5 Unusual questions that freelancers MUST ask their clients
Every client you’ve ever come in contact with may seem different, but in one specific way they are all the same; your clients want to tell you a few specific things about your freelance business but they just don’t know it yet.
That’s where you come in.
As a freelancer you’ve got to be ready to learn at every turn, so preparing yourself with these five unusual questions that most freelancers forget to ask will help put you in a position to better your business and simultaneously grow your profits.
The reason I call these questions unusual is because most freelancers forget to ask them. We’re well aware of the questions we ask clients during the project brief but we forget to ask a few questions that get our clients talking and letting us know hidden truths.
Do you want to make your freelance business better, attract more clients and make more money? If you answered yes (you better have said yes) then you need to ask these questions to each and every client you ever come in contact with.
Why did you hire me out of everyone else they’ve checked out?
Odds are, your client shopped around before landing on you as their go-to freelancer for the job. They might have posted a job board listing, searched Google or asked their Twitter friends for recommendations. But somehow they ended up choosing you – it’s now your job to find out why.
What did you do that was so special it put you over the top with your client? It might be fast email responses, your down to earth tone or the fact that you gave detailed responses that were more informative than sales-oriented and they felt comfortable working with you because they could tell you weren’t just after their cash. Ask them and find out so you can continue to do it for future clients.
What additional services do you wish I would offer?
Sometimes we unintentionally pigeonhole ourselves into a specific job listing without really noticing the chances for expansion. For instance, I primarily create WordPress designs but have realized lately that clients are consistently asking for logo design services.
Instead of outsourcing things that I could do myself, I am now able to offer logo design services along with blog designs. There’s always going to be something that your clients wished you did (copywriting, logo design, business card design + printing, etc) so ask your clients and see what patterns emerge.
Who do you know that is in need of my services?
Yes, you’ll get the clients who love your work and brag to everyone they come across about you, but for some people they just don’t think to do it. Ask for the referral. Let your client know that you’d like to work with friends or colleagues of theirs and find out if they know of anyone who’s currently in the market for services that you offer.
When you ask, they immediately run through friends in their mind and see if they know of anyone which brings you much closer to additional deals because without you asking, they wouldn’t have even tried thinking of anyone. Want to take it one step further? Offer your client a referral bonus for each new client they send your way.
Is there an area of my business that you think I could improve on?
This is the type of question you need to pay most attention to because you can do 1,000 things right but the second you start doing something horribly wrong, you’re jeopardizing the future of your business. So ask your current clients if there’s anything they’d recommend you work on that they think would make your business better.
Most clients will find it hard to say something negative about you, especially since you’re going to do amazing work for them, but if you ask them they’ll feel more compelled to give you a response and their answers are priceless to the growth of your freelance business.
What was your favorite part about working with me?
Find out what they liked about working with you – was it your exceptionally fast response time to emails? Your creative skills? Your ability to include them in the project every step of the way? These are things you should be figuring out because if you see patterns developing in the answers your clients give you, you can identify your unique selling position (USP) for future marketing tactics.
The takeaway
Larger companies don’t take the time out to talk with their clients on a more personal level like this. Asking questions makes your clients feel more important and shows them that their opinions are valued. By being the scrappy freelancer that you are, you know this is the perfect opportunity for you to stand out and build a better business.
Remember, the more questions you ask, the more answers you will get so engulf yourself in this question process and pick your clients brains to learn as much as you can about what you’re doing right, what you should improve on and what direction your marketing can go in for the future.
