| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Are you friendly with your clients? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Are you friendly with your clients?".
View the poll results »
| | | | Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 09:27
French to English
At least two of them were part of my social circle before they gave me work. Not close friends, so there's not too much overlap.
I'm always friendly with all my clients, asking how they are and chatting a little if they feel like it.
With PMs at agencies things stay pro at all times. They don't have time to chat.
I have sometimes had lunch with direct clients, one company used to invite all contributors to a project for drinks in a bar in pre Covid days i... See more At least two of them were part of my social circle before they gave me work. Not close friends, so there's not too much overlap.
I'm always friendly with all my clients, asking how they are and chatting a little if they feel like it.
With PMs at agencies things stay pro at all times. They don't have time to chat.
I have sometimes had lunch with direct clients, one company used to invite all contributors to a project for drinks in a bar in pre Covid days if the project was a success, and once I was invited to an event I had translated stuff for (I wasn't available unfortunately). But it never goes further than being polite and friendly, and I wouldn't really want it to, because I do prefer to keep things separate. Even if my days of wild partying are long behind me. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | It depends... | Feb 11, 2022 |
We tend to be more formal in Portugal than in other countries. I must say though that with some of my long-standing customers contact has become over the years much more informal than with others, even if we haven’t met in person. I work with several international organizations and with them all communication tend to be very formal as usually there is more than one contact person and work is not very regular (only once a year for some). Anyway, I expect all my clients (new and old) to be frien... See more We tend to be more formal in Portugal than in other countries. I must say though that with some of my long-standing customers contact has become over the years much more informal than with others, even if we haven’t met in person. I work with several international organizations and with them all communication tend to be very formal as usually there is more than one contact person and work is not very regular (only once a year for some). Anyway, I expect all my clients (new and old) to be friendly and I’m in pleasant terms with all of them. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | It depends what you mean by friendly | Feb 11, 2022 |
I weeded out among my clients some years ago, and only the good ones are left!
We exchange polite wishes for a good weekend on Fridays, and I let them know when I take time off. I usually let them know why, and I used to send an electronic postcard when I came back again from holidays. The last has lapsed a little recently, but perhaps I will revive it.
One calls me to discuss projects - he finds it easier than mailing, and we chat a little about fresh air, his dog or general ... See more I weeded out among my clients some years ago, and only the good ones are left!
We exchange polite wishes for a good weekend on Fridays, and I let them know when I take time off. I usually let them know why, and I used to send an electronic postcard when I came back again from holidays. The last has lapsed a little recently, but perhaps I will revive it.
One calls me to discuss projects - he finds it easier than mailing, and we chat a little about fresh air, his dog or general remarks about grandchildren.
I am not close friends with any of my clients, but I always maintain a friendly tone.
[Edited at 2022-02-11 09:20 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:27
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| Professional | Feb 11, 2022 |
ProZ.com Staff wrote:
This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Are you friendly with your clients?". View the poll results »
I am professional with my clients. Being professional means a particular kind of friendliness that isn't intimate but inspires confidence and is reciprocated.
| | | | | Professionalism and friendliness are not in contrast | Feb 11, 2022 |
I am both professional and friendly; not the type of friendliness I have with my best friend or a close relative, but the type that suits a professional environment: being polite, respecting opinions and decisions, trying to meet halfway, etc.
Of course, this needs some tailoring as some clients may wish for a stricter professional approach—but am I not being friendly by abiding by their wishes?
| | | | Bruno Pavesi
Brazil
Local time: 05:27
Member (2020)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Almost always | Feb 11, 2022 |
Not sure if Brazilian customers are just friendly by nature, but we've always had a good relationship. With foreign PMs we barely have any time to interact in a way that isn't:
- Here's your task, please complete it by xx/xx/xx
- The task is done, have a great day
I don't feel any particular way about that, it's just how that works and it's okay too.
That being said, I do prefer to have friendly interactions. Might be the years of bartending, who knows?
<... See more Not sure if Brazilian customers are just friendly by nature, but we've always had a good relationship. With foreign PMs we barely have any time to interact in a way that isn't:
- Here's your task, please complete it by xx/xx/xx
- The task is done, have a great day
I don't feel any particular way about that, it's just how that works and it's okay too.
That being said, I do prefer to have friendly interactions. Might be the years of bartending, who knows?
[Edited at 2022-02-11 11:14 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 05:27
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
As opposed to what many people think, being friendly is part of one's professionalism. On the other side of the line, there is also a human being, not a machine or a company. They will enjoy your friendliness, believe me.
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| Clients are like women | Feb 11, 2022 |
You have to treat them mean to keep them keen.
| | | | Peter Simon
Netherlands
Local time: 09:27
English to Hungarian
+ ...
| A bit strange... | Feb 11, 2022 |
... what we're supposed to think about this question. Friendly doesn't mean an opposite to cold formality, nor does professional contradict friendliness. As some of you've pointed out, there is professional friendliness as well, which suits the fact that we have discourse with human beings on the other side but they're not our friends even though we could sometimes reach a point when I receive a post-card (!) for Christmas from one or another, which, of course, I reciprocate with at least a very... See more ... what we're supposed to think about this question. Friendly doesn't mean an opposite to cold formality, nor does professional contradict friendliness. As some of you've pointed out, there is professional friendliness as well, which suits the fact that we have discourse with human beings on the other side but they're not our friends even though we could sometimes reach a point when I receive a post-card (!) for Christmas from one or another, which, of course, I reciprocate with at least a very warm e-mail. Professional is not formal, friendly is not unprofessional, the whole dichotomy implied feels weird, so this question actually gave me some jitters about the professional level of the person asking it. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Yes, But A Warning | Feb 11, 2022 |
I have talked before on these forums about all of the wonderful experiences I enjoyed abroad with clients who became friends for many years, and remained so, well past the time when I worked for them. The work I did for them and everything we shared as friends, in the presence of one another and through our epistolary correspondence, at which times we talked about just about everything imaginable, was quite mind-expanding (I believe for them, too, but only to a certain degree, since they have be... See more I have talked before on these forums about all of the wonderful experiences I enjoyed abroad with clients who became friends for many years, and remained so, well past the time when I worked for them. The work I did for them and everything we shared as friends, in the presence of one another and through our epistolary correspondence, at which times we talked about just about everything imaginable, was quite mind-expanding (I believe for them, too, but only to a certain degree, since they have been quite a bit older than me, in more than one case). I can see, though, where there could be a problem with clients who make such overtures to a translator they would like to work with before any work gets started: they might be trying to garner favorable treatment from the translator when it comes to fees, and so they can feel justified in monopolizing what might turn out to be the translator's every waking moment. Anyway, in my case, one of my long-term clients who became my friend paid me double the market rate, at my request, to translate her book, as well as for other tasks related to her literary endeavors. One of the others did not agree to be that generous; but she did keep me working, practically non-stop for 6 years, while still allowing me time to get adequate sleep and to breathe (I have found, in my experience, that a lot of agencies don't allow too much of that), and to take a lot of time off, so I could travel, by car, for extended visits with my favorite relatives, who live in another state. Otherwise, my work for her could have suffered because of burn-out. Also, since she is a retired professor, she was very understanding after I started to work on my Master's, at the same time that I was working for her, which allowed me to go straight through the program, with no let-up, and ultimately earn the degree.
[Edited at 2022-02-11 16:40 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-02-11 16:42 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-02-12 04:49 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:27
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| Literary translators | Feb 11, 2022 |
Literary translators are different. I've just been reading about Maureen Freely, the wonderful translator of the work of Orhan Pamuk; she worked in close collaboration with Pamuk and they were of course personally friendly.
The same goes for the late Bill (William) Weaver who I once met and who inspired me to eventually become a translator. Weaver was the translator for various Italian authors who were alive at the time (Eco, Calvino) and I had the pleasure of hearing him talk about... See more Literary translators are different. I've just been reading about Maureen Freely, the wonderful translator of the work of Orhan Pamuk; she worked in close collaboration with Pamuk and they were of course personally friendly.
The same goes for the late Bill (William) Weaver who I once met and who inspired me to eventually become a translator. Weaver was the translator for various Italian authors who were alive at the time (Eco, Calvino) and I had the pleasure of hearing him talk about how they worked together.
Undoubtedly the relationships between literary translators and their Authors are very personal and, no doubt, problematically friendly. ▲ Collapse
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Ana Andrade
Brazil
Local time: 05:27
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Delicate topic | Feb 11, 2022 |
I am normally nice and polite with all my clients. Is not the same as be friendly? A smile or nice tone of voice. A welcoming word or gesture. This is friendly!
What does not mean I will be my clients best friend or cross boundaries!
Of course some clients that were my friends before, or ex-students, or even regular translation clients, the relationship could be a little closer and a real friendship could come out of it. As any profession that I know.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 09:27
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| It has come to this... | Feb 11, 2022 |
...we live in a world where "friendly" is the opposite of "professional". Really?!
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 03:27
Japanese to English
+ ...
| Friendly with clients? | Feb 12, 2022 |
I'm friendly with them as long as they give me business. Otherwise, no "friendliness" is required. As one poster in Japan once posted in these threads: "Clients are not friends". How true.
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