What to do when negative feedback is received from a client on a translation project
From time to time, it can happen that negative feedback from a client is received after a translation was delivered. Many factors can be involved and most of the time the complaint is quality. In the Translation Industry, it is very important for an Account Manager to completely understand the scope of the translation project – is the main driver time, quality, or cost? Sometimes it can be all three of them and in many cases that is impossible to offer and deliver. What is important here is that nothing impossible is promised to the client that the translation agency can´t hold.
Therefore, once the Account Manager receives the complaint from the client it is important to show empathy and also show the client that he or she is very important. Once the problems have been received, the analysis begins. It is very common for a client to make the remark: “this translation is a disaster”, or “we think this translation is too literal, hence this is a machine translation”. It is very crucial for the Account Manager to ask the client to mark the so-called mistakes within the document and to send the document back. Once the document is received, it is forwarded to the Project Manager, who then forwards the issues to the translator, editor or proofreader, depending on what the issues are. It is very important to take immediate actions, as the client often has tight deadlines to present these translated documents and this is also a very important part of Customer Service – fix problems; solve issues.
Once the issues are explained to the Project Manager, the Account Manager has to open a case in his/her CRM system. The case has several sections in which each department has to give their feedback of what had been done; Sales Input, Production Input, DTP Input, Production Resolution, Sales Resolution, Customer Case Resolution and Internal Case Resolution.
Sales Input: This involves giving the full information regarding the type of client – first-time or recurrent client, total project cost and payment terms agreed on; the driver – time, quality or cost; client´s overall cooperation; supply of source files, availability for feedback, the actual complaint from the client and what the expected or even requested compensation should be.
It is very important for an Account Manager to ask as many questions as needed prior to starting on a translation project, so that no “surprises” or misunderstandings occur that have the potential to lead to issues and problems.