You’ve been brought on by a client to solve a problem. After doing your due diligence, you went in and helped them resolve their issues. You knew enough to listen to their problems, find the subtexts, and eventually brought out the root issue and managed to create an effective solution.
Congratulations! Now it’s time to simply strut out of their office and walk into the next project, yes?
No.
Now is the time to ensure a smooth exit and maintain a position that ensures a good name will follow you along with positive references and perhaps even some friendships.
Exit Strategy
The way you end a contract with a client is just as important as the first impression you gave upon walking in to the interview. Rather than simply exiting, the nuance of concluding the business is essential to your personal branding. Anyone in your field may have been able to walk in a resolve the issue, but if you do it with social grace and professional polish, you’ll have set yourself up well.
Extra
Always give just a little bit extra. Always layer a little icing on the cake. If you can make their company system run a touch more smoothly with a few tweaks and a little time, the effort will pay off in the end. The little additions to your work you make will seem like massive milestones to them. It’s incredible what your expertise can look like to those who do not possess it. You may think you very simply fixed a line of code or removed unnecessary procedures, but they’ll see a god amongst mortals.
Sow Appreciation
Any project you complete wont just be the result of your work. You will collaborate, interview, and interact with others to complete the project. Send a few simple cards or a quick email of thanks and praise. When you look out for other people, other people look out for you. When you sow a positive interaction, you reap positive reactions. You’ll be surprised how much that kind of quick action means to someone. Reach out to those who hired you, those whose opinion you sought, and those who you yourself consulted with on the issue.
Reap Reaction
After the project, send an email to the client asking for any reactions to your work. Ask for both input on the technical end of the results as well as what they may have liked or disliked about working with you. The likes will show you positive aspects of your personal brand that you can then expand on, the dislikes will give you ways to improve your work.
The end game is important. When you perfect the way you conclude working with someone, you polish your image to a whole new level of professionalism and set yourself steps above others in your field.
