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Before becoming a full-time Japanese-to-English translator specializing in finance and IT, I worked for five years as a sales representative in the IT industry, mostly in Tokyo. I regularly made cold calls and otherwise approached around 300 companies, had direct responsibility for handling business with dozens of companies and negotiated deals for a wide variety of computer and Internet-related products and services. My greatest triumph was closing a multi-million dollar deal, which I started with a cold call, with the Japanese IT manager at a major Japanese insurance company.
In this article I discuss twelve off-the-cuff points about sales, which reiterate or supplement the discussions of Mr. Ando, Mr. Flint and Mr. Lise at the JAT meeting in Tokyo on July 20. Doing sales is often interesting, challenging and lucrative and at the same time stressful, frustrating and volatile. Any freelance translator, however, must sell in order to survive. While the thought of doing sales may seem daunting, every person can motivate themselves with the thought that in simply introducing themselves to someone or negotiating a price when they buy something, they are, in fact, doing two of the activities that underpin sales. In short, life is one long sales spiel, so let's all do our best to achieve our revenue targets.
POINT #1: KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE SELLING
Without knowing something about translation you will not be able to interact effectively with customers and will have difficulty closing good deals. Educate yourself about the translation market, rates, popular software tools and traditional dictionaries, and Internet connectivity so that you are at least as knowledgeable as your customers.
POINT #2: ALWAYS KEEP YOURSELF WELL INFORMED ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER'S BUSINESS
Inform yourself about your customer's business by reading the contents of their web site (or other information sources) before the first meeting. Thereafter, you should periodically check the web site to keep yourself up-to-date. Customers like to do business with vendors who, if not generally interested, at least understand and can truly help support their business.
POINT #3: FIND OUT ABOUT YOUR COMPETITORS
Do some research to find out who your competitors are, how much they charge, what quality of translations they provide, and what sort of personal relationship they might have with the customer. The better you understand the competition, the more effectively you will be able to sell your services, and the less likely you will be to give an unwarranted discount!
POINT #4: DRESS TO IMPRESS YOUR CUSTOMER
A customer who dresses casually may feel uncomfortable being visited by someone who always wears a suit and tie; and one who dresses conservatively may feel uncomfortable being visited by someone who always wears blue jeans and a t-shirt. Adjust you attire to impress your customer favorably, and, when in doubt, wear a suit.
POINT #5: DO NOT FORGET YOUR TOOLS AND PROPS
Always bring your name cards, note pad, pen, cell phone and any other tools or props necessary to make an effective sales presentation and to contact someone quickly, if necessary. While you should not use your resume as a sales prop, you many want to create a professional-looking one or two page "company brochure" to use as a visual stimulus when visiting a customer for the first time. If you have written or been mentioned in any recent articles for publication, show them to your customer as evidence of your ability and worth.
POINT #6: ALWAYS ARRIVE ON TIME
Your customer's time is more valuable than your own, so while it is OK for the customer to keep you waiting for a few minutes or even to start the meeting late, it is unacceptable for you to be late and keep your customer waiting. If you think you are going to be running behind schedule call ahead on your cell phone and ask your customer if he or she minds whether you are a few minutes late.
POINT #7: DO NOT LIE ABOUT MEANINGFUL ISSUES
While nobody expects anybody to tell the whole truth about insignificant matters, do not lie to your customer about meaningful issues. If you are late in meeting your customer because you spilled a cappuccino on your shirt and had to run to a department store to buy another one, apologize for being late, but explain that you suddenly got an urgent call from another customer about the details of a large order with a delivery deadline several days away. On the other hand, if a customer asks whether or not you can deliver a translation by next Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. sharp, you had better be completely certain before saying "yes." Never lie about anything important or verifiable, such as what degrees or certificates you have.
POINT #8: LET THE CUSTOMER TALK FIRST
Especially during a first-time meeting or when you are discussing new business, let the customer tell you the project background and his or her requirements before you start your sales pitch. If you talk first for ten minutes, vociferously telling the customer that you specialize in patent translation and do not provide quotations for less than 30 yen per word, you may have a tough time responding after the customer tells you that he or she requires translation of contracts related to OEM equipment sales for which he or she, until then, had been willing to pay 35 yen per word for superlative quality. Let the customer talk first and then tailor your pitch accordingly.
POINT #9: FULFILL YOUR CUSTOMER'S LATENT NEEDS
Your customer is taking time to communicate with you because he or she needs to have some documents translated, but everyone has needs to be fulfilled other than merely buying translation services at a reasonable cost. Perhaps your customer wants to practice speaking the language that is your native language, wants to show off his or her knowledge of languages and the latest translation memory software, wants to chat about his or her time abroad in the United States or Germany, wants to appear international by having interactions with someone of a different nationality or wants to impress the boss with the zeal he or she exerts in looking for the most competitive translation rates. Within reason, try to ascertain your customer's latent needs and satisfy them.
POINT #10: DELIVER GIFTS FOR お中元 AND お歳暮
Send your customers appropriate gifts in the summer for お中元 and in the winter for お歳暮, and do not forget to send a new year's card at the end of the year. Research the customs in your locality and in each customer's business field, and adjust your actions accordingly. If you have never spent several days during the last week of the year dropping in on your customers to thank them for the business they have given you during the year, you have something new and exciting to look forward to this December.
POINT #11: NEVER FIGHT WITH YOUR CUSTOMER
A customer may not always be right but you generally need a customer more than a customer needs you, so do not be too heavy handed in contradicting a statement or belief of your customer's and never raise your voice to your customer even if he or she raises his or her voice to you. You can communicate disagreement effectively by simply remaining silent with an agitated expression. If you find yourself more than once or twice feeling the twinge of heated dispute arising, you probably did not choose a good customer in the first place and should consider ending the relationship as equitably as possible before lightning strikes.
POINT #12: PROCESS ALL PAPERWORK WITH ALACRITY
Strictly speaking you have not truly received an order until you receive a purchase order. For small deals a simple e-mail or even a verbal "OK" may be sufficient some of the time, but for larger deals and continual orders you should get in the habit of processing paperwork in a systematic way. Generally speaking, after a customer accepts the conditions stated in your quotation (見積書), which you may have to revise two or three times before the customer accepts, the customer issues a purchase order (注文書). After you deliver the translated documents, you send the customer a delivery confirmation (納品書) and a bill (請求書). This may sound like a lot of work and it is, but when you are accepting many orders from multiple customers, accurate and timely paperwork will help you and your customers to remember the details of the orders. Many potential disputes can be nipped in the bud if you have accurate paperwork.
In conclusion, doing sales is challenging, interesting, and often frustrating, but closing a deal feels great. Everyone you meet is a potential customer or may be able to introduce you to customers, so get out there and meet people. Be aggressive, take care of your customers well, and reap the rewards of high rates and personal satisfaction in working successfully for yourself. No matter what you do in this world or how you feel about your own personality, life is fundamentally one long sales pitch before we meet the Sales Manager. Let's do our best to hit our revenue targets steadily over the long run.