| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Poll: Do you provide your phone number to clients? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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All my customers have my phone number, but the communication is usually via e-mail.
| | | | Marina Steinbach
United States
Local time: 07:21
Member (2011)
English to German
| @ProZ.com Staff | Nov 10, 2020 |
ProZ.com Staff wrote:
Do you provide your phone number to clients?
Yes, I do.
| | | | | Of course - but... | Nov 10, 2020 |
I hate doing business by phone. There's no record to prove what was agreed on. Plus, I'm hard of hearing and I don't want to take the chance that I misunderstood them.
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I have received phone calls from clients in Spain, Ireland, Belgium, the United States, and possibly even from China. All of those clients awarded me with large book projects, and/or ongoing work for a while. And they paid the highest rates of all.
[Edited at 2020-11-11 14:20 GMT]
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| answering Chris | Nov 12, 2020 |
Chris S wrote: Maxi Schwarz wrote:
Some of my clients aren't even on the Internet. In fact, a few don't have a computer. Seriously? Do you specialise in geriatrics? What do they need translated? I’m intrigued...
If I were specialized in geriatrics, then I'd be dealing with doctors, professionals who deal with the elderly in various ways, perhaps hearing aid vendors, those running homes and such. I cannot really see a connection there.
To answer: My clients are varied because anyone can need a translation for a variety of reasons. Yes, on occasion I've had a client who had no computer, or a computer but no Internet. Age had nothing to do with it. Sometimes it's a personal philosophy plus no need for one. Other times they may be in transition from one location to another - I don't usually ask. That's their business.
Some of my clients clearly don’t have brains, and some still format with a spacebar, but they’re all computered up.
I actually haven't a clue what my clients do with spacebars or formatting. I translate what they give me, and often enough, it was not written by them. A brainless client - now that sounds intriguing.  Can't say I've run into one of those. Not sure I'd want to.
| | | | | I have a business phone number | Nov 12, 2020 |
My business phone number is included in my email signature and on my website.
I have a few clients who like to call rather than email as the process is then a lot quicker. I ask them to email documents and make sure I have a written PO before starting any work though.
| | | | Edward Potter 
Spain
Local time: 13:21
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Definitely yes | Nov 12, 2020 |
I want customers to have the confidence of knowing they can contact me in a personal manner.
When I outsource I will not give work to someone I can't contact by phone. I will always contact a new translator by phone for the first job. I want to hear their accent, demeanor, tone of voice, and get proof that there is a serious human being on the other end.
| | | | | Yes, but I DO mind... | Nov 13, 2020 |
Since the pandemic stroke, many clients - and many people or companies who have been referred to me but don't know me yet, who live in my same time zone- have been contacting me via WhatsApp during the weekend, or even weekdays at 11 pm, requesting and immediate response from me, to see if I was available for an assignment taking place several weeks ahead...
The sudden change to the home office scenario affected many people around the world, and the collective anxiety the pandemic ... See more Since the pandemic stroke, many clients - and many people or companies who have been referred to me but don't know me yet, who live in my same time zone- have been contacting me via WhatsApp during the weekend, or even weekdays at 11 pm, requesting and immediate response from me, to see if I was available for an assignment taking place several weeks ahead...
The sudden change to the home office scenario affected many people around the world, and the collective anxiety the pandemic made us all feel was very evident during the first semester of the year. Thank God, I do not receive these kind of messages that often now, but I am seriously considering to get another cellphone for personal use, and turn the current one into my professional one, with a Business account in WhatsApp and a fixed (but wide) schedule and automatic responses during my non-business hours...
I consider quality time, family time and free time more important than ever now, and we should educate our clients to respect time boundaries.... the fact of all of us being working from home does not mean that we are available 24x7. I am a mother of a 2-year-old and many times I found myself translating or doing administrative stuff at 6 am or up to midnight, specially during the first lockdown months, and whenever I needed something I just sent an e-mail, hoping to receive an answer the next day or so... but never, ever, a WhatsApp message during those unusual hours!
We need to chill out a bit! ▲ Collapse
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| It's not my clients I am worried about... | Nov 14, 2020 |
I dislike phone calls from people who are not clients yet, and not likely to become clients.
One agency was bought up by a larger one, and instead of sending friendly mails, PMs with dreadful accents would call me. I could barely understand what they said! But poor things, they were desperate to find a translator and move on to the next job, so they would press me to take on subject areas that I do not mess with, at least not from Swedish, or to agree to impossible deadlines. I drop... See more I dislike phone calls from people who are not clients yet, and not likely to become clients.
One agency was bought up by a larger one, and instead of sending friendly mails, PMs with dreadful accents would call me. I could barely understand what they said! But poor things, they were desperate to find a translator and move on to the next job, so they would press me to take on subject areas that I do not mess with, at least not from Swedish, or to agree to impossible deadlines. I dropped that agency, but there are plenty more of the same kind!
I am hopeless at figures, and I dislike having to discuss word counts on the phone. I have taken on far too much, or turned down jobs I could have managed, because I calculate the timing wrongly in my head...
I need to see the figures and check my quote! One client who calls regularly gives me time to write figures down and think, and then we confirm the agreement, of course, by e-mail.
As I said, I do not understand one of my very good clients on the phone. She speaks Norwegian, which I can easily read, but I cannot understand her accent, and she does not understand my Danish on the phone, although the two languages look very similar in writing. She does speak English, but prefers Norwegian... So we keep to e-mails. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Inability to understand phone calls | Nov 14, 2020 |
Christine Andersen wrote:.
As I said, I do not understand one of my very good clients on the phone. She speaks Norwegian, which I can easily read, but I cannot understand her accent, and she does not understand my Danish on the phone, although the two languages look very similar in writing. She does speak English, but prefers Norwegian... So we keep to e-mails.
Is this a uniquely Scandinavian thing? I dread phone calls from Denmark and some parts of Norway.
Are there any other languages that are more or less the same on paper but not when spoken?
| | | | | I'll speak English if I ever call you :-) | Nov 14, 2020 |
Chris S wrote:
Is this a uniquely Scandinavian thing? I dread phone calls from Denmark and some parts of Norway.
Are there any other languages that are more or less the same on paper but not when spoken?
It is widespread in Scandinavia - like many Danes, I have trouble understanding Swedes and Norwegians, except for my Swedish relatives, who kindly adapt their language a little for us in Denmark. They sometimes have trouble with our Danish.
@Chris S. I promise to keep to English if I ever have reason to call you - just don't answer in Welsh! I love it, but don't understand it.
| | | | Edward Potter
Spain
Local time: 13:21
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Spanish and Portuguese | Nov 16, 2020 |
Chris S wrote:
Is this a uniquely Scandinavian thing? I dread phone calls from Denmark and some parts of Norway.
Are there any other languages that are more or less the same on paper but not when spoken?
With Spanish being my second language, when I went to Portugal I was shocked at how I could understand almost everything that was in writing. I couldn't understand anything when they spoke it though. .
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