Freelancing work tends to be rather fickle. When it rains it pours, and when it dries up, well it’s like trying to wring water from a rock.
The best (and only) way to curb a freelance drought is to constantly troll for new projects and leads. While it’s not a good idea to rely exclusively on new clients or exclusively on current clients, a combination of the two is a healthy mix.
It’s easy enough to approach new clients, but how do you follow up with current or former clients for more work?
It’s a little awkward. When I was on the other side of the fence as a marketing director, freelancers and printers would call me periodically to see if there were any projects in the pipeline.
There was nothing wrong with their follow-up; it was direct. However, I prefer a more subtle approach that also has a time critical component to it (and thus hopefully will mean a timely response from the client). It goes something like this:
“I am firming up my editorial calendar and production schedules for this summer. Please let me know at your earliest convenience of any upcoming projects so that I may accommodate your needs and parcel time accordingly.”
It’s just a nice nudge to remind them that you are available for work and to prompt them to think (if they haven’t already) about other projects or assignments. The first sentence is really the crux of it, but feel free to tweak the idea to work for you. You may want to give them a date, perhaps a week, to get back to you. It certainly should not be threatening.
Remember that you are looking for more work, but under the guise of customer service. You value this client so much that you are reminding them about upcoming projects to ensure that they get done. You landing the gig is secondary ( in tone.) And the idea that you are planning your schedule and trying to accommondate the needs of the client shows that you are organized, relevant (it sounds like you’re somewhat busy,) and that you’d like to work with them again.
There’s no wrong or right way to approach clients for more assignments. This is just an example of what has worked for me. What technique to nudge clients for more business has worked for you?