Difficult times
It has become more and more difficult to win new clients and maintain the existing ones as the global economy is experiencing one of its toughest moments in history. Unemployment rates are rising in all continents, governments are in record high debts and there doesn’t seem to be any clear solutions on the horizon. How does this situation affect all actors within the Translation Services Industry and what can we do about this?
I believe that the need for translation services will not drop as much as expected, as translation services are closely linked to companies’ core activities. The necessity for translation Services is inevitable in International Commerce, such as packaging, labels, manuals, legal documents, medical documents, promotional brochures, marketing material and the like.
However, the effects of the crisis can definitely be felt in the Translation Industry as many companies are deciding not to have certain documents translated into all of the required languages, and only the most important, as the return on investment might be either not worth it or too risky. A good example would be that of an employee handbook, that would have been translated not long ago into several languages. Now companies will only have it translated into one language – such as Spanish- to save costs. In addition, many companies that have been using translation agencies for their translation needs are now solving these demands internally, in order to cut down on cost.
What can the Translation Industry do to survive and get through these difficult times? Client relationships have become ever more important in order to keep clients and not lose them. It is important to fully understand and know the needs of one´s clients and this can only be achieved by asking the right questions to fully know the scope of the translation project. Special per word rates for the “best” clients are being introduced, in order to secure a long-term relationship. In many cases, contacts have been added to Skype or Messenger to improve communication.
These are for sure difficult times, not only for the Translation Industry, but staying positive, focused and being innovative will assure to make the best of this difficult situation.