Dr. Freelance, I know it’s a fine line between being persistent and being annoying. If I’ve got a warm lead for a potential client or a new freelance gig, how many times is appropriate for following up?—Getting Warmer
Getting Warmer, As with so many aspects of freelancing, the follow up with a potential client is a matter of understanding the prospect’s style as well as her business needs. No one enjoys a hard sell, and I think it’s particularly ill-suited to something like creative services. If you come across as at all desperate, the Universal Law of Need (i.e., the more you need something, the less likely you will get it) comes into play.
A couple of tactics that can help during the sales process, i.e., follow up with a potential client, include:
- Finding out if there’s a specific project and/or budget, or if the potential client is just tire-kicking. If it’s the former, you can be (slightly!) more aggressive about the follow up because there is likely a deadline involved. This is leverage, both in getting the project and in how you are able to price it. (Closer deadline equals higher price!)
- Getting the prospect to do something: Fill out a form, sign a contract, send you some information…any kind of commitment that steps away from you doing all the work.
- Asking directly, “So, what’s our next step?” or “When would be a good time to follow up?” Ideally, you’d want the potential client to tell you a time and a date rather than you proposing one.
Based on the results of those steps, you should have a good feel for where you stand and what kind of next action or follow up is warranted with a given client. Depending on the potential of the deal, your patience may eventually be the limiting factor. (That’s the way it is for me.) Keep in mind that as goes the courtship, so too goes the relationship.