Hit 25 repeat clients this year and it totally surprised me

Honestly I never kept track before. I just kinda took whatever work came in. Then I looked at my invoices from January till now and realized 25 of them were people I worked with before. That blew my mind cause I used to think you always need new leads. Most of them just email me direct now instead of going through Upwork. Has anyone else noticed their repeat rate creeping up without trying?

3 comments

3 Comments

kimdixon17d ago

Wait, you're telling me 25 repeats is low? Cause I was over here feeling like I won the lottery or something... that's embarrassing honestly. I guess my standards are just real low, kind of like my Upwork success rate before I figured out direct emails work better. The pricing thing you mentioned though, that hits close to home. I had one client try to lock me into my 2020 rates and I almost said yes just cause I felt bad, but then I remembered gas is double what it was back then. So I get what you mean about repeats being a double-edged sword... they're nice until they're not.

adam18617d ago

Actually 25 repeats in a year sounds low to me. I had a plumbing company and by year three I had like 60 guys calling me back every few months for the same leak or a new install. The problem with repeats is they get comfortable and start expecting the same rate from years ago. One guy actually said "but you only charged me $200 in 2021" like inflation didn't happen. I had to bump him up or turn him down. Repeats are nice but they can also trap you in old pricing if you let them.

wells.evan17d ago

Honestly the part nobody brings up is how repeats can actually make you sloppy. You know their house, you know the problem, so you don't double check things like you would with a new customer. I had a buddy who did HVAC and he'd show up to a repeat job, fix the same damn thing he fixed last time, and charge them the same price. But he never stopped to think maybe the real issue was something else they kept ignoring. So yeah repeats are cash flow but they can also make you lazy about diagnosing the actual root cause.