Poll: Formal or friendly: which do you most use with new clients?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Dec 15, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Formal or friendly: which do you most use with new clients?".

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Joohee Kim
Joohee Kim  Identity Verified
South Korea
Local time: 00:37
Member (2017)
English to Korean
+ ...
Formal Dec 15, 2017

The client is a business partner, not my friend. So I think I should be formal.

Also, it is important for Asian people to be polite. As you know, a lot of Asian languages have honorifics...

[Edited at 2017-12-15 08:22 GMT]


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Other Dec 15, 2017

I'm not sure that formal and friendly are opposites.

But I get the point. I would say formal with direct customers, informal with serious agencies, and unprofessional bordering on the abusive with the spammers and cheapskates I only seem to get through ProZ.


 
Platon Danilov
Platon Danilov  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 17:37
English to Russian
+ ...
Formal Dec 15, 2017

The first contact with a new client is always formal. Later, we may go to somewhere in between or sometimes even to a "friendly" style. But on this stage I can't call such client a new one.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 15:37
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Somewhere in between Dec 15, 2017

It depends. We tend to be more formal in Portugal than in other countries. I learned some years ago (a public relations course) that the golden rule in communication is reciprocity. So, I treat each message on its own merits and answer accordingly using my common sense...

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:37
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Somewhere in between Dec 15, 2017

But formal is often clearer. Attempts to be too friendly can be confusing. My best-paying client, an international organization, is *very* formal. I feel respected, yet I know they won't take any nonsense.

 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 16:37
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
I voted friendly, but it depends what you mean Dec 15, 2017

Straightforward and courteous, without standing on ceremony.

To some extent I try to reflect the client's approach. If a German opens the mail with 'Sehr geehrte Frau Andersen...' my answer is a little more formal than an answer to one of my favourite clients/colleagues who typically writes:

Hi Christine
Can you translate this file sometime next week?
When and how much?

Regards H

Most of my clients are Scandinavian or from the UK, a
... See more
Straightforward and courteous, without standing on ceremony.

To some extent I try to reflect the client's approach. If a German opens the mail with 'Sehr geehrte Frau Andersen...' my answer is a little more formal than an answer to one of my favourite clients/colleagues who typically writes:

Hi Christine
Can you translate this file sometime next week?
When and how much?

Regards H

Most of my clients are Scandinavian or from the UK, and they may address me as 'Dear Ms Andersen', but most use my first name, at least when we get past the introductions, and Danes in particular use an informal tone and go straight to the point.

It is not quite the style I use with my real friends, but a sort of 'business friendly'.
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Nina Khmielnitzky
Nina Khmielnitzky  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 11:37
Member (2004)
English to French
In between Dec 15, 2017

While still being polite, I will follow my client's lead. Since 99.9999% of my exchanges are made by email, if they address me by my first name, I do so too.
It's formal but friendly.


 
Dénis Wettmann
Dénis Wettmann  Identity Verified
Ireland
Local time: 16:37
Member (2016)
German to English
+ ...
They are not opposites. Dec 16, 2017

Chris S wrote:

I'm not sure that formal and friendly are opposites.



I concur. Both are the standard in my communication style.


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 12:37
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Balance is everything Dec 17, 2017

Chris S wrote:
I'm not sure that formal and friendly are opposites.


A certain level of formality is necessary for professional purposes. If you exceed that level, you sound pedantic and it is quite unpleasant.
A certain level of friendliness is adviseable, but if you exceed that level, you'll sound 'artificial' and it is quite unpleasant.
Balance is everything.

[Edited at 2017-12-17 16:18 GMT]


 


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Poll: Formal or friendly: which do you most use with new clients?






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