A reader asks: “How do you nudge a dormant client? How can I get back in touch with a client who’s gone totally silent?”
Why nudge dormant clients?
In my experience and opinion, nudging dormant clients–rekindling the flame with a client you worked with in the past–is one of the most successful and most overlooked marketing strategies that freelance translators can implement. Why? Because:
- It’s much less onerous than starting from scratch with a completely new potential client. Think, “Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed working on X project last year; haven’t heard from you in a while and would love to work together again,” rather than, “I’m a freelance English to German translator specializing in your industry and wondering if you might need my services.”
- You already know that this client needs (or at least needed) your services and enjoyed working with you, assuming that you worked with them multiple times.
- In your mind (or at least in mine!), the client has probably gone dormant for some deep, dark reason: like an egregious error in a translation that they were never willing to tell you about and that you never found. In reality, 99% of clients go dormant for completely benign reasons. They’ve simply forgotten about you, or the person you worked with left and didn’t give your contact information to the new person, or they honestly haven’t had any work that fits with what you do. But don’t use fear as an excuse for not nudging a dormant client: at least give them one nudge and see where it goes.
How do you nudge a dormant client?
Answer: as simply and directly as possible. This is not the time to air your paranoid fantasies about why the client hasn’t contacted you. If they really don’t want to work with you again, they’ll either tell you that or they won’t respond at all. Don’t borrow trouble here. Just send a quick, friendly e-mail that refreshes the client’s memory, something like:
“Dear Melissa, I hope that all is well with you. I’m just checking in with you, as I really enjoyed working on the German to English translation of your annual report last year. If you have additional translation needs, I’d love to work together again. Thank you and have a great day.”
Or…
“Dear Robert, I hope you’re doing well. In looking over my project records, I noticed that we haven’t worked together in a few months. I always look forward to projects from your agency, and I wondered if you might have anything in the pipeline that would be a good fit for my skills (Japanese to English financial translation). Thank you and have a good day.”
Or…
“Dear Melissa, I hope you’re doing well. I noticed that it’s been about eight months since I did the German to English translation of your annual report. I really enjoyed working on that project, and just wanted to check in and see whether you’ll be needing me for this year’s report? If so, I’m available and I’d be happy to speak with you further about it.”
When you nudge a dormant client, do not…
- Don’t overdo it. The client will be turned off by a long message that dissects all the possible reasons they haven’t contacted you. “I’m not sure if you were dissatisfied with my work last time…” “I’m not sure if one of the other translators on the project talked negatively about me to you…” “I’m not sure if you’ve found someone cheaper and no longer want to work with me…” Of course we all wonder those things from time to time, but keep it to yourself (or vent to a trusted colleague). When you contact the client, keep it short and positive.
- Don’t go into too much detail: the client doesn’t need to know your exact availability, or what adjustments you’d like to make if you work on another project with them. First, just remind them that you exist.
Now readers, over to you! I’d love to hear your experiences with nudging dormant clients. Better yet, use this post as a motivator to nudge a dormant client right now!
Hi Corinne! In December I wrote to a translation aganecy I had worked for as in-house reviewer back in 2011. They were really happy to hear back from me and actually gave me some interesting work, so my advice would be to be brave because if you have done some good work, people are likely to remember it!
Awesome, thanks Chiara! That’s amazing that you were able to rekindle them after 8-9 years. Awesome job!
Thanks for such an inspiring post, Corinne! I always do that, though I guess I should be more consistent (I just do it from time to time, and I must confess I also fear I made a mistake in my last project! š
Thanks for your comment, Sabrina! Yes, I think we all have those fears, and sometimes they’re correct but usually not. Glad you enjoyed the post!
The timing of your post couldn’t have come better Corinne! After I read it I contacted an agency because I hadn’t heard from then since the beginning of January and they send me a lot of work every month. They replied that their customers were putting pressure on them to lower prices and although they valued the quality of my work, they now had to prioritize translators offering lower rates. I never thought this would happen with them. It’s a boutique agency with good rates. I offered to lower my rates slightly if they could guarantee they’d send me more work. It pained me to do this but I enjoy their projects and am very productive on them so the hourly rate still works out fine. Despite our long-standing relationship they hadn’t thought to tell me what was happening. If I hadn’t nudged them I’d still be waiting!
Thanks, Julia! Great example here: kind of a depressing situation (that’s becoming all too common in the agency world…) but at least now you know and can move on! Thanks for commenting.
Thank you, Corinne. This is great and I have decided to strike while the iron is hot. 2 emails sent. Let’s see if I get any encouraging replies.
I have 9 clients to “nudge” on my list and I will do 2 at a time, once a week because I don’t want to be suddenly flooded, especially as I am rather busy at the moment. š
Perfect strategy!! Good luck with it and let me know how it goes!
I love it that you actually give us wording and formulation ideas in simple, straightforward language, which goes together with the hint about not going into too much detail. Spot on and kind of a relief! Thanks, Corinne – very valuable!
Great, glad it was helpful! And I agree, it’s always easier to envision what you would/could say after you’ve seen an example. Even if you don’t use that exact wording, I think it’s always easier to have a starting point!
You have really inspired me, Corinne. And it came just in time that I needed the most. I have a client that i appreciate very much, though, I couldn’t reply their emails for 3 years (had some health problems that prevented me from working). Now that all is good with me, I want to reconnect with them. Do you have an advice for me on how to do this without going into too much details?
Thank you for this wonderful post:)-
Hi Eman, glad it was helpful! That’s great that your health is better! Honestly I’d do the same thing: if the health problems are resolved, don’t even mention them. “I enjoyed working with you back in 2017; I ended up needing to take some time off from work but I’m now back full-time and I wondered what I would need to do to get back on your roster of available translators?” Something like that could work.
Thanks, Corinne. This is helpful information. However, I try to avoid a simple āreminderā follow-up; it makes the client think Iām not busy, which I donāt think is a good signal to send. I prefer to follow up in way that looks like Iām just doing routine client maintenance. For example, it seems better to contact a client on the pretext that itās time to send out an updated resume, or that I published an article, or even with some materials I think they might find useful. At the same time, Iāll mention that I havenāt seen work from them in awhile and that Iād like the opportunity to work with them again. But I try not to make this look like the reason for the email.
Really great tip, thanks Steven! I agree, itās always hard to find ways to contact clients without saying, āDO YOU HAVE ANY WORK FOR ME??ā