| Pages in topic: [1 2] > |
Poll: How often do you acquire new clients? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
|
|---|
This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How often do you acquire new clients?".
This poll was originally submitted by Amir Kamel. View the poll results »
| | | |
Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 20:16
English to French
+ ...
hardly ever? And nearly always by reference.
| | | |
| I agree with Interlangue | May 8, 2012 |
I'm not desperately looking for new clients at the moment, unless they are going to pay high rates and on time!
This isn't a line of business where you can have special promotions to attract customers.
So any new ones are generally through contacts, especially colleagues working in other languages.
| | | |
Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:16
German to English
+ ...
I've answered 'very frequently' because it is rare to go through a month without invoicing a new customer. I don't do any marketing or promotion, but am frequently approached. Admittedly, I am unable to agree prices with many agencies, but the net result is generally one or two new customers a month, sometimes up to half a dozen!
| | |
|
|
|
Julian Holmes
Japan
Local time: 03:16
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
Occasionally -- when they find me or we find each other.
I agree with Interlangue and Alexandra, too.
| | | |
I used to reckon on at least one new client a month. Now it is probably more.
If you mean end clients, then the answer is very frequently.
I work for agencies most of the time, and while some are stable for a while, volumes of work wax and wane, agencies come and go. My language pairs are not the most frequent, so there may be long intervals between jobs in those pairs.
Some agencies specialise in Scandinavian languages, and send regular work. One of my direct cli... See more I used to reckon on at least one new client a month. Now it is probably more.
If you mean end clients, then the answer is very frequently.
I work for agencies most of the time, and while some are stable for a while, volumes of work wax and wane, agencies come and go. My language pairs are not the most frequent, so there may be long intervals between jobs in those pairs.
Some agencies specialise in Scandinavian languages, and send regular work. One of my direct clients came back after a long interval - she probably did not have anything to translate in the meantime.
Luckily my calendar is normally full, and I am able to turn down jobs I am not particularly interested in. ▲ Collapse
| | | |
Julian Holmes wrote:
Occasionally -- when they find me or we find each other.
I agree with Interlangue and Alexandra, too.
| | | |
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 20:16
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Yet another other | May 8, 2012 |
Julian Holmes wrote:
Occasionally -- when they find me or we find each other.
I agree with Interlangue and Alexandra, too.
Ditto. Nowadays I usually find myself trying to dissuade them or recommending they look elsewhere...
PS: The poll has reminded me that a friend of a client was apparently enquiring after translation services at the start of the year. I called him once, got no reply, then sent him an sms with my email address. He never got back to me, so (now that I suddenly have no more pressing business, having sent off my latest thing five minutes ago) I might look back into that because it sounded like an interesting project in a field I do a lot of work in...
[Edited at 2012-05-09 07:53 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
Interlangue wrote:
hardly ever? And nearly always by reference.
I never have to search for new clients. Sometimes there is a client who finds me.
| | | |
Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 20:16
Member (2006)
German to English
Julian Holmes wrote:
Occasionally -- when they find me or we find each other.
I agree with Interlangue and Alexandra, too.
| | | |
Paul Stevens
Local time: 19:16
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Now and again | May 8, 2012 |
Julian Holmes wrote:
Occasionally -- when they find me or we find each other.
I agree with Interlangue and Alexandra, too.
Ditto. Perhaps "occasionally" or "now and again" might have been a reasonable option.
| | | |
Irene Acler
Italy
Local time: 20:16
Spanish to Italian
+ ...
In certain periods, when I don't have translaton projects at hand, I try to seek clients almost daily, trying to send out my CV or filling in online forms, etc. In other periods I'm quite busy so I let clients come to me if they need my services.
| | |
|
|
|
Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:16
Hebrew to English
| Every now and then...New clients are like buses | May 8, 2012 |
....hard to quantify.
Recently, I've mostly been dealing with repeat clients. It's hard to predict. Might not have a "new" client for months, but then there'll be a spate of new clients all at once....a bit like the public transport system here where you wait an hour for a bus and then three come at once.
| | | |
Ty Kendall wrote:
...a bit like the public transport system here where you wait an hour for a bus and then three come at once.
Very much like Ty. I might have three new customers in one month, or go for six months just working for my regular customers. I voted "every six months" as a rough average.
| | | |
Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 11:16
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam
Julian Holmes wrote:
Occasionally -- when they find me or we find each other.
I agree with Interlangue and Alexandra, too.
| | | |
| Pages in topic: [1 2] > |
Login to reply/comment 
