Tips For Working with Remote Clients

If you’re an online business owner, your clients are probably going to be from various parts of the world. All of my clients live in different parts of the United States (except for one of my AMAZING clients-turned-friends, Liz, who only lives 40 minutes away!), so I’ve found it extremely important to have good communication skills with them – especially if they’re in different time zones.

Working with remote clients isn’t as difficult as it sounds – just take the time to set these strategies in place and it’ll be a smooth relationship!

Respond to emails within 24 business hours.
I strongly recommend to not be glued to your email, but if you’re working with remote clients, you should be particularly available via email. I always make sure to respond to any inquiries within 24 business hours, and if a client wants anything changed, they must give me 24 hours notice.

Set up times for calls.
Depending on the industry you’re in, you may want to set up weekly, biweekly, or monthly calls with your clients. I personally don’t do calls with my clients, as I feel that all necessary questions/comments/concerns can be expressed through email, but I’m open to jumping on calls if needed and if I’m given enough time in advance.

Keep track of any updates/progress.
I find it really helpful to keep an ongoing list of things that I’ve worked on/accomplished so that I can periodically send as updates to my clients. And if they happen to ask about any recent progress, I have a list that I can share with them in case I forget anything!

The most important thing to remember with all of this is to include it all in your contract! I have set office hours in a welcome packet that I send out to my clients. Although I may choose to be working on a Saturday night at 10 PM, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to be responding to emails about projects – which is why I clearly defined the days and hours I will be working as well as any days I will be taking off. How do you work with remote clients?