Provider Case Studies

Business Challenge:

Generate new customer leads

Webgrity was originally formed to launch a web-based city information portal.  In 2002 that business model collapsed, and by the end of the year only 4 of 44 employees remained as the company posted losses in excess of $125,000.

"After the collapse I started marketing web services in the Calcutta area," said Amit.  "I would visit two to three prospective clients a day.  I soon realized the outlook in my local market was gloomy; even when I did land clients we were generating less than $1,000 per month in revenue.  I needed a different way to find a steady supply of customers."

Months earlier a friend had introduced Amit to Elance.  He decided it was time to try this route and source projects on a global basis, but took time to lay the groundwork for success.

Solution:

Extend customer reach to global audience through Elance

To expand the base of potential customers, Amit joined Elance as a provider in the Web & Programming category.

Setting up a profile
To ensure the biggest ROI on his membership fee, Amit studied the Elance marketplace, paying close attention to how other providers were marketing themselves to potential buyers. He followed these steps:

• He spent almost a month creating a detailed Profile and comprehensive Portfolio.
• He published complete details about his employees including names, qualifications, skills and even personal interests - to help the buyer get to know them.
• Amit also paid particular attention to the company's Portfolio and grouped and labeled each piece of work to make it as easy as possible for a Buyer to find the most relevant work samples for their projects.  Initially, Amit decided to only include work samples and bid on projects which represented those areas of strong expertise at the time which included Simple Website, Dynamic Website, Flash Website, Flash Intro, and Logo Design.

And this research paid off.  When Webgrity started winning projects, many clients mentioned the personalized profile and team member information as a big part of their decision.

Results:

Majority of Webgrity’s revenue is generated through business on Elance

• In their first month on Elance Webgrity completed two projects worth $200; by the fourth month they were averaging 6-7 projects per month, and the following year they completed over 100 projects.
• Webgrity's annual earnings approach $550,000 or 22 million Rupees.
• 99% of Webgrity's business is through Elance. Amit says, "Elance is by far the most cost-effective means for generating leads that result in real revenue and long-term customers, especially compared to using Search Engine Marketing".