Help managing work volume please!

[avidblogger]

I need to preface this with ‘I’m not complaining’ but I am seeking advice on how to manage work volume.



My previous record number of orders in a single day was 8. In the past 24 hours I have received over 20 and some of them are for 2, 4, and even 8 gigs in one. I assume that I suddenly got some sort of bump up in where I appear in search rankings.



I am now in a position where, in order to fill all current orders in a timely manner, I need to throttle back on new orders. I’d like to do this with as little impact on my long-term ranking as possible. Can any senior sellers provide advice? I seem to have a few options:

• extend my delivery time considerably (thus making some people wary of purchasing)
  
• going ‘on vacation’
  
• suspending some of my gigs (potentially the more popular ones!) and then reinstating them later
  
  
  
  Suggestions are greatly appreciated.
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  Sukey

[catwriter]

Extending delivery time (though not considerably - then again, I never received quite as many orders as you did now) worked fine for me when that happens, as well as removing the extra fast option.



It may somewhat reduce my potential income, but saves my sanity.

[avidblogger]

@catwriter thanks! At this point, I’m willing to reduce my income to increase my sleep. I’m pretty obsessed with quality and want to be sure that I can meet the requests of all of these buyers. Whew!



Any other sellers with suggestions?

[updraftdesigns]

Hi,



We felt the same way when that happened to us… We extended our delivery by just two days and it made a lot of difference. We also charge a larger fee than most for express delivery. That way only the serious buyers use that extra and you don’t mind doing it when you are making more $'s. Remember, if you can’t meet the deadline, just communicate with your buyers. Most of them will understand if you need an extra hour or even a day. Communication is very important!

[emasonwrites]

I was once very against vacation mode (it was pretty glitchy in the beginning)–but I’ve used it twice this month to help mitigate orders. I like that you can set it to “I’m overbooked,” and not just “I’m on vacation!” I have had the problem that it doesn’t turn the gigs back on when it says, or at least when I think it’s going to–so it does need to be babysat a little bit, but I also like that it allows buyers to put themselves on a wait list so they can order as soon as I come back.

[avidblogger]

@updraft designs - thanks! I’m glad that this isn’t just me. I finally found the views stats for my gig. I went from 10-20 views per day to 500 then 600. So at least I’ve confirmed that I did get a bump up somewhere. I like the idea of bumping up the $$ on express delivery.



And @emasonwrites, thanks for the update on vacation mode. I had been warned against it, but you make it sound more dependable. One challenge is that I am actually going on vacation - and now it will be a vacation with a LOT of writing. I’m glad that I love what I do. 🙂



Thanks to you both.

[catwriter]

I used the vacation mode (for the actual vacation) and it worked fine.

[rachelbostwick]

Congrats on all the orders. I just wanted to chime in that extending delivery time is working really well for me. If my orders go down, I’ll drop the delivery time down again, too, but delivering early seems to make people happy, too. 🙂



Just for the record, I suspect your cute gig pictures are helping a lot 🙂 They make you look like a true pro 🙂

[rachelbostwick]

Congrats on all the orders. I just wanted to chime in that extending delivery time is working really well for me. If my orders go down, I’ll drop the delivery time down again, too, but delivering early seems to make people happy, too. 🙂



Just for the record, I suspect your cute gig pictures are helping a lot 🙂 They make you look like a true pro 🙂