How to Leverage your Existing Clients into more work
Freelance writing can be a very lucrative career, as I showed everybody at the beginning of the month with a post on my July income. One way to reach a solid level of income is to leverage existing clients into more work. This is not always easy to do, and of course, not always possible. After all, there will always be those clients who only offer one project. But even then, there are ways that you can turn one job into many others.
Generally speaking, there are two ways that you can get repeat work from an existing client.
1. The easiest way is to get your client to give you more projects in the future. Without repeat work, it is safe to say that my income would not be nearly as high. In fact, of the $5,000 I made in July, I would estimate half of it as being repeat work. These jobs will not repeat forever, but I will keep taking them as long as they come in.
2. Your other option is to ask current clients to refer you to others who may need your service. I know what you are thinking; you hate to ask this, right? But remember, you do not need to be pushy. When asking to pass my name onto others, I usually send an email that looks something like this.
“Thank you once again for the work. I had a great time working with you, and hope to do so again in the future. If you happen to know of anybody who would benefit from my writing services, feel free to pass along my contact information.â€
As you can see, you do not need to be pushy in order to get your point across. A nice note letting your client know that they can forward your information to others is all that it takes.
When you begin to garner repeat and referral work, it is safe to say that your income is going to increase. I am going to leave you with two tips that will give you the best chance to succeed with this.
1. Always do your best work. When you do, clients will never hesitate about sending new projects your way, or referring you to others.
2. Take the time to let your clients know that they can forward your info to others. You may be surprised to know that a little nudge like this can go a long way.
