Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

Clients


Corinne McKay

Ensuring payment from direct clients

In the past few weeks, I’ve spoken with a few freelancers who would like to work with direct clients but are afraid that they won’t get paid. One commented that she really enjoys working with agencies because of being able to check Payment Practices or a similar resource in order to determine the client’s creditworthiness. Although there is no Payment Practices for direct clients, I think that you can take some steps to ensure that direct clients will pay you, or to at least minimize the risk of nonpayment. I think that it’s useful to apply some or all of these steps depending on who the client is and how paranoid you are!:

  • Get full contact information from the client, including their phone number, mailing address and physical address.
  • Note whether the client is a member of any associations such as the Better Business Bureau to which you could report the client if they don’t pay you.
  • Google the client; see what kind of information about them is floating around the Internet
  • Ask for references from other freelancers or suppliers the client works with; ask those people about the client’s payment practices.
  • Clearly state your rates, payment terms and acceptable payment methods. Ask the client to issue a purchase order confirming that information and listing the name, e-mail address and phone number of their accounts payable person.
  • If you have doubts about the client or you are doing a large project for a first-time client, ask for partial or full payment in advance. I require 100% advance payment from anyone who is not an established business.
  • Accept a variety of payment methods. For example, I accept checks in dollars, euros or pounds, wire transfers, ACH transfers and PayPal. This gives clients a few payment options, and I always stick to the arrangement that they pay their banking fees and I pay mine.

Obviously, not all of these ideas apply to all situations, and some people are just more trusting than others. Personally, I like to believe that clients are fundamentally honest but I always ask for a PO and for the accounts payable person’s contact information, and I always require individual clients to pay in full in advance. Also, out of curiosity: agency owners, how do you vet your clients’ creditworthiness?


Corinne McKay

Responding to a request for quote

When you receive an “out of the blue” request for a quote from a potential translation client, what’s the best next step? Is it more advantageous to call the client, e-mail them, ask for more information or send them a rate sheet…or something else entirely? The beauty of impromptu inquiries from potential clients is that you, the translator, are in the position of power. Rather than attempting to sell the potential client on the value of your services, the potential client is coming to you. So, it’s important to decide how to convert this inquiry into a new client. Let’s take a look at some potential courses of action.

First, read the potential client’s e-mail carefully; note the information that they provide and don’t provide, because this will give you some clues as to the client’s level of seriousness and their knowledge of what translation involves. Look at the client’s website and/or Google them to get a sense of their business. Then, decide how to respond to the potential client; for example you might:

  • Call them or ask them to call you. I’m really not a phone person, but I do think that a phone call makes a good impression. You can get a sense of the client’s personality and they can get a sense of yours, you can chat about the project, what translations they’ve had done in the past and what they are looking for in this translation. My only hesitation with phoning a potential client is that I like to get the important project details (i.e. rate, turnaround time, other terms of service) in writing. So, if you take this tactic I think it’s important to follow up with a brief e-mail, for example, “Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me this morning. Just to confirm the details of our conversation, I will be translating the document we discussed at a rate of X cents per source word and I will deliver it to you by 5PM Eastern time on Friday. I accept payment by check or wire transfer and the full payment is due within 30 days of the date on which I deliver the translation.”
  • E-mail them and ask for more information. It’s unlikely that the client’s initial e-mail included all of the information that you need, so you might e-mail them and ask some of the questions listed above. Thank them for contacting you and let them know that in order to provide them with a detailed quote, you’ll need to get some more information.
  • E-mail them your basic information about rates and terms of service. In part, I think that your response to potential clients should be guided by how much you need or want the work. Responding with some prepared information, for example “I’m attaching my 2010 rate sheet which includes my per-word and hourly rates as well as my standard terms of service, feel free to look these over and then let me know if I can provide you with a detailed quote” may not be the most personal way to respond to an inquiry, but it saves your time and immediately weeds out clients whose budget is much less than what you charge.

Whichever strategy you choose, make sure to lay the groundwork for a successful translator/client relationship. For example:

  • Respond promptly to all inquiries from potential clients. Even if you don’t want to provide a quote on the project, respond and let the potential client know that.
  • Clarify your payment terms and methods; decide whether you want first-time clients to pay all or part of the project fee in advance.
  • Ask the client to confirm the rate, deadline and payment terms in writing. This can be as simple as a very short e-mail or can take the form of a service agreement or purchase order, but make sure that you and the client agree in writing on these important details.
  • Ask the client for their accounts payable person’s contact information. For example, “Please let me know the e-mail address and phone number of the person to whom I should send my invoice, and let me know who I should contact if I have a question about the payment.”

Any other tips for responding successfully to inquiries?


Corinne McKay

Theories about direct clients

Recently, a reader posted this comment on my Wrapping up 2009 post: “I just wonder how one goes about getting direct clients. It seems ideal, but it also seems like a hurdle to get over, that many of us have not learned how to do.” I think that a lot of translators feel this way: they’d love to work with more direct clients but they struggle to find them. So, here are a few of my theories about working with direct clients, feel free to add your own:

    • You’re not going to find direct clients all in one place. Or as I heard someone else put it, “You need to think of ten ways to find one direct client, not one way to find ten direct clients.” I think that many of us who started out working with agencies did so by applying to many, many agencies that we found all in one place. For example, during my first year in business I applied to over 400 potential clients and I found the bulk of them by using just a few sources, such as association directories. See this post for more information about applying to agencies. So, first of all, I think it’s important to restrain yourself from looking for that gold mine of direct clients and accept that you are probably going to find them one at a time.
    • Many direct clients will find you, rather than the other way around. Think of it this way; when you receive marketing materials from professional service providers (accountants, web designers, etc.), do you most often save them because you might need them in the future? Do you click on the links in most of the marketing e-mails you receive? I don’t either. So, you have to make sure that you’re easily findable when clients need you. I would say that 90% of the initial contacts I get from direct clients are in a moment of crisis; they have the opportunity to bid on a big contract but the RFP response has to be in English and it’s due next week, they’re exhibiting at a trade fair and just realized that they need their handouts in English, etc. So, make sure that you’re easy to find. Have an engaging and updated profile in the online directory of any associations you belong to; write articles for translation industry websites; get on LinkedIn and similar websites for your non-US countries; write a blog; have a good-looking professional website; join associations related to your specializations. I receive a lot of cold contacts from direct clients because if you Google “freelance French to English translator,” I’m on the first page: this really helps when direct clients are panicking and need a translator.
    • You need to be the kind of person colleagues refer clients to. Quite a number of my direct clients have come to me through colleagues. One colleague closed her business to take an in-house job and gifted me a couple of clients; one colleague who works in English>French refers her clients to me when they need the opposite direction, and I receive a lot of referrals through people I meet at conferences and seminars. I know, this involves talking to people and potentially even putting on nice clothes and leaving your house, but it really works.
    • Consider putting up a website that is only in your source language. Personally, I think that potential clients are attracted to a website that is exclusively in their language, because it makes you seem more approachable to them. For example, my colleague Eve Bodeux and I invested a very modest amount of money into putting up an exclusively French website. We picked a French domain name and the content is in French only (translated by our trusted colleague Marianne Reiner) and we have gotten excellent feedback on it from potential clients. Just for reference, this site cost us just a few hundred dollars to put up.

I don’t think that direct marketing to direct clients is worthless; personally I like postcard ad campaigns because they’re inexpensive and if you put a nice image on the card, clients may keep it just because they like it. However I do think that for most direct clients, “pull” marketing (where the client comes to you) is much more effective than “push” marketing where you go to the client.


Corinne McKay

Two posts that translation clients should read

For anyone who’s a translation buyer, here are two excellent blog posts on what makes a good client. Ryan Ginstrom’s Five practices of agencies that get it gives five specific examples of how his agency clients have impressed him. I agree with these wholeheartedly; especially the feedback piece. It’s not hard to understand why clients are reluctant to pass on negative feedback; they don’t want to get into a “your word against mine” argument with the translator, they’re not in the business of training translators, and it’s probably easier just to dispense with using the problematic translator and hire someone else in the future. However, I think that clients are often equally sparse with their positive feedback because they’re busy, they’ve moved on to another project and (possibly the strongest factor) they assume that good translators know how good they are. Clients, trust us here… most people who are excellent translators are excellent in part because they are perfectionists who are very critical of their own work and constantly striving to improve. Even a simple “the client was really pleased with it” or “it required almost no edits” goes a long way.

Then, make sure to check out Jill Sommer’s 10 simple rules for project managers to live by and keep me happy. I love these tips; many of them help remind clients that although translators (and other freelance service providers) are often willing to go the extra mile for our clients, we are not their employees. Because most translators are relatively tech-savvy, asking us to do formatting, OCR, etc. may work out in the end but it will often slow the project down and take our time and energy away from the job we are really good at…translating. Likewise, pushing your translators to work longer, faster, etc. for more than a  few days at a time will likely backfire, especially if the translator is not compensated accordingly.


Corinne McKay

End of year gifts for clients and colleagues

It’s that time again… the gift basket catalogs are arriving by the armload, reminding us that it’s time to thank our clients and colleagues for their business and support over the past year. What’s the best way to do this? Better to go traditional or creative? High-end or fairly basic? The answer depends on your budget and who your clients and colleagues are, but here are some tips to get the discussion started.

  • If you can’t afford or don’t want to send a gift, a really well-composed note is a good substitute. Personally I like to send at least a modest gift to my main clients, but I think it’s equally meaningful to write a holiday card to a client or colleague and really say something nice about why you enjoy working with them. Often, good clients don’t realize what sets them apart from the crowd and will really appreciate something like “I always look forward to working with you because your projects are interesting, your instructions are clear and I know that I can always count on you to provide me with the reference materials I need to produce a good translation” or “You are one of my most valuable colleagues because your eagle-eyed editing makes me look great; I know that when you’ve gone over one of my translations, it’s absolutely publication-ready.” I think that many clients and colleagues would appreciate a note like this more than a token generic gift.
  • If you want to give a tasteful but not bank-breaking gift, think about locally made products. Especially if your clients are agencies, they probably receive many “mass market” gifts from big retailers. It can be a nice touch to send something from the region where you live, and it reminds your client about you as well. Your local food and gift companies may also have factory stores where you can purchase their products at a discount. For example here in Colorado we have the Celestial Seasonings tea factory, Chocolove candy bars and Allegro coffee, and some local specialty food stores even sell “Made in Colorado” gift boxes.
  • If you want to go higher-end, do something creative. Post-it notes, calendars, paperweights and the like are useful but a little tired as a gift idea. After the ATA conference, Judy Jenner at Translation Times featured this post about two Dutch<>English translators whose premium client gift is a USB stick embedded in a tiny Dutch wooden shoe. Judy later reported that these cost 12 euros each if you order 50; a fairly hefty up-front investment but definitely classier and more memorable than a ballpoint pen.
  • When you are giving a gift to a company, whether it’s an agency or a direct client, it’s worth considering whether to give a group gift to the whole team or individual gifts to the people you work with closely. On the one hand, it’s nice to recognize the people who send you a lot of work; on the other hand, you don’t want to look as if you’re bribing the individual in question. I would advise making gifts to individuals small and accompanying them with a personalized note; no iPod, Tiffany key ring or extravagant restaurant gift certificate. However, I do give individual gifts when I really only work with one or two people within a company and it would seem a little odd to send a gift to the whole department.

    • Other thoughts on end of year thank-yous?