Contacting past clients

[humbled]

Hi - is it regarded as spammy or bad practise to contact past clients? I just realised I can look at all my past contracts by going to

my jobs > all contracts

A few of my past clients were awesome and I was thinking of firing them over a message reminding them I exist and, for example, letting them know I do social now and not just SEO (I used to swear I would never touch social stuff).

Is that regarded as okay or something to be avoided?

[timefighter11]

Hi, 
IMO it depends upon the level of attachment to a certain clients. It's not bad to send them text once and their response will take the conversation to a direction. It's not a good practice to send repeated text as it would be pretty annoying to the one who is not wiling to be in touch with you.

[petra_r]

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James M wrote:

Is that regarded as okay or something to be avoided?

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Personally I really do not do that because clients keep complaining that freelancers are spamming them asking for more work. Many clients have worked with dozens or hundreds of freelancers, and if everyone did that they would drown.

I wish a small handful of clients I have had really long relationships with Happy Holidays around Christmas, but that is it. I do not contact them otherwise and don't think it is always a professional thing to do.

[prestonhunter]

I have hired over 100 freelancers. I think only three of them have sent me messages asking for more work. It really annoys me when a freelancer does that. If I want some work done, I will create a public job posting and/or send a private invite.

[bizwriterjohn]

I do not have Preston's level of hiring.  I'd be at 15% his level, as best the math seems.

That related, and this is all personal preference to those who have such:

I take a different perspective than he.   On the occassions I am re-contacted by an Upwork contractor I have employed - and they send me a short note to "check in" or query about potential work..  I send back an immediate note:

"I appreciate good salesmanship and the effort you making to keep yourself in front of me.  A+.   No work is available right now, but continue doing what you are doing.  The best salespeople in the world do this."

Others, apparently, this annoys.  Do I personally send notes to check in with key clients in appropriate, non-invasice time periods and ways.

Of course I do.  Perhaps there is a reason why.

John.

[prestonhunter]

John:
If you're a freelancer who is doing pretty significant work for clients, then I don't necessarily think you are doing anything "wrong" if you check in with past clients in a professional manner.

The majority of jobs I have hired freelancers for have been relatively small. So the situations we are thinking of may not be directly comparable.

[a_lipsey]

Frankly, if someone isn't my client anymore, it's because I don't want to work with them. So no, I don't follow-up with old clients typically, and I don't recommend it.