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Warren Buffett is famous for emphasizing the importance of seeking and seizing opportunities. For service, providers, the best opportunities occur when the
potential buyer has already decided to seek the services or products a business
has to offer. Under those circumstances, the customer will properly consider any
reasonable offer. However, despite the increased probability, there is no
guarantee of an immediate deal. Curiously, the lack of immediate success does
not necessarily mean failure as the act of making an offer often creates its
momentum, which leads to later, sometimes unforeseen opportunities as I recently
experienced.
The best opportunities for service providers is when potential customers
publicize their needs for a specific service whether in a forum or service hub or other source.
At this point, if the matter is relevant in terms of material and rate, the provider merely needs to send an initial
contact either with a full proposal or a request for more details. The customer
has an interest to examine each proposal but generally has several options if
the notice was public. For example, when an individual or business posts a
request for translation on proz.com or a Facebook forum, unless the subject
matter or deadline is extreme, a large number of freelancers may respond. These
responses vary in relevance and skill, with the certain providers having an
advantage in attaining the job due to their professional background, price and/or
communication skills. Clearly, better proposals have a higher chance of winning
but there is no guarantee of success as the provider knows neither the level of
competition nor the mindset of the customer. These service requests are easiest
way to market as the customers themselves opened the door.
Yet, even if the potential customer does not accept the proposal, the freelancer,
including translators, editors and writers, may eventually gain a client.
Occasionally, the initial provider fails to provide a suitable product or any prodcut at all. Sometimes, the customer is highly impressed with the skills of the
service provider but already had awarded that job. However, when another
opportunity arises, the customer, often agencies in the case of translation, contact that
service provider. The additional opportunity may in the same week or even in
the next year. The key point is that the freelancer made a positive impression
without even being aware of that fact. The initial proposal eventually bears
fruit.
To demonstrate, in the last few weeks, I have gained a new customer and
also conducted a paid webinar. Neither was expected but both were results of
taking the initiative. In the first case, I had submitted a proposal for a
translation in response to a notice in a forum but never received any response,
an extremely common pattern in the translation industry. Out of the blue, that
same agency contacted last week and requested a quote for another translation,
which was immediately accepted. My first bid, unknown to me, had created the
opportunity to begin collaboration with that agency. On a more surprising note,
I submitted a proposal for a lecture on plain English for legal writing at the
American Translators Association conference a year ago. The organizers did not
accept the proposal as it receives far more proposals than it has lecture hours.
However, to my joy, I just gave that lecture in teh form of a paid webinar. The
administrators chose it among the unaccepted proposals. In other words, if I
had not submitted that proposal, they would not have contacted me.
To succeed in the long term, freelancers must seek opportunities.
Therefore, it is advisable to apply for every relevant project on condition the
service provider has the skills to properly complete it. That technique involves consistent and
significant effort. Even under the best circumstances, it does not guarantee
immediate success. Still, the fruit of that effort often only arises long after
the initial proposal in ways that are unforeseen. The way to success is often
rather long and windy.
* Pictures enable the blind to fully access the Internet.
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