| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Who are your favourite clients? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| | Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:02
German to English
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| No particular favourite ... | Oct 4, 2011 |
I don't have a particular type, but I do have favourite clients. That is more down to the individual relationship than the nature of the company. The clients I prefer are the ones that are friendly, organised and, of course, pay well. Sadly, this is not true for them all!
| | | | Anne Carnot
France
Local time: 08:02
Member (2009)
English to French
Mary Worby wrote:
I don't have a particular type, but I do have favourite clients. That is more down to the individual relationship than the nature of the company. The clients I prefer are the ones that are friendly, organised and, of course, pay well. Sadly, this is not true for them all!
Same here, it depends on the individual! I have a translation agency I work with which sends jobs on a very regular basis, and pays well and on time, which is quite confortable even if there isn't much "human contacts", and I also work for a NGO where the jobs come on an irregular basis, but are always very interesting, and the people I deal with are both professional and very friendly. They're probably my favourite, even if they're not my most regular
| | | | Angus Stewart
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:02
Member (2011)
French to English
+ ...
| Individual clients rather than types of clients | Oct 4, 2011 |
Mary Worby wrote:
I don't have a particular type, but I do have favourite clients. That is more down to the individual relationship than the nature of the company. The clients I prefer are the ones that are friendly, organised and, of course, pay well.
Well said Mary! This also reflects my own view that the individual client relationship is more important than the type of client. To the list I would add that I like clients who are responsive and anticipate the translator's needs.
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 08:02
Spanish to English
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Direct clients, i.e. people I can talk frankly too and who make an effort to understand my point of view and modus operandi.
In my experience, many agencies do not like to "bother" the client by renegotiating unrealistic deadlines, rates, demands or expectations, or asking them about ambiguities or doubtful terms (e.g. undefined acronyms, etc) which in the end means more effort and time from me.
| | | | | Favourite clients, not type.... | Oct 4, 2011 |
Mary Worby wrote:
I don't have a particular type, but I do have favourite clients. That is more down to the individual relationship than the nature of the company. The clients I prefer are the ones that are friendly, organised and, of course, pay well. Sadly, this is not true for them all!
Same here. My favourite clients are the ones that send me interesting projects, pay well and on time and of course are friendly too!
| | | | Adam Jarczyk
Poland
Local time: 08:02
Member (2009)
English to Polish
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| Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 02:02
Spanish to English
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In the end, I find my relationship with clients is for the most part "cordial but impersonal," so the notion of preference boils down to who offers me steady, well-paid work, and who can be counted on to pay on time.
In that respect, I would have to propose a particular university press, which offers reasonable deadlines for large projects, pays on time, and is unfailingly courteous in its communications with me.
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Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 08:02
English to French
+ ...
I go for "personal contact" also...
PMs of an agency I've been working with for 20 years change with time. Some I definitely enjoy working with, others are a different story.
I used to enjoy working for the EU, when they still had human beings dispatching jobs. Once they started their portal and there was no "humanity" left, I lost interest and soon quit working for them altogether.
| | | | | End clients, definitely | Oct 4, 2011 |
I can build a relationship, I get the rate I ask for. No middle man reducing my rate dramatically or giving me peanuts while charging a humongous rate to the end client is definitely a plus! I feel when end clients deal directly with a translator, they get a better rate and so does the translator. Everybody's happy!
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Anyone who pays a lot and on time basically
| | | | Pamela Cruz
Chile
Local time: 02:02
English to Spanish
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| I totally agree... | Oct 4, 2011 |
Marcus Malabad wrote:
Anyone who pays a lot and on time basically
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Heike Kurtz
Germany
Local time: 08:02
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
| Translation Agencies that value quality over low prices | Oct 4, 2011 |
I have a few very good agency customers who serve a rather demanding market. They provide excellent reference material with every job, they have a very good QA process and they seem to have a very good and long standing relation to most of their customers. I love working for them because I can concentrate on the translation work, I get answers to my questions and there is never any hassle about payment. All they ask of me is quality work.
In my view, direct clients can only be hand... See more I have a few very good agency customers who serve a rather demanding market. They provide excellent reference material with every job, they have a very good QA process and they seem to have a very good and long standing relation to most of their customers. I love working for them because I can concentrate on the translation work, I get answers to my questions and there is never any hassle about payment. All they ask of me is quality work.
In my view, direct clients can only be handled by individual translators if they have a very good network of colleagues (I had hoped that the Certified Pro network would evolve that way), as those customers often need large volumes in a short period of time and several languages.
On the other hand, I always feel sorry for the end customers of agencies who obviously sell translations via the "low price" argument only. Those usually don't employ me as a translator any more because a) my prices are too high and b) I actually want to understand the source text and ask questions if it is unclear. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Local time: 00:02
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
+ ...
I don't care if they have 2 or 200 workers. I love good and fast payers.
| | | | Rebecca Garber
Local time: 02:02
Member (2005)
German to English
+ ...
| I'm with Marcus | Oct 4, 2011 |
I want them to pay me a living wage that arrives on time for my work.
Respect is nice, personal preferences are nice, but in the end, I will always choose the agency that pays on time.
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