November 2021 Mellivora Software team has become a Top Rated PLUS Upwork Agency! Yay!
As you might know, in August 2021 we got a Top Rated badge for our team on Upwork.
Imagine our surprise when we got an email from Upwork last week with this inspiring title:
Top Rated Plus
Now, as a reminder, there are four special statuses you might get on Upwork as a contractor, be you an individual contractor/freelancer, or an Agency.
- Rising Talent
- Top Rated
- Top Rated Plus
- Expert-Vetted
And whilst our team has not attempted to get any special badges on Upwork on purpose, we have learned how to become Top Rated PLUS on Upwork as an Agency by experience. Today we are willing to share this experience with our partners, clients and fellow I.T service providers, who might be struggling with their growth on Upwork and might do with some fellow freelancer advice.
Today, we will focus specifically on how to become Top Rated PLUS on Upwork as an Agency and get that Top Rated PLUS badge on your profile – and the profiles of your team members!
Now, how did it all start?
When we got our previous Top Rated status, we have also received an email saying where we could move next, and what we should improve in order to get Top Rated PLUS status.
And they suggested that we checked out our team’s My Stats section.
Where you can find it?
https://www.upwork.com/my-stats/agency/(your agency unique address/freelancer/user name of your freelancer
Here, you will see that they split each and every team member’s performance, and there are 3 major factors that they count in, more specifically, this:
- Client satisfaction
- Communication
- Marketing effectiveness
And they also indicate that in order to get special badges, here’s what you can do:
Client satisfaction
Badges: We reward success at each stage in a freelancer or agency’s Upwork journey with a badge that helps them win more work from top clients. Get and maintain a badge by consistently delivering great results for your clients.
Communication
Response time: Responding to invitations quickly means contracts are started more often and more quickly, leading to more work for everyone.
Marketing effectiveness
Applying: Look for jobs that match skill set and experience level.
And honestly? We’ve been trying to understand which sections we need to improve in order to move to the next level… at first. Then we simply focused on what matters the most in any business, and outsourcing business is not an exception here: our profits.
In fact, you should focus on your performance and not your badges, statuses, all those flashy things. When you do, everything else falls into its places.
Because in the end? Business is about money and not badges.
Now, let’s switch to the main point here, and that is:
HOW TO ACHIEVE TOP RATED PLUS STATUS?
First and foremost, you have to reach everything that Top Rated status requires, and that is:
Qualify agency
Top Rated Plus is awarded to talent that has been successful on LARGE contracts on Upwork. In addition to meeting Top Rated requirements, they have total earnings of at least $10,000 in the past 12 months (for individuals) and $20,000 (for agencies), and have received positive feedback on a large contract.
Criteria
And this is the only thing that we have made differently in the past 3 months (September, October, November). Everything else has remained the same (our activeness level, response rates, number of contracts, etc).
The only thing that was different from our previous performance was working with an enterprise-level client on Upwork for several months. We have positive feedback from that client, and we hope to continue this cooperation.
And now the important question!
WHAT DOES TOP RATED PLUS STATUS GIVE?
As a Top Rated freelancer or agency, you’ll have a dedicated badge on your freelancer, agency, or agency member’s profile and proposals that displays to Upwork clients on a paid plan (Enterprise, Business, and some Plus clients). You’ll also get the following benefits.
- Reduced fees (starting at 10%) on Featured Jobs
- More control over your Job Success Score
- Invitations to submit proposals to jobs assisted by Talent Specialists
- Our Job Digest email to make it easier for you to find jobs that are a great match
- Faster payments on hourly contracts
- Premium customer support, including phone and chat
Does all of this help win more contracts? To a certain degree, yes.
- It saves time on jobs searches, because we receive more invites from clients and talent specialists;
- We have better commissions and faster payments – that’s true;
- Not sure about JSS? But probably, we can control that, too!
The next milestone for our Mellivora Software team? Would be to get an Expert-Vetted badge on Upwork!
Wish us luck!
And if you need a hand with projects in any of these domains? We would be willing to help!
Natural Language Processing,
Data engineering / Big Data,
Cloud services / DevOps
Contact us at:
or hire us on Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/agencies/~01e4becf67f3db7f81
and get started on your next project today!..