Spanish Translation Blog

Looking for ways to secure your sale?

Who is the end user?

Not understanding your client’s true needs will most likely make you lose a sale. There are many occasions when a client will not mention that all they really need is to know what that document says for their company’s internal use. Meanwhile, a sales account manager is providing this client with a rate per word for a complex three-step translation process (translation, edition and proofreading).  Most likely, this client will not move forward with the project. In this case a simple translation or translation + proofreading should work out fine.  Knowing your client’s true needs can save not only your client’s money, but also your commission for an accomplished sale… and time on both ends!

Educating the client on the service they are paying for

You would be surprised at how many clients do not have the slightest idea about what they are paying for.  I have been repeatedly told by clients that they have received a lower rate per word elsewhere.  When I ask what type of service they get for that lower rate, I always get the same answer: “I have no clue”.  In this case it is critical to educate the client on the service you are offering and compare it to what they have been offered.   This is where giving value to your service comes into effect.

What format is your prospect expecting for the final product?

I would say over 50% of the times clients send in a PDF file for quoting purposes.  At this point, a sales account manager should ask the prospect what sort of file is expected as a final product.  For example, if you notice that the PDF file that was sent is a conversion from an Adobe Indesign file, a few good questions would be: Does the final product have to be in that same format as the original source file? If it does not, will translated text on an MS Word file be sufficient? Do you have designers that will be laying out the translation on your end?

Educating the client on Desktop Publishing Services

Most documentation and media are created with specific software programs such as MS Word, InDesign, Illustrator, Quark, PageMaker etc. If you need to translate a brochure or manual that you currently have in a PDF format into multiple languages, you should try to seek out the original, editable file that was used to generate this view-only PDF version. Since documents supplied in non-editable formats usually need to be recreated from scratch, you may be spending extra time, energy and money creating a new layout or graphic file for something that already exists.

In other words, there are really many and varied options from which your clients can choose, without even knowing what and why they would pick one over the other. It is our job and responsibility, as a sales agent to help them pick the one most suitable for their project, turnaround time and budget. That is serving your clients and securing your sales.