Five Mindful steps for Freelancers to Avoid Miscommunication with Clients

Photo by Alizée Baudez on Unsplash

Miscommunication is a bummer. It hurts relationships like nothing else and relationships are the key for any freelancer to build a thriving business.

David Grossman reported that a survey of 400 companies cited an average loss of 62.4 mn $ every year due to miscommunication.

Almost all of the problems for a freelancer arises from unclear or misunderstood communication in the first place.

Here are five mindful ways for freelancers to develop a relationship based on trust and clear expectations with your clients.

• Avoid Assumptions: Search eagerly for facts like a hound dog. Avoid assumptions based on similar experiences or projects. Every client is different and so are there needs.
• Looking at things from Client Perspective: Treat yourself like a business. Don’t just look at the project from your domain perspective. Get an overall idea by looking at the project from the client’s perspective. Why and how it’s important? Why is the deadline crucial? Talking to your client will reveal additional information that is extremely helpful.
• Set Clear Expectations: Better to speak about the scope of your work, quality aspects, timelines and be upfront about them rather than unable to fulfill commitments.
• Tonality: Work on a neutral tone and use it when dealing with unjustified requests. Clients are prone to asking for more than what was decided upfront. Use a polite but neutral tonality to reset dynamics.
• Reconfirm: End of the meeting, reconfirm the key milestones and deliverables. Sharing them by mail immediately after a meeting is good practice.