Listen up. You don’t want to be a one-project stand. You have to take certain steps to make sure that your clients will love you in the morning. Really. You can’t take this for granted so pay attention and put these to work now:

Go over and beyond what they expect

Meeting client expectations is really a big so-what. Maybe that was good enough once upon a time and maybe it is still good enough if you have absolutely no competition (and who occupies that rarified space) but for the rest of us, exceeding client expectations is the best way to ensure that you will retain your client’s business for the long haul.

Don’t nickel and dime them to death

I don’t know about you but I loathe getting invoices that have all sorts of add-ons tacked on almost as an afterthought. You know what; it’s better to take the high road and perhaps absorb some of those fees, or perhaps add them into the base price or hourly rate, rather than risk leaving a very nasty impression.

Be proactive

We keep hearing that client are no longer loyal, that they’ll change “vendors” to save miniscule amounts of money. The solution? Don’t be a vendor! Vendors can be easily disposed of but business resources, well, not so easily. And what make a business resource valuable? Well, being proactive, being ahead of the situation, the challenge, the problem thereby being ready with a solution or options. Yep. Business resources are not so disposable.

So there you have. Simple ways for you to avoid being part of a bad break-up. Will you still love me in the morning?