Amazing client, a way to repay him.

Its hard to give advice without knowing the specifics of your relationship & the value of the work he's sent you vs what you've done/going to do for him on this next project.

What I would be wary of is a potential expectation on his behalf for free work in future. This could become particularly tricky, if he sends you 10 clients and then wants another freebie thats 4 or 5 times bigger than this free one, but he hasn't sent you even double the amount of work... I know its all theoretical, but i hope the gist is at least clear?

I would personally prefer offering him a sort of "finders fee", say 10% of any work he refers to you that he can then use as a deduction off his projects.

I've done it in the past and had good and bad experiences. Worst case is that it devalues your product in their eyes and they want more and more at cheaper/free rates in the future.

In your case though it sounds like he's the sort of guy that if you were to give him a freebie on this project, he wouldn't value your work less & you would still be able to keep the relationship professional afterwards.

Why would you give it away for free? That's pretty stupid and you're not setting a very good precedence, unless you want to work for him for free forever.

He obviously thinks your work is awesome. Why not just continue offering him top notch work and he will continue to be happy. I would really avoid giving things away, you're devaluing your service.

its really hard to build a friendly and good relationship, but as old people words say thats never bring money in personal relationship with anyone. he call you friend , you can give him a big discount and don't take your website development fees, just take only money which you think will cost you.

like domain registration fees , hosting fees , or any wordpress theme fees

Give him like and extra service that would help him, for free. Like a social media blast. Or something that will help his business and make you look like the best developer ever!

I think you should just go in for the Big discount. Unless you strike a deal that he constantly refers you and then you provide the service to him for free.

Follow the Joker Philosophy "If you are good at something, never do it for free." Offer good discount or give some value add like seo service or lead gen which helps him for revenue generation or acquire new clients, It would be win-win for both

Being a professional in something, don't waste your talent for doing your work for free.
Any work costs money and your time costs money too.

There's an old joke about a lawyer and a doctor that meet at a party, and the doctor says, "When I'm at a social event people always ask me for advice for their medical conditions. I really dislike it. As a lawyer, what do you do?" To which the lawyer replies, "I bill them, expect yours to arrive in a few days."

Business and friendships don't always mix, especially if you set a precedent with freebies. I'm sure you could do with the dollars. As suggested elsewhere, don't work for nothing, especially if he's a good paying customer!

Instead, take the time to handwrite and post him an old fashioned card in the mail thanking him for his referrals. If he sends a few more referrals, send him a bottle of wine or even a few more referrals (if he's in your area) take him and his wife/partner out to dinner to a nice restaurant and you pick up the tab. (and he sounds like the type that would insist on leaving the tip )

I would suggest you don't give away your services, but bend over backwards and work twice as hard to keep him happy -- as he could be a valuable source of income to you!

He is probably less interested in the money than simply getting a reliable and well done job. Good work is getting harder and harder to come by these days. Hence the referrals.

Rather than give him something professional why not give him something personal. I used to do this with good seo clients something like concert tickets, favourite wine or sporting tickets.


It usually costs less and means more.

Let this great client know that his work goes to the top of the stack....they like that.

If the work is ongoing - sooner or later there will be a rush request or a small job you need to do for him ....then you might say "no charge - my thanks for the referrals".

Hi PPG19:

I'm not sure how much you make on each project, but you could approach it something like this.
For every "x" clients my friend sends to me I can afford to give him a free consultation or free project.
Tell him how much you appreciate him sending you business.
His expertise may be referring others or it may be sales.
Either way, he could possibly send you 6 more or some other number of clients every month to keep your business growing.

Good Luck,

Dan

Thank you guys for all your answers.