Posted in Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, General Freelance Info at 5:02 pm by andy

When a business hires a freelancer, it’s usually because they don’t have the in-house expertise to accomplish the tasks that the freelancer will perform.  For example, most small businesses have absolutely no idea how to create or manage a web site.  They know they need one, but they have really no idea what it takes to get there.  Will the client know a good development process to create the web site?  Will they understand where and how to host a web site?

A freelance consultant can provide knowledge to the client, but a lot of times what the client wants is for the freelance consultant — you! – to take over the project and own it.  Your job then is to not only manage the project, but manage the client.

To manage your client, you need to first have a good process in place to manage the project.  My process is a semi-waterfall process of specification, design, develop, test.  In this process, the client is heavily involved with the first and last step and only kept apprised of concrete progress during the middle two steps.

Before starting, make sure you have a good working contract in place.  Most clients won’t have a contract prepared, so be ready to offer one if you feel you need it for your consultant-client relationship.  I often work using written contracts, but I know lots of consultants who require a contract for every project and I know lots of consultants who never use a contract.  You and the client need to decide which way works best for you.  If I’m asked for a contract, I have a two-page simple language contract outlining my fees, who owns the resulting work, any post-project support expectations, and what laws and what court will be used to resolve any disputes.  There’s a little more to it, so I recommend consulting an attorney to get a good sample contract.

Once you start, your next management task is to convene a meeting with all interested parties at the client’s office and really dig into the scope and details of what you are supposed to accomplish for the project.  Write everything you learn down!  Never let one of these meetings last more than about two hours (if you’re really digging deeply enough, people will start to look shell-shocked after two hours, so that’s your cue to wrap it up for that session).  Don’t be afraid to need a second or even a third session for larger projects.

Soon after the meeting, assemble a document containing all the details about the project.  Route this document to all the interested parties that were in the meeting to ensure that you captured what everyone was trying to tell you.  Resolve any conflicts in understanding and once everyone agrees that you captured exactly what the customer wanted, you can get started performing the tasks necessary to actually do what the customer needs. 

If you need a second or third meeting to get a full understanding of the project scope, then make sure it’s scheduled no more than a week after the first meeting and update the document with those meeting notes as well. 

At the end of the meetings, you’ll have an excellent specification of what’s expected for a project outcome.

During the project, your most important client-management task is to periodically check in with the customer to make sure they remember that you exist and so they know you are making progress on their project.  I do this by sending them e-mails asking for clarification to something or sending them a screen shot of a form I create and asking for their feedback.  Just remember: during this phase, you are likely working away from the client site and the client has no idea what you’re doing.  Communication is key to keeping everyone happy.

During the project and when you finally deliver the project, expect to spend a few hours training people (if applicable) and collecting feedback.  Feedback from the client is important, but not every piece of feedback is going to get implemented, so manage each stakeholder’s expectations.  The final decision on whether a particular feedback is important is left to the person paying for the project. 

Your best tactic for managing all the divergent opinions is to record all feedback in a document, and then have a face-to-face meeting with the person paying your bills.  In that meeting, outline the feedback you received and have documented, who you got it from, and offer any opinions on whether the feedback is valid or possibly just learning pains that will go away after a few days.

Finally, a few days after delivery, check back with the client to make sure everything is going smoothly and ask if they have any questions or comments for you.

In all the steps described, managing the client is clearly about COMMUNICATION.  You can’t hide in your home/office and not talk to your clients and expect to get continuous work from them.  You absolutely must be visible and act like a part of their team.  It’ll also help keep your projects on track!