![The [non]billable hour](http://www.nonbillablehour.com/images/headway/header-uploads/xNonbillable,P20Hour,P20442.png.pagespeed.ic.sJ1SiCvIT_.png)
There’s some great, simple advice from the Freelance Folder in Seven Tips to Keep Your Clients Coming Back for More. The tips:
Go read the entire article. It is worth your five minutes.
Jordan Furlong suggests lawyers and firms conduct an Obsolescence Audit, aimed at identifying aspects of your business that won’t survive the next ten years. Here’s his checklist of things to look for:
1. Any offering that’s the same no matter who buys it.
2. Any offering essentially the same as your competitors’.
3. Any offering not optimally designed for client value.
4. Any offering that really, truly doesn’t require a lawyer.
Read the entire post for Jordan’s elaboration on each point. A fantastic idea!
I’ve been using my “You Decide” fill-in-the-blank invoice, for over a year now. In that time, I’ve found time and time again that my clients pay me more than I would have charged them. And, in situations where clients demand a fixed price, I’m quoting them much higher prices (coupled with a money-back guarantee) than I would have before my invoice experiment.
Even though I’ve been doing flat-fee work for almost a decade, I used to (even subconsciously) focus on the time it took me to do something. Now, everything I do is focused on delivering the biggest “bang” for my clients, knowing that the “bucks” will come. I don’t track phone calls, preparation time or limit meetings, and I don’t charge for materials, travel, meals or other expenses. In short, I trust that my clients will take care of me if I take care of them — and they always do.
In 2010, I’d encourage you to resolve to let your clients set your price — at least once. Ask a trusted client to list all the services they’d like you to provide for them. Suggest unlimited phone calls, regular meetings, document reviews, etc. Provide all these services to them for a month’s time. Then, ask them what they’re willing to pay for all the work you’ve done.
You may find your clients value your services more than you do.
If you’ve got a big client, odds are they’ve got a pet project. Whether it is for a community organization, charity, civic group or volunteer event, supporting the causes your clients do can deepen your relationship with them while benefiting those in need.
That’s why, in 2010 you need to Resolve to Take Care of Clients’ Pet Projects. For every client, find out what kinds of charitable groups or causes they support (and why). Armed with this knowledge, here are a few things you can do:
Your clients will not only appreciate your interest in their cause, but you might gain an interest in theirs. When that happens, everybody wins.
Almost every lawyer has a “big fish” they’d like to land. Whether that fish is an individual client, a corporation, an insurance company or even a great referral source, your big fish isn’t going to catch itself.
And what better place to find advice on catching “big fish” than on a website called TakeMeFishing? Some fishing wisdom to keep in mind when you’re Resolving to Land a Big Fish:
The cool thing about fishing is that there are hundreds of species of fish to catch. What’s even cooler is that there are multiple ways to catch a particular kind of fish.
You’ll soon learn that when it’s a bad day for fishing in one location, it could be a good day in another, and the locations may not be far apart.
You don’t have to travel far or spend a lot of money to find a body of water with fish you can catch.
Don’t be anxious. Even if you get the fish close to the boat, that doesn’t mean it’s done fighting.
It takes a lot of experience to know when to set the hook. It also takes a lot of patience.
Some fish will nibble on your bait or lure, causing your line to tick or wiggle. And some fish will try to swallow the entire bait, hook and rig all at once with one big hit.
Different fish strike differently. And the same fish will go after your bait differently depending on the time of day or time of year.
Fish spoil quickly if you don’t handle them properly from the moment you land them.
So as you plan on landing one big fish in 2010, make certain you’re prepared: know who they are, where they hang out, what you’ll use to attract them and what you’ll do with them once they’re caught.
Know the answers to each of these questions before you “go fishing” for big fish, or all you will end up catching are small ones you’d rather throw back.
Last year, I posted Ten Resolutions for the New Year on this blog. Reading it again, I realized it is one of my all-time favorite posts — and mirrors my own personal resolutions for 2010 and beyond.
I wanted to share it with you again this year. I hope you enjoy it.
1. Resolve to be better to everyone. Start with yourself.
2. Resolve to choose your customers as carefully as friends, knowing that you’ll work best when they’re one in the same.
3. Resolve to know your business better. Recognize that being good at what you do is unimportant if you’re not good at being in the business you’re in.
4. Resolve to stop doing the things your customers don’t pay you to do, unless you love doing them so much, you’d do them for free. Because you are.
5. Resolve to value your life by the things you experience instead of the things you possess.
6. Resolve to eliminate the things in your life that wake you up in the middle of the night — unless you’re married to them, or they need to go outside for a walk.
7. Resolve to become more useful to your customers. Stop thinking about what they expect from you, and focus instead on what they don’t expect from you.
8. Resolve to help the people who work with you (and for you) become better at what they do. Give them what they need to excel at their jobs, and you’ll find you’re more likely to excel at yours.
9. Resolve to understand the difference between what you do for clients and how long you take to do it. They care about the former, and can’t understand why you charge for the latter.
10. Resolve to do the work you long to do, instead of the work you’ve been doing for too long. Follow your passions, honor your principles and strive to add value to every relationship you’re in. “Next Year” begins now. Get started on making it great!