5 ways to get positive feedback
As you know, reputation in freelancing is the basis of success. The value of a good customer response is difficult to overestimate. This builds a successful career, the quality of the projects and their cost. The recommendations below will help you to get more positive reviews and also to insure yourself against negative ones.
For the introduction, I want to tell one instructive story that recently happened to me. I am a freelance desktop software developer at Upwork (formerly oDesk). Work experience is nearing 10 years, it is on this platform. Needless to say, this is my main income, main job and most of my life. Working there, I clearly learned the principle - first you work for a reputation, and then she’s for you. In the freelance format, this means, first you fill the profile with reviews and portfolios, and then they also bring you new customers. Therefore, I am always very worried about the feedback that the client will leave. Especially if everything did not go smoothly, and such cases are frequent in software development, then at the end of the contract you always have to wonder whether it was good or bad about me. Will the client describe the difficulties that arose in the process, would he recommend? The whole story ...
So the last time, I had a customer. Plain, but with their cockroaches. We worked together for about 4 months, by the end of cooperation, he stopped the contract without warning, and I, in order not to lose face, offered to switch to a fixed payment from hourly. Needless to say, I had to work many times more, for many times less virtual sum. He began to dictate terms, and when it seemed that I had already done everything - he terminates the contract without warning. During my career, I did not receive negative reviews, everything fluctuated between 4.5 - 5.0. Therefore, this time, I did not worry much, because did what was required of me. What was my surprise when I left 1 point. All my total rates were drastically lowered from 4.85 to 4.6, from 90% job success, to 60%. For those who do not know, according to the rules of Upwork, the latter may promise a suspension of the account. I could not influence the situation, the source code was all uploaded to
the server of the customer, in Skype and mail - silence, and in the profile the Unit at its very beginning was brightly shone.
')
After this project, I was looking for a new one for quite a long time, sent a total of 60 or more applications, and I was obviously very embarrassed by the clients that opening my profile, the first thing they saw was one. This situation taught me a lot, and for myself I derived the methods with which I want to acquaint you.
In the input data we have that you have faithfully coped with the task, and everyone did what was required of you.
In summary, I want to give general advice. Make friends with the customer, do what he requires, but leave the last word to you. Money is not as important as reputation.
Bitter experience
For the introduction, I want to tell one instructive story that recently happened to me. I am a freelance desktop software developer at Upwork (formerly oDesk). Work experience is nearing 10 years, it is on this platform. Needless to say, this is my main income, main job and most of my life. Working there, I clearly learned the principle - first you work for a reputation, and then she’s for you. In the freelance format, this means, first you fill the profile with reviews and portfolios, and then they also bring you new customers. Therefore, I am always very worried about the feedback that the client will leave. Especially if everything did not go smoothly, and such cases are frequent in software development, then at the end of the contract you always have to wonder whether it was good or bad about me. Will the client describe the difficulties that arose in the process, would he recommend? The whole story ...
So the last time, I had a customer. Plain, but with their cockroaches. We worked together for about 4 months, by the end of cooperation, he stopped the contract without warning, and I, in order not to lose face, offered to switch to a fixed payment from hourly. Needless to say, I had to work many times more, for many times less virtual sum. He began to dictate terms, and when it seemed that I had already done everything - he terminates the contract without warning. During my career, I did not receive negative reviews, everything fluctuated between 4.5 - 5.0. Therefore, this time, I did not worry much, because did what was required of me. What was my surprise when I left 1 point. All my total rates were drastically lowered from 4.85 to 4.6, from 90% job success, to 60%. For those who do not know, according to the rules of Upwork, the latter may promise a suspension of the account. I could not influence the situation, the source code was all uploaded to
the server of the customer, in Skype and mail - silence, and in the profile the Unit at its very beginning was brightly shone.
')
After this project, I was looking for a new one for quite a long time, sent a total of 60 or more applications, and I was obviously very embarrassed by the clients that opening my profile, the first thing they saw was one. This situation taught me a lot, and for myself I derived the methods with which I want to acquaint you.
5 ways to get positive feedback
In the input data we have that you have faithfully coped with the task, and everyone did what was required of you.
- Before you leave a review to the customer, contact him directly, having learned from him what grade he gave you. This is the safest way to avoid situations like mine, when you yourself think “that everything is fine,” leave 5, and then you discover that you have been given 1.
- If the client is not satisfied, try to correct this discontent. Then making sure that the client
Satisfied - enable the option to change the previous review. - You do not need to ask to change the feedback, without having learned from the client how to fix it. Especially through the messenger
freelance exchange. This violates the rules of the system, and for this they can really ban an account. General recommendation - do not use the chat rooms of freelance exchanges;) This is another reason to find evidence of some of your violations,
even unintended. - Always leave insurance in case of negative feedback. This can be any loophole that will help you negotiate in the spirit of "you - me, I tell you", and not "well, please wait." For example, the source code of a program, or part thereof, is a restriction in the functional
for example, on the number of launches. For design and texts, the situation is similar. - Send the source after the completion of the contract. Even if the contract is long-term, and you use the repository, it makes sense to delay the last commit before the completion of the contract. In a pinch, leave a small revision without letting the client know. As soon as the contract ends, you will let the client know about it, it will leave a chance to change the feedback. This scheme recommends itself well.
A recent example:- Customer: I'm going to close the contract, please send the source
- I'm good. I usually send the source code after receiving a review.
- Customer: OK, I'll leave you 5 and write this and that ...
This means that the program you wrote (website / design / text) works as required,
and all that the customer needs is the source. This scheme works flawlessly. Even if the customer still insists on getting ALL before leaving a review, he still undertakes the obligation.
In summary, I want to give general advice. Make friends with the customer, do what he requires, but leave the last word to you. Money is not as important as reputation.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/294052/
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