December 11, 2010 in Freelancing

How Not to Lose a Good Project

Freelancers generally have a pre-defined way to approach a business lead. It can be a pre-written sales pitch, a proposal template, a set of references as portfolio, and the way they begin conversation. Many a times, they lack the flexibility required to pitch for really good projects.

As a professional, you need to prepare well before you bid on a good project. A project can be good in terms of financial rewards, technology exposure, or the scope is good enough to give you consistent earning for a long time. Even if you are doing well in pitching to normal projects, ensure that you are little extra careful while pitching to a really good project.

Build Trust: One of the most important factors is to let the customer feel that you are paying required attention to job, its requirements, instructions, without giving the impression that you are conscious of it being a good project. The objective is to win the confidence of client that you can the job. Part of this is achieved in how well you balance the control in listening to requirements and in asking relevant questions or clarifications. Intelligent questions always help the client to trust your skills and expertise.

Do Homework: If possible, know the client and its business before you begin the dialogue. For example, if the project description includes product or website name, you should search for it on internet and explore its features for the project requirements. When you begin the dialog with client, it is better to say ‘I have seen the product and I understand it as a project management tool that helps users manage projects, tasks, schedule meetings…’ RATHER than asking ‘What is the product and what does it do’? Many a times, clients want you to work as independently as possible though they welcome you to ask relevant questions. For really good projects, it is good to ask ‘specific’ questions and not ‘generic’ questions, as much as possible.

The Questions: The way you ask questions from clients reflects your experience and knowledge of subject matter. For example, rather than asking ‘What you want us to use for feature ABC…’, you should prefer to ask it as ‘Our experience says that we can do it using AJAX to show it …’. Again it portrays you as a knowledgeable professional.

Be Honest: Clients appreciate if you are being honest about your expertise. If you plan to outsource ‘something’ that you do not know, convey it to the client that you are not familiar with that aspect of job. You should also add how it will not impact the project quality, timeliness and budget.

Be Professional: The way you communicate with the client goes a long way in winning a really good project. Communication is not only about good language skills, it is also how you write proposals, how you write emails, how you ask questions and add comments to client’s questions. Review your proposal and emails carefully before you hit the SEND button.

Share with us your views on what special efforts you make to win a really good project!