1. Remember you are a service provider. Be awesome.
This seems obvious but many providers forget it. Don't forget it. The client is paying you to work on their music. Be a professional. Always. This is a professional platform. This means the client is allowed to be fussy, even impolite and demanding and you need to keep your cool and make them happy. That's how customer service works. As long as the client isn't abusive, you need to be a pro. Always be nice. One or two bad reviews can hurt a business.

Remember making clients feel good at your studio facility? You'd dim the lighting, smile, ask how they are doing and if they want water, spend time and real effort making them feel comfortable, say good things about a take that wasn't great so they feel confident enough to go again, help them order food. Be even more like that with remote work, not less. It's easy to type something short or passive aggressive when you're looking at a computer screen rather than a person.

It's easy to not answer for a couple of days when the conversation is virtual. But don't do it. Be nice, prompt patient and professional.

2. Remember that clients are anxious about hiring a remote provider
It's not easy to hire someone you never met, especially with a several hundred dollar purchase and even more so when the provider will be touching your music - something personal that you likely spent a long time on. Remember that after the client pulls the trigger and hires you, they might still be anxious about their decision. Sometimes even more so than before. They might be thinking 'Maybe the person will stop being nice or caring now that I paid'. Make sure you aren't any less nice after you got the gig. Be nicer. Be more patient, not less. Don't give the client any reason to be anxious. Be kind, communicate and be open to their feedback. It's key to this trade.

3. Check your ego at the door
Luckily we've seen only a handful of unhappy clients on SoundBetter. But in nearly all cases where this happened had something in common - the provider got offended by client feedback and pushed back. At that point, it's over. There's no going back.

Remember you are not collaborating. You are providing a service. You can't afford to get offended, even if you are sure you are right. The client needs to live with their music not you, so they need to be happy, not you. They are artist, whether your taste thinks so or not. Not every mix/master/vocal track is a home run, even for the best providers out there. More importantly, it's subjective. Don't take feedback or revision requests personally.

Always expect and be generous about revision requests.

4. Communicate, communicate, communicate
If a client pays you and you don't respond to their messages, in their mind they're assuming the worst - that you took them for a ride, or that you don't really want to work on their music. Communicate more than less. Give them updates. Don't ever disappear.

5. Be a partner
Find something you like about the client's music and get into it - in the way you work and in the way you talk to them about their music. If you can't find something to like about music you agreed to work on, you're in the wrong business. You shouldn't be a service provider, and that's what you are on SoundBetter. Be generous in compliments. It doesn't make you any less a pro to give even a beginner a compliment. It makes you more of a pro. Say something nice about your client's music in your review of them after the job is done. You're a service provider in a creative trade. Be a professional partner.

6. Provide kick ass product
Notice I saved this point for last - that's because customer service is so critical to keeping clients happy, and it's the part most providers don't do well enough. But besides providing an awesome service experience, you still need to provide great product - a great mix, or master, or drum tracks, whatever you were hired to do. This is the real test, so be a pro. You got a paying client, now your name is on the line. Make it awesome and go the extra mile.