Which is Better: New Clients or Existing Ones?

Marketing 101 tells us that it’s better to retain clients than to go seeking new ones. When you take into account all the things you do to market your services – keep up a blog, have a website, print materials, bid on jobs, go to networking functions, contact companies – it makes sense. These things take time, they require money, and if you’re anything like me, they can be downright annoying.

However, as freelance writers, client retention exists in a slightly different landscape; it’s more like an artistic impression of marketing than the realities faced by big corporations. For example, a company that sells coffee wants to retain customers because coffee is something consumed on a daily basis, and there are quite a few competitors out there. This isn’t true in the freelancing world. A freelance writer can go ahead and log 100 man hours trying to retain clients, but someone who hired you to write web copy isn’t likely to come back every few weeks for some fresh content. Sometimes, no matter how good you are at what you do, clients are simply a one-time deal.

While I will always advocate that keeping the client happy is the best way to go (after all, even if they don’t come back for more work right away, they will remember you months later, and they will refer you to friends), there are disadvantages to long-time clients:

• Just as freelancers tend to get “comfortable” in a relationship and push back deadlines as time goes on, so to do clients. Most clients pay right away in the beginning. However, they may start to send off payments a little bit later for each invoice, until you’re waiting weeks longer than you did in the beginning. This can be tricky to just address directly, since there is a fine balance between being assertive and being pushy – especially if you want to keep working together.

• Long-time clients might also have unrealistic expectations of turnaround times. This is often inadvertently the fault of freelancers, since you might have had an open schedule at some point during your relationship together, and sent off a requested document within one or two days. If you’re not careful, your client might begin to expect that kind of treatment regularly, even if it was the exception rather than the norm.

• Of course, there’s also the possibility that a long-term relationship might mean that some of the “sparkle” will wear off your work. After all, although you might be the best writer in the world, punching out 10 SEO articles every month on the topic of whitewall tires will eventually reach the end of its allure. Either you will run out of things to say, or your articles will start to use much of the same language. The client (and you) might not be as happy as in the beginning of the relationship, and that’s never good news.

• It can be difficult to raise your rates with an existing client. This is particularly troublesome if you’re just starting out and offer lower prices as a way to build up references and a portfolio. One of our clients has been with us since about the sixth month of our company’s existence. While we love working with him, he definitely falls on the lower end of our price spectrum these days. We offer him a “grandfathered clause” rate simply because we feel it wouldn’t be fair to him to say, “Oh, sorry. We’re more expensive now. Pay more or we’ll drop you.”

That being said, I do love most of my existing clients. (This is coming from a woman who was just sent a gorgeous box of Pittman & Davis grapefruits from one such client, so perhaps it’s a little unfair.)

Having long-term clients means:

• You usually don’t have to create a new contract for each new project. By inserting a clause for “all future work” to fall under the same basic guidelines, you can save a bit of time and energy.

• You know what to expect. For example, I have a client who never comes back with fewer than four revision requests. It has little to do with the style or quality of writing; it’s just what he does. The first time, I vowed never to work for that client again, but now that I know to expect these requests, I can plan accordingly and don’t find it the least bit troubling.

• You have a good relationship. I genuinely like most of my long-term clients. We get along (even if it is all online), and there is a good rapport. These are the best people to hit up for testimonials or references.

• You get “perks.” I was invited to appear on one client’s radio show to promote our business (I’ll give you specifics when I know them), gifts around Christmastime are not all that rare, and referrals remain one of our biggest streams of incoming clients. These rarely come from first-time clients.

In the end, I’d have to say that I like a mix of old and new clients. I like the rush that comes with a new, exciting project, but I like the comfort of knowing that some of my old clients will be there every month with steady work.