| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Have you ever been disappointed when meeting clients in person? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever been disappointed when meeting clients in person?".
This poll was originally submitted by Nicole Blanc. View the poll results »
| | | | | Question a little vague | Sep 23, 2015 |
Do you mean disappointed by the person? Well, quite often they turn out not to be anywhere near as hot as their sexy foreign accents suggested, but otherwise I'm not really that judgmental.
Or do you mean disappointed by the outcome? I find that every time I meet customers it improves the relationship by making it more personal and making them more loyal. Perhaps that's because they're not disappointed with how hot I am?
| | | | Thayenga 
Germany
Local time: 15:50
Member (2009)
English to German
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Why should I be? A person is a person, and it takes all kinds of people to make the world turn. That's what makes private and business life interesting.
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 09:50
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Life is full of disappointments | Sep 23, 2015 |
Part of being a healthy and balanced adult is to know how to handle disappointments in every sphere of life. We're always facing our expectations, subconsciously or not, against who or what we encounter.
The more experiences we accumulate, the more we learn to fine tune our expectations. We get disappointed, but it's not the end of the world nor does it become a worrying concern.
Have I been disappointed by the outcome of a meeting with a customer? Sure, more than once,... See more Part of being a healthy and balanced adult is to know how to handle disappointments in every sphere of life. We're always facing our expectations, subconsciously or not, against who or what we encounter.
The more experiences we accumulate, the more we learn to fine tune our expectations. We get disappointed, but it's not the end of the world nor does it become a worrying concern.
Have I been disappointed by the outcome of a meeting with a customer? Sure, more than once, but I don't keep track. Every customer is a 50/50 potential either way. ▲ Collapse
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I never meet my clients in person.
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95% of my clients - international agencies - I never met.
| | | | | Disappointed? No! Confused? Yes (once)! | Sep 23, 2015 |
I haven’t met 99% of my customers, but some 20 years ago I was visited by a very good Japanese client of mine. Let’s say that his English accent was so poor that I had to ask him to confirm everything by e-mail…
| | | | Helen Hagon
Local time: 14:50
Member (2011)
Russian to English
+ ...
I've only met a very few of my clients. Each time, this generally involves a trip down to London and, after all the things we tell our children about arranging to meet people they've got to know online, I usually feel quite nervous beforehand. So far, though, my experiences have all been positive. The handful of customers I have met in real life turned out to be lovely and interesting people, and some have even gone on to become good friends.
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Erzsébet Czopyk
Hungary
Local time: 15:50
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | expectations vs. reality | Sep 23, 2015 |
Mario Chavez wrote:
Part of being a healthy and balanced adult is to know how to handle disappointments in every sphere of life. We're always facing our expectations, subconsciously or not, against who or what we encounter.
The more experiences we accumulate, the more we learn to fine tune our expectations. We get disappointed, but it's not the end of the world nor does it become a worrying concern.
Have I been disappointed by the outcome of a meeting with a customer? Sure, more than once, but I don't keep track. Every customer is a 50/50 potential either way.
I agree with you totally.
I am in the other end as usual because I meet my clients almost each day after a phone conversation. They bring the original documents with into my small owl-nest-office.
My saddest experience was not a person but his behavior. The person (approx 45-45 years ld, engineer, university degree) asked me where is the... restroom. So I showed him our clean, tiny but well-equipped restroom (toilet paper, wet toilet paper, regular towel, paper towels, air freshener, mirror, few one-time-use toothbrushes with small toothpastes in a glass). After the client came out I felt my own urgent need so I headed to the same place.
I do not want to exactly describe what I saw there but I think this is not my task to teach an adult people how to use a toilet properly. The lavatory pan was marked with a brown line and the dirty toilet brush was placed back in the holder, made from nice engraved glass. I became really, really upest, called him back and asked: would you do the same in your home, and if yes, who shall clean all this after you? Could you please to clean the lavatory after yourself and buy me a new toilet brush? Until you return from the store I will clean the toilet brush holder myself.
After this, I grabbed a bin bag, placed the miserable-looking brush into and gave him the bag.
Until he came back I prepared the invoice and charged HUF500 (1.8EUR) extra for the cleaning.
He paid the invoice silently.
When he returned for the translation we had a short face-to-face conversation and he told me when he divorced, his wife complained for his behavior even in front of the judge. So I told him you can do in your home whatever you want but do this in any public place or in anybody's office is just disrespectful and unitelligent. Sometimes I can be rude and I think this case I was straight and rude.
[Módosítva: 2015-09-23 11:39 GMT]
[Módosítva: 2015-09-23 11:41 GMT]
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I have never met any of my clients in person
| | | | Julian Holmes
Japan
Local time: 22:50
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
| Meeting customers... | Sep 23, 2015 |
...is the norm and common business practice over here in Japan. And, since over 95% of my customers are based here I make a point of meeting them. It's that simple.
Meeting people face to face actually does grease the tracks and makes it easier for them to dish out work to you. It also gives both of you a chance to suss each other out and see if you're both bona fide and 'kosher.' And, more importantly, find out where you stand with them.
In some cases, a meeting will be follo... See more ...is the norm and common business practice over here in Japan. And, since over 95% of my customers are based here I make a point of meeting them. It's that simple.
Meeting people face to face actually does grease the tracks and makes it easier for them to dish out work to you. It also gives both of you a chance to suss each other out and see if you're both bona fide and 'kosher.' And, more importantly, find out where you stand with them.
In some cases, a meeting will be followed by alcoholic beverages which gives you an even better chance for both parties to let their guards down and talk more frankly, and build a closer bond and rapport.
I'm off to Tokyo in a couple of weeks time to
- meet a couple of new customers and cement the bond and do some PR
- meet a customer who voluntarily raised by rate by 30% (thank YOU!) to personally thank them face to face and talk about how we can cooperate more
- meet a new PM at a customer I get work from sporadically who gave me a 9,000 euro job (nice chunk of cash ) last month to thank them and talk about how we use that project as a springboard for getting even bigger jobs from their end client on a more regular basis
It's this personal touch over here that makes you stand out above the crowd and helps ensure that they'll remember you more when they're contemplating who to give the work to.
BTW, in answer to this question, meetings will hardly ever be 'disappointing' (despite a certain amount of failure to meet advance expectations) because the key reason for meeting people is to talk about how to work to each other's mutual advantage in the future - at least here in Japan, that is.
Added last line
[Edited at 2015-09-23 23:49 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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I've never met a client face-to-face that I started working with online. Not saying it will never happen, but it hasn't so far. I know several clients from my in-house career.
Once I was surprised to discover that a client I thought had been a man turned out to be a woman - but not disappointed.
My husband used to quote the expression: "Blessed are those who expect little, for they shall not be disappointed."
I agree with Mario, grownups shouldn't usually ... See more I've never met a client face-to-face that I started working with online. Not saying it will never happen, but it hasn't so far. I know several clients from my in-house career.
Once I was surprised to discover that a client I thought had been a man turned out to be a woman - but not disappointed.
My husband used to quote the expression: "Blessed are those who expect little, for they shall not be disappointed."
I agree with Mario, grownups shouldn't usually be disappointed in other people unless they turn out to be liars or crooks.
[Edited at 2015-09-23 14:47 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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I just recently had a meeting with a local zoo that was interested in my translation app. They loved it, loved me, but didn't want to pay for anything. Not even the discounted price that I offered them. Oh well, maybe next time.
| | | | | Strange question indeed | Sep 23, 2015 |
This question would make sense if it's about meeting someone in a blind date.
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 09:50
English to Spanish
+ ...
| It's a zoo out there! | Sep 23, 2015 |
Triston Goodwin wrote:
I just recently had a meeting with a local zoo that was interested in my translation app. They loved it, loved me, but didn't want to pay for anything. Not even the discounted price that I offered them. Oh well, maybe next time.
Now that's a hilarious anecdote, Triston. Sorry about the disappointment, but I would be disappointed too.
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