How to Know Your Numbers to Consistently Win Projects on Upwork

If you do not know your “numbers” on Upwork, you will not consistently win projects on Upwork.

Your freelancer career will be an unpredictable rollercoaster.

One month, you might be packed with projects.

The next month, you have zero projects and you’re stressing about how you’re going to pay for rent and food.

When I say “numbers”, I’m specifically speaking about sending proposals on Upwork.

You might not realize it, but when winning projects on Upwork, there are stages to it.

1. You send a proposal
2. The job poster responds to you
3. You speak with the job poster over messenger or schedule a call
4. The job poster decides to hire you

This is called a funnel.

At each stage of the funnel, the number of people reaching that stage decreases.

You might be thinking, “That sucks. I want every proposal I sent to lead to a new project”.

Unfortunately, that’s just not how the business world works.

You can’t win every proposal you send.

But there’s also a positive.

If we know how many people progress to the next step of our “Upwork funnel”, we can also work “backward”.

A quick example.

“I want to close 5 new projects this month.”

If I know my “numbers” i.e. how many progress to the next step, I can calculate how many proposals I need to send on Upwork.

If I know 1 in 4 people (25%) I have a conversation with on Upwork becomes a client…

I need to have 20 conversations this month.

How do I have 20 conversations?

Well, because I know my numbers, I know that, on average, 1 in 5 people (20%) will respond to a proposal I send on Upwork

That means I need to send 100 proposals.

This means I need to send 100 proposals on Upwork, on average, to be hired for 5 new projects.

Now, you need to go calculate your “numbers” on Upwork.

If you have already started on Upwork, you need to go to “My Stats”.

Scroll to the bottom.

And at the bottom, Upwork has added a feature that allows you to see how many proposals you’ve sent over 30 days, how people responded, and how many jobs you were hired for.

If you haven’t started on Upwork yet…

You need to sign up and send at least 50 proposals so you can start to learn your “numbers”.

Once you know your numbers, you can also work to improve your numbers.

Example numbers from a successful freelancer

Over 30 days…

• 60 proposals were sent.
• 20 people responded (33%)
• 5 people became clients (25%)

Click here to sign up for a 14-day free trial of Leapfrog Leads to make sure you’re sending enough proposals on Upwork to hit your numbers. 

Conclusion

Upwork is a lead generation funnel.

And the funnel has several stages.

1. You send a proposal
2. The job poster responds to you
3. You speak with the job poster over messenger or schedule a call
4. The job poster decides to hire you

You must work out how many people go the next stage.

Then you can calculate how many proposals you must send to consistently close the number of clients you want.

To make sure you are sending enough proposals on Upwork to meet your numbers, that’s exactly how Leapfrog Leads can help you.

We will send notifications for your dream jobs on Upwork straight to your inbox.

This means you’ll easily meet the number of proposals you need to send to “hit your numbers”

Click here to sign up for a 14-day free trial of Leapfrog Leads.