| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Ever lost good client after recommending a colleague? Thread poster: Heinrich Pesch
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| A lucky man! | Sep 24, 2010 |
Fred Lessing wrote:
I haven't had a holiday since 1994 to avoid precisely that.
I am a terribly lucky person. I very rarely say no, but am glad to have a partner in the company who does a tremendous job when I am away, as well as other two team members who perform beautifully. I can take my two weeks of summer holidays and completely forget about work!
| | | | | Should you look for a stable colleague in a stable framework? | Sep 24, 2010 |
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
I once got an request from an agency who had provided rather steady and interesting projects. I told the PM I was on leave for a three weeks holiday. Then he asked if I could get him into contact with a trustworthy translator for that language combination. I was foolish enough to do so. After I returned from holidays I asked him if the project was taken care for. He thanked me and told that he was very satisfied with the colleague I had recommended. After that nothing was heard of this client.
I realise I should have asked him for permission to outsource the project rather than give him the contact information. But then I did not want to be involved with business during my holidays.
I think you cannot blame yourself at all! Both the customer and the colleague were disloyal to you in my opinion, and that is something you cannot really control unless you prepare things properly.
If you don't want to see this happening again and prefer not to be online during your holidays, I wonder whether you could spend some time looking for one or two colleagues in your language pairs who are similarly experienced, trained, and specialised and who would be willing to sign a contract of mutual assistance for these situations. Of course one of the clauses would be that whoever shares a customer temporarily for whatever reason (holidays, illness, courses, travel...) immediately recovers management of the customer once the temporary situation is over.
The contract would also reflect that if, after the absence, the customer switches over/reports an intention to switch over to a substitute translator, the substitute translator agrees to pay (within a specified term) an upfront compensation to the original translator, equivalent to the value of all work carried out by the initial translator for the customer during a given period, for instance the last 6 months. This way, the substitute translator will have to think twice if tempted by the end customer.
The existence of the agreement (not necessarily all its details) would be made known to a customer whenever the trusted colleague(s) must take over for some days.
| | | | Kipale78
Italy
Local time: 07:39
English to Italian
+ ...
| Forrest Gump, a true story? | Sep 24, 2010 |
Roy OConnor wrote:
Forest was stupid and very naive. He always thought the best of people (except when they upset his girl friend!). But he was still very successful in everything he did.
Could this ever be a true story?
No.
| | | | Paula Borges 
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:39
Member (2010)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I don't understand why agencies ask me if I can recommend someone. I wouldn't ask them: "do you know of any other agencies I should be working with right now? Especially if they pay more". Do they really expect me to be that naive?
If I can't take a job, I just say no. I won't recommend anyone especially because if they do a bad job I suffer as well! Not too worried about other people offering lower rates because the custom in Brazil is that the agencies determine their rates, which... See more I don't understand why agencies ask me if I can recommend someone. I wouldn't ask them: "do you know of any other agencies I should be working with right now? Especially if they pay more". Do they really expect me to be that naive?
If I can't take a job, I just say no. I won't recommend anyone especially because if they do a bad job I suffer as well! Not too worried about other people offering lower rates because the custom in Brazil is that the agencies determine their rates, which are the same for everyone they work with.
I know that sounds bad but at least we don't have to worry much about people going around stealing our business with ridiculously low rates. Well, not yet.
[Edited at 2010-09-24 20:12 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Roy OConnor wrote:
It's really bad form not to contact the original translator to consult or negotiate a way forward. A referral fee is one way of dealing with it.
I agree, I only work with trusted colleagues precisely becuase we "understand" each other and I'm pretty sure that they would never undercut me or take a client away.
I wouldn't want to do business any other way than the Forrest Gump way, I'm afraid:-) There's more to life than money:-)
| | | | | recommending others | Sep 24, 2010 |
Paula Borges wrote:
I won't recommend anyone .... because if they do a bad job I suffer as well! ...
I know that sounds bad but at least we don't have to worry much about people going around stealing our business with ridiculously low rates. Well, not yet.
[Edited at 2010-09-24 20:12 GMT]
I can't recommend anyone I know to be 100% reliable straight off, becuase they have too much work, so, very occassionally, I subcontract to a less experienced colleague and review the job before delivery - because I simply don't want to be associated with poor translations.
I don't worry about people stealing business from me with low rates, in my experience that doesn't happen when you choose a particular niche and work with trusted colleagues.
| | | | | I recommended a colleague only once, but took precautions | Sep 25, 2010 |
It was an interpreting assignment. The client wanted one more French interpreter, as there were two groups of persons to be covered. They moved independently and hence one interpreter could not do justice to both the groups.
I called up a lady interpreter in my city and told her about it. I made it clear to her that this is not a subcontracting work and that she has the same status as service provider as I. I did not want a single cent from her bills as my commission.
B... See more It was an interpreting assignment. The client wanted one more French interpreter, as there were two groups of persons to be covered. They moved independently and hence one interpreter could not do justice to both the groups.
I called up a lady interpreter in my city and told her about it. I made it clear to her that this is not a subcontracting work and that she has the same status as service provider as I. I did not want a single cent from her bills as my commission.
But the only condition I posed was that there shall be no undercutting at least for this assignment. I told her the hourly rate I negotiated and told her firmly that she should not charge less. I cautioned her that the client might try to negotiate with her independently behind my back. She had to take the stand that any fee negotiations by the client should be done with me alone.
It all worked fine. The client did make an attempt to negotiate separate rate with the other interpreter but she flatly turned him down. Both of us were paid in full for our hours of work (by the way her group engaged her for a few hours more, and hence her payment was higher but I did not have any complaint on that score)!
That was the one time I recommend. It was after all an interpreting assignment and the client was not likely to come to India again in the near future. Otherwise I do not recommend at all. It is for the client to consult the Internet to locate more service providers. I want no part of it.
Regards,
N. Raghavan
[Edited at 2010-09-25 01:13 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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