| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: In interactions with clients, would you say you are more passive or more aggressive? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "In interactions with clients, would you say you are more passive or more aggressive?".
View the poll results »
| | | | | Either would be wrong | Dec 3, 2018 |
We work with clients. We guide our clients, advise them, and answer their questions, find out what they need. There is no place for aggression or passivity. (I don't understand the question in the context of our field.)
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 01:49
Spanish to English
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I'm not a big fan of aggression at the best of times, as I sometimes find it difficult to draw the line between being assertive and aggressive. In general, I try to be as neutral or passive as necessary to maintain a pleasant service provider/client relationship. It can also depend to a certain extent on the situation; for example, I tend not to mince my words when criticising things that may annoy me (poorly drafted source texts, convoluted and complex billing systems, absurdly tight deadlines�... See more I'm not a big fan of aggression at the best of times, as I sometimes find it difficult to draw the line between being assertive and aggressive. In general, I try to be as neutral or passive as necessary to maintain a pleasant service provider/client relationship. It can also depend to a certain extent on the situation; for example, I tend not to mince my words when criticising things that may annoy me (poorly drafted source texts, convoluted and complex billing systems, absurdly tight deadlines…). ▲ Collapse
| | | | | passive / aggressive? | Dec 3, 2018 |
I don't know if this is the case, but I would expect "passive - vs. - active" here and not "passive - vs. - aggressive".
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I'm firm. I take no shit. But I wouldn't say I was aggressive.
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I am not aggressive by nature but I’m not passive either. Even when things go sour I’ve always remained polite, calm, assertive and open.
| | | | Ventnai 
Spain
Local time: 01:49
German to English
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| Assertive when necessary | Dec 3, 2018 |
I wouldn't use the word "aggressive". You shouldn't be aggressive with a client or you're likely to lose them. I'm just assertive when necessary. I tell my client what I will or won't do or, more often than not, when.
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Interactive, sorry, that's a tautology, but responsive.
It depends entirely on the client's tone, and I have quite chatty relationships with some of my regular clients. I always try to be polite and answer the enquiry, unless it is obviously a group mail or a scam, in which case I simply delete it.
'Hi, we've got 70 pages of Danish we need translated by tomorrow, pls send your best price' will get a completely different answer from someone who tells me the subject are... See more Interactive, sorry, that's a tautology, but responsive.
It depends entirely on the client's tone, and I have quite chatty relationships with some of my regular clients. I always try to be polite and answer the enquiry, unless it is obviously a group mail or a scam, in which case I simply delete it.
'Hi, we've got 70 pages of Danish we need translated by tomorrow, pls send your best price' will get a completely different answer from someone who tells me the subject area, asks for my rates, and suggests a reasonable deadline, but can negotiate.
The first will get a short, icily polite mail that I cannot meet the deadline (or am not available at present), and that my rates are about … for [subject area]. Then I mention the highest rate I have earned in the last couple of months. Usually I do not hear from them again. ▲ Collapse
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DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
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Perhaps, one could consider to play black as 'passive', yet I just let the client do the move and take the corresponding answer best for me--sometimes aggressively/fast, sometimes just developing pieces, or something else.
| | | | R. Alex Jenkins
Brazil
Local time: 20:49
Member (2006)
Portuguese to English
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Like my colleague David Bloomfield once suggested: are you a man or a mouse? While my pride tells me I am not a mouse; I am an individual service provider who depends on larger organisations for the majority of my work, so I try not to get too bossy or aggressive out of respect for my status at the end of the food chain. I find that being friendly and genuinely interested in my contacts leads to amicable and professional discussions. I can now enjoy my personal status as an independent and auton... See more Like my colleague David Bloomfield once suggested: are you a man or a mouse? While my pride tells me I am not a mouse; I am an individual service provider who depends on larger organisations for the majority of my work, so I try not to get too bossy or aggressive out of respect for my status at the end of the food chain. I find that being friendly and genuinely interested in my contacts leads to amicable and professional discussions. I can now enjoy my personal status as an independent and autonomous freelancer. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Might Depend On What Point You Are In Your Career | Dec 3, 2018 |
When I got back into the field of translation in 2001, I found that I got very good results when I aggressively pursued marketing my services to American translation agencies.
Now that I am primarily a literary translator, who has at this point translated about 35 or so books, and a person of independent means, I don't really know if one could say I'm really passive at this point, but I'm much pickier about what kind of projects I will do, and about who I agree to work with.
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 20:49
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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| More passive, which doesn't mean... | Dec 3, 2018 |
I believe we are mostly a bit passive, always being careful when negotiating, because we know the client has the power to say goodbye as they wish.
However, this does not mean accepting anything without negotiating, whatsoever.
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| a problem with the word "aggressive" | Dec 4, 2018 |
On the face of it, "aggressive" means to be threatening, mean, harmful, maybe even attacking physically. But there is another meaning one sees, which one colleague used here when she wrote "I found that I got very good results when I aggressively pursued marketing my services to American translation agencies." I think here it means something like "proactively", "actively", "with energy and intent" - something like that. That may be what was meant in the poll.
I am wondering at pre... See more On the face of it, "aggressive" means to be threatening, mean, harmful, maybe even attacking physically. But there is another meaning one sees, which one colleague used here when she wrote "I found that I got very good results when I aggressively pursued marketing my services to American translation agencies." I think here it means something like "proactively", "actively", "with energy and intent" - something like that. That may be what was meant in the poll.
I am wondering at present, how common is that usage, and is it by any chance more American, and maybe more in some areas like business? It has always left me with an odd feeling whenever I saw it used, though I knew it was correct usage in those contexts. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Other: a nice balance in the middle | Dec 4, 2018 |
I negotiate rates and deadlines tactfully, but I will walk away rather than bow to conditions that I consider unfair or otherwise unacceptable.
In all my decades of translating, I only had one altercation, with a client who woke me in the middle of the night to complain that I had not translated the name of a street in an address.
[Edited at 2018-12-04 06:27 GMT]
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I miss the sweet spot in the middle: assertive. I am constantly fully booked and can choose whom I work for, so I never settle for low rates, late payment and/or awkward working processes. I do not put any energy in clients who work in this way; I just let them go (or bin their request without replying if they're new). I quote a little bit higher for each new client; most of them never to be heard of again, but some are happy to pay my rates, and then I'm happy to work hard for them and deliver ... See more I miss the sweet spot in the middle: assertive. I am constantly fully booked and can choose whom I work for, so I never settle for low rates, late payment and/or awkward working processes. I do not put any energy in clients who work in this way; I just let them go (or bin their request without replying if they're new). I quote a little bit higher for each new client; most of them never to be heard of again, but some are happy to pay my rates, and then I'm happy to work hard for them and deliver a high-quality product. ▲ Collapse
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