FREE DEMO... YAY OR NAY?

[evp_productions]

I'm sure at least once all sellers have crossed with this request. CAN YOU DO A FREE DEMO or SAMPLE?

Sometimes the work is so radical and interesting that it is helpful to deliver a demo first.

Others it's just a generic work or at least something that is well indicated with requirements.

In my case at least 95% of free demos didn't landed any interesting deal or no deal at all.

Sometimes buyers won't like sellers work, true but I believe sometimes they realize their preferences are wrong or their request is not good enough to spend money on it and they just move away with a freebie.

What do you sellers think about it? Can you share experiences? Are you up for free demos?

Also what's the best way to dismiss a FREE DEMO SITUATION?

[sunysuny998]

interesting topic. because I'm new in fiverr, I'm looking forward for the answer.

[mariashtelle1]

21 hours ago, evp_productions said:

Also what's the best way to dismiss a FREE DEMO SITUATION?

Easy: that’s not how fiverr works, all work starts after placing an order. If they want a demo you can send a custom offer for a smaller amount than a proper order and if they don’t want to proceed with a full product then they can just close the order with a demo and move on. 
 

 

[emaripimentel]

Hi! @evp_productions I have a question for you? Have you made a similar project that they are asking? if not you can do this to show them but if you did have a similar project. This becomes your portfolio and this should be their basis to hire you. I have encountered red flag prospects after they get what they wanted they will no longer contact you and that leaves me hanging whether they got what they needed or they were not satisfied at all. Lesson learned, I provided them what I have and its only fair to both of us not wasting each others time nor feeling hanging. I hope this helps! 

[miiila]

A Con: Depending on which category you are in, there are actually people who collect patchwork pieces from different sellers to stitch them together and pass them off to the actual customer as their seamless expert pro work, and you not just lose time by providing a piece of the patchwork, but also support a scammy salesperson, and potentially help cause harm to the person or company that ends up with the patchwork blanket.

[catwriter]

24 minutes ago, andymoorevoice said:

Counter point: in the VO realm it's a standard practice to submit auditions,

It is, but you're typically auditioning for jobs that pay far more than $5 or $10 or $30. OP has some gigs with the basic packages costing $10.

 

[evp_productions]

On 11/19/2022 at 8:20 AM, sunysuny998 said:

interesting topic. because I'm new in fiverr, I'm looking forward for the answer.

Thanks!! Hope it will be helpful for all of us!

[evp_productions]

On 11/19/2022 at 8:23 AM, mariashtelle1 said:

Easy: that’s not how fiverr works, all work starts after placing an order. If they want a demo you can send a custom offer for a smaller amount than a proper order and if they don’t want to proceed with a full product then they can just close the order with a demo and move on. 
 

 

Exactly my point! When this situation apperas on one of my conversations I always offer a demo for 25% of the final value and if they like the demo and want to continue with the work I will discount that 25% and the work will cost the same. If not the buyer will just spend 25% wich I think is a ridiculously low price for a demo that sometimes takes the same effort as the final product.

However, the excuses are usually the higher extra rates Fiverr adds to the buyer orders. They don't want to do two orders.

[dmc_art]

No demos. samples, quick sketches or whatsoever you're doing comes free. Free consultation, is the max that I can offer to my clients, otherwise we're here to earn and do paid work. There are loads of buyers that will take the demo/sample/sketch, cancel your order, find a cheaper seller and give the stolen good as a reference. 

Recently, I've got this guy demanding a continuous line style design and asked for a free quick sketch xD Of course, I didn't accepted that - the sketch is basically the design xD

 

Edited November 20, 2022 by dmc_art

[evp_productions]

On 11/19/2022 at 9:14 AM, emaripimentel said:

Hi! @evp_productions I have a question for you? Have you made a similar project that they are asking? if not you can do this to show them but if you did have a similar project. This becomes your portfolio and this should be their basis to hire you. I have encountered red flag prospects after they get what they wanted they will no longer contact you and that leaves me hanging whether they got what they needed or they were not satisfied at all. Lesson learned, I provided them what I have and its only fair to both of us not wasting each others time nor feeling hanging. I hope this helps! 

Hi @emaripimentel nice to meet you. In answer to your questions, yes, many times I have similar works as samples of previous works done in Fiverr.

In 25+ years of working professionally I have a lot of works done wich I can supply as samples but sometimes people just need to know and/or experience (or at least they rely on that) what you can do with his own material.

My works are audio-related so it not only depends on me, it depends aswell on the buyer requirements and decisions on what they want/need.

I totally understand you, it happened to me aswell. I decided not a while ago that if the demo requestes is relevant to me (it could be a great production wich will benefit me aswell as the buyer or a money amount that's interesting) I do the demo.

Also I stopped doing demos for new users. I just asks for certain requirements prior to do the demo. 

 

[evp_productions]

On 11/19/2022 at 9:15 AM, miiila said:

A Con: Depending on which category you are in, there are actually people who collect patchwork pieces from different sellers to stitch them together and pass them off to the actual customer as their seamless expert pro work, and you not just lose time by providing a piece of the patchwork, but also support a scammy salesperson, and potentially help cause harm to the person or company that ends up with the patchwork blanket.

@miiila glad you brought that subject up. I feel the exact same way. 

One thing I asked Fiverr several times to do is to put a watermark in audio works. Watermarks in graphic works are great! You can't ask for an image and run because they will have a watermark but audio is different. There's a button in wich you can activate watermark but it only works for graphic content. 

What I did is worked a watermark as an audio track that I overlapped the audio demos. But usually people asked to remove the watermark because the demo wasn't audible... another reason to spot a scammer.

[evp_productions]

16 minutes ago, dmc_art said:

No demos. samples, quick sketches or whatsoever you're doing comes free. Free consultation, is the max that I can offer to my clients, otherwise we're here to earn and do paid work. There are loads of buyers that will take the demo/sample/sketch, cancel your order, find a cheaper seller and give the stolen good as a reference. 

Recently, I've got this guy demanding a continuous line style design and asked for a free quick sketch xD Of course, I didn't accepted that - the sketch is basically the design xD

 

@dmc_art I understand sometimes a demo in certain situations are mandatory. It could be an specific design, or sound that you don't have previous work on and it can be helpful. But it has to be something very specific for you to do a demo for free. It's not fair to work a demo "just in case" they like it, everything have to be settled up properly. Sometimes you need work and falls in the hands of these scammers but eventually we all have to say no to this practice.

[sunshine15]

I never offer free demos. I'll typically send them any similar samples to their projects I have and if they want a small sample, I will do it for my basic gig price

[zeus777]

I guess free demons CAN be OK depending on the gig, but in my case it's a huge no-no.

All I need to say to the potential buyer is "I don't give away free work because it will be unfair towards the other buyers who has paid.
If you would like to see them I can send examples of my past work, that should be enough to at least give you an idea."

This usually works. I say the same thing when buyers ask for discounts too.

[s80alam]

It depends on you. Personally, I like to show sample before order. It's my way.

[evp_productions]

On 11/20/2022 at 11:11 PM, s80alam said:

It depends on you. Personally, I like to show sample before order. It's my way.

@s80alamThat's great! Just beware of scammers

[evp_productions]

On 11/20/2022 at 10:18 PM, zeus777 said:

I guess free demons CAN be OK depending on the gig, but in my case it's a huge no-no.

All I need to say to the potential buyer is "I don't give away free work because it will be unfair towards the other buyers who has paid.
If you would like to see them I can send examples of my past work, that should be enough to at least give you an idea."

This usually works. I say the same thing when buyers ask for discounts too.

@zeus777 Thansk for sharing your experiences! Discounts can be done but beware that they are not in a promise!

[ozan_erdi]

If world was a better place, i'd say yay to a demo. But its not. One of the reasons i started doing comissions in fiverr. I could have easily reached out a bigger audiance in my country. But they are not paying.

For casual orders or if im not sure the job is as big as they claim, hard pass.

UNLESS i know the project is big and they are investing in me for big time. 

Previously mentioned, a small part of the order can be conducted. It wont take much of your time and their budget, so they are sure you are the right person. And you got the rest of the job.

But i am an artist, its easier for me to show what i am capable of. There are many portfolios in many websites of my works for people to see. If you are the right client, i probbly did something similar to what you have asked. You can check those out. Thats why im a hardcore nay fan.

Edited November 22, 2022 by ozan_erdi

[strategist_ceo]

I usually tell people "I don't do samples" and that's the end of it. Some of them go radio silence afterwards.

The most extreme request for this was asking that I provide a 100 word translation sample for 200 words (in total). This order was worth $5. 

I told him the same "I don't do samples." After I decided against telling him that "I don't do charity". 

Edited November 22, 2022 by strategist_ceo

[evp_productions]

28 minutes ago, ozan_erdi said:

If world was a better place, i'd say yay to a demo. But its not. One of the reasons i started doing comissions in fiverr. I could have easily reached out a bigger audiance in my country. But they are not paying.

For casual orders or if im not sure the job is as big as they claim, hard pass.

UNLESS i know the project is big and they are investing in me for big time. 

Previously mentioned, a small part of the order can be conducted. It wont take much of your time and their budget, so they are sure you are the right person. And you got the rest of the job.

But i am an artist, its easier for me to show what i am capable of. There are many portfolios in many websites of my works for people to see. If you are the right client, i probbly did something similar to what you have asked. You can check those out. Thats why im a hardcore nay fan.

@ozan_erdiTotally agree with you! Most probably is that if someone ask you a preview it could be someone who is not serious about the work.

[evp_productions]

11 minutes ago, strategist_ceo said:

I usually tell people "I don't do samples" and that's the end of it. Some of them go radio silence afterwards.

The most extreme request for this was asking that I provide a 100 word translation sample for 200 words (in total). This order was worth $5. 

I told him the same "I don't do samples." After I decided against telling him that "I don't do charity". 

@strategist_ceo I totally understand you, recently someone contacted me to do a very short and fast work, very low budget and I agree but at the same time they wanted a demo and I said no for the budget, otherwise I will be putting more time and effoprt into something that's not mine. He just dismissed the conversation with insults. ..

[psykkopatte]

I do not provide free samples, my portfolio is enough to justify my expérience.
I have made a free sample only once because the person was famous and wanted to make sure I could make certain things in his video editing, so I wouldn't refuse that 🤷‍♂️

[shahwargraphics]

Talk to buyers a little bit. world is full of good people as well. I got a client who did not even liked my work and asked me how can he compensate me for my time and effort on the sample.

I would a "yay" to demo.

[evp_productions]

14 hours ago, shahwargraphics said:

Talk to buyers a little bit. world is full of good people as well. I got a client who did not even liked my work and asked me how can he compensate me for my time and effort on the sample.

I would a "yay" to demo.

@shahwargraphicsA great advice, thanks for sharing!!!

[newsmike]

On 11/18/2022 at 7:54 AM, evp_productions said:

Also what's the best way to dismiss a FREE DEMO SITUATION?

There's a huge difference between a legitimate audition, pre arranged with an agency, and an anonymous person promising to give you the 500 word job if they like the first 100 words. Most likely the entire job is the 100 words, and you will work for free when they steal the demo and ghost you.  Here's my quick reply for all such requests:

Thanks for contacting me. I would be happy to work with you, however, because of the volume of work we do, we unfortunately aren't able to provide custom samples.

You should easily find the delivery style you prefer by checking the samples on my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NewsMikeVO

Or my Fiverr portfolio:

https://www.fiverr.com/users/newsmike/portfolio

Thanks,

Mike