The Easiest Clients You'll Ever Land: A Guide to Hot Prospects

Last week I walked you step-by-step through my Sales Pipeline Tracker and we discussed why tracking your pipeline of clients is crucial. If you missed it, you can read it here.

And if you grabbed my free Sales Pipeline Tracker, good. Keep it open because today we're filling it with your first batch of prospects.

In fact, most freelancers waste months applying for jobs on platforms when they're sitting on a goldmine they completely ignore.

I'm talking about Hot Prospects.

Former clients. Ex-bosses. Mentors. People who've already seen your work firsthand.

These are the easiest clients you'll ever land, and yet most freelancers never reach out to them.

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Why Hot Prospects Are Your Best Bet

Last month, I closed a $7K/month retainer with Buttercloth, a brand I used to work with earlier in 2025.

We'd stopped working together for a while. Things had gone stale. The campaigns were performing ok, but there wasn't much room to innovate and growth was flat. They moved on, I moved on. No hard feelings, just natural.

Then I came up with a really cool strategy that was crushing it for another client and figured this would replicate really well for Buttercloth.

So I sent them a quick message sharing the approach and the results. Two emails later, we were back in business at $7K/month.

Here's what makes Hot Prospects different:

They already trust you. You don't need to prove your credibility. They've seen your work. They know what you're capable of. That eliminates 90% of the sales process.

They're easier to reach. You're not a random stranger in their inbox. You have shared history. They'll actually read your message and respond.

The timing might finally be right. Maybe they moved companies. Maybe their priorities shifted. You're not starting from zero, you're re-opening a door that was already cracked.

⚠️ But hear me out, Hot Prospects aren't just former clients! They’re also ex-bosses, mentors, or anyone who wants to see you win.

A few months ago, I reached out to Moody, my old mentor from my agency days. I sent him a genuine update on what I'd been working on and included a case study on a new strategy I'd developed that was crushing it for clients.

He was impressed. Within a week, he sent me two introductions to brands in his network. One of them turned into a client.

That's the power of staying connected with people who already know your work.

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The Objection Everyone Has

"But Alex, they left for a reason. If they wanted to work with me again, they would have reached out."

Wrong.

They're busy. They moved on to new projects. Life happened. It's not personal.

Most clients don't walk around thinking "Man, I should hire that freelancer I worked with 2 years ago" unprompted. But if you reach out with genuine value, they'll be glad you did.

The key is how you reach out.

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How to Reconnect With Hot Prospects

You're not begging for work. You're not saying "hey, got any projects for me?"

You're doing one of two things:

1. Sharing a recent win that's relevant to what they're working on
2. Giving them a genuine update on what you've been up to and offering help

Let me show you exactly how to do this.

Template 1: Former Clients (Share a Recent Win)

Use this when you have a recent result that's relevant to their business.

Subject: [Specific result] we just hit for [similar company]

Hey [Former Client Name],

Hope you've been well!

Thought you'd appreciate seeing this: we just wrapped a campaign for [Company/Industry] that hit [specific metric: 3.4 ROAS/2.8x lead volume/etc.] in [timeframe].

The approach we used is actually pretty similar to what worked for you back when we did [reference your previous work together]. Main difference is we [1-2 sentence explanation of what's new/improved].

[Optional: Attach one-page case study or screenshot if relevant]

Figured this might be useful if you're still working on [their goal you helped with]. Either way, hope things are going great over there.

Best, [Your name]

Why this works: You're leading with value. You're showing them you're still actively working and getting results. And you're subtly reminding them that you helped them once before.

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Template 2: Former Bosses/Mentors (The Genuine Update)

Use this when reconnecting with someone who taught you or mentored you.

Subject: Quick update since [Company]

Hey [Name],

I hope you've been well! Wanted to give you a quick update since we worked together at [Company].

I've been freelancing for the past [timeframe], and that experience working under you has honestly paid off more than I expected. The way you approached [specific thing: client communication/strategic thinking/problem-solving in paid media/etc.] stuck with me, I still use that framework with clients today!

These days I'm working with [your positioning: mid-market B2B companies on their paid acquisition/etc.], and it's going super well. Recently helped [type of client] hit [specific result].

I know you're well-connected in [industry/space], if you happen to know anyone dealing with [specific problem you solve], I'd appreciate an intro. Happy to return the favor however I can.

Would be good to catch up either way if you have time.

Best, [Your name]

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Why this works: You're giving them genuine credit. You're showing you've leveled up since working together. And you're making it easy for them to help you by being specific about what you need.

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The Old Freelancer vs. The Modern Freelancer

The old freelancer:

• Assume former clients don't want to work with you again
• Feel awkward about reaching out to people you worked with years ago
• Wait for them to come to you instead of taking initiative

The Modern Freelancer:

• Treat former clients as your highest-value prospects
• Reach out with genuine value and recent wins
• Make reconnecting easy and low-pressure with specific templates

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Your Action Step

This week:

1. Open your Sales Pipeline Tracker and add 3-5 Hot Prospects: former clients, ex-bosses, mentors, or past colleagues you were close to
   
2. Message them using Template 1 or Template 2 (whichever fits best)
   
3. Track the outreach in your pipeline: log the date, what you said, and set a reminder to follow up if they don't respond in 5 days

That's it. Just a couple messages to hot prospects.

Next week, we’ll continue to fill up your pipeline by moving onto the next tier: Warm Prospects. These are people you got close to working with but never did. People you’ve sent a proposal to in the past, had a productive first meeting, but never actually closed.

We're building your pipeline one tier at a time.

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