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evalegovic
Community Member

Can you put a client "on hold"?

Hi guys,

I have a not-so-serious situation with two clients but I would like to know how some of you would handle it or how it SHOULD be handled.

Yesterday I applied for a job, and today I applied for another one. I got responses from both clients at the same time today, and I have set an interview for tomorrow evening with client #2, whose offer is more appealing to me. So, my question is - can I ask client #1 if he could wait until tomorrow evening for my answer? The thing is, I can't take both jobs because I am on Upwork part-time and both jobs require a solid amount of work. I don't want to leave client #1 without a response for more than 24 hours, but what can I say to them instead of "Hey, can you wait until I do an interview with another client and I'll only take you if that fails" (obviously, I would word it differently, but the message would go along those lines)? Would that be considered honesty or plain rudeness in the world of freelancing? Could I just ask them if it's possible to give them a definite answer tomorrow evening without telling them the reason? I mean, if things with client #2 wouldn't work, I'd definitely be interested in client #1 because both are great opportunities. So, I kinda want to "keep" client #1, but I feel pretty mean doing that. Maybe it's not even possible, like who am I that they should wait for me to choose them?

I would really like to hear your stories!
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gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

Agree with both Lila and Jennifer, up to a point. As a client, I would not typically be interested in waiting five days for a FL to respond to an offer. I would appreciate their honesty if they had several things pending and needed more time to give me an answer. Depending on my own schedule and how badly I wanted to use them for that project, I would either wait or tell them I needed to move on but would hang onto their coordinates and ping them again when I had a similar project.

 

That said, you can be honest without telling them every gory detail. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say you're very interested but you've had several opportunities come in at the same time and are in the process of sorting out the calendar so that you don't over-commit, and you'll know by such-and-such a time and will let them know, if they have the latitude to wait. 

 

As a FL, my projects tend to have long time horizons--weeks, or even months. As a client, I'm typically looking for fast help with a specific, discrete task. FWIW.

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13 REPLIES 13
mystudiomke
Community Member

Hi Eva,

 

If I was the client, I would prefer honesty. You will not know the outcome. They might appreciate it or move on to the next depending on how much they want to work with you. 

 

In the past, I have had to pass on the project due to lack of time and have been honest about the situation. The response I have gotten is respectful and even two case where the client was willing to wait until I become available again. Really depends on the person.  If it's only a matter of waiting until tomorrow, I personally would just let your prospective client know that you will have an answer for them at the latest of_______. 

 

Hope that helps 🙂

Lila

Thanks Lila!

I ended up doing just that, asking them if it's ok to give them an answer after 10 pm today and they said it's perfectly fine. It makes sense, I mean everybody knows how it all works so there shouldn't be any hard feelings as long as you're honest.
lysis10
Community Member

So client #1 sent you an offer that's sitting in your queue? I think they stay active for 5 days. 

 

If they haven't sent you an offer, then you're not even hired yet so I wouldn't even consider #1 in the bag yet so go talk to #2.

They're active proposals, so they have both only given me some further details about the job after they've chosen my proposal, and they asked me if I was interested in taking things further. So, no one has hired me yet. Also, I really don't think they're scammers, they have good reviews, I have done the research and there are too many details about the jobs and what has to be done.
gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

Agree with both Lila and Jennifer, up to a point. As a client, I would not typically be interested in waiting five days for a FL to respond to an offer. I would appreciate their honesty if they had several things pending and needed more time to give me an answer. Depending on my own schedule and how badly I wanted to use them for that project, I would either wait or tell them I needed to move on but would hang onto their coordinates and ping them again when I had a similar project.

 

That said, you can be honest without telling them every gory detail. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say you're very interested but you've had several opportunities come in at the same time and are in the process of sorting out the calendar so that you don't over-commit, and you'll know by such-and-such a time and will let them know, if they have the latitude to wait. 

 

As a FL, my projects tend to have long time horizons--weeks, or even months. As a client, I'm typically looking for fast help with a specific, discrete task. FWIW.

tbh, I'm kinda sorta wondering if this is the check scam song and dance.

That's very useful to know, thanks! I really don't like letting people wait, I'd rather just message them saying what's going on. But it's good to know the clients' view on this and that being honest about it wouldn't be considered just "bad" freelancing or organisation skills.
martina_plaschka
Community Member

It depends on what you mean by response. Was that the beginning of a conversation, or did both send you offers? Before you accept an offer, you are not committed to anything, and you could just send a short note that you will be able to reply to his message only tomorrow, no reason necessary. You could be travelling, visiting your sick grandma, or singing karaoke. 

On a side note, beware of scammers. 

That's exactly what I was thinking, I could be travelling with no internet connection or something. They said it's fine if I get back to them later on. One additional question - could clients with good reviews be scammers?


Eva L wrote:
[...] One additional question - could clients with good reviews be scammers?

__________________________________________________

 

It's most unlikely, but you could check their reviews and make sure they are not bottom feeders. You don't want to work for people who habitually pay $3 to $5 an hour. Talking of which, with your background you should substantially increase your rates. 

 

Okay, I'm happy to say I have successfully been staying away from one-figure rates. Your last sentence is super encouraging, and I hope that I will soon find the courage to do it. I do have a good background, but I don't have a lot of really relevant professional experience and I also lack certain skills. Marketing skills, to be precise. And they are wanted pretty much everywhere. So I am working on developing that first, and then augmenting my rate accordingly. I am still not sure if that's the right way of thinking. I prefer the "be good and promote yourself as such" stream, but at the same time I am very much aware of the skills that I am only just about to acquire. I can't simply get them overnight.


Eva L wrote:
That's exactly what I was thinking, I could be travelling with no internet connection or something. They said it's fine if I get back to them later on. One additional question - could clients with good reviews be scammers?

They are not likely to be "cash this check please and send us the money" kind of scammers, they could be still liking free work too much. If their hiring rate is low, that means that they post jobs that they never hire anybody for, because they either changed their minds, hired somebody outside of upwork, or got the work for free. 

I had such a client on one occasion and never again after that. Learned my lesson. Thanks for the reply!
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