit or clean up the writing, too.

If you’re going to put yourself out for hire, make sure you can do the job well. No one should have to go over your work, fix your mistakes or clean it up, no matter what type of industry you work in.

A Promising Portfolio

One of the biggest issues with many writers is that they create portfolios of their work. They put their best samples forward for all to see, and it becomes an unspoken promise of quality. But interestingly enough, many writers can’t replicate the quality of their portfolio on a regular, daily basis. Sometimes it almost appears as if someone else wrote the samples, because the writer just isn’t hitting the mark.

Your portfolio should be nearly perfect to demonstrate your skill level, but if you can’t provide the same quality when it comes down to a regular gig, you’ll just disappoint your clients.

Give a Damn

Freelancers do what they do because they love what they do – and of course, want to earn some money doing it. That’s great, but if all they have are their own self-interests at heart, that egotistical mindset is going to show up in communication, in negotiations and yes, even in their work. Guess what? Clients see it too, and they know the writers don’t care.

Your job as a writer isn’t just to make your life better. Your job includes bettering someone else’s life too, whether through increased readership, traffic or sales. Care about the effects your work has beyond your own gains.

Good Business Sense

Writers love to write. Most are terrible at business, though. They don’t schedule properly, they don’t understand the domino effect their actions create for clients, and they don’t treat their work like a serious affair. Some writers are all about the art of writing, and they forget that when it’s on a for-hire basis, art really has very little to do with it.

Freelance writing is a business, and you need to understand how business works, not just how to write. Learn about business and get a good sense of cause and effect so you can better serve your clients.

It doesn’t matter how you learned to write or where you got your skills. It doesn’t matter why you write or what you like to be paid for your work. If you’re going to put up a ‘for hire’ sign, you need to make sure that you’re worth hiring.

Your turn – can you think of other areas where writers need to sharpen up and get with the game? What are your pet peeves with writers? And even more importantly, what could you work on yourself to be a better freelancer?

Want more great advice on turning your freelancing career into a success? Check out The Unlimited Freelancer. It’ll teach you the tricks you need to know to really unleash your full potential.

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What traits, characteristics, and qualities make for a good freelancer?

Well, they have good attitudes. They’re positive people who like to help clients while providing fast service. They often have an ability to think ahead and suggest alternatives or better solutions. Sometimes they propose new ideas to make the client’s company better.

There are plenty of other qualities on the list. If you had to put them in order of importance, where would you put ’skilled’?

If you said right at the top or even within the top ten qualities of a good freelancer, you’d be wrong. Skills are important, yes, but not that important. Your attitude, your behavior, and the feelings you bring to your potential customers are more important than your skills.

That’s right. How well you write doesn’t matter much.

People hire the great person to work with, not the diva with the diplomas. People buy because of how they feel, not because of what they think. It’s the whole concept of branding in a nutshell. Consumers don’t make logic-based purchasing decisions; they make emotionally-based ones.

That goes for hiring writers, too.

You could have a long list of diplomas, certificates, and credentials proving your fantastic skills – it doesn’t matter. The buyer is going to hire you because you seem nice, because you made him feel good, or because you sounded confident.

Many successful freelancers don’t have a degree at all. They’re successful because they do a good job and they have a good attitude that makes them desirable.

They land the gigs and they keep the clients because they provide full satisfaction. They get more clients because word spreads fast. You’ll never hear, “Joe has five diplomas!” You’ll hear people say, “Hey, go see Joe about that. He’s great to work with.”

So tell me, how’s your attitude these days?

Want more great advice on being a successful freelancer? Check out The Unlimited Freelancer, your guide to making more money, working less and doing what you love.