A bit nervous and excited from direct calls with clients. May I ask my brother to schedule a call?

[4ead5b8d]

Hello community. The client asks me to schedule a call with him, but I'm a bit nervous and uncomfortable from direct calls with clients. May I ask my brother to schedule a call and talk to them? He can speak to my clients professionally, because he is the one who was giving me jobs when I was not working on Upwork. Does it go against Upwork rules so?

I'm very okay with typing, but calls..uhh)) 

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

Anush:
A few points:
You are not obligated to offer phone calls as a service to clients.

BUT: Many freelancers do like to offer clients the opportunity to schedule direct calls with them. It can be a way of improving customer service and it can impress clients.

This client has already hired you. Does it violate any Upwork rules for the client to talk to your brother on the phone, with your brother serving as an intermediary or representative?

No. There is no rule against that.

Do I recommend doing this?

Not really.

I think you would be better off speaking for yourself. If you don't want to talk on the phone, then maybe you can communicate using text chat.

Or maybe you can just tell the client that you get nervous talking on the phone, and knowing that, is he still willing to schedule a call?

He might assure you that he won't be frightening. Maybe after you talk to him for two minutes you'll find he is a very relatable, nice person and you won't feel nervous any more.

[And of course you know that nobody but yourself may ever log into your Upwork account.]

[petra_r]

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Preston H wrote:

This client has already hired you.

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The client has?

[prestonhunter]

re: "The client has?"

The original poster is referring to "clients", rather than "prospective clients" or "possible clients."

She is reading all of the posts in this thread, and she knows that it would be a violation of Upwork ToS to talk to a prospective client on the phone (OR have them talk to her bother) before an actual contract is in place.

So, yes... her question about phone calls only applies to clients who have already hired her.

[petra_r]

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Preston H wrote:

The original poster is referring to "clients", rather than "prospective clients" or "possible clients."

...she knows that it would be a violation of Upwork ToS to talk to a prospective client on the phone (OR have them talk to her bother) before an actual contract is in plac

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Most freelancers say "clients" when they mean prospective clients and she never said "phone" either.

[4ead5b8d]

Oh, here opens another question.

Yes I don't have a contract with the client yet, but I've noticed in Upwork chat - there is a call button. That's what I'm talking about.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Yes I don't have a contract with the client yet, but I've noticed in Upwork chat - there is a call button. That's what I'm talking about."

Anush:
That "call" button in the Upwork Messages/chat tool:
That is something you can use ANY TIME.

You definitely do not need to have a contract in place first. Upwork WANTS you to use that button and NOT use direct phone calls.

Thank you for clarifying your situation.

As for having your brother talk to the prospective client using the Upwork Messages "call" feature:
It IS a really interesting question. I have never seen this addressed in the Forum or in Upwork's other pages. It is a good thing to discuss here in the Forum.

[4ead5b8d]

Thank you very much for both the professional and the psychological answer for my question. 

It seems like my questions grew, so I posted one as a comment also 🙂 

[petra_r]

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Anush H wrote:

Thank you very much for both the professional and the psychological answer for my question. 

It seems like my questions grew, so I posted one as a comment also 🙂 

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Anush, I really think you should be the one speaking to the client. It makes clients very nervous when there is a person on the call who is cliearly not the person they are plannning to hire. Your English reads fine, your profile states your English to be at "native or bilingual" level, you should be fine.

Letting your brother talk for you would not be very appropriate and you really should be avoiding that if you can.

[prestonhunter]

Anush:

You can schedule some practice phone calls before you actually talk to this or other clients using live audio or video.

Ask friends or family members if they will help you prepare. If the client is a man, ask a male cousin or brother or uncle, etc. Give them a short list of things that you want them to ask you about. Ask them to pretend that they are a client who wants to interview you.

[abinadab-agbo]

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Preston H wrote:

Give them a short list of things that you want them to ask you about. Ask them to pretend that they are a client who wants to interview you...

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as well as pretend they are the client whom she is interviewing.

As a freelancer on a call, you should make sure to manage the conversation proactively by interviewing the client as well.

Take that from someone who hates calls and takes care to avoid them!

[sjbercot]

I'm not a fan of talking on the phone  either. But I also encourage you to do your best to talk to the client yourself. You'll only get better as you try. Preston's advice to practice with friends or relatives is great, I second it. Good luck!

[jojomo]

Anush,

I can completely relate to you regarding being nervous speaking to clients using "voice" chat as I used to have similar issues when I first started out freelancing. Even though I am extremely competent at my job, I tried everything and anything to avoid one-on-one calls with clients because it felt awkward and I was just plain nervous... but I forced myself to do it because I realized that if I wanted my freelancing career to go anywhere, I needed to step out of my comfort zone and just do it.. I won't lie, it was difficult at first (I use to literally hyperventilate before my calls with prospective clients because I'd be so nervous) but with practice and doing it more often as years progressed, I've been feeling more and more comfortable and confident. Now it's just part of the job and if someone feels more comfortable explaining things on the phone or even video chat which I do quite often now, it's really no big deal.

Trust me when I tell you, push yourself with this.. it'll be well worth it in the end.

[martina_plaschka]

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Anush H wrote:

Hello community. The client asks me to schedule a call with him, but I'm a bit nervous and uncomfortable from direct calls with clients. May I ask my brother to schedule a call and talk to them? He can speak to my clients professionally, because he is the one who was giving me jobs when I was not working on Upwork. Does it go against Upwork rules so?

I'm very okay with typing, but calls..uhh)) 

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You are a very good-looking young woman. There might be clients that will want to hire you partly because of that fact. I know, that's not right, but that's how things work sometimes. 

Those people will not want to talk to your brother, uncle, or landlord. They would be very disappointed. They might even think you are really a male trying to entice clients with the picture of a pretty girl. You don't want to create that impression, at all. Ever. 

[abinadab-agbo]

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Martina P wrote:

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Anush H wrote:

Hello community. The client asks me to schedule a call with him, but I'm a bit nervous and uncomfortable from direct calls with clients. May I ask my brother to schedule a call and talk to them? He can speak to my clients professionally, because he is the one who was giving me jobs when I was not working on Upwork. Does it go against Upwork rules so?

I'm very okay with typing, but calls..uhh)) 

---

You are a very good-looking young woman. There might be clients that will want to hire you partly because of that fact. I know, that's not right, but that's how things work sometimes. 

Those people will not want to talk to your brother, uncle, or landlord. They would be very disappointed. They might even think you are really a male trying to entice clients with the picture of a pretty girl. You don't want to create that impression, at all. Ever. 

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It was the whole essence of the ID verification, wasn't it?

The client might get angry and understandably flag her profile saying, "Freelancer on the profile is not the real person using the account". Then she'll get into Upwork hot water. 

You see, Anush, your freelancer business (especially through your freelancer profile) is not scalable like that. You should be physically there to take the calls and manage things.