Last week I talked about the added touch of a personalized token ‘Thank You’ upon completion of a job. Now we are going to go over the necessity of following through on that. It is important to periodically ‘touch base’ with previous clients to keep your services fresh in their mind. The key is finding the frequency of those ‘touching base’ moments that is most effective without seeming stalker-like. As a customer once told me, “I like your style. You’re persistent, yet not annoying.” It is still one of my favorite compliments to date.

After working for someone, you should have a pretty good idea about what their freelancing needs are and how frequently they have need for the services of a freelancer. Perhaps there was a past conversation that talked about their future needs or perhaps during the course of the task you suggested another project that would complement the one you were working on. A simple e-mail or telephone call can be the opening you need to follow through and land that particular job.

Keep your checking in at a conversational level; avoid sounding like a sales call. Be friendly and courteous and put a “checking-on-them-to see-if-there-is-anything-you-can-do-to-help” spin on the contact. If they don’t have anything right then, thank them and invite them “to not hesitate calling you” if a need arises. Not having a need at that moment doesn’t necessarily mean your contact was not successful; you may just have to wait a bit for them to get back with you. If they do have a task you can work on, boom! Instant success!

Repeat clients can become a stable component of your business. As with any union, it will take time to solidify the relationship. A solid base of repeat clients has the potential to branch into several new recommended clients based solely on the word of mouth from your satisfied steady clients. Before you know it, your phone will be ringing and your business will be booming.