On static sites and empty boroughs – the importance of updating

 

[dilapidated hallway]

Recently, I, Dmitry Betschetny and Ben Karl gave a joint webinar through the ATA on how to create a website. We also mentioned a few times the importance of updating it. One of the reasons is that a site creates expectorations, just as a tourist brochure does. Customer satisfaction to a certain degree reflects the intersection of those expectations and the actual experience. It is vital to update one’s site to actually present the current situation whether by subtracting and/or adding available services. The result will be that you can deliver what you promise, the recipe for success.

As a demonstration of the issue, to celebrate our wedding anniversary, my and wife booked several days a spa hotel in the southern Golan heights. The site was impressive, showing impressive rooms and tempting services. Unfortunately, tourism and the supporting facilities in northern Israel have yet to return what they were before the war. That will take time. When trying to book several tempting massages and other services, I discovered that they were not available. The hotel also had not fully maintained the room, albeit creating only minor issues. All together, we enjoyed our stay very much, found the service excellent and would return not only due to the attractive price but also the genuinely pleasurable experience. Yet, the difference between the site promises and the reality bothered and bothers me.

Therefore, if you have a site either for goods or services, it is extremely important to update it as circumstances change. It may be due to changes in availability or personnel. It may due to an active marketing choice. If a company cannot provide the services, it is better to remove references from the site or write “temporarily unavailable” than to disappoint the customer. For example, if a translator stops working in a given language combination or providing a certain service, such as editing, the site should no longer state the readiness to provide those services. Nobody likes having their time wasted.

On the other hand, many freelancers are actively searching for new niches and learning new skills, including AI. Once a person can provide a service, it only makes sense to make it known on the relevant website. Not only will it improve the SEO in terms of change, it will alert potential customers. A little effort updating the site can make a big difference.

Through the 19^th century, English democracy suffered from having election districts in which very few voters still lived but were the equal of constituencies with far more inhabitants. They were called dead boroughs. A search of the Internet will bring up quite a few of the Internet equivalent of them, i.e., sites where some or most of the services or goods offered are no longer relevant. It is vital to take some time to update your site.

Customer satisfaction – an adapted/adaptable survey questionnaire

 

[4 people with things to say]

In such a volatile market for freelancers, including translators, and large businesses alike, it is vital to retain existing customers and learn why customers do not return. The BBC TV program, Four in a Bed, which features four different B&B operators checking each other’s place out, asks a specific set of questions to sound out, for better or worse, the customer experience, rating them with a score ranging from one to ten. The participants do not always agree with or appreciate the feedback, both written and oral, but clearly learn from the experience in terms of improving their product. The same set of questions, with appropriate changes, could also be useful for other service providers. I will relate the original questions to the translation business but most providers can adapt them.

4 in the Bed question: How were the hosts?

Translator customer question: How was the communication with the translator?

Explanation: People prefer to do business with people that are pleasant and professional and tend not to return to those that are indifferent or amateurish. In translation, most of the communication is written, i.e., customers and service providers don’t physically meet or even talk to each other. Thus, the tone, content and timeliness of the email or WhatsApp chats create the relationship. Think before you press send.

 

4 in the Bed question: How clean was the room?

Translator customer question: How accurate in terms of errors was the translation?

Explanation: Translation buyers expect translators to pay attention to detail. A clean translation should have no spelling, name or number errors and visually resemble the original document. Multiple post-delivery correspondence is a bad omen for future business with the buyer. Clearly, “critical” error is a subjective matter and may, in some cases, involve mistaken judgment by the buyer. The lesson for the translator is allow and take the time to do proper QA.

 

4 in the Bed question: How were the facilities?

Translator customer question: Could the translator provide all the required services?

Explanation: Translation often involves more than production of a document and may include certification, notarization, delivery or even translation into other languages. The question is whether the translator managed the whole process or dropped the bag on the customer. People are willing to pay for convenience.

 

4 in the Bed question: How did you sleep?

Translator customer question: Did the translated document meet your needs?

Explanation: Excellence is not always required. Translation buyers choose to hire translators because of a specific need. If the person used the document without any issues, the translation was successful. If not, the purchase was a waste of money. It may be that customer did not know or failed to provide the actual requirements but such explanations only identify the source of the problem and do not eliminate the issue. Translators must attain the actual requirements before starting.

 

4 in the Bed question: How was the breakfast?

Translator question: Did the translator meet my special needs?

Explanation: From the program, it is clear that many Brits are rather particular about the runniness of their poached eggs and/or the quality and cooking of their sausages. Similarly, translation buyers can be rather particular about delivery format, paging, color issues, phrasing and terminology, among other factors. A translator cannot please all customers but at least should try to ascertain these special demands and attempt to satisfy them.

 

4 in the Bed question: Would you stay here again?

Translator question: Would you use my services again and/or recommend me to a friend?

Explanation: Many people are quite critical by nature but that does not mean that they don’t appreciate good service. Service providers create customer loyally through the manner in which they handle issues. Regardless of any problems that arose, the essential issue is whether that buyer would use your services again and/or recommend your services to a friend or colleague. On the other side, every dissatisfied customer is a double loss for the same reason. Clearly, in situations where, for whatever reason, the buyer chose an inappropriate service provider, a negative answer is not necessarily an indictment of the translator. However, a consistent positive answer to this question is the key to long-term success.

 

4 in the Bed question: How much would you pay for the room?

Translator question: Did you receive fair value for your money?

Explanation: At first glance, this question seems irrelevant and even dangerous for translators. After all, many customers neither know nor can attain competing rates nor does the translator generally wish them to find out. On the other hand, the likelihood of a translator retaining a new customer is highly linked to the sense of value. Regardless of the objective reality, a sense of a reasonable price creates satisfaction while a feeling of overpaying leads to dissatisfaction. On a positive note, responses to this question can provide an objective basis for a translator to raise or lower rates or make other changes.

This series of questions can help all freelancers discover the strengths and weaknesses of their business. It takes courage to pose the questions and strength to accept the answers but these responses may surprise us in a positive way and inspire us to improve. I hope you can adeptly adapt and adopt the basic questionnaire and grow your business.

Inn come issues – the essentials of a comfortable hotel stay

 

[hotel room]

The British television program Four in a Bed is a reality program on hotel stay, whether a full hotel or glamping site or anything in between, and its ultimate measure, the value for the price. On that subject, ny wife and I have just completed a trip involving several, maybe too many, hotels in Crete and Nurenberg (Germany). Each of the hotels, while in a similar price category, had its unique elements that added or subtracted from the ease and comfort of the stay. I am aware people have individual priorities, e.g. the cleanliness and quality of the linen and variety of teas and coffees in the room. I am less critical of such details, within reason, but wish to share which elements influence my perception of these temporary abodes.

Two essential factors for any stay over one night are a comfortable mattress and room to open two valises. A good night’s sleep is the basis for a good day. By contrast, back pain from a poor mattress is a good reason to find another hotel if the management cannot find a solution. In fact, I stopped going to Marriot Hotels for that reason. It is important to be aware that many major chains use the same category mattress in all of their hotels. As for room size, unless I plan to spend significant time at the hotel, the physical dimensions of the room are primary visual until it is too small to lay out two valises without blocking access to the bed. European urban hotels understandably tend to be rather limited in space but proper room planning can at least allow this action. I will put up with such a small space for one night but that is all. I am happy to report that I was satisfied with all of the hotels in these respects.

The most variable room in hotels in the bathroom. I have the impression that, unlike in truly luxury hotels, nobody in the management actually spent a night in the room and tried to take a shower. In some cases, the height of the shower forces the bather to adopt a strange posture while in other cases much of the water ends up on the floor near the toilet. In terms of safety, I have experienced numerous bathrooms in which entering and exiting the shower required great dexterity and seemed an accident in waiting. I believe that the fanciness of the pieces does not make a good bathroom but instead its ergonomics. As poorly designed bathrooms are the rule, not the exception, we just have to put up with the them and complain, just like the weather.

An important factor that many hotels, even otherwise quality one, ignore is hanging space. When traveling in wet countries or in the wet season, it is often necessary to hang jackets and sweaters to dry out. The closet is not an ideal option for obvious reasons. It is sometimes possible to do so in the bathroom but that creates other issues. It is so convenient where there are pegs or other designated places to air or dry out the day’s clothing. The floor lamp works but was clearly not designed for that purpose. When the hotel considers this need, it rates higher in my eyes.

Location was a surprising unclear factor. We stayed in a non-touristy business area on the main road, a hotel in the old part of the city one block from a red-light district and in the middle of a tourist area surrounded by restaurants and shops. Curiously enough, I found advantages in each area and ignored the less attractive elements of the location. The actual surroundings had relatively little impact on the pleasantness of the experience.

By contrast, the level of service was the key for me. When I interacted with friendly and helpful front desk people that understood English to a reasonable level, I enjoyed the stay and was willing to ignore the quaintness of the hotel. On the other hand, dealing with service people that neither really understood English nor truly attempted to resolve issues was a major turnoff regardless of the fanciness of the hotel. A manager at a major international chain actually told me that it had subcontracted room service and had no direct control of room cleaning. As in all service businesses, customers want to feel appreciated and understood. Otherwise, they do not come back, in this case physically.

Clearly, each customer and each hotel have their specific demand and capacities. For me, the bed and a reasonable room size with a friendly staff available to solve a problem is the key to a return visit with other elements of less importance, depending on the daily rate even if it involves only two in a bed.