Re: End contracts for better JSS

696e5822 · ‎08-05-2020

Hello Upwork Community!
I need some advice about how to kindly end some "dead" contracts to improve my JSS.

I have finally received the score on my profile and it is a sad 82%. I currently have 6 closed contracts out of which 4 clients gave me a 5* review, 1 didn't leave any feedback (but returned for new work) and 1 gave me a 4,6.

Then there are 10 open contracts. Some of them I still work continuously on, some have been dead for a while, however I had the surprise to have a client pop back after almost 2 months asking for new work on the same contract.

In my stats it says that only 60% of the clients would recommend me, which I assume are the clients with whom I had the ended contracts with or is it that only 60% of the 6 clients on the ended contracts would recommend me? I always go above and beyond to be punctual, do good work, offer extras, I didn't have any catastrophic situations with any client so my conclusion is that it has to be the open contracts that affect my JSS.

I think it would be a good idea to end some of those 10 contracts. How do I approach my clients to suggest that?

Thank you!

tlbp · ‎08-05-2020

Open contracts for which you still earn new money from time to time are not a problem for your JSS. If you choose to close any contracts, it should be those that you believe are concluded (you will not work with the client again).

If your "would recommend" score says 60% then that more than explains your 82% JSS. In essence, a 60% would recommend score means that 40% of your clients did not rate your engagement with them a success. They would not tell their friends or colleagues to hire you. If 4 out of 10 people would not recommend that someone hire you, that is an indication that regardless of the stars awarded, the job was not a success as defined by Upwork.

To preserve your score from dropping further, I recommend exceeding your clients' expectations for any open contracts and continuing to work with those clients who have not closed their contracts and are returning to you for more work.

If you are absolutely certain that those repeat clients would give you a rating and that it would be a positive one, you might ask them to close their existing contract with you and open a new one the next time they need work. But with this strategy, there is a risk that the client won't rehire you later or won't give you the rating you had hoped for.

petra_r · ‎08-05-2020

Bianca B wrote:

In my stats it says that only 60% of the clients would recommend me,

You must have had some pretty damning private feedback if you have a 60% private JSS. Essentially there were 5 clients who left private feedback, of which 2 were negative.

Bianca B wrote:
I didn't have any catastrophic situations with any client

It doesn't take anything "catastrophic" for a client to have had a poor experience.

Bianca B wrote:
so my conclusion is that it has to be the open contracts that affect my JSS.

It isn't. It's private feedback

696e5822 · ‎08-05-2020

I looked on the FAQs and this is what it says:

Close a contract right away if you and a client decide not to work together or a client is unresponsive.
Ask clients to close the contract as soon as possible if the work on the project is done.

Just thought since the majority of my contracts are still open it does count against my score.

I honestly have no clue where I went wrong, as I said, I always always do my best: super responsive, always bid below their budget, collaborate, offer options, endless revisions, I am polite, professional, meet deadlines, I don't turn down any changes. If I did any more than I already do to please the clients, I would have to work for free basically. Don't know if it's just a matter of expectations for the freelancer to get it right the first time, because that's unrealistic. In my proposals I always outline my work process and mention that I would like to collaborate with them to get the project right, I don't know, it's kind of upsetting. Hopefully this won't make it too hard for me to get new jobs.

Thank you for your replies!