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browersr
Community Member

Customer Service Incentive

I received an email from UW today offering me $100 if I bring a customer service professional to the platform and they earn at least $500 by mid-April. At first I thought this was to get CS people for UW proper but obviously it turned out to be as a freelancer. Found it odd that UW is singling out this specific profession to create an incentive program around. Perhaps CS is an area UW feels they don't have enough strong freelance talent in? I think they are sending this out to all Top Rated as my area specifically is not in Customer Service. Ok, well, we are all in the customer service business, but you know what I mean.

 

25 REPLIES 25
prestonhunter
Community Member

Yeah... I received that email as well...

It makes it seem like Upwork is strenuously looking for customer service reps.

 

Which surprises me. I would have thought that they're easy to find.


Preston H wrote:

Yeah... I received that email as well...

It makes it seem like Upwork is strenuously looking for customer service reps.

 

Which surprises me. I would have thought that they're easy to find.


They are but like most things, good one's are hard to find. That's true across all professions of course but perhaps to UW the CS freelancer is a low hanging fruit that they feel they should be doing better with.  [shurgs]

I can't refer anybody.

 

Everybody I know already works as an Upwork customer service representative for free by spending inordinate time answering questions in the Community Forum.

Hi Scott, and Preston, 

At times there are specific skill areas where we see more freelancers than available jobs. When it comes to other jobs, however, there might be too few freelancers in our marketplace with the needed skills. 

 

Please also know that we have offered this referral promotion to all Top Rated freelancers in the U.S.


~ Avery
Upwork
browersr
Community Member

Thanks, Avery. There must really be an imbalance in this area. I am surprised that CS produces too few freelancers, but again perhaps it's too few good ones. 

kfarnell
Community Member

"Please also know that we have offered this referral promotion to all Top Rated freelancers in the U.S."

 

I'm not in the US and I received it.

jmlaidlaw
Community Member

Kim says that she is NOT in the U.S. and she received this offer.

 

I am a Top-Rated Freelancer who IS in the U.S. and I did NOT receive this offer.

mogabby
Community Member

 Hey Avery - will there be any way for us to see or track people who have signed up with our link?

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Morgan,

It doesn't look like you will be able to track people who have signed up with your personal link. I will confirm this with the team and I will get back to you if I have more information.

However, if any of the people you refer avail of your personal link earn at least $500 in customer service projects before the end of the program (April 15, 2019), you’ll receive an email congratulating you and a $100 credit will be added to your Upwork account (you’ll see it in your Transaction History). No Upwork fees will be charged on this amount and you may withdraw it as you would any earnings.

 


~ Avery
Upwork
AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post this here so that it's visible. Our team was able to confirm that users will receive an email notifying them of who registers through their unique referral link once they are accepted into the marketplace

~ Avery
Upwork
lysis10
Community Member

Hey mods, I'm pretty sure I got this email and I can't find it. I talked to my friend and he said he's interested but asked what you guys are paying. Does Upwork have a standard rate or range that they'll pay so that I can tell him? I want to refer him but I have no idea how the pay works.

 

Also, is there a limited amount of time he has to work? 

 

thank youse in advance

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Jennifer, 


Thanks for your question. I wanted to clarify that this link is inviting your friend to be part of the Upwork marketplace by registering for a freelancer account with your personal link. As such, your friend may choose a rate that fits his skills and experience. 


~ Avery
Upwork


Preston H wrote:

I can't refer anybody.

 

Everybody I know already works as an Upwork customer service representative for free by spending inordinate time answering questions in the Community Forum.


Cat LOL Man LOL Robot LOL Smiley LOL Woman LOL

 

Funniest post I've read in a while Preston!


Isabelle Anne A wrote:

 

Funniest post I've read in a while Preston!

 

______________________________________

 Agree 100% - Preston wins funniest post for this week (maybe for the year!) 🙂


 


Scott B wrote:

Preston H wrote:

Yeah... I received that email as well...

It makes it seem like Upwork is strenuously looking for customer service reps.

 

Which surprises me. I would have thought that they're easy to find.


They are but like most things, good one's are hard to find. That's true across all professions of course but perhaps to UW the CS freelancer is a low hanging fruit that they feel they should be doing better with.  [shurgs]


 Either they're looking for something very specific or the quality of customer service reps on Upwork is very poor, because there are already more than 100,000 freelancers in that category. My guess would be that they've taken on an enterprise client who wants to outsource customer service and they need a large group of quality CS workers to handle it.

I agree Tiffany that there should be plenty but quality is likely an issue. This is an area that I assume UW can get corporate clients where it has troubles in many other areas. Finding good talent for those corporate customers to keep coming back is likely a huge challenge. 

My money is on Tiffany's thought ... it makes sense. 

 

Unless ...

There is a hidden agenda ....

tlbp
Community Member

Well, it has to be a CS who can earn $500 in the first month. So, the $3 an hour folks might not be doing it for them. 

They are looking for Talent Specialists - and who better to find them than a team of ready-made, top-rated HR specialists with the oh so generous reward if their find makes $500. 

 

I think I would need a bigger incentive than that (if I lived in the U.S. of course). 

 

(Incidentally, is the reward free of service charges?)

petra_r
Community Member


Tonya P wrote:

Well, it has to be a CS who can earn $500 in the first month. So, the $3 an hour folks might not be doing it for them. 


Mid April is quite a bit further away than a month, and I suspect this is due to a shortage of good native English speaking / located in the US / Canada CS reps who have always been in somewhat short supply.

 

It is not aimed at the (masses of) non native English speakers located in the countries most CS people on Upwork are located in.

 

$100-Woman LOL  Throughout my experiences as a professional recruiter I've earned anywhere from 25-35% of hired candidates' first-year's annual earnings. I realize "it all adds up," but what's $100 these days? 


Pat M wrote:

$100-Woman LOL  Throughout my experiences as a professional recruiter I've earned anywhere from 25-35% of hired candidates' first-year's annual earnings. I realize "it all adds up," but what's $100 these days? 


On UW about $80 after they take out their 20% fee since it's under $500. Smiley Tongue

e6396361
Community Member

Smiley Happy Heart

unicornia
Community Member

.

matt_it_grow
Community Member

Scott, don't knock it, anything they can do to get an idea on how it's done, UW-CS might just benefit from, and thus, we benefit from it!

 

We all have experience with the fad of "Overly Energetic & Fake Polite Customer Service Agents," lots are talented enough to make sure you know their niceties are fake. But to skillfully pull off apologizing to you, then downright insulting you, without a sentence between, is far rarer, a beast of audacity that truly demonstrates a customers value to the company as such skills migrate from department to department and become the company culture, sad really, I couldn't imagine dealing with a whole stadium full of devs and designers though. 

 

CS is probably important, I don't even try though, even with my clients, could probably earn more if I learned how to bull**bleep** a client or make them feel special for umm, being smart enough to sign with me, right. 

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