How an Indian Shopify Agency Closed 7 Contracts in 30 Days with GigRadar!
Key Insights from an Indian Agency Owner
Let’s face it: Indian agencies on Upwork, generally speaking, have a bad reputation on the platform. From poor communication skills to underperforming client expectations, many would agree that clients from western territories such as the US and Europe would prefer to work with agencies from their own countries.
However, there are particular players in the game that are able to stand out from the crowd and earn the business of top-tier clients internationally. One agency solved the puzzle and was able to win 7 projects in the span of a month, and we were lucky enough to interview the head freelancer, Aashish Sachdeva, from Swift Expand!
Our goal was to figure out what they were doing differently from the rest that helped them achieve so much success on the platform. During the conversation, we asked Aashish what he thought was the most common mistake made by his fellow countrymen on the freelance platform. He responded with
When just getting started, I made the same mistakes as everyone else: I spent too much time polishing the proposal, talking about my achievements, portfolio, etc. But only after some time did I realize that this was the wrong approach. We should focus more on the client’s requirements rather than making the proposal look very detailed and clean. We should address exactly the problem that they’ve raised, how we can overcome that particular issue, and what are the steps that we can follow to deliver the project that the client is asking for.
Standing Out From The Competition
Aashish's response goes back to the fundamental law of sales: making communication client-oriented, rather than salesperson-oriented. And in a competitive landscape like Upwork, where dozens of freelancers try to sell themselves on every new job post that appears, you have to do something that stands out from the rest.
And speaking of competition, Swift Expand happens to specialize in Shopify Development, which is arguably one the most competitive spaces on Upwork. When asking Aashish what they do to differentiate themselves, he stated:
You need to pick a particular niche and excel in that niche. So if we take Shopify, there are several niches such as dropshipping, speed optimization, UX/UI auditing, store creation, store migration, etc. What we can do is pick a niche like store migration and only focus our lead generation efforts on prospects that need to migrate their website from Magento/Squarespace/WordPress to Shopify. In this case, you will have your own segment of the market, and clients will have faith in your highly-specific expertise.
So, for those of you that still think the one-man-army approach is the way to go, here is a clear example of why that’s not the case. In 2024, Upwork is all about going deeper, rather than wider. If you try to be a specialist-in-all, you will be a master of none, and clients would rather work with someone that has deep-rooted expertise in their specific problem than with some generalist.
Managing Pricing Expectations
Now, one other issue that strikes a painful chord in the hearts of Indian agencies is the issue of pricing. Now that we are living in a globalized marketplace, it is no surprise that western companies look for more cost-effective solutions in eastern countries, and this is especially true when we talk about IT outsourcing to India, as companies often look to hire Indian freelancers for more favorable rates. When asking Aashish the question of managing price expectations, he noted:
It’s always good to be flexible, but you should never lower the hourly rate to the point where you feel the client is taking advantage of you. When discussing this rate with your client, your best argument in this case is showcasing successfully completed projects from the past, especially very specific and similar ones to the project at hand. If the client is impressed with those samples, then you can mention the hourly rate used for those projects, thereby increasing your leverage in negotiations.
So, a client-oriented proposal, combined with hyper-specific service offerings and case-study-driven negotiations, forms the three pillars of successful client interactions and closed projects. But, how do you get your foot through the door with all of the competition? How can you possibly bid on all relevant opportunities that appear?
Upwork Automation and GigRadar
Similar to cold outreach, Upwork is a numbers game; the more proposals you send, the more leads you are likely to receive. However, sending 200+ proposals manually over the span of a month is a time-consuming task, and, considering the importance of speed, is almost wasteful if not done quickly after a new job has been posted. In this case, you are faced with 2 options: continue down the long and bitter road of manual outreach or make the switch to automation.
When asking Aashish to compare Manual vs Automated lead generation, he stated the following:
If we talk about manual lead generation, then the sheer quality of proposals will probably be higher, as you are able to spend significant time crafting your message. However, slow submission times may make these efforts pointless. On the other hand, with automation, you are submitting a significantly larger amount of proposals, and ensuring you’re dealing with high quality leads if you’ve set up your filters correctly. To be honest, my favorite is automated lead generation. It uses AI to craft a proposal that not only understands the client’s requirements but also customizes it by adding job-specific questions, demonstrating that the freelancer has taken ample time to read and understand whats being asked. Plus, being able to do this at scale and at high speeds is a serious advantage!
So, scale + speed > targeted + slow is the name of the game here. However, all of this just sounds like fluff until you’ve actually set up GigRadar’s automation to work in your favor, which for many might seem like a challenging task. When asking Aashish about his learning curve with GigRadar, he stated:
So I think it took me around two-to-three days to create the scanners. Thankfully, it’s very easy to create the scanners according to your own needs. Furthermore, there are a huge amount of filters like keywords, job-based and client-based which really help you build out your ICP and the Slack/Telegram notifications also help with micromanagement. So you just need to spend a few days setting up the scanners. But then after that, everything will be very smooth, the whole process will be automated, and you will get leads on a daily basis.
The Quality of AI Generated Proposals
To some, this may sound too good to be true (which can be the case if you don’t take the time to properly tune your filters), and many still believe that AI generated proposals are easily identifiable and don’t garner replies from leads. When addressing this common concern with Aashish, he mentioned:
Honestly, in the beginning, I thought the same exact thing. I assumed that such proposals would just be neglected by clients because they would easily notice that they were AI-generated. But, when I see the proposals that GigRadar is creating, to be honest, it looks like a human is writing it. In each bid, it genuinely looks like the bot has given a complete proofread of the job description, done some behind the scenes research, and submitted a hyper-targeted offer. So if you talk about creating a similar proposal by an actual human, it will take easily around 20 to 30 minutes of time, and most agencies really cant make so many proposals on a daily basis.
Now, even after working with all of these concerns, there will always be doubters, and sometimes you just need to hit the nail on the head to showcase why automation is worth trying. When asking Aashish what he would say to Indian agency owners considering automation but still holding doubts, he said:
I understand the fear of investing money and not getting results. But I honestly think you should give it a try. I was able to earn back my investments 10 days after signing up for GigRadar. So, if you just give it the proper attention it deserves, you will easily earn back your money within 2 weeks or in the worst case scenario, a month.
Words of Advice for Skeptical Agencies
Well, nothing closes the deal more than a positive ROI endeavor. But as always, people will naturally be skeptical until the very end, and for those individuals, we asked Aashish to leave some final thoughts. He said:
I would at least give GigRadar a try because in 2024, the Upwork landscape has changed and AI is slowly but surely making its presence felt. Also, I mean the tool literally bids for you while you are sleeping or spending time with family, and whenever you get a reply, you will be notified on your phone so you can just continue the conversation there and schedule a sales call during business hours. But in the end, its all about you, and how you create the scanners so that you can get a good quality of leads. So my suggestion is just invest two to three days by fine-tuning the scanners, adding the relevant keywords that you want, and really strategizing your cover letter copy. And then I can assure you that you will definitely be able to get good results!
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Aashish’s comments shine an honest line in a digital world full of skepticism. Yes, GigRadar is an incredibly powerful tool, but this will only be the case if you’ve taken the time to play with it, learn it, and optimize it for peak performance. It’s no different than PPC tools like Google or Facebook Ads. Yes, you can set them up randomly and run them, but most likely, they won’t bring good results without proper optimization. So either you take the time to learn how to master them and achieve exceptional results, or you stay away from them in general and focus on other forms of marketing, because just like with any product or service, it’s never going to be a magic pill...
