1. Build and Maintain Contacts Contacts are the life blood of any successful business. Most people have short memories hence its imperative to keep in touch with prospective clients, business contacts and industry people. You never know who may need you when and for what work.
2. Bid for work on Freelance Marketplaces The internet has created a massive opportunity for small and medium service providers to bid for work on the numerous freelance marketplaces. These marketplaces match service providers with thousands of service buyers and are great source of project procurement. It is not possible to bid on all the marketplaces everyday. Choose the ones that cost you less and offer more regular opportunities.
3. Build a Strong Portfolio When service buyers see provider portfolios on the freelance websites, apart from the price bid, the profile of the service provider, client referrals, work examples and overall presentation plays a major role in the selection process. Hence, it is important to build a professional portfolio with clearly laid out skill sets, contact information, customer references, academic qualifications, professional qualifications and examples of work done.
4. Define Scope of Work When you win a project, make sure you clearly discuss the scope and functional features of the project with the client. This leads to healthy client relationships and makes it easier to plan the project execution. If you frequently contact the client with your queries, he might think that you did not understand the project and may become apprehensive working with you.
5. Design System Architecture After finalization of project scope, design the architecture of the project in the form of a diagram and discuss it with the client so that you need not make too many changes after delivering the project to the client. Make sure you or your team sticks to this design so that the project development does not become haphazard.
6. Project Documents It is a good practice to store all project related documents and client instructions in one place for quick access and timely action.
7. Time Allocation - Define Projects Tasks, Sub-Tasks and Allocate Time for each activity so that you can match client deadlines and also monitor the progress of work with respect to pre-decided timelines.
8. Allocate Tasks to Team Members Keep track of Tasks allocated to team members for quick reporting and monitoring the progress of work.
9. Set Deadlines Estimate and Set Deadlines on the various project related activities.
10.Monitor Progress of Work Monitor the progress of work frequently so that you can communicate the same to your clients. Clients expect you to keep in touch with them and intimate them of the state of affairs.
11.Keep Track of Project Costs and Expenses The primary purpose of business is to earn profits. For this you need to keep track of your expenses and revenue generated from work.
12.Client Communication Frequently communicate with clients, intimating them of the progress of work. This leads to development of client confidence in your abilities.
13.Deliver the Project After completion, deliver the project to the client and keep record of the delivery so that you can generate invoices on the client.
14.Raise Invoices on Clients Raise Invoices on Clients and record of payment receipts for timely reminder to clients and to manage your inflows.
15.Manage Project Change Requests Often, clients may ask you to change certain parts of a project. As part of efficient customer service, you should record and keep track of such requests and intimate the client upon making the change.
16.Use a System to Manage Activities Utilize a software system to manage all these activities. There are plenty of software available that can help you manage one or more of the above activities. Or else you may choose to buy an affordable and all integrated solution like Service Desktop Pro (www.servicedesktop.com).
| | Author Info: India based technology expert specialising in business management software and internet marketing. Can be contacted at:- amit@servicedesktop.com
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