From Referrals to Marketplace: The Growth Challenge
For years, this U.S.-based full-service digital marketing agency thrived on personal connections. The Portland Company agency, specializing in application development and building complex web solutions, grew steadily through referrals and word of mouth. Large-scale projects were won thanks to direct relationships, but as the agency matured, this strategy revealed its limitations.
I’ve primarily gained clients through referrals and just general networking. It’s worked well, but it’s not scalable. I needed to find new ways to generate business without relying so heavily on personal connections.
Looking to diversify revenue streams, Spencer turned to Upwork but quickly realized that the platform presented its own set of challenges. Competing as a premium U.S. agency against global competitors offering lower rates created significant friction.
It’s so saturated, especially for an American agency. Finding work at reasonable rates on Upwork is tough, but I knew it could be done — I just needed a way to cut through the noise and get directly to the real opportunities.
The Manual Grind: A Time-Consuming Sales Process
Before discovering GigRadar, Spencer invested substantial time into manually managing the bidding process. This included manually filtering jobs, drafting proposals, and sending applications — all while still managing client work.
I wore every hat: owner, operator, sales, project management, delivery — and adding manual bidding on Upwork to that list made it unsustainable.
Despite some early success using concise proposal formats, which included psychological tactics like ending with questions to encourage replies, the strategy lacked volume. There simply weren’t enough hours in the day to maintain a competitive bid frequency.
The challenge was volume. I could write a simple, effective proposal, but testing at scale was impossible. I just didn’t have enough time to run meaningful experiments.
Discovering GigRadar: Automation as a Game-Changer
The turning point came when Spencer came across GigRadar via an ad on Twitter. Intrigued by the concept of automated bidding and AI-driven proposal generation, he decided to explore further.
The concept of AI-powered bidding got my attention right away. Automating the repetitive stuff was exactly what I needed to free up my time.
Although his agency usually avoids quarterly payment models, this time the decision was clear after reviewing GigRadar’s case studies and seeing real client feedback.
Normally, I’d be cautious about a quarterly commitment, but the case studies, videos, and transparent insights sealed it. It wasn’t just a tool, it was clear there was a real, active community behind it.
GigRadar promised to:
- Automate Upwork bidding.
- Write AI-generated cover letters tailored to each project.
- Filter jobs based on custom parameters.
- Provide analytics to optimize the bidding process.
Early Impact: More Conversations, Faster Results
The first 30 days using GigRadar exceeded expectations. The Portland Company agency achieved 15% of its revenue goal, landing 25+ clients in 3 months, some of which turned into ongoing relationships.
The time savings were immediate. GigRadar would send proposals within 10 minutes of a job posting — no manual process could compete with that. Suddenly I had time to focus on actual sales conversations instead of just admin work.
Spencer also shared how experimenting with low-bid strategies helped start conversations with clients who often had larger budgets than advertised.
I bid lower than usual to get my foot in the door. What surprised me was how many clients were open to doubling or tripling their budgets after we started talking. GigRadar gave me the speed to make those connections before others could.
Why GigRadar Made the Difference
Beyond automation, Spencer highlighted GigRadar’s robust dashboard and community insights as major value drivers.
The analytics were huge. Being able to see open rates, close rates, and iterate based on that data made my proposals better week after week.
But what also stood out was the support. The team behind GigRadar isn’t just pushing a product — they genuinely care about helping agencies like mine succeed. That’s rare.
For Spencer’s agency, the most valuable GigRadar features were the combination of high-volume, automated bidding through auto-bidding paired with tailored, AI-generated cover letters and answers.
Another crucial benefit was the automatic pre-filtering of job posts, which eliminated irrelevant listings and for Spencer and his team hours of manual work every week.
Lastly, the real-time analytics and insights allowed the agency to continuously refine its proposal strategy, using open and close rates to make data-driven decisions.
Looking Ahead: From Early Wins to Scaling
Spencer is now focused on scaling the agency’s Upwork strategy by moving from early-stage profile-building projects toward securing higher-ticket contracts.
We’re in the process of refining — aiming for bigger projects now. But even with minimal input, GigRadar has already outperformed traditional marketing channels like Google Ads or Facebook Ads in terms of ROI.
While still balancing agency operations, Spencer plans to dedicate more time to optimizing bidding filters and adjusting targeting criteria.
GigRadar is powerful, but it’s not plug-and-play. You need to fine-tune it, monitor it, and adapt. When you do, it scales beautifully.
Final Advice for Other Agencies
Reflecting on the experience so far, Spencer recommends automation to agencies looking to break through Upwork’s crowded marketplace.
I’d tell other agencies to stop wasting time on manual bidding. But also — focus your profile. Specialize, don’t generalize. Upwork clients want specialists.
And don’t be afraid to bid low just to start conversations. GigRadar helps you land those chats faster — and from there, it’s on you to upsell and prove your value.
Conclusion: Automation That Delivers Tangible ROI
For Spencer’s agency, GigRadar wasn’t just a tool — it became the catalyst that helped remove the bottlenecks preventing growth on Upwork. The combination of automation, AI-powered messaging, and data-driven optimization enabled the founder to reclaim time and scale lead generation effectively.
It’s rare to find a tool that delivers on its promise this quickly. GigRadar did that for us. It’s easily the best investment I’ve made for Upwork lead gen.
