Just like every business or service you provide, your web development business either as a freelancer or an agency must be spot on. You need to define a working process to which you must abide and make sure your clients follow. In a previous post, I spoke of the importance of having a contract; it builds trust and protects you and your client.

In this post however, I would like to give some tips regarding your business working process. These are simple strategies to implement but very effective. I learnt some of these the hard way but you shouldn’t have to.

Tip #1 – Deliverables

Every project you will take on comes with deliverables. You need to understand the project requirements, and from which define the deliverables. You need to communicate the deliverables you have identified to the client and have them in agreement before proceeding further. Deliverables form an important part of the Scope Of Work (SOW). Defined deliverables confirm project pricing, phases and deadlines.

My recent project for an ISP took a turn when we began working on the project. The client requirement was that they needed a business website to show what they do and all – basic business information website. Halfway through, the client says to me “we would like to use Pay Stack on the website to purchase data plans”. I was quick to inform the client that the request coming in exceeds the agreed upon requirements and deliverables and with that the milestones and payment must be adjusted accordingly.

Tip #2 – Deadlines

There are long term and short-term projects, no matter how long a project is, there must be a deadline. Most clients will ask you during meetings and discussions, “How long will it take?” Before agreeing to a deadline. You need to consider the following;

• Your skill level and competence
• Project requirement and size
• Quality of work you want to provide

Are you skilled enough to complete the project within the given time? How big or small is this project and is the timeframe reasonable enough to complete the project? Will the timeframe affect the output of work?

After analyzing these, I suggest your next step would be to provide a timeframe which gives you enough wiggle room. What I do personally is give 2 extra days. If I can complete a web development project within 2 days, I would tell the client 5 days. This allows room for the events which you cannot control, power outage, service outage, research time and even personal time. Let the client know also, that the estimated time is greatly affected by their response and review time.

Tip #3 – Project Acceptance

You need to come up with a simple system for your clients and you. When you have completed a project and they have fully reviewed the work done, they need to accept the work done as complete. I learned this the hard way – I had an unresponsive client whose work I had completed over 6 months pending payment! The client’s response after the 6-month period was “I am the client and I decide if the project is complete, and it is not complete!”.

Create a simple document which states something like this; “I accept the work done by [Your Name/Agency] on this day, [Date], regarding our Website [Website URL] as completed and delivered as agreed upon”. Sign this and have your client sign with all payments cleared as well!

Sometimes, we overlook these simple things and proceed to work, and we use trust and previous working relationships as a measure, but you should remember things can quickly go south and before you know you are in a fix.

I hope these quick tips are of help to you. Feel free to leave a comment and contribution to the topic and stay tuned for more. Share this if you liked this content! Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a fruitful New Year!