Getting good reviews is literally THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you need to concentrate on when you’re getting started with Upwork or any digital marketplace for that matter.
Why are these reviews so important?
Social Proof.
Social proof is so important when selling things over the internet without the necessity of long-winded sales cycles that rely on humans making a sale. Taking the human approach isn’t necessarily the most effective strategy either, even if you could duplicate yourself and start selling your services on your own, no one wants to be a salesperson. It’s the worst part of the game. Like other online businesses, you want your items (your time) to sell online automatically through your profile. You want your profile to do the selling for you.
This makes making proposals and answering invitations so easy!
Why is that? Because you can refer them to your converting profile rather than try and sell yourself over and over again.
You’re going to get rejected a lot when you apply to jobs, but that shouldn’t discourage you from sticking and moving when it comes to applying to jobs and answering invitations. The fact is, if you want to get jobs on a consistent basis, you’re going to have to throw your hat in as many rings as possible until you have high paying gigs and a seasoned profile.
Once that happens, the social proof from the reviews, successfully completed jobs statistics, plus the money being spent will be your most important ally for scaling up your online consulting agency through Upwork.
Here’s what I did to accrue some fantastic reviews when I first got started.
1. Take on small fixed price gigs that you know you can do within an hour or two. And consider giving a big discount.
Now I know that I’m often saying to only take hourly projects, but that’s difficult if you don’t have any proof that you can do what you say you’re going to do. There are MANY shady freelancers on Upwork and other platforms, so you need to differentiate yourself with some quantifiable results and the best way of doing that is with the help of some reviews.
So start off small with something you know you can bang out very fast.
Once that’s completed, hopefully the client will want you to continue working on things with the same contract, but don’t be seduced!
Make sure that you close out the contract and ASK THEM FOR A GOOD REVIEW BECAUSE IT WILL REALLY HELP YOU.
So many people just wait for the reviews to happen, but you should let them know how impactful this can be for you.
And since you’ve hooked them up, they’ll be very willing to help you.
2. Always say the project was completed successfully.
No one should ever end a project UNLESS the project was completed successfully, especially yourself!
It is baffling why a freelancer would end an unsuccessful project and leave a client hanging. It’s the quickest way to look incompetent. Which is the surest way to never find a good gig.
3. If you don’t get the feedback you want. Get it changed.
Very rarely do clients leave bad reviews to spite you. Usually, it’s simply a miscommunication that can be fixed.
Figure out why the bad or mediocre feedback was left by talking to the client and fix it for them. Upwork allows you to change feedback for these reasons, so make sure you take advantage when you need to.
4. Save the drama for your baby’s momma.
If you get into a disagreement with a client, don’t take it out on the reviews. Keep it in private and work it out like grown-ups.
The last thing potential clients want to see is you being a combative person who just makes excuses.
Drama like this is a productivity killer that will stave off future great gigs.
If there’s a problem, suck it up, and figure out how to fix it. Don’t cry over spilled milk and focus on the future. There are so many opportunities on Upwork that you should look forward to, instead of backward. Don’t let your ego get in the way of your future happy self.
5. Bite what you can chew.
Make sure that you don’t take on something more difficult than you have the skills for early on. You don’t want to spend a ton of time researching and learning on fixed gigs that are meant to just get great reviews. Save the learning while earning for when your time is making money. If you do this too early, you’ll take a long time finishing these short gigs, and the client won’t be happy.
6. Go over the top. Impress the client.
If you don’t have any reviews, or you just have a couple, make sure that you really go above and beyond what the client is asking. So many people do the minimum amount and then ask for money. Don’t worry so much about the $50 or $100 for this gig. Focus on the $300/hr gigs that will come with time. If you impress them and show that you really went above and beyond the call to action, they will write an amazing review which will propel your career.
My first gig was $40 and the client was so impressed with my work that he hired me hourly!
7. Be sure to write a good review to the clients that have keywords and tells the story of the gig.
When you close a contract, or your client closes a contract, you have the opportunity to write a review.
This should ALWAYS be positive, even if you don’t particularly love the client. Again think about #4. Think about this as a business. Think about others reading the review.
Clients can click into your profile from this area so make sure that you’re listing positive things you completed and go into detail about what you were able to accomplish.
This will really help other future clients who are on the fence about hiring you to get to know you better, and they’ll feel more comfortable with you as a person.
Again, so many freelancers flake, and reviews like this helps show them that you stick things out until the end.
Want to get more comments and reviews? Leave a comment below and let me see how I can help!
