Re-focus Your Freelance Business To Attract Long-Term Clients
What’s the most challenging part of freelancing or running a small agency?
Finding new clients, right? Clients that are right for the services you offer.
You read offers from the “hustle bros,” who will get you in front of 10 new prospects a day with the help of magic phone scripts or cold email templates.
No thanks, I’d rather shove a pencil into my ear.
I’ve never wanted dozens of one-off clients. Far too much work for the return. Also, remember that if you’re always hustling, you’re not billing.
Now, think about the easiest way to work.
Imagine if you had clients who gave you steady repeat business without competition. Projects that you found interesting, that would look great in your portfolio.
Imagine no arguments about fees. These clients have adequate budgets and understand how much things cost. They approve estimates and pay on time.
These clients are professional, know their jobs, and give you what you need so you can work efficiently.
It sounds like a dream, but in fact, there are many clients like this out there.
The challenge is two-fold: first, to find them and then present yourself so they see you as a possible vendor or partner.
Who Could Qualify As a Long-Term Client?
This isn’t a trick question, and the answer is straightforward. Only clients with an ongoing need for your work can be long-term clients.
Oh sure, you could have a client who gives you one project a year, and after five years, you can call them a long-term client. But that doesn’t pay the rent.
You’re looking for clients who need your services, say writing, every week or every month. They’re typically in charge of all of the organization’s communications or, in larger firms, one department of the company.
That means these clients are generally medium-sized or large organizations. Depending on the industry sector, they may also be well-funded start-ups that need everything right now and ongoing work for the next few years.
Who Doesn’t Qualify As a Long-Term Client?
Clients who only need a one-time job done or a few projects over the course of the year.
You may have clients like this, and that’s fine, but it’s not a foundation for growth.
Attracting more of these clients is also a hard way to do business. You’ll spend most of your time pitching rather than billing.
Where Should You Start If You’re Looking for Long-Term Clients?
The place to start is your mindset and your focus. If you’ve never thought about this and have simply taken anything that crossed your path, it’s time to change your thinking and probably your online presentation.
Consider what long-term clients want.
First, they want a good fit—can you deliver what they need? What evidence do you have to support that? In most cases, that means your portfolio or some demonstration of your work.
Does your portfolio show off your expertise? Is it up-to-date and well-organized?
The next thing long-term clients are looking for is reliability. If they give you a project, they must be able to count on you. They’re looking for partners who make their deadlines and are easy to work with. They’re looking for evidence of processes that help you do the job efficiently.
You might ask, how do you demonstrate reliability? The answer is testimonials. Get your existing clients to say those words for you. It’s far more impactful and believable than if you said this about yourself. So, do you have testimonials on your site, and are they saying the right things? They should address quality of work, ease of working with you, and reliability.
Here’s an example of great testimonials on a copywriter’s site.
To get testimonials like that, you have to ask, or better yet, offer to write the testimonial for the client and have them approve it. Less work for them, and you get the message you want. Try it.
If you’re wondering, here’s what clients value most in a freelancer.
Clients Want Someone To Take Their Problems Away
When I started freelancing as a copywriter, I would market myself that way. I did the writing.
But it didn’t take long before clients would ask me whether I had a designer I could work with. At that time, much of my writing was for brochures and websites.
While the writing was necessary, that alone didn’t solve their problem. What the client wanted was a complete solution, ready for production.
I quickly found a designer to help deliver these projects. So, I changed my pitch from being a writer to part of a team that could take on all aspects of the project. Now we could take the problem off the client’s hands.
She could brief us, and we’d come back with copy and layouts ready for review.
So, think about your services. Are you supplying part of the solution or solving the whole problem? Who does the other parts?
Consider how you promote yourself. Now you’re offering a complete solution. That’s what many clients are looking for.
Once they realize how easy it is to work with you, you’ll be more likely to get a steady flow of jobs.
Eventually, I formed my first agency to tackle these projects at scale. You don’t have to start an agency if you want to stay a solo entrepreneur. You could create what I call a virtual agency. I wrote about virtual agencies here.
Tip For Developers: Get Away From the One-And-Done Builds
Many developers find it hard to get long-term clients. Prospects come to them for a website. The dev builds the site, the client is happy, and that’s the end of the relationship.
Sure, there may be a few additions or modifications in the future, but basically, the job is done.
The answer is to become more of a communications company, either fully or virtually, to handle content creation and updates.
Think about it. Once you create the site, the client could be spending hundreds of thousands a year to populate that site, but you have no part in that.
By expanding your services, you’re providing the solution the client is really looking for: someone to take care of the website.
Industry or Niche Expertise Will Help, But It’s Not Essential to Start
If you have expertise in an industry or niche you want to pursue, that’s a bonus. Right away, you’ll be talking the client’s language.
But, in most cases, it’s not necessary at the beginning. Assume that you’re smart enough to learn the industry and get up to speed quickly. You may have to do a bit of homework to accelerate your learning.
The only areas where this doesn’t work are when you get into highly specialized fields, typically medicine, law, and some areas of technology. Here, especially if you’re a writer, you’ll likely need an in-depth background to work in these areas. For example, in law, many of the best writers are lawyers. That’s no accident.
However, if you’re a developer, you could specialize in a niche without in-depth knowledge of the industry. You’ll soon learn the elements these businesses need on their sites and work with that in mind.
Focusing on a Niche Makes It Easier to Attract Long-Term Clients
Although you don’t need niche expertise to get started, once you find a client in a niche, it will be easier to find similar ones.
Your job is to become familiar with the sector or industry. Let’s say, for example, you decided on the niche of building materials because you’re working for a client who distributes lighting fixtures to commercial and multi-residential buildings. You enjoy the work, and you’ve decided you’d like more clients like that.
Who might these clients be? They could be manufacturers or distributors of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment to the same customers.
Or windows, exterior cladding, electrical control systems, roofing, etc. Think of everything that goes into these types of buildings.
In other words, construction.
How do you learn about the companies in those niches? Websites, newsletters, conferences, associations, etc. There’s lots of information on every niche you could imagine. Start by looking at the materials you’re creating for your lighting client. Where do those materials end up? Who else is there? Start broadening your search there.
Also, as you work with these types of clients, you might find that you have to qualify to get on their vendor list. Here’s how to get on vendor lists for corporate or government accounts.
Network Where You’ll Find Your Clients
My first copywriting job was for a small agency that focused on marketing condominiums. They did everything from the advertising to the sales offices, handouts, and on-site signage.
The agency became known in the industry across North America, and we were always busy. However, when it came time to add more clients, the agency president would get himself a speaking gig at an industry event.
He’d be the only marketer there. Most of the others were building product suppliers. In his presentation, he’d show some of the latest projects and highlight innovations that helped builders sell out quickly.
He’d always come back with one or two new clients.
The lesson? Network with potential clients. You don’t have to be a speaker, but you do have to be in the room. Have your “elevator pitch” ready to quickly tell prospects who you are, what you do, and how you can help them solve their marketing problems.
Tip: Ask questions about them rather than talk too much about yourself. Let the prospect talk. Your questions will make them feel like the smartest person in the room, and that’s good for you.
What’s Holding You Back? Fear and Insecurity
Many creators are quite happy staying solo writers, designers, and devs. Maybe they have all the clients they’re looking for and are satisfied with the variety of work that comes through the door.
But if you want to build something where you’re spending most of your time on billable work, you need long-term clients who give you project after project.
What’s holding you back? Likely some element of fear because you’ve never done this before.
My only suggestion is to try it. Prepare yourself—make sure your website and portfolio are as good as they can be—and then take the first steps towards finding better clients.
There’s no downside. In the meantime, you’ll keep doing what you’ve been doing. If it doesn’t work for you, well, you’ve only invested a bit of time.
I’ll bet that once you start, you’ll wonder what took you so long. And with a bit of success, you’ll gain confidence and your insecurities will fade away.
There’s lots more about attracting long term clients in my book, How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. It’s the essential business guide for graphic designers, copywriters, filmmakers, photographers, and programmers.
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