Freelance Writing: Simple Tips on Complicated Topics
How to Increase Your Personal Value to the Customer
When purchasing writing services, customers often wish to keep their identity safe. They don’t wish to disclose any personal information, and want to keep interactions strictly on a business footing.
We respect this at ResearchWritingCenter.com, and one of the features that our clients value is our ability to keep personal information safe. To be accurate, many freelance writers feel the same way, and that is why we have developed a highly secure system, with no names, phone numbers, or addresses disclosed.
Given this, it is quite difficult for many freelance writers to establish a personal relationship with a customer, when the writer cannot address the customer by name, or even know what part of the globe they call from. At the same time, however, it is natural for a writer to hope for returning customers, and future orders. It is natural that customers will choose a writer with whom they feel comfortable communicating, but how can a writer establish such valuable contacts?
How can you manage this? There are several strategies to avoid breaking any confidentiality rules or regulations of the company or your contract’s non-disclosure policies.
First, you should realize that the customer is unlikely to be willing to take the first step, or, actually, any steps at all, in disclosing any information (as was outlined in a previous article on this topic). You should be careful about this, too. The client pays, after all, and you need to be sure that the customer feels confident with what you do.
You can try putting your name (just the first name) as a signature after each message. Most companies employing freelancers, even if they have a privacy policy, should be OK with such a practice. This might seem like a simple touch, but over time, as you develop a relationship with your customer, he/she will begin to associate your name with fulfilling their writing needs.
When the moment comes to place an order, he/she will think of you and not some abstract nameless writer. The customer will think of your name and your previous help, which offers a sense that he/she knows you better than he/she knows any other freelance writer. The result is simple: “Let’s not just settle for any old writer. Let’s hire a freelance writer that we know. Let’s hire (Insert Your Name Here). I feel comfortable about his/her work and style.”
Next, we address the central substance of all freelance writing – the content. Content always comes first in ranking your freelancing efforts. However, we have seen many customers sacrificing quality, and giving a job to a freelance writer whom they already know, but who might be less experienced than others available.
What did those rookie writers possess to differentiate their content? A problem with some experienced freelance writers, sometimes, is that they have, literally, too much experience. Some writers are (and I am not afraid to use this word) arrogant. They think that because they have completed dozens, perhaps hundreds, of gigs, this means that they know better than the client does, what they want and need. To be fair, this is often true. This is often why customers turn to freelance help in the first place! They want assistance with something that baffles them or with which they have little familiarity.
But this is where communication can break down. The freelance writer sees the instructions, reads them, and, based on their experience, begins to do the job. The outcomes may vary, and of course, most of the time they are good, or the company would never get another customer. However, just launching into the project may not earn you many points with customers. Because customers, ordering such a personal service as freelance writing, want to get involved in the process. They want to feel that they have contributed to the product of all this effort.
Here is a great example of what you can do about this. I was mining the site for some data, and stumbled upon a long-past message from a writer to a customer. It was a terrific example of the professionalism present throughout our RWC community. The writer had just taken the order. He politely contacted the customer, obviously having checked out the topic, and developed a general outline in his head. He asked him a couple of questions, citing certain passages from the instructions, and inquired how the customer felt about specific issues. It was not that the writer did not understand the topic!
He simply made sure that the customer would see what he/she wanted to see in the final product, and would feel a sense of participation in its creation. The client was more than satisfied, because he/she saw that this writer cared about the project, and said so explicitly in his response.
As I noticed later on when reviewing the customer feedback on the paper, it received a 10 out of a possible 10! The client commented on this particular instance, and was grateful to the writer for the concern and care expressed. The writer was later chosen by this customer as the preferred professional for a number of further orders.
As you can see, this personal touch meant a great deal, both for the client and for the writer. I sometimes compare freelance writing to baking wedding cakes; every bridal couple wants an individualized product, and everyone cares about the quality of the product.
To accommodate all this concern, the producer (the baker, or in our case, the freelance writers) needs to be certain that he/she obtained all the relevant information from the client. This way, the product has the best chance of corresponding to the customer’s expectations, or even exceeding them 
These simple tips should be relevant to any freelancer, whether rookie or experienced professional. Good luck with your freelance writing gigs Have a great day!
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