{"id":902,"date":"2010-11-16T20:07:56","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T20:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/?p=902"},"modified":"2010-11-16T20:07:56","modified_gmt":"2010-11-16T20:07:56","slug":"tranfree-75-upside-down-world-and-rewarding-client-loyalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/tranfree-75-upside-down-world-and-rewarding-client-loyalty\/","title":{"rendered":"tranfree 75 &#8211; Upside-down World and Rewarding Client Loyalty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to tranfree 75<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/tranfree.com\/tf75.mp3\">tranfree 75 &#8211; Upside-down world &amp; Customer Loyalty<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/tranfree.com\/tf75.pdf\">Download PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Editorial<\/h3>\n<p>Hello and welcome to another <em class=\"tt\">tranfree.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been a busy month for me. I\u2019ve  spent a fair bit of time reconfiguring a new web server to bring all my web  hosting into one place. I used to have bits and pieces of web hosting dotted  about all over the place and wanted to simplify things. But I\u2019d put it off for  a long time as I knew it would be the computer equivalent of admin work \u2013  something many of us leave until we\u2019re forced into it.<\/p>\n<p>In case you missed it last time, I  launched an ebook called <a href=\"http:\/\/translatortips.net\/business-success.html\">Business Success for  Freelance Translators<\/a>. The \u201cCrazy launch\u00a0  offer\u201d will close on 30th November 2010. There\u2019s still some  copies left under the offer, so grab yours now if you want to take advantage of  it. This offer will not be repeated in its current form after that time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/translatortips.net\/business-success.html\">http:\/\/translatortips.net\/business-success.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve also come up with a loyalty  discount plan for previous <em class=\"tt\">translatortips.com <\/em>product buyers.  See the end of the main article for details of this. (The reasons for this will  become clear when you read the article.)<\/p>\n<p>The other \u2018eventful happening\u2019 this month was a  hugely popular blog article I wrote about LionBridge. In case you haven\u2019t heard  about the 5% discount controversy, the <a href=\"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/?p=846\">blog post is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I hope you enjoy and benefit from <em class=\"tt\">tranfree <\/em> <img src=\"http:\/\/www.translatortips.net\/ubb\/smile.gif\" alt=\"smile\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.translatortips.net\/images\/alexsig.gif\" alt=\"Alex\" width=\"79\" height=\"60\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Alex Eames<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"tt\"> tranfree<\/em> editor, Author &#8211;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/translatortips.net\/business-success.html\">Business Success For Freelance Translators<\/a>,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.translatortips.net\/ht50.html\"><br \/>\nHow to Earn $80,000+ per Year as a Freelance Translator<\/a> and<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/translatortips.net\/sell-your-services.html\">Selling Your Professional Services on the Web<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Upside-down World<\/h2>\n<p><em>By Alex Eames<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>To reward or to punish customer loyalty?<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s an  upside down world. So many things are not the way they ought to be. But one  thing I found vaguely encouraging this week was the slogan for the recent G20  summit. <em>\u201cShared growth beyond crisis.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What I  found encouraging about it was the fact that it included the word \u201cshared\u201d. As  a species, human beings haven\u2019t always been very good at sharing. We\u2019re  innately selfish \u2013 it\u2019s a regrettable part of our nature. <img src=\"http:\/\/www.translatortips.net\/ubb\/frown.gif\" alt=\"frown\" \/> Couple that with the fact that most of us instinctively  want to&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>have nice things<\/li>\n<li>be safe and  secure<\/li>\n<li>live a prosperous life<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those are good, normal and healthy  things to want. <img src=\"http:\/\/www.translatortips.net\/ubb\/biggrin.gif\" alt=\"big grin\" \/> But it\u2019s easy to lose sight of the wider  picture. There\u2019s only a finite amount of tangible  resources available in the world to go around. So if <strong>you<\/strong> are going to be rich, someone else is going to be poor.  (Probably more than one \u201csomeone else\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s the way it is.) If you want to  share a cake between 10 people, but one person gets half of it, the others will  all have less. That\u2019s a basic dose of economic reality. It sucks, but that\u2019s  the way it is and it\u2019s not going to change. If you\u2019re doing well because you\u2019ve  worked hard to get where you are, you\u2019ve nothing to feel bad about. <img src=\"http:\/\/www.translatortips.net\/ubb\/smile.gif\" alt=\"smile\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Do  the right thing(s) and you will prosper<\/h3>\n<p>Those people, businesses and countries  which do the right things \u2013 create innovative, useful products and services  which are in demand, will do well. It cannot be any other way. Let\u2019s take a  look at the field of translation.<\/p>\n<p>Globalisation, travel, increased communication,  technological developments and the internet have created a long term growth  trend in the demand for translation. Naturally, there are competitive forces  working against rates and for increased productivity. Obviously when people  hear about those who have done well in translation, they want to join the  party. You\u2019re always going to get that in any field.<\/p>\n<p>But those who truly do a good job and do  it well will float to the top. It\u2019s a kind of commercial justice. If you meet  your clients\u2019 needs willingly and well and charge a fair price \u2013 demonstrating your  worth \u2013 you will do well. I call that natural growth. It comes out of being  honest, ethical, competent and reliable.<\/p>\n<h3>Growth  at all costs?<\/h3>\n<p>Where I think the world economy has gone  seriously wrong is in the basic premise of striving for growth at all costs. We\u2019re  lucky in translation because our field is still growing. So there are still  opportunities. But surely common-sense and clear thought shows that it\u2019s not  possible to grow all the time? An economy will have periods of growth and  periods of shrinkage (like Japan in the last decade). A lot of the \u201cgrowth\u201d in  the UK over the last decade has been fuelled by heavy borrowing, both by state  and consumers. One day, that money has to be paid back. It\u2019s a one-off  situation that can\u2019t be repeated. Or put another way, the economy has been  propped up artificially by borrowing against future earnings. If excessive  borrowing to fund spending is a bad way to run a household, it\u2019s an even worse  way to run a country. The US doesn\u2019t fare much better and neither does  debt-ridden Europe. <img src=\"http:\/\/www.translatortips.net\/ubb\/frown.gif\" alt=\"frown\" \/><\/p>\n<p>One day it\u2019s got to shrink back to \u201creality\u201d.  When it does, the squeeze will be most profoundly felt by those at the bottom. <strong>It can\u2019t be any other way.<\/strong> If you have  floated to the top and have good clients, who know the value of your services,  you will be secure. If they know that your translation of their product manuals  or marketing literature is a vital part of their export process, you\u2019ve made  yourself indispensible. They might try to squeeze you a bit, but you won\u2019t be  cut out altogether. If you have become truly essential you\u2019ll be in a powerful  position to resist the squeeze. Some of your clients might go bust, but you  have others to fall back on.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the people working for low rates at  \u201ctranslation workhouses\u201d who will be the ones getting squeezed. We\u2019ve seen this  recently with <a href=\"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/2010\/lionbridge-upsets-translators-with-5-discount-demand\/\">LionBridge\u2019s  5% discount demand<\/a>, swiftly followed by a poor set of financial results.<\/p>\n<h3>Economic  growth cannot go on forever.<\/h3>\n<p>The point I want to make here is that  growth cannot go on forever. Once the resources in the world are all allocated,  there\u2019s nothing more to grow. Look at history. Great civilisations come and go.  It\u2019s always been that way and it\u2019ll carry on being that way. The democratic  capitalist model still has some life left in it, but I wouldn\u2019t be at all  surprised if there\u2019s something else dominating the world in 100 years time.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst there may not always be enough  work to satisfy everyone who wants to be a translator, there will always be  enough work for the best people, who are offering a good service and are a  pleasure to deal with. The hard part is finding enough good clients to fill  your order book.<\/p>\n<h3>Customer  loyalty<\/h3>\n<p>The best way to build on your success is  to try and keep all your good clients. This is another area where the world is  upside down. In the area of rewarding customer loyalty, big business has it wrong.<\/p>\n<p>In all sorts of big business areas,  customer loyalty is despised and distained. A lot of expense and effort goes on  getting new customers by poaching them from the competition.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll give you a few examples.<\/p>\n<p>We have insurance to cover our house and  car against accidents and unforeseen disasters. For many years we stayed with  the same company, but each year the cost seemed to go up disproportionately. So  a couple of years ago I decided to get some quotes from the competition. I was  surprised to find that, by shopping around, I could get equivalent cover for a  much lower price. The surprise was doubled when I found out the cover was underwritten  by the same company I was with already. Double standards! Because I was a \u201cnew  client\u201d going through a broker, I could get ~30% discount.<\/p>\n<p>These days I like to check the market  every year for the best deal. Companies are cutting their own throats to try  and steal business from each other. So it pays to look around. But let\u2019s stop  and think for a minute. Wouldn\u2019t it be cheaper for those companies to look  after their existing clients better instead of charging them more to subsidise acquisition  of new clients? Perhaps it wouldn\u2019t? I don\u2019t know the figures. Perhaps the  majority of people stick with the same company for years on end without  considering other options?<\/p>\n<p>But surely the best way to go, in our  business, is to keep hold of the good customers you\u2019ve already got and build on  that. It costs time, effort and money to market to new clients.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the same with software. The laptop  I bought last year came with McAfee Internet Security pre-installed. It costs  \u00a340 to renew the annual subscription for just 1 machine. But if I go to Amazon  and buy the new 2011 version of the same software, I can put it on 3 machines  and it only costs \u00a315. So that\u2019s an eighth of the price per machine. But if I  take the easy option of \u2018click the link and give the card number\u2019 it\u2019ll cost me  \u00a3120 to protect those three machines. This is another example of customer inertia.<\/p>\n<h3>Look  at this from both sides!<\/h3>\n<p>As a customer, if you take the easiest  path it will often cost you. From the provider\u2019s perspective, though, it shows  you how, if you make life easy for people they will keep buying from you. You  need to walk the knife-edge of making life easy for your clients while charging  good prices and delivering excellent value. But be sure you don\u2019t punish your  clients for their loyalty like in the above two examples.<\/p>\n<p>If you look around, you see this systematic  client-abuse behaviour in all kinds of large businesses&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Banks using \u201cbait and switch\u201d interest rates to  attract savings funds. (Although I pine for the days when money on deposit actually  earned some interest                                                                       <img src=\"http:\/\/www.translatortips.net\/ubb\/frown.gif\" alt=\"frown\" \/>)<\/li>\n<li>Utilities giving  discounts for direct debit payments, then debiting far more than they need under  the guise of \u201cestimated bills\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>ISPs \u2013 many of which offer much better deals to new  customers than those who have been with them for years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What I want you to take away from this  is to ask yourself two questions&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>1)  Am I rewarding customer loyalty or do I bite the hand that feeds?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Think about ways you can reward customer  loyalty. Build the relationship. But it goes without saying that you only want  to do this with profitable clients you enjoy doing business with.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2)  Am I jumping through too many hoops to get new clients?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Do you accept deep discounts to get a  new client who promises to make it up on the next one? If you give a deep  discount to acquire a new client, chances are that when you quote your normal  rates at them next time, they\u2019ll be like me with my insurance and look  elsewhere.<\/p>\n<h3>I\u2019ve  provoked myself with this article<\/h3>\n<p>In writing this article I provoked myself to  consider how I am rewarding loyalty in my own business. As a result of that, I  am offering previous buyers of my products a 40% discount on the new <a href=\"http:\/\/translatortips.net\/business-success.html\">Business Success for  Freelance Translators<\/a> ebook package. If you want to take advantage of this  offer, it will have to be processed manually as I have no automated verification  method. Please send me an email to <strong>upgrades (AT) translatortips.com<\/strong> stating your name,  email address and approximate year of purchase. I will then verify you in my  database and email back purchase instructions.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Eames is the founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.translatortips.com\">translatortips.com<\/a>, editor of <em class=\"tt\">tranfree<\/em> and author of the eBooks&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.translatortips.net\/business-success.html\">Business Success for Freelance Translators<\/a><br \/>\nand<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/translatortips.net\/sell-your-services.html\">Selling Your Professional Services on the Web<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>tranfree edition 75 &#8211; article about customer loyalty and how it isn&#8217;t rewarded by big business. What can we do to make sure we don&#8217;t make the same mistakes?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,7,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alexeames.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}