The Contractor-Client Relationship
In this virtual world of email, chat, and file and code sharing, it’s sometimes easy to forget there’s a human on the other side. Real people from all over the globe are pooling their resources to get work done.
What’s critical within this environment is to not lose the personal element. If you want to nurture long-term, reliable business arrangements with great talent, you must connect with the human side. You must make the effort to understand who your contractors are and to treat them with respect and dignity.
In this age of call centers and phone menus, what people miss the most is finding a person they can connect to. This is your job as a great client: Connect with your contractor and show them you value their talent. Then, watch them shine for you. Again, it’s basic human nature.
Use Your Virtual Office
The workroom features and applications I’ve been discussing throughout this book are there for one reason, to make the clients’ and contractors’ work experiences flow smoothly and easily through Elance.
Think of it from Elance’s eyes. The more positive your work experience on their site, the more business you’ll do there. The more business you do with Elance, the more success they’ll have. Everyone’s incentives are aligned, as they should be.
Given this, use those workroom features and applications because they really do help. They’ve been designed with just that in mind. Not all of the tools will be applicable for each project, but use those that fit. You will have a closer and better experience with your contractor(s). Many Elance clients have multi-year work relationships with their Elance contractors, and using these virtual office resources has helped.
How Much to Manage
The answer to how much to manage will vary with each client and each contractor. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. But a few guidelines from top clients and contractors alike can be implemented.
• Communicate frequently. This doesn’t mean hover over their virtual shoulders and comment on each comma. It means stay in touch.
• Don’t micromanage. Most freelancers hate it.
• Work within expectations. These should have been clearly outlined in the beginning (see Chapter 11).
• Don’t change the job parameters without involving the contractor. This is a virtual way to pull the rug out from under your contractor’s feet. If something needs to be changed, explain why and make sure it still fits within the original job description. If not, you may need to make milestone and/or payment changes.
• Prefund your milestones if it’s a fixed-price job. This is a sign you’re serious and contractors love it.
• Be fair. ’Nuff said.
• Be patient. If there are delays or misunderstandings, understand the other side’s situation, not just your own.
• Pay on time. A sign of respect as well as professionalism.
• Give great feedback. Contractors live and die by feedback. If they’ve done a great job, let them know—publicly.
• Invite them to new jobs.
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BEST PRACTICES |
Many of the best clients ask up front how much their contractor wants to be managed. This is a way of getting the subject right out front and center.
Fostering Loyalty and Excellence
If you use the previous suggestions and treat your contractors well, you will be fostering loyalty and excellence. To a high degree, how people treat you is a mirror of how you treat them. Take the high road and most will join you.
There will always be those contractors you just don’t click with or who don’t meet your expectations. Finish the job (unless you’ve run into trouble; see Chapter 17), and don’t hire them back. It couldn’t be simpler.
One of the deep advantages of the online work world is when the job is done, it’s done. You don’t have to work with HR on terminating or repositioning the employee. And unemployment insurance and the like are simply irrelevant. This is fair to all involved. From the contractor’s perspective, not all clients are people they’d want an ongoing relationship with either.
The key is to set up the project and expectations clearly from the beginning, communicate frequently throughout the job, and reward excellence at the end through feedback, referrals, and new job invitations.
The Least You Need to Know
• The Elance workroom is easy and intuitive.
• Tracker and Work View are optional methods to manage hourly jobs.
• Screen sharing and video conferencing are great ways to communicate with your team and contractor(s).
• Codesion is a handy code sharing application.
• With respect and communication, long-term work relationships are possible.