…is of course, your current and previous clients.

The people who already know and trust you. Who know what a great job you do.

But you're not quite sure how to broach the subject with them. You don't want to seem all salesy.

And you've probably dropped out of contact with many of your ex-clients. It happens to all of us – other priorities take over.

So it's embarassing to get back in touch. Tricky to figure out what to say. Again, you don't want to seem salesy or needy.

Here's the trick: invest a little time in creating something of value for them. Some useful information that they'll find helpful and that'll demonstrate your credibility in an area they might be able to hire you in.

It doesn't have to be a giant “war and peace” tome. A couple of pages summarising some insights from the last 5 clients you've worked with. Or a short presentation on “what's working now” or “5 critical trends” in your field. Or even something you've learnt personally.

Anything that will be genuinely valuable to your contacts.

Because then you can get back in touch with confidence and say:

“Hey, we haven't spoken for a while but I've just written this short executive summary on XYZ and thought you might be interested in a copy. Would you like me to email a copy over?”

You can feel good about getting back in touch rather than feeling like you're being salesy or needy.

It'll remind them of how good you are at what you do. It'll trigger conversations. And it'll give you a good reason to follow up to see what they thought, find out what's going on with them, and start a business conversation.