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Poor clients…
We’ve all read those stories about clients who don’t understand our work, clients who haggle and try to squeeze every last penny out of us, and clients who are unreasonable and who set unrealistic deadlines or who even behave like jerks.
When I read stories like these I always wonder, How come I’ve never met those clients?
Are they avoiding me?
Because all my clients are awfully nice people.
They treat me with respect. They respect my payment terms. They always thank me for my work and they never give me reason to be unhappy or complain.
Sure, they might need a little hand-holding some of the time. For example by asking obvious or repetitive questions, asking for unrealistic delivery deadlines or asking me to clarify some of my choices in my translations.
But that’s hardly a reason for getting upset because it’s part of customer service. And it’s my job (as a professional) to keep my cool and answer their questions and provide detailed explanations.
And frankly I enjoy receiving questions from clients, no matter how silly they might be. Because the world of translation might be new to them. They don’t know how it works.
As a professional translator, I need to help and guide them through the entire process while making sure they understand every single part of my complex and demanding work (if they are so inclined).
I can’t get upset with them for not knowing something or not understanding how translation works.
Because it is my job to understand how translation works, not theirs.
And it’s my job to explain everything that needs explaining and to clarify everything that needs clarifying.
This is something I wrote for my mailing list, Dmitry’s Rebel Club. If you found it valuable, if it resonates with you, you can sign up below to get articles like this one every Sunday right into your inbox (plus you’ll get access to all of my previous articles).
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What the fork, Dmitry?! Why don’t you have a comment section?
It’s not like I don’t care what you think, I DO care! It’s just that there are way better platforms for discussion.
Head over to The Open Mic if you want to leave a long-form comment or simply Tweet to @DKornyukhov with your bite-sized thoughts about this article. Looking forward to having a lively discussion. Thanks!
~ D.K.
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