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| User | Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff Poll: With how many new clients do you work per month? |
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ProZ.com Staff 
United States
Local time: 15:41
 Member (2011)
SITE STAFF |
This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "With how many new clients do you work per month?".
This poll was originally submitted by Benjamin Hall. View the poll results »
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Mary Worby
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:41
 Member
German to English
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This month there are four so far, but that's very unusual. Some months there are one or two, other months there are none. I answered 1 as an average.
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Maciek Pastuszka
Poland
Local time: 00:41
Member (2007)
English to Polish
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It is the most common pattern I have observed in my business.
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DianeGM
Greece
Local time: 01:41
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
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| | It varies ... answered 1 | Feb 10 |
This month (Feb) I have worked with 2 new clients and I new franchise of a global company, which, like for Mary, is unusual for me
Last month (Jan): none
December 2011: one
November 2011: one
Looking at last year the average is between 1-2
I answered 1 as there is no 1-2 option.
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Muriel Vasconcellos
United States
Local time: 15:41
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
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| | Other - difficult to estimate | Feb 10 |
Most of my work is long jobs - documents of 6,000 to 30,000 words for the same handful of clients. I don't do résumés, certificates, or academic transcripts, which would be a source of new clients.
That said, I am always open to new clients who offer substantive work in my specialties. In fact, in January I had three new clients and two old ones. One of the new ones had two journal articles to translate, which I really enjoyed.
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 00:41
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
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It doesn't happen on a regular basis. In any given month it could be none, or one or two.
I have a at least half a dozen regular direct clients and among them I usually get enough work to keep ticking over, which thankfully enables me to be more circumspect or selective when it comes to taking on board new clients or terms.
Come to think of it - this post has just reminded me that I was supposed to contact a potential new client - I did phone them once about a month ago and it was engaged, so I sent then an sms with my email details, but they haven't got back to me, so perhaps I should call them again...
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Cecilia Civetta
Italy
Local time: 00:41
Member (2003)
Italian to Spanish
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My average would be something like 0,3.
Option "0-1" is missing.
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Interlangue
Belgium
Local time: 00:41
English to French
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I take on a new client once in a blue moon, and one-shots are an exception rather than the rule.
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Noni Gilbert
Spain
Local time: 00:41
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
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It is possible that I might take on one or two clients in a month, unlikely to be every month however.
What I would not do is take on the risk of more in any given month. I like to spread my client base, and therefore my risk (in these times) and would not be working too high a proportion of my time at any one moment for a new client without a proven payment track record. This takes into account that, sadly, some old and trusted clients have proved a little less than reliable of late too.
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Parrot
Spain
Local time: 00:41
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
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MODERATOR |
DianeGM wrote:
Looking at last year the average is between 1-2
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It's the number of new client accounts I have to open every month on invoicing. And I also have Noni's new-client-free months.
[Edited at 2012-02-10 09:26 GMT]
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Jocelyne S
France
Local time: 00:41
Member
French to English
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There's no rhyme or reason in my case. In January I invoiced four new customers (rare, for me). So far this month, I've booked in a document for a new customer, but I don't expect to have time to take on (m)any more newcomers; I'm also negotiating a large potential translation with a new customer, but for now nothing is signed and delivery wouldn't be for a few months in any case.
Like Muriel, I don't work on many short documents (under 5000 words) and I've been working with many of my customers for years.
I really don't think I can give an overall average.
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Tim Drayton
Cyprus
Local time: 01:41
Turkish to English
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Less than one.
Checking my 2011 records, I see that on 8 occasions I did a first piece of work for a new client. That would thus average at 2/3 of a new client per month.
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Christine Andersen
Denmark
Local time: 00:41
Member (2003)
Danish to English
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I used to reckon with one a month, but the stream is not nearly so even. There may be three of four in a month, or none at all.
Sometimes a new client disappears for months or a year after one job, while others send a series of jobs. A few become regular clients, at least for a while.
I think a lot of work in my pairs goes to specialists in Scandinavian languages or possibly in subject areas, and if we get on well, then potentially I have a regular client.
Other agencies only occasionally have anything to be translated from my source language, and those are the one-off clients who occasionally turn up again.
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Hege Jakobsen Lepri
Canada
Local time: 18:41
Member (2002)
English to Norwegian
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| | adding new clients every month | Feb 10 |
...all the time at the same rate, would be impossible for anyone working full time, unless they lose the same amount of clients every month.
I am generally contacted by new potential clients 2-4 times per week, but I only take on a small number of these - on an irregular basis, due to time constraints, or jobs that are too small or that pay ridiculously low
[Edited at 2012-02-10 14:48 GMT]
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Rebecca Garber
United States
Local time: 18:41
Member (2005)
German to English
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An option between 0 and 1 was necessary. I think mine averages 0.3 as well.
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