| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Pitching to a direct client Thread poster: Kean Hall
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Kean Hall
Italy
Local time: 17:46
Member (2018)
Italian to English
Hello,
A local company is enjoying mercurial success in a particular sector in which I have extensive experience. The English translations on their website are truly dreadful. Not all of them - but most. It's sad, because their products are really top notch. And product reliability is everything to them. I suspect they're struggling to keep pace with their own success. I want to pitch to them. Any experience of cold-pitching to direct clients? I have no direct contacts within the company. ... See more Hello,
A local company is enjoying mercurial success in a particular sector in which I have extensive experience. The English translations on their website are truly dreadful. Not all of them - but most. It's sad, because their products are really top notch. And product reliability is everything to them. I suspect they're struggling to keep pace with their own success. I want to pitch to them. Any experience of cold-pitching to direct clients? I have no direct contacts within the company. I think if I just email their "info" email I won't get anywhere. I have their CEO's LinkedIn details but he doesn't post, so it would feel a bit indiscreet just trying to contact him directly. They have a "careers" section on their website, so I'm thinking of sending them my "pitch" via their standardised form, which is essentially for prospective employees.
Ideas I've got in mind:
- Write a covering letter highlighting the damage they're doing to their reputation because of their poorly-written website. I'm worried, however, that this might appear arrogant.
- Give one of their texts a complete makeover, with comments about why I've changed things, including incorrect terminology, poor copywriting, spelling mistakes (!), unclear instructions.
- Give them an estimate for what would amount to post-editing their poorly-written copy
- Give them an estimate for sorting out their (numerous!) instruction manuals
Any tips, experience or suggestions greatly appreciated. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 17:46
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Is it a big company? | Jun 20, 2022 |
The career section, for what type of employees is it?
You nave nothing to lose, you may try the way you presented it.
If it’s a big company/corporation, it’ll probably go unnoticed, regardless of the channel you choose.
| | | | David GAY
Local time: 17:46
English to French
+ ...
What I would do is find different contacts at the company on linkedin. You can start to contact the office manager and the HR.If it doesn t work, you try the marketing and the sales manager. Eventually, if it still doesnt work, you can contact the CEO so it gives you more chances to succeed.You should offer them more services such as copywriting and SEO and community management. For instance, why not offer them to write a downloadable ebook for them to educate their clients.To position you as an... See more What I would do is find different contacts at the company on linkedin. You can start to contact the office manager and the HR.If it doesn t work, you try the marketing and the sales manager. Eventually, if it still doesnt work, you can contact the CEO so it gives you more chances to succeed.You should offer them more services such as copywriting and SEO and community management. For instance, why not offer them to write a downloadable ebook for them to educate their clients.To position you as an expert, showcase the work you did in this field such as translating theRock climbing guide: “Rocca Pietore: Rock Climbing in
the Colli Euganei” by Chinello and Simionato and
the Rock climbing guide: “Mid-Grade Trad Routes in the
Dolomites” by Emiliano Zorzi
Find social proof
Please let us know the outcome.
[Edited at 2022-06-20 06:35 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Be positive? | Jun 20, 2022 |
Kean Hall wrote:
Hello,
A local company is enjoying mercurial success in a particular sector in which I have extensive experience. The English translations on their website are truly dreadful. Not all of them - but most. It's sad, because their products are really top notch. And product reliability is everything to them. I suspect they're struggling to keep pace with their own success. I want to pitch to them. Any experience of cold-pitching to direct clients? I have no direct contacts within the company. I think if I just email their "info" email I won't get anywhere. I have their CEO's LinkedIn details but he doesn't post, so it would feel a bit indiscreet just trying to contact him directly. They have a "careers" section on their website, so I'm thinking of sending them my "pitch" via their standardised form, which is essentially for prospective employees.
Ideas I've got in mind:
- Write a covering letter highlighting the damage they're doing to their reputation because of their poorly-written website. I'm worried, however, that this might appear arrogant.
- Give one of their texts a complete makeover, with comments about why I've changed things, including incorrect terminology, poor copywriting, spelling mistakes (!), unclear instructions.
- Give them an estimate for what would amount to post-editing their poorly-written copy
- Give them an estimate for sorting out their (numerous!) instruction manuals
Any tips, experience or suggestions greatly appreciated.
I wonder if it would be better to highlight the positives of your work, and the benefits of excellent copy, rather than putting too much emphasis on how bad the texts are at the moment. Also, find things to praise in the company and maybe say how much you admire what they have achieved so far. Be specific so they know you have actually given some thought to their company rather than just spamming. I get quite a lot of emails from companies wanting to revamp my website, SEO, etc. but none of them are actually specific enough for me to take them seriously.
I definitely like the idea of doing a small sample so they have something to look at, annotated with comments about how why it is so good.
I'd love to hear how you get on if you do give it a go!
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 17:46
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Raising the chances by contacting the CEO? | Jun 20, 2022 |
CEOs don’t deal with content micromanagement.
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I wouldn’t start by highlighting the whole shebang and by sending a price estimate. If I was in your shoes, I would select the worst instruction manual (consumers might not visit their website, but in principle they will need to read the manual of the product they bought) and point out what is poorly written or translated. Try to be as positive and as diplomatic as possible (when I did the same years ago everything had been translated by the owner’s daughter…).
| | | | Kean Hall
Italy
Local time: 17:46
Member (2018)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER | THANK YOU... | Jun 20, 2022 |
Sincere thanks for all your replies. Some useful pointers I'll need to factor into my approach and I'll keep you posted about how things go.
| | | | Kean Hall
Italy
Local time: 17:46
Member (2018)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Teresa Borges wrote:
Try to be as positive and as diplomatic as possible (when I did the same years ago everything had been translated by the owner’s daughter…).
Yes...will have to tread very carefully!
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David GAY
Local time: 17:46
English to French
+ ...
Lingua 5B wrote:
CEOs don’t deal with content micromanagement.
that s why I mentioned the OP should start with the marketing manager or the HR first
But this company is probably a very small one. In a small company, a CEO must do almost everything himself.
[Edited at 2022-06-20 13:10 GMT]
| | | | Kean Hall
Italy
Local time: 17:46
Member (2018)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER | Pretty small | Jun 20, 2022 |
David GAY wrote: Lingua 5B wrote:
CEOs don’t deal with content micromanagement. that s why I mentioned the OP should start with the marketing manager or the HR first But this company is probably a very small one. In a small company, a CEO must do almost everything himself. [Edited at 2022-06-20 13:10 GMT]
Yes, it's pretty small. I think about 20 or so staff.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 17:46
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
We didn’t get an answer on how big it is.
Even in medium-size companies, CEO is not interested in any micromanagement.
| | | | Kean Hall
Italy
Local time: 17:46
Member (2018)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Lingua 5B wrote:
We didn’t get an answer on how big it is.
Even in medium-size companies, CEO is not interested in any micromanagement.
Thank you Lingua. That's useful.
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 17:46
French to English
You could maybe ask people in English-speaking, or at least non-Italian-speaking countries, to write in to their website saying they'd heard the company's products were great, but they couldn't understand the website well enough to know what product they needed to order. It might be possible to find a howler in the production descriptions that really shows the mistakes up?
Then you find the person in charge of the website and email her a brochure with samples of your work, and in y... See more You could maybe ask people in English-speaking, or at least non-Italian-speaking countries, to write in to their website saying they'd heard the company's products were great, but they couldn't understand the website well enough to know what product they needed to order. It might be possible to find a howler in the production descriptions that really shows the mistakes up?
Then you find the person in charge of the website and email her a brochure with samples of your work, and in your blurb you highlight the fact that your take on translation is focussed on appealing to "the English speaker mindset". As others have said, be sure to show great enthusiasm for the company's products.
You might also look out for events at your local chamber of commerce, or trade fairs that people from the communication department of the company might just be attending. My previous boss used to go to trade fairs, casually strike up conversations at the stands of companies she was interested in working with, and hand over her business card "if ever you need more translators", so you might like to try that tack too.
It might take a while, especially if as you say they are probably having trouble keeping up with demand. They will be focussing on demand at home first, but if you get in there and make your name known as a translator working in their line of business, when they do decide to upgrade their website, they'll have your business card. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 17:46
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| If it’s small. | Jun 20, 2022 |
They probably don’t have a good budget, which is why their content is like that.
My guess is that all your contacts will go unnoticed, but I say go try it and let us know what happened.
They usually rely on their marketing department to handle all this. Also, depending on the product (what’s the product?), they invest much more in visuals (design, graphics, etc). as that sells them better. The content may be irrelevant or slightly relevant (for some type of products).
| | | | Kean Hall
Italy
Local time: 17:46
Member (2018)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER | Probably over cautious but... | Jun 20, 2022 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
They probably don’t have a good budget, which is why their content is like that.
My guess is that all your contacts will go unnoticed, but I say go try it and let us know what happened.
They usually rely on their marketing department to handle all this. Also, depending on the product (what’s the product?), they invest much more in visuals (design, graphics, etc). as that sells them better. The content may be irrelevant or slightly relevant (for some type of products).
Sorry to be all cloak and dagger and I'm probably being ridiculously over cautious but I'll keep the product close to my chest for the moment 'cos...well...y'know. The content, however, is key to developing customer confidence in a high-risk product in the sporting goods sector.
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