Poll: My client-negotiating skills are:
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jul 2, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "My client-negotiating skills are:".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 19:44
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Jul 2, 2018

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!

Laura Nagle (X)
Amir Arzani
 
Angus Stewart
Angus Stewart  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:44
Member (2011)
French to English
+ ...
Good Jul 2, 2018

As part of my legal education I received training in negotiation and it is a transferable skill.

 
Debora d'Amato (X)
Debora d'Amato (X)  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 20:44
English to Italian
+ ...
Not easy Jul 2, 2018

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!

 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 20:44
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
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.
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Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Noelle Crist-See
Ester Vidal
Joe Ly Sien
Amir Arzani
Sabrina Bruna
 
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 20:44
French to English
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.

 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 20:44
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
Other Jul 2, 2018

I don't waste a lot of time with negotiations, mostly my standard prices are 'take it or leave it'.

Christopher Schröder
John Cutler
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
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]


Muriel Vasconcellos
 
Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 20:44
English to German
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


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 20:44
Spanish to English
+ ...
I don't know Jul 2, 2018

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)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
adequate Jul 2, 2018

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


 
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 20:44
French to English
Negotiation Jul 2, 2018

I read this with a wider interpretation than just prices. Also, negotiation is not only downwards, but upwards.

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.


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 16:44
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Very Good Jul 3, 2018

I'm not modest in this aspect. I'm pretty good in negotiations and dealing with the clients in general.

 


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Poll: My client-negotiating skills are:






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