marketing terms

English translation: Two possibilities depending on what contact means

21:43 Jan 14, 2003
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Marketing - Marketing / Market Research
English term or phrase: marketing terms
I am translating a marketing research questionnaire. After the respondent info (name, address, etc), comes this field named CONTACT, and the options to be ticked here are "seed" "referral" and "prospective". I understand the words... but don+t get the meaning, or what it referrs to. So if anybody has seen it before and could kindly explain it to me, so I can translate accordingly :)
Raluca Ion (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:16
Selected answer:Two possibilities depending on what contact means
Explanation:
It's difficult to be sure what is meant here as the usage of these terms is slightly odd ... but here's my best guess based more on my sales management than my marketing experience.

seed = a respondant for whom this is a new product / service and whose interest would need to be grown.

referral = a respondant who has been referred by another customer or professional advisor and who is therefore considered to be 'warm'.

prospective = a respondant with whom previous contact has suggested a good chance that they will buy, i.e. they are a serious prospect, they are 'hot'.

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Note added at 2003-01-14 22:10:15 (GMT)
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Purposive - having purpose and resolution, purposeful - would still fit with my suggestion above. (But it is a rather odd word to use.)
Selected response from:

Peter Coles
Local time: 07:16
Grading comment
Thank you! I guess it was closest...
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 +6This sounds like a poor translation, not original English.
Fuad Yahya
4 +3Two possibilities depending on what contact means
Peter Coles
4 +1seen, referred, prospective
jerrie
3any more context?
Armorel Young


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
seen, referred, prospective


Explanation:
1) have the contacted / seen the client
2) have they referred the client to a specific salesman whatever for further information
3)prospective..they have been contacted, they have the further information, all they need to do now is sign on the dotted line

hth

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Note added at 2003-01-15 09:26:27 (GMT)
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Following your additional notes, another possibility. As stated by Fuad, we cannot know for sure. These are just some ideas.

Seed - totally new, chosen for its potential to \'grow\', ie not totally random, but untested.

Referral - has been \'referred\' from another source/survey. Recommended as reliable


Purposive Sampling by Alison Galloway
A purposive sample is one which is selected by the researcher subjectively. The researcher attempts to obtain sample that appears to him/her to be representative of the population and will usually try to ensure that a range from one extreme to the other is included.

Often used in political polling - districts chosen because their pattern has in the past provided good idea of outcomes for whole electorate.



jerrie
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:16
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Kim Metzger: Nice deduction, Sherlock.
6 mins
  -> Why, thank you, Watson!
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21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Two possibilities depending on what contact means


Explanation:
It's difficult to be sure what is meant here as the usage of these terms is slightly odd ... but here's my best guess based more on my sales management than my marketing experience.

seed = a respondant for whom this is a new product / service and whose interest would need to be grown.

referral = a respondant who has been referred by another customer or professional advisor and who is therefore considered to be 'warm'.

prospective = a respondant with whom previous contact has suggested a good chance that they will buy, i.e. they are a serious prospect, they are 'hot'.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-01-14 22:10:15 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Purposive - having purpose and resolution, purposeful - would still fit with my suggestion above. (But it is a rather odd word to use.)

Peter Coles
Local time: 07:16
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 3
Grading comment
Thank you! I guess it was closest...

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jamiewalke
3 hrs

agree  Tanja Abramovic (X): You are absolutely right, Peter. As for SEED, it is usually not translated, but remains as it is (at least in Serbian language).
8 hrs

agree  airmailrpl: with first possibility
9 hrs
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24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
any more context?


Explanation:
I wouldn't rush to assume that seed is a typo. Seed is a financial/business term - commonly in phrases like seed money, seed capital, but google has other references too, like the following:
Seed Record
Information about the background and services received by the subject of a follow-up study stored electronically in a format that conforms to specifications that facilitate linkages with external files likely to contain information about the post-program outcomes achieved by that subject; also known as input record
http://www.cdr.state.tx.us/Researchers/Automated/FieldGuide/...

- but without a bit more context about what this questionnaire is actually dealing with I find it hard to take this further!

Armorel Young
Local time: 07:16
Native speaker of: English
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +6
This sounds like a poor translation, not original English.


Explanation:
I was recently contacted by an Italian firm to check an Arabic translation that had been rejected by the client because of poor quality. When I looked at the "source" text (in English), I found it of poor quality as well. When I mentioned that to the Italian firm, they told me that the original source text was Italian. The English was itself a translation.

This sort of thing happens too frequently. Something starts out in Danish and ends up in Javanese, passing through English, and Hindi. There is no good excuse for it.

I would simply contact the client and enquire about the intended meaning of these mysteries. Even if written in original English and no typos are involved, forms are notorious for vagueness because they are written in a telegraphic language in order to fit the page and leave room for the blank spaces. In many cases, hardly anybody knows what the fields refer to except the form designer and (hopefully) those who will fill the form.

Here on ProZ, we do a lot of guessing, and God knows I have done more than my share of it, but I would not even try here. If this were a generic type form, where the concepts have been used in many similar forms, someone might have seen something similar. But this looks like one of a kind.


Fuad

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Note added at 2003-01-15 22:02:53 (GMT)
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The damn thing! my sentiment exactly.

I am glad it worked out, and thank you for reporting back.

Fuad Yahya
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Refugio
2 hrs

agree  Edward L. Crosby III: Exactly my thought. While "purposive" does exist, I've never seen it or heard it used. All guarantees go out the window when the source text is not genuine.
2 hrs

agree  Nancy Arrowsmith: good point
8 hrs

agree  Terry Gilman: Asking questions here is just rehearsal. Also, for credible market research, the terminology across the languages of the marketing questionnaires has to be tip top.
9 hrs

agree  Peter Coles: Although I've been given the points on this occasion, your advice to "contact the client" deserved them
3 days 5 hrs
  -> You are most gracious and richly deserving of accolades, Peter.

agree  AhmedAMS
348 days
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