| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: How do potential employers and clients get in touch with you? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How do potential employers and clients get in touch with you?".
This poll was originally submitted by Anne Spitzmueller
View the poll here
A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run.... See more This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How do potential employers and clients get in touch with you?".
This poll was originally submitted by Anne Spitzmueller
View the poll here
A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629 ▲ Collapse
| | | | | What other ways? | Jul 20, 2006 |
I am curious to know about the "other". Snail mail? SMS? Dispatch rider?
| | | | Parrot 
Spain
Local time: 10:24
Spanish to English
+ ...
| I have an SMS client | Jul 20, 2006 |
They usually follow up their mail with SMS notifications just in case. Otherwise, I'd put the dispatch rider along with messengers, including the occasional prepaid taxicab delivering stacks of hard copy, CDs or memory sticks.
| | | | Andy Watkinson
Spain
Local time: 10:24
Member
Catalan to English
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| Surely,..... | Jul 21, 2006 |
...the only possible answer would be phone & e-mail.
If we're talking about the "main way used" to establish contact.
Fax? No comment.
Personally? What...? Client shows up at my door "bearing unsolicited gifts"? (with apologies to the Greeks)
Messenger? Without arranging it first by phone or e-mail?
"We'll send it without telling him first. He really enjoys that."
Other: Engraved on marble and attached to a messenger pigeon,... See more ...the only possible answer would be phone & e-mail.
If we're talking about the "main way used" to establish contact.
Fax? No comment.
Personally? What...? Client shows up at my door "bearing unsolicited gifts"? (with apologies to the Greeks)
Messenger? Without arranging it first by phone or e-mail?
"We'll send it without telling him first. He really enjoys that."
Other: Engraved on marble and attached to a messenger pigeon, perhaps?
Telepathy?
Nostradamus' centurions?
Beam me the translation, Scotty??????
Andy ▲ Collapse
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 01:24
English to German
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In memoriam | Interesting phenomenon | Jul 21, 2006 |
Clients in the US like to contact me via email whereas European companies prefer to give me a phone call (sometimes at bizarre times as they automatically seem to assume that I am at the East Coast).
"Other" could be a carrier pigeon or smoke signals or my favorite way of getting a new client: being recommended by a colleague (new project PLUS a nice compliment!).
Nice poll, Anne! Greetings!
| | | | texjax DDS PhD
Local time: 04:24
Member (2006)
English to Italian
+ ...
Andy Watkinson wrote:
Other: Engraved on marble and attached to a messenger pigeon, perhaps?
Telepathy?
Nostradamus' centurions?
Beam me the translation, Scotty??????
drums
smoke signals
flashing light signals
telegraph
walkie-talkie..
| | | | Karen Stokes
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:24
Member (2003)
French to English
I'm assuming that "Messenger" here means Windows Messenger, MSN etc. I voted email, but I also increasingly use Skype with quite a number of regular clients for checking availability, quick queries etc.
| | | | Melanie Nassar
United States
Local time: 11:24
German to English
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| Messenger can be quite convenient | Jul 21, 2006 |
I voted email, but one agency that I work for uses MSN Messenger almost exclusively. I personally think it's a great idea, all the people in the office interact with all the translators, and the translators among themselves if necessary. Feedback is almost instantaneous, and real personal interaction and even friendship develops. When I first started working with them, I had never used any kind of Messenger at all, thinking it was something just for kids, but now I am a believer. Email remain... See more I voted email, but one agency that I work for uses MSN Messenger almost exclusively. I personally think it's a great idea, all the people in the office interact with all the translators, and the translators among themselves if necessary. Feedback is almost instantaneous, and real personal interaction and even friendship develops. When I first started working with them, I had never used any kind of Messenger at all, thinking it was something just for kids, but now I am a believer. Email remains essential of course, especially for people in far-flung corners of the world whose online times do not coincide.
Some colleagues at this agency keep pressing me to hook up a camera to make the experience even more lifelike, but I am reluctant to give up working in my pajamas. If Iwanted to be presentable at all times I would not be a freelancer!  ▲ Collapse
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| Messenger = MSN-, Yahoo-Messenger, Skype etc. | Jul 21, 2006 |
Yes, I mean the MSN-, Yahoo-Messenger and Skype and similar programmes.
One of my best clients initially contacted me through the MSN-Messenger and it has proven a very good tool to communicate since then.
I know that "personally" is not very likely but I experienced a situation where a lawyer approached me about a potential collaboration when I was in his office. He knew that I work as a freelance translator and their translator was about to retire.
... See more Yes, I mean the MSN-, Yahoo-Messenger and Skype and similar programmes.
One of my best clients initially contacted me through the MSN-Messenger and it has proven a very good tool to communicate since then.
I know that "personally" is not very likely but I experienced a situation where a lawyer approached me about a potential collaboration when I was in his office. He knew that I work as a freelance translator and their translator was about to retire.
I find it interesting that only around 10 % of all the participants in the poll get contacted by phone although it confirms my own experience. I think, e-mails are very convenient for various reasons. Apparently clients seem to think the same.
Thanks for voting!
Anne ▲ Collapse
| | | | | phone and e-mail | Jul 21, 2006 |
Hi,
I answered "phone" although I also get lots of e-mails (especially from agencies), but thinking of it, most e-mail contacts remain "potential" customers whereas those who call me very often become "real" customers. The sole exception was a quite nasty junk call from a mentally disturbed guy (to say it softly)...
| | | | | client at the door | Jul 21, 2006 |
I do have a local client who makes documentaries and does just show up at my front door without warning, usually early in the morning when I am still working in my PJ's. Thank goodness he only makes a couple of films a year!
Other than that it is e-mail and phone calls for me, although I hate phone calls as they are distracting and often are not related to a job, but rather to complain about another translator, ask if I know a translator for a certain language pair, etc. My limit is usuall... See more I do have a local client who makes documentaries and does just show up at my front door without warning, usually early in the morning when I am still working in my PJ's. Thank goodness he only makes a couple of films a year!
Other than that it is e-mail and phone calls for me, although I hate phone calls as they are distracting and often are not related to a job, but rather to complain about another translator, ask if I know a translator for a certain language pair, etc. My limit is usually 3 or 4 calls before I unplug the house phone and turn off my mobile.
I wouldn't mind smoke signals though...
Cheers!
Vicky ▲ Collapse
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My phones lie silent for days on end. Hardly anyone rings me with regard to work. I do practically all my business by e-mail or MSN.
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And that is why I bought a wonderful little machine recently, with which I can receive and send emails from every place in Germany. I was fed up sitting in front of my computer waiting for emails which quite often arrived five seconds after I finally left the house to do something else ...
| | | | Parrot
Spain
Local time: 10:24
Spanish to English
+ ...
Andy Watkinson wrote:
Fax? No comment.
Try working with lawyers. (When I talked about stacks of hard copy in a cab, I was referring to courts).
"We'll send it without telling him first. He really enjoys that."
Other: Engraved on marble and attached to a messenger pigeon, perhaps?
No, but imagine a client who thanks you after you rushed a one-liner, saying "I'm having it engraved in bronze using a special process that will ensure it lasts 2,500 years". And two weeks later you found a typo.
Telepathy?
Nostradamus' centurions?
Beam me the translation, Scotty??????
| | | | A Hayes (X)
Australia
Local time: 18:24
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