Why Customer Loyalty is So Important

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I’ll say it again. There is no secret to freelance writing success. You work hard, turn in clean copy, rock the communication and you’ll do well. It’s the folks that are only going through the motions that seem to struggle.Even though the above-mentioned items are important, I one thing I learned over the last decade is that clients appreciate loyalty more than anything you have to offer.

I’m going to use Jodee as a case in point. We began working together two years ago after I posted an ad at the WAHM forum. Since hiring Jodee she’s been a dream freelancer. She works hard, meets her deadlines, turns in nothing but the best work, communicates well and is someone I’m proud to call friend. Jodee even checked with me a couple of times before taking on tasks she considered a conflict of interest and to me, that spoke volumes.

In return, I offer Jodee first shot at any writing job I have, offer recommendations to her potential clients and refer her to some great clients. In fact, when I left the world of freelancing to be a full time Community Manager, I recommended Jodee to replace me with my highest paying client and he continues to keep her busy and well paid.

Here’s a discussion topic for you, FWJ community. What are some of the ways you are loyal to your clients? How do you show them you care about them and their projects and what do they do to reward your loyalty?

Discuss…

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Posted

March 5, 2009

Community Discussions, Work/Life Balance

david

Tags:

customer loyalty, Customer Service

Comments

7 responses

Laura Spencer

March 6, 2009

Well, I have one client that I’ve worked for a long time. I know that I should really raise my rates a little bit. But, over the years I’ve literally done thousands of dollars of work for them. So, out of loyalty, I don’t.

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.

Reply
Erika

March 6, 2009

What makes me loyal to each of my clients is not only do they have decent pay, but they simply speak/write so kindly and appreciatively to me each time. It’s “thanks for your work” or “glad to hear back from you” “I’m so sorry I didn’t contact you, I’ll be sure to let you know when it goes live”. Things like that, which means they value what I do and treat me like a human being.

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.

Reply
Erika

March 6, 2009

Sorry for the massive run-on sentence up there in the second paragraph! Need to proofread before hitting “submit comment”!

Reply
Jodee

March 7, 2009

A big thank you for the kind words, Deb! 🙂

Reply
Scott

March 10, 2009

This is a wonderfull topic.

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.

Reply
Ben Tyers

April 16, 2009

An informative article, thanks

Reply
Victoria

July 27, 2009

I know this is an old post -but I’ve worked with Jodee too, and just want to give her kudos for her dedication! 🙂 She’s really good at what she does…! 🙂

Reply