The importance of sending a work in progress

[marieberlioz]

So this seems to a big problem with sellers.
Don’t be scared to send a sketch, first draft or any other work in progress to your clients!
I’ve seen sellers shy away from this because they either think "the buyer won’t understand the sketch or won’t be able to visualize the final product as they aren’t a creative or in my line of work"
or “a work in progress will give them more opportunities to make revisions and my gig will be delivered late”

First of all make sure you have enough time to complete your gig AND make revisions.
Second, buyers aren’t dumb, they understand what a work in progress is and even if they aren’t experienced in your line of work they do posses normal human senses and the ability to see potential. Don’t underestimate your buyer, ever.

So why is this a good idea?

1. changes are much easier to make if your project is still in the beginning phase

2. The buyer will feel like they are a part of their own project and joining in with the creation phase, don’t forget these are their ideas and visions and they want to feel like they are helping or managing their own ideas.

3. They will be way more likely to use you again because you’re building a professional relationship with them, you become more than just a name on their screen, you become the person helping, advising on and creating their projects.

4. It avoids the “this isn’t what I asked for!” problem. Miss communication happens all the time. As a silly example someone might ask you to draw a girl holding glasses, you assume they meant eye glasses, but really they meant drinking glasses (why would she be holding drinking glasses? who knows? but it’s what your buyer wants!). If you send a work in progress, the client will be able to correct the misunderstanding instead of potentially freaking out afterwards and giving a bad review.

I hope you guys find this useful, many buyers have told me it’s the main reason they left someone else on Fiverr and decided to work with me instead.

[mrproofreading]

Good advice, but I would recommend adding a watermark to any content that is sent through a message (opposed to a delivery).

[marieberlioz]

Good advice, but I would recommend adding a watermark to any content that is sent through a message (opposed to a delivery).

Oh yeah for sure, I usually send very low resolution files as well.

I should have mentioned that.

[djgodknows]

Hi Minette,
Honestly, these tips would be applicable only on select categories. One problem I had with a buyer leading me to cancel the order was, they started howling when I was giving them periodical updates. Even though that is exactly what they wanted in the beginning, they started saying things like, “I have work too, I am busy”.

So in short, you have to have the ability to gauge your buyer and inform accordingly.

[mzie88]

This is very true , i always send my buyers work in progress and most of the time it results in them not requiring any reveisions and early delivery bcause i design exactly what they want. We walk together from the beginning to the end. It works best when the buyer is in yoir time zone and they are online.

[marieberlioz]

Hi Minette,

Honestly, these tips would be applicable only on select categories. One problem I had with a buyer leading me to cancel the order was, they started howling when I was giving them periodical updates. Even though that is exactly what they wanted in the beginning, they started saying things like, “I have work too, I am busy”.

So in short, you have to have the ability to gauge your buyer and inform accordingly.

That’s true djgodknows

It will depend a lot on the category, in my experience this works best with illustration.

Some clients do have busy lives but find the projects fun which is why they appreciate the feedback, however you will find those that are just too busy and don’t want to be bothered, usually you can tell early enough and then just stop sending them things until delivery.

Thanks for the input 🙂

[capitalquality]

Funny thing is, in my past real life job I’d be doing this all the time: checking for understanding, delivering prototypes, clarifying requirements. On Fiverr this has got me spending a lot of time going backwards and forwards, making explanations, telling people they’re only supposed to look at the thing in the top right corner please because the rest doesn’t work yet.

I do go back to clients and check things but I never send them work in progress any more.

[frank_d]

Sending a draft, or WIP or “sofar” is not always a good idea though.

You need to take into consideration who your buyer is, what the scope of the project is and how much you stand to make.

Sometimes, when sending a draft early on, the buyer sees it as an invitation to start “working together”.

so things start getting more complicated as micromanagers are going to micromanage, excited buyers with no technical knowledge are going to start sending feedback that will possibly take the project to a different direction.

So keeping in mind that I am hired as a video expert, I need to stay the course when I have taken a certain direction design wise.

So unless it’s a really big project, $$$ wise I never send a draft too early in the process, but I do send a really detailed brief of my exact vision even before an order is placed.

However I do send a draft out as early as possible, if I sense my buyer needs help visualizing things. But I always note what can and can’t be changed at that stage in the process. 🙂

[marieberlioz]

Sending a draft, or WIP or “sofar” is not always a good idea though.

You need to take into consideration who your buyer is, what the scope of the project is and how much you stand to make.

Sometimes, when sending a draft early on, the buyer sees it as an invitation to start “working together”.

so things start getting more complicated as micromanagers are going to micromanage, excited buyers with no technical knowledge are going to start sending feedback that will possibly take the project to a different direction.

So keeping in mind that I am hired as a video expert, I need to stay the course when I have taken a certain direction design wise.

So unless it’s a really big project, $$$ wise I never send a draft too early in the process, but I do send a really detailed brief of my exact vision even before an order is placed.

However I do send a draft out as early as possible, if I sense my buyer needs help visualizing things. But I always note what can and can’t be changed at that stage in the process. 🙂

I realize now I should have made this specific to illustration only.

That’s the only category I work in and the only one I know this is very helpful in, it’s probably different for other categories 🙂

I apologize as I should’ve kept it to what I know and have experience in.

[frank_d]

I realize now I should have made this specific to illustration only.

That’s the only category I work in and the only one I know this is very helpful in, it’s probably different for other categories 🙂

I apologize as I should’ve kept it to what I know and have experience in.

@marieberlioz what I described applies to illustrations as well. not just videos.

[marieberlioz]

@marieberlioz what I described applies to illustrations as well. not just videos.

Not in my experience, I can’t see any reason to not send a sketch before completing an illustration.

Sure they might start micromanaging, but if that’s the type of client they are they’ll do that to your final work anyway.

Edit: same goes for the 3D animation work I do outside of Fiver, I had to do origami butterflies and birds for a hair ad, if I waited till the end I would have been screwed because they wanted me to change the wings on both, changing the model after it’s been rigged can mess it up completely, just a small example but most of time it’s safer and most clients expect this.