Poll: On average, how many potential clients who contact you turn into actual clients?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Aug 7, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "On average, how many potential clients who contact you turn into actual clients?".

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Angus Stewart
Angus Stewart  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:48
Member (2011)
French to English
+ ...
No idea Aug 7, 2018

I have no idea, as I don't keep records of that. However, I am of the view that not every potential client that contacts me is a good match for me and so am happy to accept that there is a percentage that who never become actual clients.

Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Christine Andersen
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:48
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No idea Aug 7, 2018

Like Angus I have no idea, as I don't keep records of that. First of all, I’ll have to exclude all those mass emails starting with Hi, Hey or Dear translators, then of the remaining maybe half come to me recommended by someone else and only these tend to become actual clients.

[Edited at 2018-08-07 08:50 GMT]


Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Mario Freitas
 
Agneta Pallinder
Agneta Pallinder  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:48
Member (2014)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Other Aug 7, 2018

Of the ones who have found me on ProZ, researched my profile and address me by name for a specific project, probably 5 out of 10. Timing and rates are the most common reasons for the failure of the other 5.

Of the ones who have found me on ProZ, by some fishing algorithm, and address me as "Dear Linguist" or similar - none. Those messages get deleted straight away.


neilmac
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Liena Vijupe
Michele Fauble
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 09:48
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
It's those "Dear translator/editor" emails that skew it Aug 7, 2018

I have no idea but I'm certain it's less than one in ten.

You'd have to include all the emails you receive through your ProZ.com profile (and similar sources). Probably more than 50% start "Dear translator", "Dear editor", "Hello", or simply "Dear". They get barely a read. Others I receive are targeted at me personally. But even then, some are ridiculous - they clearly haven't believed anything in my profile, even if they bothered to read it. However, a fair number come to me knowi
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I have no idea but I'm certain it's less than one in ten.

You'd have to include all the emails you receive through your ProZ.com profile (and similar sources). Probably more than 50% start "Dear translator", "Dear editor", "Hello", or simply "Dear". They get barely a read. Others I receive are targeted at me personally. But even then, some are ridiculous - they clearly haven't believed anything in my profile, even if they bothered to read it. However, a fair number come to me knowing we're a good match and a lot of them end up being clients.

Then there are those contacts who appear to have good jobs in the offing. You get pulled in by the offer of interesting work. Then there's an application form to fill in. That's not unreasonable, but I give them my rates and other terms at that stage and ask them to confirm they can work with them. Then they want an NDA signed - again, it's hard to refuse. Then a "test" arrives. As a marketing translator, I'm happy to produce a short sample of my work using their own text as I think it's important for them to see my style. I don't regard it as a "test" and refuse to use that word . After that, they often spring a multipage service agreement on me. It's usually totally at odds with my own terms - something they must have been well aware of! That often ends any hope of a relationship, but now they've got my email address, so they spam me with "offers" .

A more useful question would be: How many first-time clients provide further work? That would be almost 100% among agency clients, high among direct business clients, and fairly low among private individuals and sole traders (CV owners, website owners, students, self-publishers...) who have no further need of translation or editing services.
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Catherine De Crignis
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Angus Stewart
Kaisa I
Liena Vijupe
Christine Andersen
Mario Freitas
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 10:48
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Aug 7, 2018

No idea. I'm usually too busy actually working to be thinking about how many clients I've got, whether potential or otherwise.

 
Ventnai
Ventnai  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:48
German to English
+ ...
Very few Aug 7, 2018

Many agencies which contact me are basically looking for a low rate, lower than my current rates, whereas I'm obviously interested in moving upwards instead of down. They probably regard Spain as a low-cost country for my main language combination.

Amir Arzani
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:48
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Very few Aug 7, 2018

When I quote my rates, that's usually the end of the discussion.

Thaiane Assumpção
 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:48
Czech to French
+ ...
Define "potential client" and "actual client" Aug 7, 2018

There are many e-mails that I just delete - agencies located in India, offering low rates, asking for language pairs and/or subjects I cannot or wouldn't do... And there are many where I go through the registration process and never get any actual work from - or not for years. If I consider only relevant contacts and actual work, it was about 20% at the time when I still followed this ratio.

Christine Andersen
 
Gibril Koroma
Gibril Koroma  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 05:48
French to English
+ ...
Half of them Aug 7, 2018

I usually get good results from people or agencies within my country, Canada and sometimes the US. Enquiries from outside Canada and the US are usually a waste of time. The worst are usually those that contact me via Proz.com.
By the way an agency calling itself Lexigo that is based in Melbourne, Australia contacted me through proz.com over two months ago and I did work for them. Then they disappeared and never responded to me again.
They owe me over 200 Australian dollars. I wo
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I usually get good results from people or agencies within my country, Canada and sometimes the US. Enquiries from outside Canada and the US are usually a waste of time. The worst are usually those that contact me via Proz.com.
By the way an agency calling itself Lexigo that is based in Melbourne, Australia contacted me through proz.com over two months ago and I did work for them. Then they disappeared and never responded to me again.
They owe me over 200 Australian dollars. I wonder whether I should lodge a formal complaint with proz. com or just forget about it.
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DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
ALL Aug 7, 2018

Working with direct clients I don't care about new clients, yet I know all serious prospects become actual clients

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 06:48
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
It depends on what is considered a potential client Aug 8, 2018

If you consider all e-mails I receive from "potential clients", including all the peanut offers, Chinese and Indian agencies, and eventual clients (individuals) who have no idea of the market, the rates, etc., very few become actual clients.
If you consider the only the e-mails I actually reply after I checked the Blue Board and other info about the sender, then we could consider almost half of them.
So I voted 3 out of 10, but it's a mere guess, given the circumstances above.


Amir Arzani
 


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Poll: On average, how many potential clients who contact you turn into actual clients?






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