elia networking days, budapest presentation: from the client’s mouth
TRANSCRIPT
FROM THE CLIENT’S MOUTH
Introduction & Background
Karen Netto
• Over 12 years’ experience as translation buyer
• Past 6 years in financial services
• Qualified translator with business start-up
Jessica Rathke
• 21 years of localisation sales/management experience
• Large/small LSPs
• Europe/USA
Agenda/Goal
What do customers want from your sales people?
– First-hand experience with bad sales practices
What should we be doing?
Using experiences from the past 12 years
Receiving end of bad and good sales practice
– What it feels like to be the recipient of bad sales practices with specific examples
– What works and is appreciated client-side
Life Client-side after the Economic Crisis...
On the Receiving End of Some Cold Calls...
Cold Calling/No Value Proposition
No compelling/relevant message
• Same script from different agencies
• Client goes to sleep
• Robotic
• Lacks warm, spontaneous conversation
• Simultaneous typing up
• Going through motions, wasting time
No differentiation
Same Script as Previous Five Calls ... Boring!
Cold Calling Pattern = Interrogation of Customer
Sales: QuestionClient: AnswerSales: We do it!Sales: QuestionClient: AnswerSales: We do it!Sales: QuestionClient: AnswerSales: We do it!Client: (Yawn)... Well, I really must get back to work now... Bye!
Say they have experience with whatever the client requests…really?
• Sound like used car salesmen
• Buyers not idiots
• Establishing trust is important
All things to all people
– Is this really specialisation?
Practically every LSP has same client laundry list!
The Solution: Cold Call /Value Proposition
Focus on outcomes you deliver, not services you provide
How do other, similar clients USE your services?
Ask intelligent questions focused on CLIENT business issues, not yours
Conversational questions
Give Customer a Chance to Think & Talk!
Emails, Emails, Emails…
Reflect on the following industry techniques...
Free gift for instant order!
• Naive
• NOT for B2B!
• How justify selection?
Top London restaurant invitation – first meeting!
• Compliance procedure
• New bribery laws, especially in UK/USA
False Promises
Areas of specialisation
– Be honest, can’t specialise in EVERYTHING
How many active translators?
How many specialists in niche field?
Language coverage
Not just numbers in database!
Develop a Commercial Mindset
Develop a good understanding of your client’s industry and company
• Read recent press releases/FT for openers
• Be aware of new regulations
• Look at website
• Know what languages
Develop a Commercial Mindset
Look for opportunities based on understanding client
– Issues faced
• Increased regulation
• Turbulence of markets
• Faster turnaround times
• Highly specialised terminology, constantly changing
Who is the Buyer & What is Their Role?
Title of the buyer or client contact
– Decision-maker but decisions not in isolation
• Need to justify and explain decisions
• Others seek to influence decisions
• Need the arguments from you
Make it Easy to Do Business With You
Help client sell internally
– Easy to share presentations
– Easy to digest information
– Easy to cut and paste into my internal emails
– Clear proposals
– Easy to scan, not time-consuming
Develop Meaningful Proposals
Cost effectiveness, not cost reduction
– Demonstrate clearly in your proposal
– Clear, professional proposal
– Make easy to forward to senior colleagues (never likely to meet you)
– Justify your selection against competition
– Short-term outlay v. longer-term savings
Demonstrate Expertise to Customer
Project Plan
– Help client show a clearly thought-out project plan
– Anticipated problems
– Envisaged solutions
– Short- and longer-term planning
– First project towards greater efficiency/quality
Solving Customer Problems
Inform and educate (not lecture)
– Newsletters
• inform on language and cultural issues
• can be forwarded to colleagues when convenient
– Approach gets client to inform you of an issue needing a solution
– Articles of interest
Help the Buyer Help You!
Help your client educate others in their company
– Solve other problems
• Terminology and software solutions
• Good sales people have anticipated future issues and proposed solutions – e.g. KIIDs
• Information in press – may help identify that client has increased volume in a particular language
• How can you tackle the issue of insufficient suitably experienced translators in specialist financial field?
Happy, Interested and Engaged Client...
When Something Goes Wrong – The Problem
When Something goes Wrong – Not the Solution
Sales response: PM response:
What Happens Next to your Client Contact....
Resolve Problems Quickly
Give tools/information to respond quickly internally
• Joint Sales and Project Management approach
Inevitably, there are problems with translation projects
• Not that a problem has arisen, but how you handle it that counts
• A well-handled challenge can result in increased sales!
• Client retention and cross-selling
Summary
Develop a Value Proposition
– What do you do well?
– Which industries do you best serve?
– How have you helped customers?
– VALUE you have provided that someone else can relate to
Specialise
Solve Client Problems
Client Retention – communicate during challenges
Thank you!