A couple tips that have helped me grow my business:
Communication and customer service will win you repeat clients, referrals, and new business opportunities. Make this the core focus of your business. If you feel weak in these areas, invest time into skilling up as it will pay off big
Understand your core skill set and don’t be afraid to specialize. Early on, I tried to market myself too broadly (development, content, graphic design, marketing, editing, etc.) Over time, I’ve trimmed the things I don’t enjoy as much and focused instead on doing one thing really well (development)
Know your boundaries and communicate them clearly to clients. For me, I make sure clients know what days and hours I’m available, and my preferred forms of communication. Be careful about answering emails or communicating with clients outside these hours, it can erode these boundaries very quickly
When selling to clients, skip the technical jargon and focus on the value you’re creating for them. There’s a temptation, especially starting out, to throw around a lot of technical terms to prove that you know what you’re talking about. Instead, if possible, use simple language, communicate clearly, and try to explain the value for the client. So instead of “I’m going to use JavaScript and HTML5 data attributes to dynamically track users on the site” it’s better to say “I can add a button that will help us see how many conversions this form is getting, and we can work from there to find ways to make it convert even better”
A couple tips that have helped me grow my business:
Hope these are helpful!
amazing insights Chris, love it.
Especially the point you made about boundaries, they are so important!