Small Internet Business

The Easiest Way For Internet Entrepreneurs Doing Freelance Work To Find Customers

How many internet business owners out there buy products and services from freelancers? Almost all of us do at some point because there isn’t enough time in the day and it frees you up to focus on higher ROI activities. A lot of internet entrepreneurs that freelance forget about an eager group of customers sitting right in front of them though. So where is this pool of potential clients?

We’ve paid for article writing, directory submission, and a host of other things over the last couple of months. One and two person shops performed most of those services for us. Guess how many of them asked us for repeat business?

Nada. Zilch. Zero.

I started thinking about this a few days ago and, in the entire time we’ve been outsourcing, there hasn’t been a single service provider follow up with us at a later date to ask if we needed anything else. After smooth transactions with landing page designers, social bookmarkers, writers, directory submitters, and whoever else, you’d think someone would ask for more business. I actually prefer working with the same people again and, while we’ve done other projects with some of those people, I’ve always initiated the contact.

I feel like captain obvious saying this but it boggles my mind. I always need something done. I don’t want people spamming me but, seriously, if I liked your work the first time then I’ll likely hire you again. Maybe ask people if they’d like to opt-in to your newsletter. Then you can highlight a new skill you’ve picked up, let people know if you’ve got some downtime and could turn around a project quickly, and drop your old clients a line when you’re discounting your rates. Your customer list is an asset. Use it.

What’s in it for you?

1. You don’t need to advertise.
2. You don’t need to tout your superiority over your competitors.
3. You don’t need to build up the relationship to close the sale.
4. You don’t need to worry about getting stiffed.

What’s in it for me?

1. I don’t need to go looking for a good freelancer in a sea of mediocre ones.
2. I don’t need to worry about the quality and timeliness of your work.
3. I don’t need to wonder if I can trust you.

Why is it that people, especially freelancers, forget about getting repeat customers?

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Thinks existing customers need love too.