How I Swallowed My Pride and Won Back a Client
Last year, I landed a great client with a top brand and did several stories for them. I got great feedback on my writing from the client and sources. The editor was awesome, the pay was $1 a word, the work was interesting, and the clips were impressive. Because it was a monthly custom pub, I was thrilled at the prospect of regular work with them.
Asking for feedback
Then all of a sudden I stopped getting work from them. And I couldn’t figure out why. I checked in a few times and was told that they didn’t have any stories to assign. But since it was a monthly pub, I knew there was more to the story. So I swallowed my pride and sent the following email.
“Thanks for letting me know. Was there an issue with my work on the articles? I’m always trying to improve and would love to know any feedback that can help me in the future.”
She quickly got back with me and told me that while my writing was strong, but they needed writers who kept them in the loop every step of the way for the project due to the politics of the client. I was relieved. I thanked her so much for her honest feedback and told her that I was very happy to shift to keeping them in the loop more. I explained that most of my clients wanted independent writers and just wanted the draft.
From 0 to $8K in three months
Within a day, I had a new assignment from the client. And she thanked me for being willing to adjust and for asking for feedback. I made sure to stay in (very) close communication with the client and landed another assignment and was then added to a second project. She even referred me to another editor at her agency, resulting in more work. Since I sent that email in the middle of March, I have invoiced over $8K to the client and have about $3k of work on the books for July.
With a single email, I turned a lost client into an anchor client that I predict will end up accounting for over $15K of income in 2020. And it made me wonder how much money I had lost over the years from clients whose work had supposedly dried up by not asking the hard question.
When a client goes silent
Next time you get the feeling that there is more to the story, take a chance and ask for feedback. You won’t offend the client – asking for feedback is part of business. Sure, maybe it’s just that you aren’t a fit for the project, which is fine and normal. Or maybe it’s really a business reason. But it’s very possible that it’s something easy that you can fix, like simply copying the client on emails. Learning what they want is the only way you can meet their expectations.
Have you won back a client? How did you ask for feedback?
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That’s great! Question: last summer I had two prospective clients I had 45+ minute calls/meetings with and then sent over a proposal of how I could help them. Neither responded. It’s been almost a year and I haven’t been able to figure out what to say to them to restart the conversation. We’d emailed for weeks prior to the long conversation. I’d like to work with both/either of them as both are in my niche industry.
Wow. Brilliant way to both serve your client well and receive new assignments from them.
So glad you posted about this situation.
Wendy
This is SUCH good advice! I had a similar experience recently with a client I did one piece of content for (from a very rigid, prescriptive brief) that I felt wasn’t my strongest work as a result of the lack of flexibility.
I reached out to them with some further content ideas after about a month and said I’d take on the full article planning, no need to write such a comprehensive brief as I knew they were busy. They were much happier with the outcome and I’ve had several more requests for work from them since.
Sometimes things don’t slot into space straight away, and having an open dialogue definitely helps with this.
That’s great Jennifer! It hammers home that the tough questions are worth asking if projects unexpectedly wind down.
Your post also shows how different client preferences can be and is a welcome reminder to check in early on how new clients like to work.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this encouraging post. It made me laugh a bit since last week I got a testy email from a client/editor who was annoyed with me for keeping him in the loop about a project. Despite that, I think it’s good to ask for clarity when a client goes silent, as your experience shows. Getting information lets you understand the situation and move forward (sometimes profitably), instead of filling in the blanks with possibilities that could be entirely wrong.
This is great advice, Jennifer, but I’m wondering why the client didn’t keep the lines of communication open during the actual project (or did they?) Usually editors or project managers send check-in emails at different stages of the process, so it’s interesting that they felt the onus was on you to do that. Either way, this is great advice and a good template to use to re-engage past clients.
Hi Satta, Great question, yes, they did check in on me, but they were looking for me to copy them on every email (scheduling interviews, etc) and update them proactively at every step. Most of my clients only look for me to reach out if issues arise. I now ask clients up front how they want me to be kept in the loop. I’ve never had a client want this level before. But they are a great client that pays well so it’s worth the little bit of extra effort.