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Poll: Do you talk about your personal life (hobbies, family, etc.) with your client(s)?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
John Cutler
John Cutler  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 18:24
Spanish to English
+ ...
Little if at all Oct 17, 2012

I try to be cordial with all of them, but as some others have mentioned, I see no reason to give personal reasons for turning down a job or telling them about what I did this past weekend.
 
Marlene Blanshay
Marlene Blanshay  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 12:24
Member (2009)
French to English
+ ...
yes agreed Oct 17, 2012

unless i'm sick...I had to turn down a job at the last minute a couple of weeks ago because of a horrible virus. They're one of my best clients and i felt so bad bailing out at the last minute. I told them i was too sick to do anything...they appreciated that I let them know so fast. I wasn't too happy either!
 
Cecilia Barraza-Mukherjee
Cecilia Barraza-Mukherjee  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 18:24
Spanish to English
+ ...
It´s my surname that starts personal conversations!! Oct 17, 2012

If I am on the phone with a client... they realize that my accent does not match my Indian surname and they are confused and, so.... the conversation begins! In the end I realise I have spoken about life in Chile, life in Australia and now life in Switzerland.
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:24
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Almost never Oct 18, 2012

I'm with Tatty:

Tatty wrote:
I'm available or not available. And if I'm not available it's because I'm busy. I wouldn't dream of telling anyone anything. They are only really interested in if I can do the job or not anyway. I bid them a good weekend etc. but that's it.


We're all busy, and all they care about is whether or not I"m available. I recently took a long break for serious eye surgery, and I did explain why I wasn't available so they wouldn't think I wasn't interested in working for them. That would be the extent of it--enough information to make sure I don't lose the client.
 
XX789 (X)
XX789 (X)  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 18:24
English to Dutch
+ ...
Friends with my best clients... Oct 18, 2012

...on Facebook.

Japanese and games are both fascinating subjects, and my clients think likewise, so it's easy to start a conversation about it. The line between "could you please translate this text" and "have you played the latest Battlefield" is very thin.

I'm friends with some clients on Facebook and it happens quite often that business relationships end up being personal. Quite some clients and suppliers have tasted my Italian cuisine, for example... See more
...on Facebook.

Japanese and games are both fascinating subjects, and my clients think likewise, so it's easy to start a conversation about it. The line between "could you please translate this text" and "have you played the latest Battlefield" is very thin.

I'm friends with some clients on Facebook and it happens quite often that business relationships end up being personal. Quite some clients and suppliers have tasted my Italian cuisine, for example Often this works out and sometimes it doesn't. In the latter case I just let it peter out.

Then again both Japanese and the games industry are very hip; I can imagine things work totally different for other languages/subject fields.

[Edited at 2012-10-18 07:40 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
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Poll: Do you talk about your personal life (hobbies, family, etc.) with your client(s)?






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