So, It’s 8:00 am on Saturday morning and I just delivered another one of the logos on my Fiverr account. almost 50% of my work comes from Fiverr, which adds up more than 50% income in my cashflow. Sometimes I ask myself how did I get here? How in the world my freelancing career became much stronger than my day job? The secret is my great reviews. More than 90% of my clients give me 5-star reviews on Fiverr. I have worked on other platforms as well and this trick would work on any platform, be it Freelancer, Guru, Upwork, Toptal, etc. You might not know this secret that only the top shot freelancers know, which is giving them the edge over all of you. without improving your work remarkably, you can actually improve those ratings that you get on your account.
I know you are desperate to get your hands on this secret. It is very simple, It all depends on the way you connect and communicate with the client. This has made my reviews section a client magnet because I have a long trail of 5-Star reviews. You need to address your client’s problem first and point it out before getting to actual work and then decide together that this is the outcome of the project. I have a whole system through which you can connect on an emotional level with them which will make them trust you more, which will make them feel good about you and your work. And it will lead them to accept the work because they believe that you genuinely want to help their brand, and knows better. Rather than giving you back to back feedbacks. This will help you to pose as an expert rather than just a freelancer, which will lead them to trust in your judgments rather than doubting your work and giving feedback.
I have made a full-proof system which works almost every time, It includes some psychological hacks as well. obviously, there are some clients once in a blue moon, who regardless of anything they won’t be satisfied or happy with your work. You might be desperate by now about the system I am going to reveal to you. So without further ado let’s get into it.
The Perfect Close-
The chase for a 5-Star review begins right at the moment when a client has connected to you, the moment you start talking you better keep it in mind that you shouldn’t wait for the work to get started in order to treat the client well, If you treat them well right off the bat the chances of you getting the work goes very high. No! I am not asking you to be phony or extra pleasing without challenging their thoughts or agreeing to them to everything. But what it means is just be a nice chap to talk to, be open to know about every detail of their business, the problems they are facing, what do they have in mind, and different aspects of their business.
It creates a major difference in the client’s experience when someone is trying to know them and their problems rather than trying to close them. Most of the freelancers out there are trying to sell them rather than genuinely helping them.
So this is the first advice, don’t be desperate but patient, and hear them out then speak some wisdom to give a small piece of advice which is highly valuable. Don’t spurt everything you have in mind. But just give them a gist.
If you have done this correctly you will land the project successfully. then comes the next step.
I ask a series of questions which sets myself apart from my competition, and which helps me create a bond of trust with the client which raises my chances really high of landing that job. This blog will show you what are those questions that no many freelancers know- Click Here
The Excitement-
After they have bought your services on any platform, you are sure that you have landed the project. Which makes a lot of people very happy and a bit laid back.
The best move on this phase would be to build the excitement. This will help your client to create this image in his head that something great is about to come, it is just like a well-directed movie, where the trailer helps you to wait eagerly for the movie, and this emotional investment lets you to enjoy the movie more and to see every detail of it.
A lot of times the mistake I see a lot of people making is that they vanish right after they land a project to work on that project or some other project, or even trying to find some other great project. But this is worst after you close the client and gets vanished without saying a word, it makes the client think that you were only talking to land the project and when you have got it, you don’t need to talk. They feel sold, they feel the buyer’s remorse. Now, this may ruin your dream of 5-Star ratings even if the work is extraordinary.
The best way to leave to do some work is to share just a single or rarely a couple of texts. This is just to make them feel comfortable and make them feel safe. What you need to do is, send them a message maybe somewhere around these lines, this is something that I send to my clients.
“Thank you for all the effort to make things clear to me I am clear with everything and I am starting with your _____( information of project). Now sit back while I design something that can help you _____(outcomes you both have decided like more attention, or sales, etc). In case you need to ask anything feel free to reach out to me. I will share the first draft as soon as it is finished ( which means no more than a few days ).
P.S.- I will reach out to you if there would be any confusion.”
Now, the objective of this last text is to make them feel that yes you are approachable, reliable and genuine. From here he will be even happier that he decided to work with you. Rather than worrying about what result would be, now he will be assured that you are giving your best to do something great which will help his brand to achieve the outcomes and objectives.
The Moodboard-
Moodboards are required to set out the tone before officially beginning with the project, they will give them a bit of an idea in what direction the project will move to.
It is great to get this accepted by the client. When you have a clear direction and you present something that you know the client is looking for. It is not something that will come off as a shock to the client. This will help you get along with the client pretty well. So, I always make sure that I go through all the things that make my client’s experience better. After all, you are doing the work for the client, and you have to be thinking about the genuine interest of your customer.
A happy customer will always come back and will refer your services to the people he knows. This has helped me to double up my freelance business and it has helped me to take it to another level.
The Perfect Presentation-
It’s time to stir that excitement, This is something which only I do among all the freelancers which helps me captivate the attention of my client and help me to control the events like a movie in which you don’t know what is coming next. It is based on great storytelling, where you are totally invested in something because you are eagerly waiting to see what happens next.
Just like a great movie gets you to be on your toes all the time to see what’s happening next.
I never send my work’s JPEG or PNG to show the client, whether it is packaging, branding collateral or a logo I never do it. Though I send a JPEG in which it is I write that “The Logo/Packaging would be revealed in the presentation. Let’s begin with Excitement!” Which helps me set the previous tone on which I left, It brings the same good emotion on which we left. When I present my work to a client who is sitting with me this is the same process that I go through. It was later in time when I adapted it for a client who is sitting on his/her computer. This is so effective that you get time to make the client comfortable with the idea that you are going to present. You let your idea to grow on the client’s mind and let them take a less subjective decision.
Through the presentation, you reconnect to the client, by reminding them of the goal for which this work has been done, and the outcomes this will fulfill. See the presentation format that I have created to present my work flawlessly, this helps me to get them to accept my work right away without doubting it, and it also helps me generate my 5-star reviews, due to which more and more clients are reaching out to me.
More Quick Tips to make sure your next 5 Star reviews:
1. Have empathy-
You need to be empathetic of the client’s situation, this will help you to avoid friction and heated situations.
If you are going to be empathetic to the client always, they are going to communicate with you in more of a human conversation rather than just communicating like the client. I have learned this from my servicing manager. He’s a very lovable person and knows how to handle clients really well in a lot of ways. By showing empathy you can bring down the defenses of clients because when people know that you do take care of them they will be soft and genuine with you rather than just being strict and distant.
2. Never say you are wrong-
As creatives and experts in our domain a lot of times we tend to find our client’s feedbacks pointless and bad. But never tell them they are wrong because it makes any human being defensive and proving their point if someone tells them they are wrong. They will try to prove themselves right not to bring the best solutions but to prove they are right. So, in that kind of situation remember that rather telling them right away, ask them what does the client wants to achieve with the feedback that he/she has given. And then tell them why you think this wouldn’t work and not just by telling what you think but bring hard facts to the table and tell why it would be bad for the brand or the outcome that your client wants to achieve.
3. Offer Knowledge with Solutions-
When you present solutions and the work that you have done for your client, you need to give facts, knowledge, and wisdom backing up your work. You need to bring facts together with the solutions to make your delivery even stronger, you need to understand that the objective of this is to not just sell them what you think is best but you need to make them understand what are the reasons you have done the things the way you have.
And you need to make them understand how exactly this will be helpful for achieving the desired objectives that your client wants to achieve.
4. Be Cheerful and Enthusiastic-
This is just the most basic and most important advice that I can give you to bring more clients with you. Have you ever realized that we all want to be around people who are more happy, cheerful and enthusiastic people, the main reason is we know that they are enjoying and they will make you feel happy as well!
As a client, if you are more cheerful and enthusiastic he wouldn’t just want to hire you because they want to feel happy, but this will communicate to them that you enjoy what you do and you are passionate about it.
We all want those people to work for us who are passionate about their work rather than the people who are just somber and serious. A lot of times those people seem like they are working just to finish the work and they are doing it for money and not for the fun of it.
An enthusiastic person seems like they are doing this work because it brings the best out of themselves and they enjoy their work. That’s the reason the chances for them to get hired is really high.
3 Comments
Интересно!
Thank you so much GreggAgigo. I am glad it was helpful for you.
Great article.