Poll: My client-negotiating skills are: Autor de la hebra: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "My client-negotiating skills are:".
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Depends on what is meant by client-negotiation skills. I’ve always managed to negotiate a new deadline. The fact that over the years I have delivered before the deadline quite often gives me a good grounding in the few occasions I happen to need to negotiate a new deadline. I can’t say the same about rates as sometimes the difference is so large that in all likelihood there is no room for negotiation and my client-negotiation skills are useless! | | |
Angus Stewart Reino Unido Local time: 19:04 francés al inglés + ...
As part of my legal education I received training in negotiation and it is a transferable skill. | | |
Debora d'Amato (X) Italia Local time: 20:04 inglés al italiano + ...
When you're a student, it's hard to negotiate. Normally, they think you're less professional than other translators (as a student you have less experience, of course) so it's very hard negotiating with someone who "miraculously" offers you a job. It's like they're doing you a favour, you want to negotiate too? They could get annoyed! | |
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Somewhere between adequate and stroppy bitch... | Jul 2, 2018 |
I try to regard clients as business partners and bear in mind that they need my services! Favours definitely go both ways with the good clients. I learned early on that an impossible deadline is not a reason to turn down the job, unless the client says up front it is not negotiable. They may be surprised when I tell them sorry, I can't drop everything else and deliver immediately, but what about Xxxday? Many of them agree to it when asked, however. Rates too - I mentio... See more I try to regard clients as business partners and bear in mind that they need my services! Favours definitely go both ways with the good clients. I learned early on that an impossible deadline is not a reason to turn down the job, unless the client says up front it is not negotiable. They may be surprised when I tell them sorry, I can't drop everything else and deliver immediately, but what about Xxxday? Many of them agree to it when asked, however. Rates too - I mention sometimes how many hours a job will take me. (A guesstimate, but not too wild.) Clients with a 'tight budget' won't give in, so they have to find another translator, but I have also succeeded in negotiating higher rates than the client's initial proposal. I recently managed to get a client to change indemnity and auditing clauses in their terms and conditions. As a student, don't feel less professional than other translators, and try not to be less professional! If the job you deliver is fit for purpose, it has the same value as a job done by a more experienced translator, and otherwise it is worthless. Don't tell clients you are inexperienced, tell them what you are good at! OK, you do gather experience over time, but as a freelancer there is no promotion. You are the boss, chief cook and bottle-washer in the firm from the start. ▲ Collapse | | |
Always possible to improve them | Jul 2, 2018 |
Markets change. To keep up with those changes you need to adjust your negotiating skills accordingly. I am getting better at this as time goes on. I thought I had understood this early on, but I was wrong. I was selling myself short a lot of the time. The customer is not always right, but the supplier is not always wrong either. The client is paying us to know our business and I understand that much better now. | | |
I don't waste a lot of time with negotiations, mostly my standard prices are 'take it or leave it'. | | |
Like it or lump it | Jul 2, 2018 |
Yetta J Bogarde wrote: I don't waste a lot of time with negotiations, mostly my standard prices are 'take it or leave it'. I don't negotiate full stop. Take it or leave it end of. Compromise, like lunch, is for wimps.
[Edited at 2018-07-02 13:11 GMT] | |
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Ricki Farn Alemania Local time: 20:04 inglés al alemán I have no idea | Jul 2, 2018 |
... and I have lost trust in business coaches of all hues who might want to tell me. Chris S, if I weren't scared of all means of transportation across the Channel, I'd try to take you out to lunch![](https://cfcdn.proz.com/images/bb/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif) | | |
neilmac España Local time: 20:04 español al inglés + ...
Probably pretty rubbish. There are so many assumptions behind the question that I don't really know how to respond. Negotiating what? Rates? I think mine are cheap in terms of quality-price ratio, so it's a case of take-it-or-leave-it. Deadlines? I prefer them as long as possible. If asked to give one, I make them as long, flexible and open as I can. | | |
DZiW (X) Ucrania inglés al ruso + ...
I don't work with middlemen (agencies), so all my direct clients are capable to verbalize the idea and define the problem, let alone the project management. Rather often I still get "best offers" as an ultimatum demanding some USD0.02/w or insane repetition discounts, forgetting they are no market makers for me and like | | |
I read this with a wider interpretation than just prices. Also, negotiation is not only downwards, but upwards.![](https://cfcdn.proz.com/images/bb/smiles/icon_wink.gif) The "urgent" thing is often negotiable too. It can mean yesterday in one client's mind and next week in that of another. As already said, you can often clinch a deal saying I can't do it by Tuesday, but by Thursday morning, I can. | |
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Mario Freitas Brasil Local time: 15:04 Miembro 2014 inglés al portugués + ...
I'm not modest in this aspect. I'm pretty good in negotiations and dealing with the clients in general. | | |