Some people like swans, some relate with eagles and the weird ones associate themselves with ostriches.

What do they like about these noisy, oily, ugly creatures, you may ask? Well, it’s their ability in working together as a team. Ducks are known to work together and accomplish the impossible and unimaginable. Ducks cover hundred and thousands of miles, distances almost no other animal or bird can travel, and it’s all possible because they work as a team. As you may know, ducks fly together in formation. As each duck flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird following and that is perpetuated throughout their V formation. Each duck takes its turn leading the flock in flight. When the lead duck gets tired, it fades from the front and is enveloped back into the fold of the flock and naturally another bird takes the lead. By working together, the whole flock adds approximately 70% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.

Like ducks, people naturally gravitate toward organizations that will shelter and protect them and make their life easier than if they were left to fend for themselves.  I believe that people want to belong; they want to be a part of a team. A team that gives them a sense of a transcendent purpose, where they can be a part of something bigger than themselves.

I also find that most people perform to their greater potential when on a team than when on their own. They rise to meet the expectations of the team; if left alone to their own motivations, they wouldn’t push themselves nearly as hard.  I find that lots of people do more for the recognition of others than for their own satisfaction. Thus, team environments are a powerful force for drawing out the best within our individual potentials for achievement.

At Spanish Translation US, our team works together for our customers’ full satisfaction. The Account Manager analyzes and interprets the needs of the client. Then he passes this information on to the Project Manager who carefully fills the rest of the team in, including freelancers and in-house QA resources, with this same information. Our business model is based on Account Manager focusing on the customer service and a Project Manager concentrated in the operational aspects of the service.

Being an avid Cricket (sport) fan, I have been following the Indian team taking on Australia down under. Unfortunately, India has been mutilated in the last 3 test matches against Australia. And it has been a collective failure of batting, bowling and fielding.

What exactly is collective failure?

In any organization, we work as part of a team, whether it be for marketing, sales, production, IT, HR, etc.

We have objectives, monthly / quarterly goals, personal goals and achievements that we have to meet. We have to deliver individually as well as a team.

At Spanish Translation US our business model is based on a team comprised of an Account Manager, who essentially works to serve our clientele, and a Project Manager, who is the production interface working with our suppliers whether it be in-house resources or freelancers. They have to work in tandem and in the best interest of the client. A lot of times we work under a lot of stress and tight deadlines.

Collective failure occurs when critical deadlines are not met, projects are not completed within the desired budget or there is no collaboration between the account manager, the project manager and all the members of the team to get the desired outcome. This is where the blame game starts, but it is everyone’s loss.

An Account Manager should understand the challenges a Project Manager faces. So should the Project Manager appreciate the Account Manager’s “yes we can” attitude.

Financial success should not be the only objective; you have to take pride in your work and deliver the best product/service you can.

Even if you are selling a slice of pizza at the local mall, sell it with pride and conviction. Believe in yourself and your team.

Always remember, there is no “I” in team and our culture based on shared values should guide every decision we make, every interaction among our team members, every product or service we provide, every channel we operate, every customer interaction.

Have you ever contacted a Translation Agency to get a quote for a translation project and the Account Manager started mentioning DTP costs besides the cost per word? What does DTP stand for and when is this Service actually necessary?

DTP stands for Desktop Publishing and it refers to the creation of documents using page layout software. Typically, this includes the combining and rearranging of text and imagery (in case there are any images) through computer software, using Fonts and Graphics of your choice, to produce documents such as Newsletters, Brochures, Manuals, Slide shows, Books, etc.

In today´s business world there are many different types of documents used, such as in the following formats: Word, Excel, Power point, Pdf, Adobe InDesign, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe PageMaker, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Corel Ventura, QuarkXPress and many more.

When a prospect contacts a Translation Agency to receive a quote for a certain document, any Account Manager typically will ask for the source file, which is the document in which the text had originally been created in. This is important, so that the document does not have to be recreated, which can be very expensive sometimes, depending obviously on the format used.

In a specific example: the prospect has a Manual of Industrial Machinery and would like that Manual translated from English into Latin American Spanish, as the prospect would like to penetrate the Latin American Market. The Manual itself is in an Adobe InDesign format. In order to keep the DTP cost as low as possible, and to assure that the translated Manual looks as similar as possible to the original English Manual, the prospect would have to send the Account Manager the source InDesign file/s, all Fonts and Links to the Images that are contained within the Manual.

Being an Account Manager in the Translation Service Industry can be a very stressful job at times. It involves not only being involved in the entire Sales process, but also making sure that the Project Manager has sufficient information regarding the scope of the translation project, following up on clients by phone and e-mail, issuing Invoices, collecting Invoices and finding new clients.

There are certain peak times in our day, when our responses and follow-ups are very crucial and we have to process many quote requests at the same time, deliver translation projects (sometimes these need to be uploaded in the FTP Server, which can take quite some time), and resolve translation issues, where the client feels there might be some translation quality issues.

During these peak moments, it is very easy for an Account Manager to start multitasking and doing 3 or 4 tasks at the same time and before you know it, you made a mistake. The danger in this is that the human brain cannot focus well, when multitasking, and mistakes are an automatic result in the work output. In addition, people take longer to complete a task, as they are involved in several tasks at the same time. This is where Time Management plays a very important role of how to overcome multitasking.

Time Management as defined by the free encyclopedia is  “the act or process of exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase efficiency or productivity”. This means that one´s skills, tools and techniques are used to manage time in order to reach an objective of a certain task or achieve one´s goal.

Before multitasking becomes a bad habit, it is very important to manage time by being able to incorporate the following activities in one´s daily work routine: planning, setting goals, prioritizing, organizing, scheduling, delegating, analyzing time spent, monitoring and allocating.

My experience as an Account Manager, is to learn how to prioritize and set certain goals, so that I am not forced to multitask and hence make mistakes, while I am trying to resolve all of my work issues at the same time.

Not sure what your day in the office looks like, but a typical day at the office for me as an account manager at Spanish Translation US revolves around many different things that seem to need my attention all at once. From answering phone calls, to replying to clients’ emails, to completing my daily tasks… which believe me are many.  I constantly find myself going back and forth to each of these tasks and often find it challenging to complete one before I am interrupted by something else. With multitasking being such an important part of my daily experience I found the section on time management in Chet Holmes “The Ultimate Sales Machine” to be very helpful and interesting.

Chet’s six tips on Time Management are:

• Touch It Once: If you touch it take action and handle that task.  Do not revisit the task.
• Make Lists: Lists help you prioritize and stay focused on your daily tasks.
• Plan How Much Time You Will Allocate to Each Task: This helps you manage your daily tasks and dedicate enough time to accomplish them.
• Plan the Day: Give yourself a time frame on how much time you will dedicate to complete each of the things on your list.
• Prioritize: Always start with your most important and difficult task. As the other guru Brian Tracy says in his book “Stop procrastinating!”. By completing the most difficult task first, you will feel a tremendous sense of control and accomplishment having checked the biggest thing off your list.
• Ask Yourself, “Will it hurt me to throw this stuff away?”: Untidiness hurts your productivity. Studies show that 80% of all filed or stored information is never referred to again. So get rid of it!!

I do not have these 6 steps 100% into effect just yet, but I am really working on it. I’m sure that applying these six steps will assist me in completing my daily tasks efficiently. I know they are going to help me manage my time and be more productive on a daily basis. No doubt that I will also help me turn into a happier man!

Referencing the theme of my last post, this time I will go a little deeper into why using a professional language service provider to market your products and services is an intelligent choice. Previously, I demonstrated the benefits of using translation services to the growing Latino market sectors in the US, while discussing localization using the example advertisement in Puerto Rico.

A translation is not always just a translation.  As an Account Manager, I strive to understand as much as possible about each translation project in order to provide not only a simple translation, but one catered to the intended the audience.  The concept of providing translation services also considering the geographical and cultural perspectives of the audience is called “localization”.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the AT&T ad in Puerto Rico is a perfect example of ignoring localization.  The ad had been translated from English into Spanish. Grammatically speaking, it made perfect sense.  Their mistake lied in not taking into account the cultural nuances of their Puerto Rican audience.  The end result was creating a household situation that was very unlikely and perhaps even offensive.

Here’s another example of lack of localization with an early computer operating system in the 1980’s with something as simple as a desktop icon.  The same icon Americans interpreted to be the trash can appeared to be more of a mailbox to Europeans.  This example clearly shows that while European clients were intended to by the products, no one seemed to be consulted before the software was green lighted.  While this is a small, subtle example, it shows the importance of not throwing your trash in the mailbox, or really understanding who you’ll be communicating with through the sale of products and services.

While the importance of localization services can be easily demonstrated using marketing examples, it’s actually important for all translations.  Considering who you’ll be talking to and where they will be is important in any type of communication.  Some details that may appear small and subtle in some languages or cultures can often be glossed over when not considering the target audience.  Moreover, these services should be provided by and discussed with professionals who understand these nuances that help you conduct business in the easiest, most effective way.    We are a big world and, while many people may speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi or Arabic, we do not all think the same, act the same or approach life similarly.