By Bryan S. Adar
The current recession has affected a lot of people. Businesses are cutting back on budgets and resources. Maybe you have been impacted by the downturn. Maybe you haven't. No matter which situation you're in, there is something you can do to lay the foundation of a solid future.You can start building relationships with prospective employers and clients. In the beginning these relationships may not give you much in terms of monetary returns. But in the long run, you'll reap the rewards.
When dealing with clients and employers you have to put their interests first. This is the fundamental ethic of a good service provider. In all your interactions with clients, keep their interests above yours. By providing more benefits and focusing on customer satisfaction, you will radically increase your chances of long term success.
It takes time to develop this line of thinking. As a service provider, one of your first thoughts is to determine your compensation and what's in it for you. The drawback of putting yourself first is that every decision you make is affected by that type of thinking. You may, for example, cut corners to complete a project within the allotted time frame so that you don't spend more time without being paid.
But if you put your clients' interests above all else, the quality of your work will not be compromised. Every decision you take and each task you accomplish will be aimed at benefiting your clients.
This doesn't mean that your fees are not important and you let the client take advantage of you. A good business relationship is one that is mutually rewarding. But since you are a service provider, your goal should be to provide value to your clients. In return for providing good service, you should be rewarded accordingly.
Treat your clients the way you would like to be treated. Keep this rule in mind, and you will create a long list of satisfied clients who will provide you with a steady stream of work.
Many service providers are inflexible and don't do anything extra for their clients. Their focus is the bottom line and the check they will deposit in their bank accounts. In an industry where the number of technical writers is increasing, this line of thinking is flawed. Your client can easily hire someone else for future projects and won't refer anyone to you.
How to Start Building Long Lasting Business Relationships
Even in this troubled economy, you can plant the seeds of business relationships which will reward you for years to come. Some of them may result in immediate projects while others may take a bit of time germinate.
Starting today, offer to do something extra when approaching prospective clients or employers. There are various techniques you can use to do this. Here are a few suggestions:
When dealing with someone who can give you a full time job as a technical writer:
1. Offer to review their business or department goals and give suggestions on how your writing skills can help achieve those goals.
2. Review their current documentation and give recommendations on areas that can be improved.
3. Inform them about the benefits of creating style guides and adopting a culture of standardization.
4. Tell them about the cost and time savings of creating templates for documents that are created frequently.
5. Convince them of the advantages of creating online documentation and leveraging the internet or intranet.
When talking to a prospective client for a freelance project:
1. Provide a free initial consultation to review the client's project goals and his expected outcome.
2. Create a plan of action with project milestones, review cycles, and deadlines.
3. Give the client some options to consider. These options could be your ideas that are outside the project scope but add value to the project.
4. Tout the advantages of creating online documentation and using blogs, newsletters and email marketing.
Don't mention your fees when offering these suggestions. These are ideas you are proposing and if your client decides to implement them, you will benefit by getting the extra work.
Putting your clients and employers first is always good practice. Start doing this today, and you will lay the foundation of a bright future.
If you can write a simple sentence and organize your thoughts then technical writing may be a rewarding field. You can easily make it an extra income stream.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average salary for technical writers is $60,380. Freelance technical writers can make from $30 to $70 per hour.
But to succeed you must learn how to market yourself to clients. That's where ProTech - Your Fast Track to Becoming a Successful Technical Writer can help. It's a technical writing course that does two equally important things:
1. It teaches you the skills to become a technical writer in the shortest time frame. You'll learn to create manuals, procedures, tutorials, processes, proposals, spec sheets and other documents that businesses need.
2. It shows you how to market yourself to clients so you can start your income stream as soon as possible.
In fact, you'll get a complete marketing toolkit which has templates and technical writing job sites to get started immediately!
To learn more go to http://www.techwritingcourse.com/bright_future
