Poll: How often are you actively looking for clients?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
May 31, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How often are you actively looking for clients?".

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CHANDAN Modi
Mr. Omar Almassry
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 05:17
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other (only very sporadically) May 31, 2019

I did engage in active marketing when I started out some 35 years ago and every now and then if things were slow, but I have been doing quite well over the last years: most of my new clients have come via word of mouth, my Proz profile and my website...

Romeo Baldovino
Kevin Fulton
Christine Andersen
 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 06:17
Member
English to French
Passive May 31, 2019

I remember "actively" looking for clients in 2000 (to start internationally), 2002 (bankruptcy of a major agency client of mine) and 2006 (discontinued work with a major agency cilent of mine over rate increase not accepted), i.e. I sent unprompted presentations of my services.
Since then, I've been replying to prospects contacting me when I think it may be worth it and even to a handful or two of ads per year from the Job boards at Proz.com.

In fact I passively ALWAYS look fo
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I remember "actively" looking for clients in 2000 (to start internationally), 2002 (bankruptcy of a major agency client of mine) and 2006 (discontinued work with a major agency cilent of mine over rate increase not accepted), i.e. I sent unprompted presentations of my services.
Since then, I've been replying to prospects contacting me when I think it may be worth it and even to a handful or two of ads per year from the Job boards at Proz.com.

In fact I passively ALWAYS look for new clients.

Philippe
Collapse


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 06:17
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other May 31, 2019

For the past few years, it's been "never".
At some point in the future I might need to start looking for new clients again, but for now I have enough work to keep ticking over and not so much that I can't fit in all the requests from all my clients.


Eckhard Boehle
 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 00:17
German to English
+ ...
Other Jun 1, 2019

For a while I felt I was neglecting something because I kept reading about actively looking for clients, and I wasn't doing so. I thought, "I really ought to get on with this." But clients kept contacting me, so I never really got around to it.

 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 06:17
French to English
. Jun 1, 2019

It is one of the reasons I'm here, and I have found some contacts here, and I am in discussions with a couple of new potential clients from here right now, I'll probably be doing a test next week.
Mind you, I was sent a test a few weeks ago by a contact from here and never managed to find the time to do the test, so I suppose I'm not that much in need of new clients...


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 06:17
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Occasionally Jun 1, 2019

I look for prospective clients only occasionally. When I see an interesting agency I check it out and, if all looks well, I send them an email offering my serives.

 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:17
French to English
Not really Jun 1, 2019

I am offered jobs from time to time. Sometimes it's very quiet, but I don't mind that too much. I've never had any success by approaching agencies, so I've kind of given up. I'm not bad at translating, but I'm very bad at marketing myself.

 
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Barbara Cochran, MFA  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 01:17
Spanish to English
+ ...
All The Time Jun 1, 2019

Besides the necessary skills, I think, like a lot of other things in life, it's a numbers game.

My projects, as a literary translator, are more often than not, for one-time direct clients (authors).

[Edited at 2019-06-01 21:03 GMT]


 
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 06:17
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
Couple of times a year Jun 2, 2019

I am always wondering why, for example, the big supermarkets in my counytry are advertising so much. They are everywhere, and you go to the nearest branche anyhow. I guess it is a wake-up call.

Same goes for translators, lets wake up those PM's so that they know we are still alive and kicking. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.


Julio Madrid
 


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Poll: How often are you actively looking for clients?






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