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andres_cornejo
Community Member

Unresponsive clients

Hello! I wanted to ask the community for some advice: I´m now updating and retaking my account after a time of fewer activity. I´ve recently upgraded to a freelancer plus membership, and I noticed my connects usage has not been very effective. Very little answers from my proposals and the interviewing clients are not answering after the first message (this is happening very often actually)

I´m following many tips on job applications and profile settings, but still working on this.

If someone can give me some advice, I would be very grateful. 

 

Andrés

3 REPLIES 3
jodypm
Community Member

Hi Andres,

 

I took a look at your profile and it looks good: I like the general conciseness of your description and your portfolio section looks like the one of an accomplished illustrator. The fact that your JSS is not showing may be a factor, as it looks like this is due to your not having enough jobs in the a 24-month window as touched on by Petra, Goran, et al. in this thread and fully documented on this Upwork help page.

 

Outside of that, you mentioned that a few clients don't respond back after the first message, so since I have to go on that, I can tell you what I do when that happens. And I've successfully won a few clients doing this where the interest had seemed to have grown cold.

 

If you don't hear back, reach out to the client again and if their project description mentions any deadlines or expresses any needs to get it done fast, remind them that you actively select the projects that you want to work on and you would simply love to work on theirs, however, as you need to remain open to other offers, you can only honor your bid for ___ days. But word it so that it is obvious that you are really enthusiastic about the opportunity so that it doesn't come off sounding like you're trying to rush them.

 

Alternatively, what I've done that works in this case, is if I don't hear back, I might elaborate on my initial dossier of the client in research and planning so that I can put together a little sample of what I could do to make the project a success. Or, rather than a sample, you can word your follow up with a message that indicates during the time you've been waiting on their response, you've taken the liberty to research their industry to get a good handle on how to make their project shine.

 

Either way, this may work or it may not, but I've been successful with both methods about 10% of the time. You don't have much to lose with a detailed follow-up except for your time, but you do have a lot to lose by letting the interest go cold. 

 

Also, I wanted to mention that even after all of the above, if it still does not work, you can wait a little longer and just follow up once more with a message indicating that you never heard back from them and inquire as to how things are going with their project so far. End it by saying that in the event that they've found another freelancer, you wish them the best of success with their project. Using this method, I had a couple of clients come back that had had a quick and bad experience with the wrong freelancer hire, so they were ready to find the right one and were of the full realization that they may have to spend a little more. And because I seemed to really want the project, they gave it to me.

 

But honestly, that's where I would draw the line: if you don't hear back after two follow-ups, I would not send any more messages as you might come off as either desperate or spammy.

 

I hope that my suggestions are useful to you and help you in getting new work. Go ahead and start the followups with the clients that showed interest initially, and let me know if you get any results.

 

Best of luck,

 

Jody PM

Dear Jody,

 

Thanks a lot for your kind reply. Your advice is really helpful, I had previously messaged the client with just an status request, but I think your procedure to tell more of the interest in the current job is a good strategy to look appealing and interested but not desperate or spammy. I want to thank you for taking the time to advice me on this. I will keep you updated on my experience.

I hope I can help you in the future too!

Best regards.

 

Andrés


Andres C wrote:

Dear Jody,

 

Thanks a lot for your kind reply. Your advice is really helpful, I had previously messaged the client with just an status request, but I think your procedure to tell more of the interest in the current job is a good strategy to look appealing and interested but not desperate or spammy. I want to thank you for taking the time to advice me on this. I will keep you updated on my experience.

I hope I can help you in the future too!

Best regards.

 

Andrés


Hi Andres,

 

I truly hope that my advice to you brings you business and continued success. I had some great advice along my path as a freelancer as well, so it's good to know that I can give back.

 

Yes, please keep me updated as I would very miuch enjoy hearing about the journey.

 

Best regards,

 

Jody PM

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