|
|
This talk was given at the JAT Tokyo meeting, 20 July 2002.
Biodata:
Paul Flint is a freelance translator in Kawasaki, translating primarily IT and PR/Advertising material. He is 39 years old and has been a JAT member for three years.
Much of the discussion on translation sales is about where to find new clients and maybe what to do with them once you've got them. There are articles on JAT Web about getting higher rates and other useful tips. Yet, sometimes things are easier said than done. Particularly for new people.
You can describe in detail how to play first base, but a person who has never put on a baseball glove, let alone played the game, is going to have a very hard time getting up the nerve to step out onto the field. And if they do, the results may be discouraging.
The method I most often choose for learning is the "trial by fire" method: just jump in with both feet and see what happens. This approach is not for everyone, however.
Another solution is to bridge the gap with practice and training. That is the objective of this presentation. I'm going to talk about making sales contacts and what to say to those contacts, then I'm going to answer any questions, and then we are going to practice selling our services.
A Word of Caution. When I was doing sales in the states, my boss used to pressure me by comparing me with another sales person in another part of the state. Every week or two I would hear stories of her fantastic successes, and the implication was "if she can do it, so can you." I worked hard to sell more but never did beat or match her achievements.
I didn't hear about this person for several months, so one day I asked, "What happened to her?" The answer was that she wasn't working there anymore. Why? Because she had been lying about her sales! This is when I decided never to believe wonderful sales stories. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, or at least there is more to the story.
Not all success stories are lies. But sometimes, there is an angle that makes it easier for someone to succeed. This angle may be location, connections, skills, or even personality. Someone may have found an advantage to exploit. But it may not be possible to do the same in your situation. Just keep that in mind.
Okay, lets get to some practical sales information.
If you do not have enough work, my advice is to increase the number of people you contact about work. Calling potential customers in the Help Wanted section of The Japan Times, going to a publishing convention and introducing yourself, calling your existing customers and asking if they have any work, calling your fellow translators and asking them if they have any work--there are many ways to contact people.
If you do this, even haphazardly, you will receive inquiries from potential customers or jobs from existing customers. This has never failed me.
If I put my attention and effort into contacting people, it leads to income. Sitting around waiting for calls or jobs does not.
When I was about 11, during summer vacation, I came whining to my mom in the kitchen. "Mom, I need some money." I was bored to tears and wanted to buy something. I asked her if there where any chores that I could do for some extra cash. I was pressing my one and only customer for work. But she wasn't buying that day. So I was out of luck. She suggested, "Why don't you go mow some lawns?" I said, "But I don't know anyone that wants their lawn mowed!"
So she sat me down with a small stack of 3 x 5 cards, and had me write my name, phone number, and "Lawns Mowed" in black magic marker on these cards. Then she told me to distribute these cards to houses on my street. That was scary and embarrassing for me as an eleven-year old! But it was something to do. So I did it.
I distributed no more than 20 cards. But by the time I got home, I had my first customer. Not a bad return!
Okay. So that was when I was eleven. Fast forward 20 years.
A good friend and I wanted to start a company in 1993. He lived in the U.S., and I lived in Japan. We immediately thought of import/export, but we had no ideas for products. A week or so later, a small box of clothing samples arrived at my door. Suddenly we were in the clothing business.
The samples came from a designer of weird clothing for teenagers. I had no contacts in the weird clothing business. So I fell back on my early childhood training. I got a fashion magazine from the local ƒRƒ“ƒrƒj and a small stack of postcards, on which I printed a little advertisement. I looked through the list of stores featured in the magazine, copied addresses to the postcards, and sent them out. I sent out maybe 100. My first call came within days, and my first meeting netted a 500,000 yen order. About as difficult as falling off a log.
Other Translators. I launched my career in translation when I asked for work from the only two translators I knew at the time. One of them gave me a job. And this person led me to a customer that became one of my best customers.
The Want Ads. My next adventure in translation came via The Japan Times Help Wanted section. Most of the ads there were for English teachers, but there were occasional translation related ads as well. One contact from The Japan Times became one of my best customers. Maybe it was a fluke, maybe not.
Joining JAT. I joined JAT and the Honyaku mailing lists, where I found another of my best customers.
Translation Magazines. I have never done this, but there are magazines about translation, there are magazines about publishing, there are magazines about anything and everything. Pick one. Get a stack of postcards and . . . . This is another option.
Summary. The moral of the story is "contacts equal income." If I take care of the contacts, the income will take care of itself. If you remember nothing else from this presentation, remember that. Contacts equal income.
Keep in mind that I did most of my "selling" in the first four or five months of becoming a freelance translator. In fact, I have not had to sell very much at all since those first four or five months. At least not in the strict sense of the word. There are many ideas about where to look for customers. But I have had so much work from existing customers, that I have not had the time to try these other ideas.
There are barriers to selling translation services. I happen to live in Japan, near Tokyo, which makes it easier for me to get work than, say, someone living in Okinawa or Hokkaido or Galveston. I've never had to sell long distance. But if I did live far away from major sources of work, I would still focus on making a large number of contacts, starting in my area and then working outward.
Remote Areas. Maybe Galveston agencies aren't paying the big bucks, or maybe they don't get a lot of Japanese to English translation. But they might refer you to someone who does. It's that proverbial pebble in the pond.
And when you make a large number of contacts, your experience may show you how to do it better. For example, say I lived outside of Japan and discovered accidentally that the local Japanese embassy was a great source of work. I would then start calling all the Japanese embassies I could find.
The Odd Ones. Also keep in mind that the first contacts and the first responses aren't always going to be what you are looking for. When you start selling, the initial results can be less than encouraging. It's like turning on a spigot that has been closed for years. The first thing that comes out is rusty water. You have to let it run a while before the clean clear cool stuff comes out.
In real terms, you may get a bogus offer to translate 400 pages in the next 4 days for 3 cents a word, you know, volume discount. You might get an agency who has more translators than they have customers, but they want your name on file, you know, just in case.
Going back to my first lawn mowing customer as an example, the woman was a fanatic about her lawn. I spent four grueling hours with her nagging me about the spot I missed there and there and there and there. In the end, I took my five bucks and went home, tired and bitter. I was cured of the urge to work for that summer. What I should have done was go to the next customer, and the next, and the next until I found a good one.
But this doesn't mean you have to hold out for the perfect customer.
Improving Quality as You Go. You can also improve the quality of your customers as you go. Focus first on getting a lot of customers, then focus on improving the quality of those customers. Initially, I took any work that was given to me. My first job paid 1500 yen a page, and my first agency paid 12 yen a word. But after I had a full schedule of work, I became pickier about rates and other work conditions, and things slowly improved.
Summary. The point is, even when working from a distance, contacts equal income. And you should not get discouraged by a few troublesome responses. Look at these as a sign that you are doing the right thing; you are on the right track. At least you have responses. The pumps are primed.
Okay. Now that we are contacting a lot of people, the next question is, what do you say to them.
I often find myself in one of two situations: either I'm contacting someone looking for work, or someone is contacting me with work. If someone contacts me without work, I ask them to come back when they have something.
I do not have a fancy introduction for first-time contacts. I tell them who I am and what I do. Other than that, I try to find out what I can do for them and answer any questions they may have.
The people calling with work are either agencies or direct clients.
Agencies. Agencies who contact me for work often have questions like these: What is your rate? What is your daily output? How long have you been translating? What is your specialty? This is typical for contacts from agencies. Often they assume that you will take a test. My usual answers are as follows.
What is your rate?
It depends on the job, but just to give you a range, 18 to 25 yen a word on average. (I have and do work for less. But "you don't get if you don't ask." The customer will usually let you know if the rate is a problem.)
What is your daily output?
It depends on the job, but 1500 to 2500 words on average.
How long have you been translating?
Three years.
What is your specialty?
IT and computers.
Will you do a test?
I will do a small job if you have one, but I have too much paying work to do right now.
Direct Clients. Direct clients are usually less translation savvy, and so I have to take more responsibility for the transaction by managing expectations. I've had to do this with some agencies, too. In general my approach goes like this: ask all necessary questions, be honest, don't haggle, and deliver what you promise.
And interestingly enough, the customer also has the answer to all those questions. I find this faster and less hassle than haggling over unknowns. You both get to learn about each other; they get a product; you get paid. If it works out, you have a good foundation for a future relationship. If it doesn't work out, not much harm was done.
You may also be surprised at the results.
My first job paid 1500 yen a page for translation and 1500 yen a page for paste up. Even at these rates, I made roughly 80,000 yen a day. How? The pages turned out to be B5 size pages from an elementary school textbook, which meant 400 characters per page at most, and very easy Japanese. The paste up was tedious work, but I had the right tools and produced a lot each day. So I made good money. There were 250 pages, and though this is in contradiction to my "start small" rule, but it was a job from a friend, so I did not worry about payment.
My first agency paid me 12 yen a word. The first job was a huge government report that had lots of graphs, which led to lots of cut and paste. So even at 12 yen a word, I was doing an average of 50,000 yen a day. Again, I violated the "start small" rule, but I had been to their office and was relatively sure they would pay.
Then there was the one-page medical abstract that paid 25 yen a word. It took me 8 hours to produce 400 words. Not good.
Translation is like a box of chocolates.
When to Haggle. This rule about not haggling over money is not an absolute rule. In most cases, it works out fine. But there are exceptions.
I try to put off even discussing rates until after I know what the job is.
After finding out what the job is, I have the option of accepting their rates or setting my own. If the conditions of the job are horrible, and the customer still insists that I take the job, I can say, "okay, I can do this by your deadline for 10,000 yen a page, but I do not guarantee the quality." You may be surprised at the answer.
Similarly, I may set rates for the next job after finishing the first job at the customer's rate.
Don't Say No -- Give a Counter Offer. When I cannot do a job because the rate is too low or the deadline too tight, I tell the customer what I can do, and let them decide if they want it.
Say, for example, that the customer calls with a job due by Tuesday, but I have other work and can't make a Tuesday deadline. If I could make a Wednesday deadline, then that is what I say. "I can promise you that job by Wednesday at noon." They may take it.
The same goes for rates. They have a normal job but are only offering 10 yen per word. Instead of laughing at them, or hanging up on them, I say, "I can do that job by the deadline for 18 yen per word."
Everyone pair up. More experienced people with less experienced. The team is made up of A-san and B-san. The more experienced person is A-san.
A-san is the customer, while B-san is the translator. After running through the scenario, A-san becomes the translator, B-san becomes the customer, and they repeat the scenario. After both have a chance to do both roles, move onto the next scenario with A-san being the customer.
I suggest you try the scenarios in your B language as well.
The translator contacts the customer and provides the following information.
The coach should give constructive advice on how to improve the translator's approach.
An agency calls with a potential job. The customer asks the questions and the translator answers with the appropriate information.
The coach should give constructive advise on how to improve the translator's approach.
The potential customer has a 20-page document that needs translating.
The customer should make the conditions very easy on this one.
The translator must find out
Everything should be acceptable, so the translator accepts the job.
The potential customer has a 20-page document that needs translating.
The translator asks the seven questions above. After getting the answers, the translator decides that they can't take the job for one of the following reasons. (A-C). The translator must respond with a counter offer. The customer must either accept or reject. The translator must decline the job gracefully in the case of a rejected condition.
A. The deadline is too short. The translator must calculate how long it will take to complete the job, and then insist on a longer deadline
B. The rate is too low. The translator must ask for the minimum.
C. The field is foreign to the translator. The translator must tell the customer that it is not her field and that she would not produce a good translation.
The coach should give constructive advice on how to improve the translator's approach.