The success of any company, majorly lies on its clients. And your clients are the ones that really distinguish you from your competitors. And if you’re looking for some effective practices to build and maintain lasting relationship with clients, you’ve come to the right place. The following guidelines give away simple yet powerful ideas that every employer would find as rewarding.

1. Plan your projects clearly: When you receive a brief or are asked to give away a quote, it is essential that you prepare a clear sketch of the project. Perhaps your client will offer an exact and thorough set of specifications, or maybe they will be a little inexplicit in what they really anticipate as a project outcome.Whatever the case, the sooner you establish a project outline the sooner both parties can see how the work will happen. A project plan should be outlined around:clear-cut objectives
   ii. the end product your client expects on delivery.Once you have recognized what needs to be produced you can work out on a detailed timeline and mutually agree on a deadline.

   This is also the time to offer a quote and settle on how much you’ll get paid; only when this is decided in the beginning itself, there wouldn’t be any room for uncooperative clashes down the line. All the way through the project planning and price dialogues you and your client should be approachable and open to communication.

2. Communicate openly and effectively: Communication is an integral part of our lives. Be it work or anywhere else. Thanks to the onslaught of the internet, that we have several modes of communication accessible today. From emails to social media and video calls, apart from the mainstream SMS or phone calls or official letters, it all happens within the blink of an eye. So remember to put yourself in contact with your clients whenever they would require you to do the needful.Just in case, you’re going offline for a day or two, it’s always good and healthy to keep your clients informed with a prior notice.
3. Share your knowledge: Usually, your clients come to you for a particular product or service. Don’t always speak in terms of money when they ask you additional yet relatable advice. Cross the eleventh mile and share your wisdom with them along the lengths and breadths of the subject matter involved. With this behaviour of yours, your client’s confidence is not only boosted but also he’ll be immensely pleased by your gesture. A happy client means more projects and better pay!
4. Keep your network accessible to them: So, not only sharing your knowledge and skillset with your clients, it sometimes would be beneficiary to share your contacts as well. Say, your client probably outsources work from various people to several other people. And in such a scenario, if you just put them in touch with relatable sources and help both the parties, your goodwill as their mutual acquaintance will only take the next level. For all you know, the gesture would reciprocate and maybe your client would help you with your business as well!
5. Time and deadlines are not to be missed: This is the most basic yet an important thing to keep in mind. If you’ve planned your schedule and work properly, executing the project on time shouldn’t be much of a task. Still, if you have a number of clients, just to play safe, have a time-tracking app or an organizer where you maintain the least of details about every client you deal with. If you’re delivering before the deadline, that’s very good. But if you aren’t, then it’s always good to let them know about it.
6. Make honesty your policy: Honesty is always rewarding. It is very very important to keep an open and honest dialogue with everybody we interact and work with. Let there be complete transparency when it comes to your deliverables. If you can do it, how long would you take in doing it, your expected pay and things of the like.Just be yourself and not try to magnify your magnificence in order to make some extra money by projecting your false image. Also, ask your clients to maintain the same approach with you.

By following these simple yet effective things, your clients would no longer seem as a burden to you but as friends, who’d help your business get better by the day. Cheers!