Get more long-term clients
Some people like jumping from client to client while others prefer more stable, longer-term clients. This article is for that second group.
Try before you buy?
Should you only target clients looking for long-term gigs or try to develop short-term clients into long-term ones? The answer depends on you, really. There is no right way. If you only target long-term potential clients, it may take longer to find enough clients and each lost client that doesn’t “stick” will hurt more. On the other hand, if you go for all kinds of clients, you will have more clients to begin with, but only a portion will stay with you long-term, so each one will require a game of “will they/won’t they?” that may get annoying pretty quickly.
To price dump or not to price dump?
Clients tend to expect a lower rate if you work with them longer, a “bulk discount” of sorts. While this is completely absurd (your work is no less valuable if you do more of it longer), it is tempting to give a client a lower price in order to make their cost of switching to someone new too high. On the other hand, once you lower your price, it’s harder to raise it later. And the last thing you want to do is to compete on price vs. quality. In fact, you may want to raise your price later on as your expertise and experience grows and you can command a higher rate from clients.
Be proactive
Very often, a client doesn’t realize they’ll end up becoming your long-term client because they only see one small problem to solve and miss a number of other problems you can help with. So be proactive: identify how to expand your service to other problems. If you were hired to design their logo, see if they need website or brochure design too. If the gig is to code their shopping cart, maybe suggest coding a referral system. In short: sell yourself.
Teamwork
It’s a lot easier to get rid of one person rather than of an entire team. Of course, we’re the teamwork specialists here at DreamTeam, but you can integrate into the client’s team on your own. It will take work and is not always applicable. But if you can… For example, if you are a designer and get to work with the client’s copywriter on the gig, working well together and maybe even becoming friends is good for the work and for your chances of landing that client as a long-term one.
The takeaway
The key to long-term clients is to not be viewed as a temporary solution. Whether through your service, communication, or integration with the team, make sure that the client defaults to you being their go-to person unless proven otherwise.
And… action!
Let’s put this into action. Answer these questions as best you can by actually writing the answers down:
- Do you prefer to start off with more clients and whittle down or spend more time searching for the right client?
- Look at the price range of your serious competitors (not the low-balling ones). Where do you fit in? Can you undercut them and still be comfortable with your earnings?
- What is your ideal rate? Find some gig listings. If you start at the rate those clients expect, will you realistically be able to get from their rate to your desired rate in time? How long will it take?
- In one of your current gigs, how can you expand on the service you’re performing? Write a proposal to that client.
- On your current gigs, are you working with other team members? How are you collaborating? How can you collaborate more?
- What do you do so well for your current clients that you’d be hard to replace?
