A long time ago I started making it a practice when I didn’t hear from a client to call and see if their ok. One day I called and the customer was not feeling well so I called some one close by to go check and sure enough the customer was very sick and needed a physician.

That doesn’t happen often but people appreciate knowing you miss them and want to make sure they are ok. It’s very surprising how many stop and say “by the way I have a project I do want you to look at can you come by or meet for lunch”.

Very good marketing tool as well as being nice.

I have worked for live in-person supervisors who had mostly critical things to say and who didn’t seem to get that the workload I was responsible for and the feedback I was giving them meant that a big problem needed to be solved. They told me to carry on and ignored what I said. Then later, when I was really having trouble, it all came back on me and it was handled poorly.

So treatment of people is big for me. And I’m very pleased to be with the folks I’m with. For that, I will give my loyalty.

Another thing that I sometimes do is squeeze in a rush job for a client that I have a good relationship with.

I think you rightly point out that customer loyalty is a two way street. A freelancer is loyal to the client and the client returns that loyalty.