What Is Your Secret of Successful Handling Multiple Clients?
I would really like to either meet with or hear from a warrior who has mastered the balancing art of managing multiple clients. Without any exaggeration, I can say that this is a true art. Rest assured that I have been looking for an efficient solution all of this time. As we all know, the first trouble is to find your first client. Then, you go on and look for more clients. At one point, you have to figure out a way that all of your clients get what is needed, when and how they want. At the same time, you have to balance your time, resources, and most importantly your nerves. How? Sometimes, this really looks like a mission impossible, doesn't it?
The first theory about the way to handle your multiple clients, I was able to hear from my first sales instructor. He was a proud representative of what you may call the old school. He also had his own ways of explaining things in the most understandable way, for himself of course. Look boy, to have a client is just like to have a wife. Now, having more than one client means that you have to treat them all as your mistresses. You should be Casanova when it comes to your clients and the entire sales process. All of your mistresses, that is to say your clients, should have an impression that they are the only ones in your life. Each of them you have to treat the very special way. Now, it is worth mentioning that back then I was still young and understandably single. So, this Casanova style of managing your clients in a questionable polygamist manner seemed like not such a good idea.
Years later, I was still searching and all I could have found were only the interesting, but highly questionable theories. One of my freelance colleagues, a brilliant designer, offered a solution more appealing to the modern clients. He said that a successful management of multiple clients in any business and especially in the freelance industry is just like playing your own game of thrones. To tell you the truth, I was expecting something much more original and deeper, at least to say. So, I said, what are you in your own version of game of thrones - Jon Snow? He was deeply offended. He only said that if I don't like it, I should come up with one of my own. I tried.
So, when I'm caught in the crossfire of demands submitted by my multiple clients, then I follow the money. This is the best thing I could do. I set my priorities based on the projects that will be first to get me money. Then, I follow a client who is very likely to go back for more work. At the end of the long and confusing working day in this chaos of crossed projects and demands, which easily stretches into a week, I look what I got as a result. If there's some money paid, this means that my operation of handling multiple clients was more or less a success. Otherwise, if there's no money and not a clear idea what's going on, this is an obvious sign that I failed to find a way through the jungle of requirements set by my multiple clients.
This ad hoc approach of mine is obviously not a good and reliable long-term strategy. If the only way to successfully manage your multiple clients is to lose a few along the way, then you are getting nowhere. This is the very reason, I would strongly appreciate some relevant second opinion about this important question. However, I already explained that I just had enough of so-called creative theories that aren't a perfect match for the real business life. If you are a true artist and a gifted balancer who knows how to make his/her multiple clients feel special and remain loyal, this would be your moment to shine. Thank you.
The first theory about the way to handle your multiple clients, I was able to hear from my first sales instructor. He was a proud representative of what you may call the old school. He also had his own ways of explaining things in the most understandable way, for himself of course. Look boy, to have a client is just like to have a wife. Now, having more than one client means that you have to treat them all as your mistresses. You should be Casanova when it comes to your clients and the entire sales process. All of your mistresses, that is to say your clients, should have an impression that they are the only ones in your life. Each of them you have to treat the very special way. Now, it is worth mentioning that back then I was still young and understandably single. So, this Casanova style of managing your clients in a questionable polygamist manner seemed like not such a good idea.
Years later, I was still searching and all I could have found were only the interesting, but highly questionable theories. One of my freelance colleagues, a brilliant designer, offered a solution more appealing to the modern clients. He said that a successful management of multiple clients in any business and especially in the freelance industry is just like playing your own game of thrones. To tell you the truth, I was expecting something much more original and deeper, at least to say. So, I said, what are you in your own version of game of thrones - Jon Snow? He was deeply offended. He only said that if I don't like it, I should come up with one of my own. I tried.
So, when I'm caught in the crossfire of demands submitted by my multiple clients, then I follow the money. This is the best thing I could do. I set my priorities based on the projects that will be first to get me money. Then, I follow a client who is very likely to go back for more work. At the end of the long and confusing working day in this chaos of crossed projects and demands, which easily stretches into a week, I look what I got as a result. If there's some money paid, this means that my operation of handling multiple clients was more or less a success. Otherwise, if there's no money and not a clear idea what's going on, this is an obvious sign that I failed to find a way through the jungle of requirements set by my multiple clients.
This ad hoc approach of mine is obviously not a good and reliable long-term strategy. If the only way to successfully manage your multiple clients is to lose a few along the way, then you are getting nowhere. This is the very reason, I would strongly appreciate some relevant second opinion about this important question. However, I already explained that I just had enough of so-called creative theories that aren't a perfect match for the real business life. If you are a true artist and a gifted balancer who knows how to make his/her multiple clients feel special and remain loyal, this would be your moment to shine. Thank you.