Tag / #marketing

by kywseminar

The Business of Interpreting FAQ 14 – Learn to speak client!

Lourdes de Rioja, a video blogger and conference interpreter well known for her interviews and photographs, recently interviewed me.

She asked me to talk about something that would be important for you, so I chose “speaking client.”

Here is the link to her blog, with the full video. The transcript is below.

Did you know that we all have to add a new language to our language combination?  And it has to  be an active one.  We all have to start to learn to speak “Client.”

Let me explain.

One of the biggest problems that everybody tells me about, wherever I go, is that our clients just don’t understand us.  They ask us to work under untenable conditions,  they don’t give us background materials, and sometimes they even ask us to work from languages that we don’t have!

Well, I want to make a couple of points here.

First of all, of course they don’t understand you!  You’re a highly specialized, highly trained professional, who solves highly specific problems.  Why would they understand you?  Do you understand what your accountant does?  Do you understand what your lawyer, or your mechanic, or your plumber do?  Of course you don’t.  If you did, you’d do it yourself.  But they are highly trained as well.  So that’s the first point.

The second point is that you need to think about how you prepare for a technical job.  You study, you make glossaries, you make lists of terms and their meanings so that you understand what’s going on in the industry.  You even learn some jargon, so you can speak their language natively.

Well, that is your job.  That’s what we’re paid for.  Your lawyer, your accountant, your client, is not paid to study us.  They’re not paid to learn our language, to learn our jargon, and to understand what’s going on.  They just aren’t.  So of course they aren’t going to understand you.  

They don’t know the difference between an interpreter, a translator, a spoken translator, a linguist… They don’t know what simultaneous interpreting is, consecutive interpreting, sight translation – “and wait a minute, you just told me you were an interpreter.  Why are you sight translating?  I don’t get it.”

So what you need to do is learn to speak “Client.”  

The first step is to audit all of your communications:  take a look at your website, your social media presence, your email signature, your CV.  Look at all of those and see where you fall into jargon.  

Are you telling people that you have an A, B and C language?  Why?  They won’t understand.  What you need to do is say, for example in my case, “I work from French and Russian into English, and from English into Russian.  That way they know very clearly what your languages are, and the directions.

If they ask you what services you provide, and what you can do to help them, turn it around.  Don’t just say, “Oh well, I do simultaneous, consecutive, whispering, on-site, remote, whatever…”  They don’t know what any of this is.  

Turn it around and ask them questions, such as, “Would you prefer to save time, or money?  If you prefer to save time, I can set up a team and the equipment, and we will interpret at the same time as your speaker.  If you prefer to save money, then I can also set up the team, but there won’t be any extra equipment, and we will speak after the speaker is finished, which means it will take twice as long.”  

See how clear that is, and how well your client will understand it?  So take a look at all of your communications, and make sure that you are speaking “Client.”  

On top of that, make sure to target your client.  Because obviously, nothing I just said holds if you’re writing to another interpreter, or to an agency.  

But, if you are working with a client who has never used interpreting, who may have used interpreting but is still confused (which is fairly often), then make sure to use this new language of yours, “Client,” and then they can visualize what you want to sell them.

And once they have it in their mind, and they can see it happening, then they can buy it.

by kywseminar

The Business of Interpreting FAQ 13 – How do you avoid your biggest CV mistake?

CVs (or résumés in the US) are a wonderful tool. But whenever I hold a webinar or workshop that even touches on CVs, you can bet there will be plenty of questions.

I find that, when written well, CVs not only help you to show your value to future clients. They are also fantastic at keeping your assignments organized. For example, they could help you keep records to become a member of a professional association.

But once you become a member of that association, do you often think that you don’t need a CV?

One of the things that always puzzled me before I became an AIIC member was how few members had CVs ready to send out. “I’m in the book,” seemed to be the standard response. When I requested one from AIIC members, it took them ages to write something up.

Even though many people trumpet the death of the CV, I still find myself sending out several a year. You can send CVs both in response to direct requests and in prospecting for new clients.

The Fundamentals

Let’s start with what you should include:

👉 Your name

👉 Your language combination

👉 Your contact details

👉 Your skills

👉 Your relevant experience

👉 The technology you own, use, or have experience with

👉 Your relevant education or specialized training and publications

👉 Your specialties or “Areas of Greatest Experience”

👉 Optional: your professional photograph

👉 Extra: watermark

These elements are pretty much what you will find in anyone’s CV, interpreters or not. If this is what everyone includes, why is it so difficult to write a good CV?

CV Myths

Myth 1: CVs are tools for beginners.

Seasoned professionals think that their experience speaks for itself. They are on the roster of vetted interpreters of their association, and that should be enough.

But clients in many fields often ask for and receive CVs for all sorts of jobs. You need to fit yourself into their world in a way that they understand. And CVs not only give an idea of your experience, but also show your attention to detail and presentation.

Myth 2: Regular old CVs are passé, and you should have a graphic CV.

No one needs anything super trendy, with icons that confuse people. A good old-fashioned CV that is well-formatted will serve you just fine!

You can find all sorts of CV-builders or resume-builders online. Your professional association may have one, which allows you to brand yourself with their logo as well. Online tools help in that you don’t have to worry about formatting, and you will still have a nicelooking CV.

(download an example of my own AIIC-branded CV from my directory page, here)

Myth 3: You should fit in everything you have ever done! After all, potential clients need a full picture…

Your CV is part of your personal brand. To simplify my post on branding, a brand is a curated view of what you can do.

If you fill the page with writing and have hardly any white space for the words to stand out, you had better use a larger font. Who knows who will be looking at your CV in the future – and how old their eyes are?

As to curating what you can do … keep reading this article!

Your Biggest Mistake

The biggest mistake you can make is that you send the same CV to everyone – hoping they will see your value. But how will a potential client see the value you can bring if you don’t tailor your CV to that client?

Are you sending it to another interpreter or translator? An agency? A direct client? Answers to these questions will tell you how to showcase your information.

Are you sending it to law firms? Construction businesses? Universities? This tells you what experience would be relevant to include.

Example: Showcase Your Languages

Let me give you some examples of different ways to show your language combination, using my own.

If you send your CV to an interpreter from the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC), to international organizations, or to agencies in Europe, you would use the A, B, C classification.

👉 For example, my own combination would be A: English, B: Russian, and C: French.

If you send your CV to an interpreter or agency not familiar with AIIC, you could still use some jargon.

👉 For example: Native: English, Active: Russian, Passive: French.

If you send it to clients who are not interpreters or translators, you should avoid jargon at all costs. You could use arrows, or the words “from” and “into.” Be as clear as possible, and spell out all language abbreviations.

👉 Russian/French > English, English > Russian.

👉 I work from Russian and French into English, and from English into Russian.

Example: Showcase Your Skills

You should also change your approach in explaining your skills.

If you write to a colleague or an agency that works with interpreters, do use the jargon: simultaneous interpreting, consecutive interpreting, whisper interpreting, etc.

But if you write to people who have little experience with interpreters, explain your skills instead.

For example:

👉 “Interpret with no specialized equipment, speaking after the speaker has finished speaking.”

👉 “Interpret with specialized equipment, in real time, in a team of two or more.”

Example: Relevant Information

Intermediaries have their own requirements that differ from what direct clients need.

If you send a CV to an intermediary, you should include a section on the technology that you own, use, or have experience with.

👉 RSI platforms want to know your upload and download speeds.

👉 They will want to know what headsets and microphones you own.

👉 Agencies will want to know what platforms you have worked or trained on.

Example: Relevant Experience

The single most important part of your CV is your experience. And this is where you will truly show you are thinking of your client.

What I have done throughout my career is keep a list of all my jobs in a simple spreadsheet. I have filled in a table with:

👉 dates

👉 topic

👉 meeting name, and

👉 meeting location.

You could add any other tags you want, such as:

👉 Client name

👉 Type of client (direct, agency, colleague, international organization, etc.)

👉 Simple Client Relationship Management information

👉 Payment terms vs when they actually paid

👉 Any rating system to show how much you liked working with that client

👉 If you organized the meeting, extra costs and income from that meeting

👉 Etc. etc. etc.

If your data is in a table, you can then sort it by any column. For your CV, you would sort by topic, and create groups of similar jobs, or what I call experience modules. You can then swap these modules in and out of your CV, depending on your target audience.

Remember not to give away confidential details! On my own CV, I use the format: <Name of Meeting>, <City/Organization of Meeting>, <Year>. This gives little away, but is detailed enough to show that I actually have this experience.

When you need to send a CV to a law firm, swap in the module with your legal experience. If you need to send a CV to a particular company, then swap in the module showcasing your relevant experience.

My entire CV is 7 pages long (and growing) – but people almost never see all 7 pages.

My first page is a traditional CV with all the information in my opening list above, and a bird’s eye view of my experience.

After that comes my “Work Experience Appendix.”

For the appendix, all my experience is grouped into modules: Aerospace, Business, Development, Nuclear (civil and military)… The last pages list my training experience.

Modular CVs save a lot of time. You could write your entire CV on one page, with a dedicated space for the relevant module. Then swap in the modules as you need them.

Watermarks?

Agencies and others may ask for your CV, to keep it on file or to use to win a bid on a job. But we have all seen examples where they use it to get the job, and then hire someone else, without your qualifications.

So, if you do send a CV, at the very least use the PDF format.

It would also be good to include a watermark – a phrase that shows up behind your CV. For example, the wording could be: “This résumé is for information only and is not for job tenders.” This is the wording in the watermark for the AIIC résumé builder, and what you see in the background of my own CV (again, here).

Of course, anyone with tech knowledge can still strip out and use your information. But at least you will have made it more difficult for them.

Adding Value or Noise?

It’s always a good question to ask yourself before sending anything to your prospects. Are you adding value to their work? Or are you simply noise that they can ignore?

If you tailor your CV to the client’s areas of expertise, and show them only relevant information, then you will keep their attention for longer.

However, if you send the same CV to everyone, there is no story for them to latch onto. They will see all these areas you could help, but nothing jumps out at them to say, “This is the person we need!”

Tailoring your CV helps them see a story;

👉 We have this problem.

👉 This person has dealt with this problem in the past.

👉 Let’s use this person to solve our problem.

Not only does it give potential clients a reason to hire you. It also gives them a reason to consider you an expert, and not simply an interchangeable dictionary on legs that shouldn’t cost a lot.

And we all want to be considered experts, right?

A shorter version of this article was originally published in the American Translators Association’s The Savvy Newcomer.

by kywseminar

An Unexpected Christmas Gift in an Unprecedented Year!

This year, the Troublesome Terps invited me to be a guest on their podcast (tagline: The podcast about things that keep interpreters up at night) – and what fun we had!

The four Terps themselves come from all walks of life: three freelancers, one staff interpreter for an international organization, two researchers. All speak English, though not all are native speakers. And their podcast talks about all things interpreting.

This year, their episodes discussed starting out as an interpreter; how to deal with bullying; issues of mental health in interpreting; interpreting in conflict zones; new ways of working as interpreters; websites for interpreters; taking care of our voice, body and mind; tech for interpreters; and meeting the American Translators Association – as well as an episode on the Know Your Worth: Understanding Marketing and Negotiating for Interpreters seminar by yours truly.

Just to be chosen to be on the podcast is great! You can see from the non-exhaustive selection I just mentioned that the guests broaden our knowledge and topics of conversation. And the ability to get the Know Your Worth conversation out to a wider audience was fantastic.

But this year, they held their first ever Episode of the Year and Guest of the Year contest, based on votes from their listeners – and the Know Your Worth episode won both categories!

I knew the podcast was still being listened to – my interpreting students periodically ask me to explain an expression in English, or to write out the Big Mac jingle… But the episode obviously brought all the interpreter listeners information they could use, and that could help them – especially during this crazy year.

So I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Troublesome Terps for inviting me, and to the listeners for voting!

If you liked this article, please connect with me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliapoger/ – and we can continue the conversation!

To listen to the KYW episode of the podcast, please go here.

To listen to The Troublesome Terps, please go here.

by kywseminar

Getting together with Troublesome Terps

Sometime earlier on in the pandemic, when we were still on lockdown, and our future seemed even more uncertain than it is now, the four wonderful people behind the Troublesome Terps podcast invited our instructor Julia Poger for a cozy fireside chat about marketing, business, and the art of negotiation.

We all know that sometimes some good ol’ shop talk is in order, and this turned out to be an exciting hour and a half that covered everything from pricing models, to negotiation tactics, and everything in between.

To listen, please follow the link, and let us know what you think!

Click here to listen to the podcast!
by kywseminar

Confinement Chronicles. Chapter 1. Keeping busy

Dear all,

Being surrounded by vast volumes of new information when we’re working means that we get used to the feeling, and miss it sorely when it stops. As conference interpreters we are addicted to constant learning, which is why it is hardly surprising that the idea of having a quiet and lazy confinement didn’t stick. We were barely two weeks into our respective lockdowns, when we started discussing which language to add next, and which CPD course to do now that we suddenly have the time. 

We here at Know Your Worth have been keeping busy too, and over the past two weeks we’ve had not one, but three highly successful editions of our KYW Lockdown Seminar, talking not only about some of our more evergreen principles, and how we’ve been using them rightly and wrongly, but also about the current situation we’re finding ourselves in. 

Some of us were prepared for this crisis, others much less so, which means we can, and should, use this time to make sure we are better prepared both for now and for when this enforced isolation is over.

We looked into ways in which we can help our existing clients, and we talked about weathering this storm, and moving forward into whatever the future holds. We also discussed how to best prepare ourselves for that future, no matter how uncertain it may seem at times, and we enjoyed an incredibly interactive and positive exchange with all of our participants. 

I didn’t expect the on-line format would be this informative, insightful and interactive. 

Libor Nenutil

True, every group felt very different. Different languages, different concerns, different dynamics. But one thing remained constant: at the end we had all become close, just as close as if we had met in person, and no wanted to hang up. 

Thanks again for a wonderful seminar. I have been sending e-mails to relevant clients today, and had one good result already.

Catriona Howard

We saw that with our first group, and we had the exact same feeling when the time came to say goodbye to the next two. 

Which is why we would like to thank you all for that, and to officially welcome you into the KYW family. 

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We would also like to use this opportunity to announce a new edition of our Lockdown Seminar. Based on your comments and impressions, we would like to tweak the format a little bit, moving from one hour and a half long sessions to two hour long ones. This will give us the possibility to focus even more on some of the pricing and negotiating related aspects of the course that you seemed to be particularly interested in. 

We are an evolving course. These are challenging times, and the next several months won’t be easy. But we are determined to help you through this. An important part of our philosophy is that we adapt to offer a programme that would best suit your needs, and best answer the questions you might have, given the current situation on the market. 

April 27 – 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – 1. Your Mindset

April 28 – 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – 2. You

April 29 – 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – 3. Your Client

April 30 – 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – 4. Your Money

All times are listed in Brussels time (GMT+1).

We are currently offering the full webinar series at a special #uncrownthevirus rate of EUR 200, and we are looking forward to sharing these coming weeks with you. 

To sign up, please e-mail us at kyw.seminar@gmail.com, and we’ll walk you through the next steps. 

Please note that the number of participants is limited to 10 people, and we restrict enrollment to those who can make all four parts. 

We will be scheduling more webinars, and releasing more content in the coming weeks, because all of us here at KYW are deeply committed to helping you thrive during this slow period, and on into the future.

Stay healthy, stay in touch, and stay tuned for more updates.

by kywseminar

Announcing a KYW Seminar for the Lockdown

Dear all, 

In what is now being referred to more and more often as “the times of the corona”, we have all seen a considerable portion of our assignments disappear, our savings drain from our accounts, and a generally panic-stricken mood set it on all sides, with everyone desperately waiting for life to go back to normal, at the same time wondering if it ever, truly, will. 

As we wrote in our open letter published a few days ago, even if this current lack of income is weighing on us, we cannot give in to depression. 

During our enforced isolation, we need to take the time to take care of ourselves – and we also have more time than we usually do. Which means we can, and should, use this time to make sure we are better prepared both for now and for when this enforced isolation is over.

Which is why our instructor, Julia Poger, is offering a free 

Know Your Worth Taster

March 31st at 4:00 – 5:00 pm Brussels time (GMT+1)

Julia will talk about the basic mindset changes that you should make to have better relations with your clients.

This will be followed by a webinar:

Know Your Worth Lockdown Seminar

April 6 – 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm – 1. Your Mindset

April 7 – 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm – 2. You

April 8 – 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm – 3. Your Client

April 9 – 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm – 4. Your Money

All times are listed in Brussels time (GMT+1). 

We will work together on issues that have blocked us from seeing what we can do in these unusual times, and figure out a plan to move forward so we can work and earn both now and when things get back to normal – though it will definitely be a new normal. While principles from the Know Your Worth seminar will be discussed, this will be a more hands-on approach to what you personally can do today.

We are currently offering the full webinar series at a special #uncrownthevirus rate, and we are looking forward to sharing these coming weeks with you. 

To sign up, please e-mail us at kyw.seminar@gmail.com, and we’ll walk you through the next steps. 

Please note that the number of participants is limited to 10 people, and we restrict enrollment to those who can make all four parts. 

We will be scheduling more webinars, and releasing more content in the coming weeks, because all of us here at KYW are deeply committed to helping you thrive during this slow period, and on into the future.

Stay healthy, stay in touch, and stay tuned for more updates.

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by kywseminar

Winter to Summer on Fast Forward

This year has definitely taken off to a busy start for all of us here at Know Your Worth, and, now that our mini-marathon is over, we’re delighted to sit back, relax, and share with you some highlights from the past month that saw us do four editions in four countries.

Our year started in beautiful Kyiv, that welcomed us for an anniversary edition with delicious food, incredible artwork, and new participants eager to learn more about marketing and negotiating.

We spent two busy days looking into ways to improve your presence on the market and your negotiating techniques, and we also looked at some possible mindset changes, which is probably the right thing to do at the start of any new year, to ensure you not only keep your existing clients and get new ones, but also understand them better to ensure they stay loyal to you, and keep returning.

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This, like our edition there last June, and the one a year ago, would not have been possible without the help and the incredible organizing skills of our local coordinator Andrii Biesiedin.

We then went to Moscow, where we had a one-day intensive training, focusing not only on the Russian market, but also on the European one, looking at strategies that could be applied universally, and brainstorming new negotiating ideas. It was particularly interesting to see our participants share their own stories and experience, and come up with some very creative solutions.

Thank you for the inspiring talk and the great workshop. It was interesting, practical, and motivating for anyone who wants to get insights into the world of marketing and negotiating in the field of interpreting

Elena Kravets

“It saved at least three years of my life.”

Kirill Chereshko

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During our time in Moscow our instructor Julia Poger also spoke at the Global Dialogue Forum, and we would like to thank the organizers for their kind invitation and warm welcome. Julia also gave a taster of her Negotiating seminar during the education portion, and took part in two panels, one called The Interpreter of the Future, and one called International Interpreters: How to Train Them:

It really is impressive to see how the interpreting community in Russia gathers to discuss topics of interest.

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 And on our last day in Moscow it snowed, so we got to see the city in winter!

 We then decided it was time to turn our attention to warmer climates, and headed to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, at the kind invitation of our colleague and KYW alum Heather Adams, before diving even further into summer, and bringing Know Your Worth to Guadalajara.

In Las Palmas we delved even further into the many whys we need to be aware of when talking to clients and even looked into the psychology behind negotiating, taking a more holistic approach to the entire process, while focusing at the same time on the particularities of the regional market.

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And the Guadalajara edition would not have been possible without the hard work and amazing energy of Jesse Tomlinson, who made sure not only our Marketing and Negotiating, but also the Intelligent Note Taking for Consecutive Interpreting went smoothly and without a hitch.

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I am convinced that you never stop learning and that one should always be eager to grow; lack of curiosity is one of the biggest mistakes that can lead to failure. I had the first consecutive interpreting assignment after taking Julia Poger’s Intelligent Note Taking course, and I confirmed that analyzing the speech has a whole new meaning in my mind, and it rocks!

Tania Saldivar Alonso

It was the first time we had both courses back-to-back, and we were happy to see that our participants remained active and energetic throughout, despite the sheer volume of new cases and information, with one of them referring to it as “an inspiring four-day journey”.

It certainly felt the same way for us.

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We are now going to take it easy for a few weeks, but not because we have nothing to do. The opposite, really, as we will be using the time to plan for a busy summer season, and look into a couple of new ideas, which we hope we will be able to present to you in no time.

In the meantime though, thank you so much for staying tuned, thank you for joining the ever-growing Know Your Worth family, and thank you for trusting us with your time, and you business.

We will be back with more news soon. 

by kywseminar

A Busy Start to a Busy Summer

Most people use their summers to slow down, relax, and go on holidays, but not us, and definitely not the members of our close-knit and constantly growing Know Your Worth family. After all, what better time to dedicate some of your hard-earned free time to CPD, and to think about ways to change and improve the way you run your business?

Which is why we are so happy – thrilled really! – about the way our summer has been going so far. It started sooner than expected, with glorious weather and an invitation from our colleagues at AIIC Turkey and the TKTD to hold an edition in the beautiful and magical city of Istanbul at the end of May.

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The seminar was organized in record time, and we would like to start by thanking our hosts and local coordinators, Bahar Cotur and Asuman Okatan, for doing such a wonderful job and for welcoming us to Turkey. We would also like to thank Ali Can Karamahmut for the organization, Esin Aslan Gurbuz for the coffee breaks, and Cem Kaan Gundogar for the lunches.

Thanks to their hard work and incredible energy we were able to focus on the seminar, and so we spent two truly wonderful days studying the mindset necessary for successful marketing, regardless of your language combination or current market, and looked at ways to better understand not only you potential clients, but also your existing ones, to ensure they stay loyal to you, and keep returning. We firmly believe that one of the most important steps necessary for any marketing or negotiating to work is making sure you understand your existing and potential clients, as well as the why? and the what for? of the game, and that is why we always make sure to cover these topics during our seminars.

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We also talked about pricing and negotiating, covering same basic principles before diving into an in-depth discussion of real-life practices and the steps necessary to building a more sustainable and a much more successful interpreting business. Our participants also had a chance to work on several carefully selected case-studies, and we were delighted to see how well they coped with them, and how ready they were to think outside the box.

The seminar, business-oriented as always, also covered some market-specific issues, and our participants took a very active part in all of our discussions and brain-storming sessions.

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Overall, it was a brilliant edition, and we are very grateful to AIIC Turkey and the TKTD for the invitation.

Julia’s training was just what we needed: We had known for a long time we had to change our mindset and view our relationship with existing clients and prospect in a completely different way. We knew we were all highly competent and qualified, but always assumed the clients had to understand that – somewhat miraculously. Julia gave us the tools to make this change happen, not overnight, not next week, but in the medium to long term. She shared with us her experience and knowledge that would help us work on ourselves, our way of interacting with the client, correctly positioning ourselves as experts in the relationship. It was absolutely worth the money, and more importantly, the time we invested in this seminar. We’ve all seen how critical continuous professional development is, and we are all grateful to her for that…

Bahar Cotur

 

We would also like to wish the TKTD a very happy 50th Anniversary, with many more years of successful work on the market, and a wonderful celebration in December.

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Following our return from Istanbul, we had a short break before our trainer Julia Poger went to Kyiv to teach at a Know Your Worth spin-off event, a seminar on Consecutive Interpreting and Note-Taking.

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It was wonderful to return to Kyiv again, following our edition there in January, and we are already planning another edition there for the winter of 2020 with our wonderful host and coordinator Andrei Besedin, so please stay tuned for more updates. We won’t disappoint.

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And now, with July already upon us, we are looking forward to a very busy and exciting summer, with an edition a month, and at least two webinars in the works.

Come and join us in Saint Petersburg, Montreal, or Las Palmas, and, if you would like to hold a seminar in your area, please contact us via this website, or by contacting the seminar organizer Tatiana Kaplun at kaplun.tatiana@gmail.com.

by kywseminar

The Business of Interpreting: FAQ 11 – How do I win the bid?

We’ve all been there, right? We get a phone call with our perfect assignment, all but offered on a silver platter. It’s in our niche, with our ideal customer, we know what the market will bear, and we know we are in the right geographical area. We have all the information the prospect wants, and they are speaking to us one-on-one.

And then… silence. Or the dreaded “thank you, but” email comes – thank you, but we have decided not to go through with this job. Or perhaps – thank you, but we have found someone else who better fits our budget.

Why you don’t want to win the bid

Of course we didn’t win the bid! And frankly, under these circumstances, nor should we have. Someone called us and asked our availability and price. That’s it, nothing else. They didn’t offer any more information, and they didn’t answer any of our questions – if we bothered to ask any.

These are all signs that the prospect was just looking for the service provider with the lowest price.They have limited knowledge about our profession – all they know is that they need someone with our working languages. They assume we are all the same, because they found us on the website of our professional association. So their only point of comparison is price. Even if we volunteer more information, send in a CV, or try to engage them in a conversation, they would still only look at the price. And there is always someone cheaper than us.

That means that to win the bid, we have to be cheaper than anyone else the prospect can find with a quick online search. But do we really want to be the cheapest? It’s a tough position to defend, as someone else could always come in just that little bit cheaper. And it’s not like we don’t have bills to pay. It’s true that we can have a large amount of flexibility in the rates we charge, but if we are always the cheapest then we have to work more hours to pay those same bills.

Moreover, we have to find a partner to work with – interpreting with us, providing the equipment. Which means that the fact that we charged rock-bottom rates will spread to the rest of the market, becoming part of our reputation and brand. And even if we can find someone to work with us at these low rates, we won’t inspire loyalty in our partners.

Surely there’s a better way to win bids?

Don’t worry, it can be done. Perhaps I can illustrate with a personal experience:

A tale of two jobs

Two jobs, both alike in every respect:

two lawyers – let’s call them Lawyer A and Lawyer B – called within a month of each other

to interpret for similar legal jobs – Job A and Job B – with

the same language combination

the same team strength, and

the same type of interpreting.

Legal interpreting happens to be one of the areas where I do a lot of work. I know the pitfalls, so I know what to include in my contract. I know the rates that the market will bear. I know who I’d want on my team. I probably know more than the lawyers about the rules in certain venues.

I sent in my fees and conditions to each of them. I also sent in a CV, and expressed my desire to help.

This is where the story splits:

I found out later that Lawyer A was shopping around. They had spoken with at least one other interpreter, and most probably several. Fair enough.

As you can imagine, I did not get Job A. Lawyer A wrote a polite “thank you, but” email declining my services. Reasons given (to me and the other bidder I know of) were many and strange: they wanted someone closer to the city (where all of us are based), they wanted someone who could better accommodate their client’s schedule (we all could). And they wanted someone who better fit their client’s budget. Ah, now there’s the rub!

Lawyer B, in contrast, contacted only me. Having asked for my fees and conditions, they said everything was fine, and asked that I note down the dates of the event in my calendar. Thank you very much, very happy to do business with you, fait accompli!

Every respect but one

The crucial difference between Lawyer A and Lawyer B is how they found me.

Lawyer A searched my professional association’s website, and wrote to me (and others) from that list. There was no attempt at any personal connection and no relationship at all.

Lawyer B had a need, and asked a former colleague for a referral to a good interpreter. The colleague referred me. Lawyer B then contacted me, gave me the details, and accepted my fees and conditions. There was no bid, nor any competition. There was just a satisfied customer, with whom I stay in touch, giving a recommendation to a former colleague. This meant that from the outset there was a foundation for trust and reciprocity, even before we discussed availability or price.

Start the relationship

To convert your Lawyer As into Lawyer Bs, you must build a relationship. In Lawyer A’s case, I made sure not to send only my fees and conditions, but also a CV that showed my expertise in this field, as well as an email stating that I was ready to help. While nothing came of it this time, perhaps I managed to plant a seed. They may call again for a future client with an appropriate budget, after having had experience with someone with less expertise, or less of a desire to build a relationship.

In the meantime, Lawyer B will not have complete radio silence from me. Nothing too much, but a note now and again to keep me top of mind. If the job gets cancelled, it won’t be due to concerns about my professionalism, but because one of the parties decided not to continue. And by the time we meet in person, I will be cemented in their mind as the best choice they ever made.

Learn to recognize and avoid the reverse auctions out there. Rather, focus on building and maintaining relationships. In the longer-term it will pay off.

Originally published on the blog of the International Association of Conference Interpreters (https://aiic.org/site/world/newsEvents/blog)

by kywseminar

ATA SLD Podcast

A few weeks ago our instructor Julia Poger spoke on the podcast of the American Translators Association’s Slavic Languages Division, talking to Veronika Demichelis and Ekaterina Howard about the Know Your Worth: Understanding Marketing and Negotiating for Interpreters seminar, the benefits of a proactive approach, and the value of CPD and professional training. You can listen to it here:

https://soundcloud.com/atasld/episode-14-interview-with-julia-poger

The podcast covers some common issues with marketing and negotiating that most of us conference interpreters have to face in our daily lives, and Julia generally shares her personal and professional experience in the field.

She also talks about Know Your Worth, the seminar for interpreters that started as part of the Cambridge Conference Interpreting Course back in 2002, soon evolved into a one-day, then its current format. It has now taken place in cities and locations all over the globe, and most of our editions seem to support the age-old idea that all too often people are too comfortable sitting where they are. Interpreters are not that different. It is easy to stay within your bubble, and to remain within your comfort zone, but the market is changing, and the profession is as well. And often all you have to do is change just one or two things in your current approach.

If you want to stop being reactive and start being proactive, this seminar is for you. All it takes it “a simple mindset shift”. And that’s exactly what KYW can do for you.

Try to listen more than you talk, try to understand your clients and your prospects, and why they are looking to hire you. You need to present yourself as an expert, you need to know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and in what way is it different from what everyone else does.

What makes you stand out?

How to think in business terms?

How to avoid being treated as a commodity?

If you want good, solid suggestions as to where to get your marketing facts and advice, then listen to the podcast as Julia shares some of her favourite sources on marketing and negotiating, as well as a few suggestions of courses you might want to consider taking if you’re really serious about marketing and turning your interpreting into a successful interpreting business.

Even if you’re a recent graduate, take a look, or rather a listen, so that you don’t make some very disappointing mistakes when you’re starting out.

And drop us a line if you’re interested in joining us at one of our upcoming editions.