Landing your first clients

Finding the right first clients, writing proposals and messages they answer, and spotting the clients to avoid.

Also called personalised offers

What: A project description a buyer submits, which Fiverr sends to a small number of matched freelancers who can reply with an introduction and a custom offer.
Why: Briefs let you reach buyers who have not found your Gig yet, and you can see how many others have already replied.

What: An offer you send a buyer with a tailored scope, price and delivery time, paid as a single payment, milestones, a subscription or hourly.
Why: It lets you price work that does not fit your packages without moving the conversation off Fiverr.

Also called response rate, response time

What: Response rate is the share of new messages you first reply to within 24 hours over the last 90 days. Response time, your average first reply time, is shown to buyers.
Why: Both affect how often your Gigs are shown, and response rate is a requirement for every seller level.

Watch out

Leaving spam unreported and unanswered, which counts against your rate; report it within 24 hours.

What: A short first conversation, often 15 to 30 minutes, where you ask about the client's goal, current situation, deadline, budget and who decides, before you quote.
Why: Good questions show expertise better than any pitch, and the answers let you write a scope and price that fit.

Watch out

Spending the call talking about yourself and quoting a price before you understand the problem.

What: Warning signs: pressure to move off the platform or to Telegram or WhatsApp before a contract, payment promised later, requests for free samples, very high pay for vague work, or refusal to put anything in writing.
Why: Turning down one bad client costs you a little time; accepting one can cost weeks of unpaid work, a bad review or your account.

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