The shortest distance to the customer – The Israel Translators Association Town Hall meeting

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The business world is dynamic. If, in the past customers, almost always purchased from middle party, whether a store or an agency, today consumers, whether business or private, more and more frequently choose to work directly with the provider of the good or service. Thus, the opportunity, albeit challenge, for many freelancers is to reach these customers. Translators have experienced this transformation to one degree or another for over a decade. On December, 3, the Israel Translators Association (ITA) hosted an online open Town Meeting on the subject of direct customers. The participants, members of the ITA, suggested several ways to find non-agency customers, notably linking with complementary services, contacting previous customers and getting listed on the sites of national associations. These methods, among others, are tools to help translators as well as other service providers reach their customers directly.

The translation business has fundamentally changed in 20 years in terms of structure and method.  A few decades ago, the vast majority of translation jobs flowed through an agency, which served an intermediary. Translators would connect with these agencies, many of them small and local, which would then refer  work to them. Furthermore, humans did all translation, great and small, with the sole help of translation-memory based tools. Today, in terms of volume, the vast majority of translation volume passes through large international agencies, some of them public companies, referred to LSPs, language service providers. As occurs in most conglomerated industries, the per-word unit price has decreased significantly, which translators experience as pressure to lower rates if they want work. Moreover, AI and simple machine translation allow many customers to avoid paying a translator or, at worst, send to an agency at a reduced rate, which uses machine translation or AI to produce a basic draft to be edited at a lower cost by a linguist. Thus, depending on their niche, many translators find themselves with less business at lower rates, which is a depressing situation.

The ITA Town Hall brought together experienced translators to share ideas how to find the direct clients and escape the difficult agency situation. One of the key ideas was to connect with services and business that offer complementary products. For examples, graphic artists, PR campaign managers, business planner, financial product experts and attorneys often need translation services. The connection can be virtual or physical. LinkedIn and relevant  Facebook forums provide an ideal place for freelancers to make themselves known. It is even more effective to physically meet other businesspeople especially in business networking organization such as BNI and Rotary as well as at professional conferences. Emphasizing and nurturing the symbiotic relations can bring in customers directly and indirectly.

It is also important to use the hidden resource every established business has, namely its previous customers. When business is slow, some established translators contact previous customers that have not used them in a long time. The content could be a holiday greeting or a simple statement such as “I am between projects and am available for any translation you may need”. If the provider did a proper job in the past, the email may result in a new order or a reference to another potential customer as people often forget with whom they worked several years in the past. This action is simple to undertake and can yield positive results.

In my experience, one of the most effective methods is to join and be listed on the site of national organizations. For instance, translator organizations, including the ATA in the United States and ITA in Israel, have a list of translators and their specializations on their sites  that is accessible to the general public. Potential translator buyers, looking for some kind of assurance of professional quality, seek and appreciate membership as it shows a level of seriousness and professional investment. Furthermore, through cooperating with colleagues in these organizations, it is possible to send and receive referrals, another source of direct customers. Being part of a professional body provides many opportunities to find direct customers.

To make it clear, the translation buyer also benefits. Many agencies, especially public ones, emphasize the bottom line, profits often at the expense of quality. By contrast, freelancers succeed or fail on the quality and timeliness of their service. Their clear interest is to provide the best quality product that circumstances allow. As there is no additional cost for the intermediary, the agreed price is often less than those charged by an agency, an important factor in many buying decisions. Thus, direct connections are of mutual benefit.

In many niches in translation, it has become necessary to bypass the agencies and work directly with customers. In this manner, translators can attain the price and volume of work they desire. The ITA Town Meeting suggested several methods of finding the shortest route to professional rates, the hypotenuse if you will, from the service provider to the translation buyer without an intermediary. It takes some effort but the direct way is the most efficient.