Meet John. John runs a successful local vintage clothes store and he wants to invest in his business. One of the steps John wants to take is to translate his online store and precious product descriptions into several languages. John doesn’t want to give this job to an agency, that’s why he tries to find reliable freelancers to work with. As a pro-active and business-minded person, John came up with a list of service quality points he expects translators to meet.
1. Time
Dear translator, I know that you are a busy person, but you can’t really expect me to wait a week or two for 1,000 words. I’m not asking you to work all evening, you can simply tell me you are not able to take this project on. We’re all in business and TIME is the only thing we can’t buy. Be prompt and timely, as my company needs to act fast.
2. Completeness
If I do clothes, I do clothes, I don’t know anything about languages and I don’t have time to sort out some linguistic problems. You are the expert here, so use your expertise and make decisions to deliver a complete service. I’m not asking my clients what sort of strings I should use in their dress.
3. Courtesy
Just be nice! Our B2B relations need both of us to be kind and courteous. Don’t just get angry or irritated, don’t treat me like an idiot just because I sell clothes and you’ve translated a thesis on quantum physics.
4. Consistency
My business would die if I my dresses had an on-and-off relationship with quality. I am expecting you to be always good, no excuses.
5. Accessibility and convenience
I need you to be available: online, on skype, via e-mail, over the phone. You can’t just lock yourself in your office and stop replying to my e-mails. I have to know what’s going on with my texts and if everything’s ok.
6. Accuracy
I care about my business and everything has to be just perfect. I can’t read Spanish, French or German, that’s why I expect you to be accurate and faultless.
This is working with SMEs for freelance translators. Could you do business with John? Do you have these steps incorporated in your freelance business strategy?
Marta Stelmaszak
Marta Stelmaszak is a translator between Polish and English, combining language skills with a thorough understanding of economics and business to help SMEs make as big an international impact as possible, providing translation and interpreting services for the legal, business and marketing sectors. Read Marta's book on business.
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2 Comments
I’d love to do business with John. John understands what business is about and that’s something which helps me relate to him and there is indeed a sense of connection there. Also, I’d give John a bunch of thanks for the tips that I’d normally need to spend a good deal of time finding anywhere, let alone anywhere free. (For the record, those are some people friendly keywords cleansed of marketing lingo, which are worth building one’s website around.)
One thing, however, that I’d need John to understand here, which comes from my own experience, is that translators work a bit differently from shop owners and just can’t pick up phones all the time, the distraction does harm quality. It would be the same if someone tried to pester John with tiny requests for information that are a bit more urgent than necessary. Some lawyers set a phone policy: return calls within 24 hours or so. I try to teach my clients that phoning to check whether I am at all working is not necessary and one thing I really find hard to take is clients speculating on whether I can meet the deadline without understanding my work, which means they’re unlikely to know how much time I really need. The translator has to educate here and explain that 5 pages from Monday to Friday doesn’t mean there’s +1 page from every day to the next (instead of e.g. splitting it between Tuesday and Thursday, proofing on Friday and sending back). But I’m convenient I’d be able to explain this point to John and probably using familiar illustrations and terms.
What you mention about John not really wishing to be asked to make linguistic decisions is, unfortunately, a by-product of the silly idea that the customer is the supreme expert on everything, which is how many professional linguists operate, and which is senseless.
On the other hand, some decisions are really taste-based or involve marketing, especially branding, issues, and those decisions are really best made by the client, who is actually the party responsible for his branding and marketing. Therefore the translator’s got to ask some questions sometimes. For clients who prefer to be left alone, it could be a good idea to agree some guidelines beforehand.
You are right about distraction being harmful to quality. I’m sure John meant that a simple e-mail here or there with an update would be good to keep him calm 😉