5 Ways to Get Positive Feedback
As you know, a reputation in freelance is the basis of success. The value of good feedback from a client is difficult to overestimate. This is the basis for a successful career, the quality of the received projects and their cost. The recommendations below will help you more often get positive reviews, as well as insure yourself against negative ones.
For introduction, I want to tell one instructive story that recently happened to me. I am a freelance desktop developer on Upwork (formerly oDesk). Work experience is already approaching 10 years, on this platform. Needless to say, this is my main income, my main job and most of my life. While working there, I clearly understood the principle - first you work for a reputation, and then it is for you. In freelance format, this means, first you fill out the profile with reviews and portfolios, and then they bring you new customers. Therefore, I am always very worried about the feedback that the client will leave. Especially if everything didn’t go smoothly, and such cases are frequent in software development, then at the end of the contract you always have to wonder whether it’s good or bad to respond to me. Will the client describe the difficulties that arose during the process, Would recommend? The whole story ...
So for the last time, I had a customer. Normal, but with its own cockroaches. We worked together for about 4 months, by the end of cooperation, he stopped the contract without warning, and in order not to lose face, I suggested switching to a fixed payment on an hourly basis. Needless to say, I had to work many times more, for many times less virtual amount. He began to dictate the terms, and when it seemed that I had already done everything, he completed the contract without warning. During my career, I have not received negative reviews, everything fluctuated between 4.5 - 5.0. Therefore, this time, I did not worry much, because did what was required of me. Imagine my surprise when I was left 1 point. All my overall rates dropped sharply 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 an account suspension. I could not influence the situation, I uploaded everything to the source
the customer’s server, in skype and mail - silence, and in the profile the Unit shone brightly at the very beginning.
After this project, I was looking for a new one for quite some time, sent a total of 60 or more applications, and the customers were apparently very embarrassed that when I opened my profile, the first thing they saw was a unit. This situation taught me a lot, and for myself I have come up with methods that I want to introduce you to.
In the input, we have that you conscientiously coped with the task, and did everything that was required of you.
Summarizing, I want to give general advice. Make friends with the customer, do what he requires, but at the same time leave the last word for you. Money is not as important as reputation.
Bitter experience
For introduction, I want to tell one instructive story that recently happened to me. I am a freelance desktop developer on Upwork (formerly oDesk). Work experience is already approaching 10 years, on this platform. Needless to say, this is my main income, my main job and most of my life. While working there, I clearly understood the principle - first you work for a reputation, and then it is for you. In freelance format, this means, first you fill out the profile with reviews and portfolios, and then they bring you new customers. Therefore, I am always very worried about the feedback that the client will leave. Especially if everything didn’t go smoothly, and such cases are frequent in software development, then at the end of the contract you always have to wonder whether it’s good or bad to respond to me. Will the client describe the difficulties that arose during the process, Would recommend? The whole story ...
So for the last time, I had a customer. Normal, but with its own cockroaches. We worked together for about 4 months, by the end of cooperation, he stopped the contract without warning, and in order not to lose face, I suggested switching to a fixed payment on an hourly basis. Needless to say, I had to work many times more, for many times less virtual amount. He began to dictate the terms, and when it seemed that I had already done everything, he completed the contract without warning. During my career, I have not received negative reviews, everything fluctuated between 4.5 - 5.0. Therefore, this time, I did not worry much, because did what was required of me. Imagine my surprise when I was left 1 point. All my overall rates dropped sharply 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 an account suspension. I could not influence the situation, I uploaded everything to the source
the customer’s server, in skype and mail - silence, and in the profile the Unit shone brightly at the very beginning.
After this project, I was looking for a new one for quite some time, sent a total of 60 or more applications, and the customers were apparently very embarrassed that when I opened my profile, the first thing they saw was a unit. This situation taught me a lot, and for myself I have come up with methods that I want to introduce you to.
5 Ways to Get Positive Feedback
In the input, we have that you conscientiously coped with the task, and did everything that was required of you.
- Before leaving feedback to the customer, contact him directly, finding out from him what rating he gave you. This is the most reliable way to avoid situations like mine, when you think yourself “that everything is fine”, leave 5, and then you find that you have been set to 1.
- If the customer is unsatisfied, try to correct this dissatisfaction. Then, making sure that the customer is
satisfied - turn on the ability to change the previous review. - No need to ask to change the feedback without knowing from the client how to fix it. Especially through the messenger
freelance exchanges. This violates the rules of the system, and for this they can actually ban your account. General recommendation - do not use freelance exchange chats;) This is an extra reason to find evidence of some of your violations,
even unintentional ones. - Always leave insurance in case of negative feedback. It can be any loophole that will help you negotiate in the spirit of “you are to me, I am to you”, and not “well, please.” For example, the source code of a program or part thereof, a restriction in the functional,
for example, on the number of starts. 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 until the contract is completed. In extreme cases, leave a small edit without letting the client know about it. As soon as the contract ends, you will let the client know about it, this will leave a chance to change the feedback. This scheme recommends itself well.
Recent example:
- Customer: I am going to close the contract, please send the sources
- Me: good. Usually I send the source, after receiving feedback.
- Customer: OK, I'll leave you 5 and write this ...
This implies that the program you wrote (site / design / text) works as required,
and all that the customer needs is the source. Such a scheme works flawlessly. Even if the customer insists on receiving EVERYTHING before leaving a review, he still commits himself.
Summarizing, I want to give general advice. Make friends with the customer, do what he requires, but at the same time leave the last word for you. Money is not as important as reputation.