How to get more freelance gigs from past clients

by Mariam Ayodeji

We all know that it is expensive and time-consuming to win new clients because you have to invest in marketing, prepare yourself all over again, and work on your business development continuously.

With all this, we tend to forget that the source of our revenue is right underneath our noses and that is our past/existing clients.

Your past clients are people who you have won over already, you have established a connection with them and you know what they want. So you should ask yourself why am I not getting more freelance gigs from them or why are they not giving me jobs to do?

Now it’s time for you to straighten up and focus on marketing and reselling yourself in ways you might already have neglected. The following guidelines listed below will help you in getting more freelance gigs from your past clients.

Your customer service has to be exceptional

If you want your past clients to continue to offer you more freelance gigs, you have to do an excellent job to keep them every time. You have to become that person they can rely on.

The person who has an understanding of their business in and out and will make a difference – such as delivering exceptional articles, or delivering an exceptional website, or app, or new brand identity.

According to Walt Disney, he said: “Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again, and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.”

So, if you want more freelance gigs from past clients, you have to be exceptional, be memorable, and go above all and beyond.

As Richard Branson said and I quote: “The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them – preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.”

Be brave

When you are in a meeting or having a phone conversation with your old client, you should be bold and you can also suggest new ideas that can be of benefit to your client and make you get more freelance gigs.

You can take a look at an existing job and see if any improvements are needed to be made. Is something missing on your client’s website? Or have you seen a competitor promotion and you think doing something similar will be okay? You are free to suggest these all.

According to Estee Lauder: “I have never worked a day in my life without selling. If I believe in something, I sell it, and I sell it hard.”

You too can do the same. Trust your ideas and believe in yourself and be confident when talking about them.

Become infectious with your constant flow of suggestions. With this, you won’t only be impressing the client that you care about their success but also you will secure a long-term project and have a repetition of freelance gigs awarded to you.

Be an essential part of their work

Become your client’s closest ally and supplier. Show them how much they need you in their team.

Steve Jobs once said; “get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.”

If possible, you can get close to the senior management people – the people who are in charge of the purse.

You can be doing more than just creating a logo or writing. You can offer consultancy support also and help them grow their business. Doing this you will safely secure your place in your client’s life, and they will keep coming back to offer you freelance gigs.

Keep up with communication

Another way you can get more freelance gigs from your past client is to stay in contact with them and also to remind them that you are still here. This will assist in maintaining and strengthening your trust and loyalty.

Also, you should remind them about your services because they might be busy, and they can forget what services you are rendering. You can achieve this by asking for their permission to send them your newsletter monthly – something is written that will highlight your recent projects and your project success or maybe share your latest blog or article posts.

Doing this will let you stay in their mind fresh and when they need something done in the future you will be the first person they will consider.

You can offer complementary services

You might be wondering why you keep losing your past clients to bigger agencies who are offering more services underneath one roof. Well, nothing is stopping you to also branch out and extend some services.

You too can offer complementary services to your old clients that will be of benefit to them. Take, for example, your website developer and your client needs a copywriter and you don’t know how to write, well nothing stops you to bring in someone who can do the job, you will just raise your price higher.

Doing this will not only make your clients keep coming back but it will also assist you in making your client not to go elsewhere.

According to Rod Laver, an Australian former tennis player, he said: “The time your game is most vulnerable is when you are ahead. Never let up.”

To sum it up

If you follow these guidelines listed above, you will retain your clients for many years. You have to do the best of the best every time. You should be an essential freelancer, one that can’t do without.

You shouldn’t take your eyes off or lose contact with people you have worked with.