Back to Basics Questions for Preparing Winning Translation Services Sales Proposals

Published October 23, 2008 by admin

As we enter our fifth year, Keylingo has remained very busy and sustained a very respectable growth trajectory despite the financial crisis.  We are thankful to win more deals than we lose, but it is the losses that reveal cracks in our operation and thus, opportunities to learn.  Recently we lost a couple of deals and as I examined what went wrong, it was clear to me that our business suffered from taking certain fundamental practices for granted.  In light of this I decided to revisit some of the basic principles behind our success and that sharing this information might be beneficial to others.

Asking the right questions and uncovering what is most important to a prospect are basic tenets in earning new clients.  However, when a business is so busy churning out proposals it can be easy, at least in our case, to forget that each project is different and to really differentiate requires digging a little deeper into each opportunity and addressing the prospect’s hot buttons.

To that end, I’ve made a list of questions as a reminder and sort of a checklist to use in interactions with both prospects and new projects for existing clients.  I’ve seen similar lists like this out there and I am sure I could have included more and/or other questions.  For us, I wanted to keep it to 10 questions and focus on what we saw as the critical points to cover.  Take what you can from it and if it does nothing else but remind you to get back to basics, in whatever form that may take for your business, I’ve accomplished my objective.

BACK TO BASICS QUESTIONS FOR PREPARING WINNING TRANSLATION SERVICES SALES PROPOSALS

When quoting your next translation project, ask these questions to ensure a more accurate proposal, avoid multiple communications, and best position your company to win.

  1. What is the “source” language of the text? (i.e. the language the text is currently written in)
  2. What is/are the “target” language(s)? (i.e. the language(s) the prospect/client wants the text translated into)
  3. Are there any variations within the target language(s)? (e.g. Canadian French, Simplified Chinese, Mexican Spanish, etc.)
  4. What is/are the length of the document(s) in pages or words?
  5. What is the subject matter of the text? (technical, marketing, finance, medical, legal, etc.)
  6. Who is the intended audience/what is the purpose of the translation? (e.g. internal vs. external use, to be filed in a court of law, to be published., etc.)
  7. What is the necessary level of translation? (i.e. draft, reviewed, proofread)
  8. What is the format of the source document? (e.g. Word, Excel, PPT, PDF, Quark, etc.)
  9. What is the desired format of the translation(s)? (e.g. Word, Excel, PPT, PDF, Quark, etc.)
  10. When is the deadline for delivery of the translation(s)?

Keylingo is a Multilingual Information Management (MIM) company helping businesses of all sizes increase global revenue. Founded in 2004 and based in Atlanta, GA, Keylingo has contractual, single source and long lasting relationships with some of the world’s largest and most respected companies. Each year, Keylingo manages thousands of translation projects encompassing millions of words in every major business language, subject matter, and industry.

Posted in Sales Tagged , |

Translation Business Case Study in Inc. Magazine

Published October 2, 2008 by admin

I look forward to reading Inc. Magazine every month.  It’s chock full of insights and resources that any small business can benefit from.  In the October, 2008 issue, however, I was especially pleased to see an article directly relevant to my industry.  I should clarify, this was a case study that profiled a translation business and the challenges it faced getting to the next level.  The case study is followed by expert opinions regarding how the business should move forward.

The case study and the opinions were interesting, but lacked some important details.  As a fellow participant in this industry I felt the need to opine.

First, the company as described in the case study seemed overstaffed for its size.  By my count the firm has between 25 and 27 employees.  With revenue at $1 million this puts revenue per employee below $40,000.  This is lower than all but one of the Top 25 Translation Companies as ranked by the Common Sense Advisory on May 29, 2008.  Growth typically drives inefficiency in the translation business as more and more staff are required to manage the increase in work and a more sophisticated marketing effort.  That said, the company in the case remains small and thus should consider a leaner organization going forward.

Second, the sales staff is in desperate need of training if a call volume of 250 calls per day (5 sales people x 50 calls per day as described in the case study) is not yielding more business.  There is a lot of information easily available about metrics as it relates to sales and establishing some basic benchmarks should be a critical issue for the company.

Third, I found it incredible that with lack luster revenue and a relatively inefficient operation the owners could find the time and resources to participate in owning and racing horses.  I say pick a less expensive and time consuming hobby and reinvest in the company.

Finally, I think the company is right on with its idea to increase pricing.  The case study described that early in its history the firm offered its services for free.  This was a mistake and one can infer that the company’s pricing is still on the low end based on this initial strategy.  In the translation business, there is a positive relationship between price and the perception of value.  If you are going to go after the big fish I don’t think you’ll be successful if your strategy is to be the price leader.  These companies expect a significant creation of value and are willing to pay a premium for that.

In closing, it’s important to note that even at $1 million in revenue this company is larger than the vast majority of its competitors and that is a significant accomplishment.  If they can implement a few important changes and never give up there is a good chance they’ll get where they want to go.

Posted in Strategy Tagged , |

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