Sales tips for translation providers. The 3rd International Translation Technology Terminology Conference (TTT) a two-day event held in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

1. Hints, tips
and tricks
douglawrence.com #tttconf

2. Drive Attitude Confidence
• Drive
• “Get up and go” every morning
• Focus on goals and personal achievement
• Ambition to succeed
• Attitude
• Positive expectancy
• Learn and accept assistance
• Always looking to achieve more
• Confidence
• Will perform even under pressure
• Believe in the value of the company, people and offering
• Face new challenges knowing you can win!

3. Die kochen auch
nur mit Wasser

4. Show they what they want

6. Copyright © Amicus TransTec Limited 2007-
6

7. Reward yourself

8. So what …
• A feature becomes a benefit when the client can’t say “So what?”
anymore

9. FUD: Fear Uncertainty and Doubt
• Yes that’s a great idea
• I like your thinking
• I’ve seen it work in a few instances
• But whoa! ... I can tell you some horror stories. Like the time ...
• My clients have always found that ...
Closely related to the B*** S*** sandwich;
Compliment, criticism, compliment

10. Price too high?
• We’re the best
• This is medical, legal, CEO’s
address etc...
• If our price appears higher
than our competitors there
is a good reason
2 responses
Of course it is!
• Never happened before?
• Maybe there has been a
mistake?
• Just how far out are we?
Disagree / act surprised!

11. Feel Felt Found
• I understand how you feel
• Other clients (in your sector) felt that we were expensive
• But they found when using us for their translation into they:
• Had fewer errors
• Less project management overhead
• Reduced their translation cost over the long term
• Would you like to speak to a few a my clients?

12. Pricing strategies
• Going in low
• It is difficult to raise prices afterwards
• You could try raising prices gradually
over time “boiling the frog”
– Many providers don’t want to upset existing clients
– Translation memory (and MT) can help with this

13. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182192?hl=en

14. Create an organization chart for big clients

15. Notes:
Target work giver /
involved in decision process
Company Name
Chairman Name
Revenue and Number of employees
Board
EMEAUS
Name
Title
Country
Location
Country
Location
Country
Location HQ Country
Location
Country
Location
Country
Location
Division DivisionLocal Office
Name
Title (CEO?)
Name
Title (VP level)
Name
Title (VP level)
Name
Title (VP level)
Name
Title (VP level)
Name
Title (VP level)
Name
Title (VP level)
Name
Title (Dept level)
Name
Title (Dept level)
Name
Title (Dept level)
External Contact e.g.
contractor
Name
Title (Operative)
Asia Pacific
Level of Contact Abbreviations Key
M=Met, T=Telephone, DB=Database captured
Company activities description
Company url
Clients
List with urls
Reference
Documents
Filed Financial
Statements
Marketing
Literature
Trading and
registered name
Founding Date
Company
Registration
Number
Registered office
address
VAT Number
Unplaced contact
names and details
Unknown Contract
Pro-Competitor Contact
Neutral Contact
Pro-our solution
Board Members:
??
12 named Contacts
11 Neutral to Pro-
6 know us
4 Active Contacts

17. Hvala lepa!
Čas za vprašanja
douglawrence.com
#tttconf