| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Freelance translators: Do you try to visit or meet your clients? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Giles Watson 
Italy
Local time: 13:44
Italian to English
In memoriam | Don't forget trade fairs and similar events | Mar 2, 2006 |
It's obviously a good idea to meet clients if this is at all possible.
One way of doing this, particularly if you specialise in specific areas, is to attend trade fairs and the like.
For example, I visit the Vinitaly wine fair in Verona every spring, which enables me to meet hordes of clients (not to mention one or two other wine translators!) in a very short space of time.
Cheers,
Giles
| | | | | MY CUSTOMERS FIND ME | Mar 2, 2006 |
ProZ.com Staff wrote: This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Freelance translators: Do you try to visit or meet your clients?". View the poll hereA forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629
In my experience as a Certified English Translator in Venezuela, my customers find me when they need a translation (in Venezuela any document in another language needs to be translated by an "Interprete Público" to be considered legal and binding) so naturally I have met them all and some have even become my friends and send me more customers. So far I have not been able to obtain a job through ProZ or the Internet, for that matter, though I've really work hard for it... but if the day comes...... I will surely try to meet them even if only through e-mails.
Mercedes Dávila
| | | | | thank Friday for globalization and powwows! | Mar 2, 2006 |
When I lived in Italy I knew all of my clients personally because that was where they lived too. Actually when I first started translating you would have to know them. Either you typed the file in their office or you typed it at home on a type writer (remember them?) and ran a print out to their office, that was before the age of running a floppy to them. It sounds like I have been translating forever if you think that nowadays you can work for clients anywhere in the world and delivery is quick... See more When I lived in Italy I knew all of my clients personally because that was where they lived too. Actually when I first started translating you would have to know them. Either you typed the file in their office or you typed it at home on a type writer (remember them?) and ran a print out to their office, that was before the age of running a floppy to them. It sounds like I have been translating forever if you think that nowadays you can work for clients anywhere in the world and delivery is quicker than riding your bike down the road, floppy in hand, but just since 1993.
Now I live in the States but whenever I visit Italy I visit people I still work for there.
I love the fact that I can work from the comfort of my home and communicate with the world, but it can feel like a really lonely business sometimes, e-mails can never take the place of real people ... so thank Friday for powwows! I'm looking forward to my first one in Pittsburgh March 22nd. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sandra C.
France
Local time: 13:44
English to French
+ ...
I'm soon going to France for two weeks (back home, to visit my family) and I'm going to make a point of meeting one of my clients... because she's owed me 700 EUR for almost a year, now.
So there you go, I can't WAIT to meet HER!
Otherwise, if I had more money to travel, etc., I would probably try to meet my clients if I happened to be in the same area. However, to be perfectly honest, I don't think I would make ... See more I'm soon going to France for two weeks (back home, to visit my family) and I'm going to make a point of meeting one of my clients... because she's owed me 700 EUR for almost a year, now.
So there you go, I can't WAIT to meet HER!
Otherwise, if I had more money to travel, etc., I would probably try to meet my clients if I happened to be in the same area. However, to be perfectly honest, I don't think I would make a special trip to meet them, with the exception maybe of the ones I feel I've become friends with, even over the Internet (it happen). ▲ Collapse
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Patricia Rosas
United States
Local time: 04:44
Spanish to English
+ ...
In memoriam | Why NOT to meet your client ... | Mar 2, 2006 |
Most of my clients live far away, and as many have expressed, I cannot afford to travel to meet them.
But last summer, a client came to Tucson, and she wanted to drop by with her husband. I spent all afternoon cleaning house, dressing (up), and making sure my new puppy would behave.
Just as they drove up, the normally blue Tucson skies let go with an incredible blast of rain. I rushed out with an umbrella and ushered them into the house...
As we were c... See more Most of my clients live far away, and as many have expressed, I cannot afford to travel to meet them.
But last summer, a client came to Tucson, and she wanted to drop by with her husband. I spent all afternoon cleaning house, dressing (up), and making sure my new puppy would behave.
Just as they drove up, the normally blue Tucson skies let go with an incredible blast of rain. I rushed out with an umbrella and ushered them into the house...
As we were catching our breath, I looked down and my treasured client was standing in a puddle of puppy piddle ...
Things actually got worse after that, but I'll save that part of the story for another day.
She is great, and we are still on good terms, but from now on, I'd rather make my "good impressions" via e-mail! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Robert Zawadzki (X)
Local time: 13:44
English to Polish
+ ...
| I meet people from these agenies whenever I can | Mar 2, 2006 |
titi-at-home wrote: It's a big exception when I meet a client of mine. My clients, most of them agencies, are located all over the world. Robert Zawadzki wrote:
Some of them even expressly asked that I never contact clients directly (even when asking questions).
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I will be going to my home country, the Netherlands, within the next 2 months, and also plan to visit some clients there and in Belgium. But I can also understand why some translators (and agencies) may not want to meet face to face, because as one agency in NL wrote me a couple of years ago, when I said "I will be in your area and would to love visit with you", he wrote back and said something to the effect of "yikes, how will it effect our wonderful virtual relationship?." Well, I did not ge... See more I will be going to my home country, the Netherlands, within the next 2 months, and also plan to visit some clients there and in Belgium. But I can also understand why some translators (and agencies) may not want to meet face to face, because as one agency in NL wrote me a couple of years ago, when I said "I will be in your area and would to love visit with you", he wrote back and said something to the effect of "yikes, how will it effect our wonderful virtual relationship?." Well, I did not get there as originally planned and did not visit.
But I still think it is a good idea!
Marjon
Orla Ryan wrote:
i'm going to the Netherlands later this month and I am definitely making a point of meeting 2 clients while I am there.
If you can, make the effort to meet them - it's usually not a problem for them to find 30 minutes to meet you for a coffee & a chat. It has paid off for me.
Because the nature of our job can be rather anti-social, I think it is important to get out of the house and put a face to the names. It is the same in other business sectors, why not for us? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Fernando Tognis
Argentina
Local time: 08:44
Member (2006)
Spanish to English
+ ...
I have been translating for three years and I met clients only two times in my whole career. The experience was really good. However, I could met them just because they lived in my city (Buenos Aires).
The best thing about meeting clients is that one can be more accurate as regards the style chosen for the translation. After talking to the client getting a look at their office, clothing and personality, the translator will find easier to create a tailor-made translation.
Best,
... See more I have been translating for three years and I met clients only two times in my whole career. The experience was really good. However, I could met them just because they lived in my city (Buenos Aires).
The best thing about meeting clients is that one can be more accurate as regards the style chosen for the translation. After talking to the client getting a look at their office, clothing and personality, the translator will find easier to create a tailor-made translation.
Best,
Fernando ▲ Collapse
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In the end, I met up with one agency while I was in NL and I spent the day at their office. I had a simply fantastic time. I even did some work while I was there, as a German-English job had come in and I had done some work for that client before. So they logged me into a PC and I worked away as per usual (with a couple of coffee breaks and wandering around chatting to everyone!).
Fair enough, I have been working with this agency for just over two years, I'm in contact with them ev... See more In the end, I met up with one agency while I was in NL and I spent the day at their office. I had a simply fantastic time. I even did some work while I was there, as a German-English job had come in and I had done some work for that client before. So they logged me into a PC and I worked away as per usual (with a couple of coffee breaks and wandering around chatting to everyone!).
Fair enough, I have been working with this agency for just over two years, I'm in contact with them every day on MSN so they know me pretty well by now.
As it was a Friday, we all went to a local restaurant afterwards where they treated me to dinner and one of the PMs gave me a lift back to the hotel. Some of them even met up with me that weekend to show me around Amsterdam and meet me for dinner, it really was the cherry on top of a great weekend.
So if the opportunity comes up - go for it!
[quote]Marjon van den Bosch wrote:
I will be going to my home country, the Netherlands, within the next 2 months, and also plan to visit some clients there and in Belgium. But I can also understand why some translators (and agencies) may not want to meet face to face, because as one agency in NL wrote me a couple of years ago, when I said "I will be in your area and would to love visit with you", he wrote back and said something to the effect of "yikes, how will it effect our wonderful virtual relationship?." Well, I did not get there as originally planned and did not visit.
But I still think it is a good idea!
Marjon ▲ Collapse
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