If you’ve done some freelance work and worked with different clients you’ve experienced the problem when your client drag his feet delivering the documents and images needed for you to proceed with their project. At this point you not only waste your time waiting but you also lose money by not taking on new projects.

To be able to tackle this problem you might want to use few techniques that’ll help you keep things moving.

Set milestones in your contract

The original agreement/contract should list all of the milestones, and the deliverables required to reach each of those milestones. It should dictate that the project will stop (literally) if the client deliverables don’t arrive, and that the entire project will have a termination date (to prevent them from stopping and starting all the time). Be sure that the payment schedule brings enough revenue on each payment milestone to cover your losses in case the project ends right there. In other words, always be step ahead so that if the client dissapeared, you are still profitable.

Send routine updates

Be clear with the client when they are slipping deliverables, and don’t hesitate to mention that you are happy to pause the project while they get it together, but if they aren’t able to deliver the xxxx within x days, the entire project will default and you’ll have to renegotiate a new agreement and start from there.

Personalize the problem

Clients are in business, too, and they are facing the same kind of problems are you. Explain to the client that allocating resources and managing cashflow is tricky on your end, too. Make it clear that the project becomes less and less profitable if it doesn’t stay on schedule, and your goal is to NOT pass those costs to the client. Explain that getting developers ramped-up on a project takes time, and each time they switch projects it eats up more time. Gently add that you simply can’t afford to keep a development team ‘on deck’ while you want for them to deliver, so you ‘ll have no choice but to allocate your team to another project if need be. Don’t forget to reiterate again and again that you don’t want to do this, because it’s bad for everyone. Be solutions oriented.

Help them

Ask why they are taking so long? What can you do to help? Do they understand the tasks? Are they lacking in skills? resources? time?

You may also consider to hire a copywriter (or use your own). Instead of tasking a client with developing 10 pages of content over 3-4 weeks, you arrange 2-3 meetings with your writer so that they can interview them about their business and produce the content for them.

| Author: Krasen Tyutyunev |