In order to gain more ongoing work and income from your clients, you need to build trust with them. The more that trust builds over time, the more work they are likely to send your way. Without trust, you may find that your clients don't send work at all.
Here are a few things I've discovered about building trust with your clients:
Reliability and consistency
I've found that it's really important to be reliable and consistent. Simply put that means doing things when you say you will and doing that time and time again. This helps your client to know they can count on you.
Communication
Richard and I would always speak every day on the phone, no matter where he was on the world. One of the main things it helped us to do was create a strong trust between us, which continues to this day. Perhaps you could take the time to speak with your clients on the phone to get to know them better - or next time you're working on a task try communicating about your progress more than you normally would!
Truth
Over the years I've found that you should ALWAYS be truthful. For example if I have failed to complete a task within the deadline I've found it's much better just to be totally honest with the client and explain exactly how I am going to put it right - rather than making up excuses or trying to hide the problem. Honesty is the best policy!
Penni Pike, formerly assistant to Sir Richard Branson
