Unsure about the tone of my proposal

[leoberguk]

I’m new to Fiverr, and I’ve applied for about 5 or 6 transcriptionist jobs in the last few days and I’m wondering if I’m not committing a couple of Fiverr/freelancer social faux pas on the proposal page.

There’s something in the online tone of freelance websites I’ve noticed, which is fairly relaxed and casual, and I then feel awkward using a formal tone in my proposal and cover letter.

I usually only use a couple of sentences, to say I’m new, and looking to make a good impression etc and about my history, then a couple of things to indicate I’ve looked at their proposal, or know what they want of me.

The problem is I end up (maybe subconsciously) writing out something that is too short to be the sort of formal cover letter I’ve been trained to write, but too long to be just ‘hey, I type good. bye.’ and I don’t know if it’s landing the way it supposed to.

Is that the tone they generally expect ?

Secondly, I also started writing something a long the lines of 'I don’t mention my jobs prior to freelancing as most potential clients aren’t interested in them, but between car valeter, house keeper, conservation volunteer and industrial cleaner, I’ve developed important key skills such as time keeping, attention to detail …

Is this A. a good way to highlight my skills and B. a totally fine way to shoehorn them in?

Thanks!

L

[creat1vepattern]

Hey L!

I’ll start with your first problem. I absolutely think that using a conversational tone while messaging prospective buyers is A-OK. Additionally, an informal tone on your profile is also acceptable. Depending on what you are offering, the place to demonstrate a professional, formal tone would be in examples of your work (for resume editors, copywriters, etc.).

As for your second point, drawing on past experience is a great way to showcase your skills. As long as you can “make it make sense” to the reader, the previous experiences that you mention could be great inclusions.

Hope this helps!

Creat1vepattern

[coerdelion]

It looks like you’re really good at writing cover letters.

However. Buyer requests get about a million responses, so you’ll need to state exactly what you can do for them within the first sentence, direct them to your relevant gig … and ask them to message you to discuss it further.

[english_voice]

Sorry this is a brief reply as I’m closing the laptop lid in a sec, but just want to say please don’t be disheartened. Most buyer requests attract 30 or so proposals. It’s a numbers game. Applying for half a dozen jobs in a few days is unlikely to result in too many ‘hits’. It will happen eventually.

Applying for buyer request jobs can be soul-destroying after a while though, as you can invest a lot of time in making a personal pitch, but the return rate is sooooo low. So, I’d encourage you to focus your efforts instead on creating a really top notch gig that is fairly priced - not too cheap, and not too expensive. Get a decent gig together and it’s there for everyone to access 24 hours a day.

To take my thought a stage further, these forums are full of posts that either say “I’ve not had any buyers in XXX months. So sad.” or they say “I’ve had XXX orders in just XXX days. So happy.” What’s the difference. The quality of the gig description. Just my thought!

[lloydsolutions]

Check this out:https://sellers.fiverr.com/en/article/responding-to-buyer-requests