Long-term clients can provide the much-needed stability to freelancing but how does one go about finding such long-term clients on Upwork?
When freelancers are trying to find long-term clients on Upwork, they tend to look for clients with big budgets. The reality is, there aren’t any long-term or short-term clients.
All clients want some work done. Over time clients prefer to keep working with the same freelancer instead of trying to find someone yet again.
I always prefer short-term clients because it helps me get over with work and focus on blogging. Still, I manage to work for a single client for almost a year now. The total payment from the same client has crossed the 10k mark in Upwork.
Moreover, clients who say they want someone for ongoing support for the long-term on freelancing sites like Upwork is to reduce the price of the initial work or want to make sure they aren’t going to get ripped off because they aren’t sure of the cost to current work.
The first set of requirements by a client is a way to find good quality freelancers, followed by repeat work.
Clients are looking for long-term freelancers but don’t want to be committing upfront.
Because as freelancers have to bear to find suitable long-term clients, the problem for clients is even more significant. The entire business they have in mind be taken for troll on the fact that they happen to find suitable freelancers, especially developers.
On top of that, they aren’t technical. So not in a position to be able to judge the quality of work of the developer.
So, as a developer, it is essential to be able to convert your clients from one time work to long-term clients. I am not a guru, but here are a few things I do to convert my existing clients into long-term clients.
1. Ask Clients for More Work
Ask your current clients if you can be part of other projects. The best method to convert your existing clients into long-term clients.
When I am working for my clients on vBulletin or XenForo, they aren’t aware of my expertise about WordPress, but once I let them know, often clients want me to take up their WordPress projects as well.
Asking always help me to convert my satisfied client to long-term clients but asking too early in the project may not help. So it is better to be asking when the client is pleased with the first delivery of your work or after the first project is complete. Asking after the client has shared the first feedback isn’t a bad idea either.
2. Keep in Touch with One-Off Clients
The memory of the work done can be short-lived for clients, especially for developers.
Interacting with such clients on more personal or professional levels can help refresh their memory about your services.
Using Moosend to email them once or twice every quarter can be the right choice but the email shouldn’t be an advertisement for your services. A guide to what one should email and how often is here. Such email helps me convert many of my existing clients to long-term clients.
3. There is nothing called over Communication
I always like to communicate with clients as much as possible when I am working on their projects.
We, developers, see it as programming work, but it is the vision for the client.
So I always over-communicate. As an example, when clients send me an email for what they want me to be doing, I reply of I have your email and has started working, or I have your email and share when will I start working on it. If there are small or trivial work, I get them completed and then email them I am working.
Communication helps clients know they are with a pro. Moreover, it helps me convert my clients into long-term clients.
4. Work on Building Trust. Business will Follow
Never lie. In the age of Google and social media, it is elementary to find out something about anybody reasonably easily.
Clients can find information about you.
If you need more time to complete, don’t need to make false statements about accidents or death in the family. Your Facebook updates can reveal a lot more about you, unknowingly.
It is better, to be honest, and ask more time in the right way.
Building trust is the single most crucial factor that will convert your existing clients into long-term clients. ,
Even avoid a false urgency or unavailability to get few bucks extra bucks. Do not freelance for the small gains. It is not a sprint but a marathon. There are better ways to increase your hourly rate, or there are better ways to make more money, even without raising prices.
Final thoughts
Long-term clients can mean a stable source of freelancing income and save a lot of time writing proposals but trying to go only after big jobs can be tough. So opt for small size jobs to build a reputation and work on converting those clients into long-term clients.
