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"The Premium Market: Hiding in Plain Sight" -- your thoughts?
Thread poster: ChrisED
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
@Juan Pablo Oct 24, 2020

I'm not sure you're talking about the same market. Rates in the premium market are supposed to be ten times the $30 per hour in your profile.

(There's also something a little distasteful about ripping off rich old ladies, but I'll put that down to being a bad example!)

The trouble with trying to sell yourself at inflated rates is that:

1. With all that time spent self-promoting, when are you going to do any translation?

2. If you're so good, wh
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I'm not sure you're talking about the same market. Rates in the premium market are supposed to be ten times the $30 per hour in your profile.

(There's also something a little distasteful about ripping off rich old ladies, but I'll put that down to being a bad example!)

The trouble with trying to sell yourself at inflated rates is that:

1. With all that time spent self-promoting, when are you going to do any translation?

2. If you're so good, why do you need to drum up more business?

3. Would any big company really send mission-critical texts to a freelancer rather than have an in-house committee liaise with a big-name communications agency?

4. At the end of the day, we're only translators. Let's not get above our station.

5. Why would someone who is genuinely an extraordinary writer work as a translator rather than as a writer?

And so on. I'm not at all convinced by this approach.
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Mr. Satan (X)
 
Juan Pablo Sans
Juan Pablo Sans  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 15:21
English to Spanish
+ ...
@Chris Oct 24, 2020

0. You are not ripping off an old lady.

Actually, by taking the word cruncher approach most translators take of processing as many words per hour as possible, you are indeed ripping her off.

She needs this mission-critical text translated and validated so she can pass on her wealth to her descendants.

But if you, translator, instead of actually CARING about helping her with this, you are actually focused on processing as many words as possible, you are d
... See more
0. You are not ripping off an old lady.

Actually, by taking the word cruncher approach most translators take of processing as many words per hour as possible, you are indeed ripping her off.

She needs this mission-critical text translated and validated so she can pass on her wealth to her descendants.

But if you, translator, instead of actually CARING about helping her with this, you are actually focused on processing as many words as possible, you are doing her a disservice.

1. With all that time spent self-promoting, when are you going to do any translation?

You can either hire someone who does it for you or you can leverage off your now free time to promote your value.

2. If you're so good, why do you need to drum up more business?

Only a business who is doomed to failure can afford not to look for more clients.

3. Would any big company really send mission-critical texts to a freelancer rather than have an in-house committee liaise with a big-name communications agency?

Maybe because they don't have that person inhouse? Maybe because you positioned yourself as the real expert? Maybe because you became a consultant? There are many whys.

4. At the end of the day, we're only translators. Let's not get above our station.

Effectively. If you are just a word processor, your mission is processing as many words as you can per hour, begging machines won't take your job.

If you are an expert, you provide different type of value beside crunching words. You provide assurances, security, conversions, legal compliance, even happiness.

It all depends on the type of value you generate: technical, business or personal.

5. Why would someone who is genuinely an extraordinary writer work as a translator rather than as a writer?

You don't need to be an extraordinary writer to enter that market.

That's one of those fallacies that have been repeated over and over by some of the premium market evangelists (one of them, by the way, writes like a horse).

You just need to be a subject matter expert in that area and provide the results your client is looking for (not a bunch of words)

And what are the rates for this premium market? It really can be huge. You can charge 100 USD or even 3000 depending on how mission critical your work is.

But if you are just too sceptical about it, you can just go on working for agencies or under charging your clients while seeing 25-year-olds charge 5K to grow an Instagram account for a large brand.

Up to you, really.

P.S.: And thanks for reminding me about changing my hourly rate on a page I barely use to get direct clients.

I guess when you run out of arguments, you need to try to find la quinta pata al gato.

Some elements you can also try to find to dismiss my arguments, which have also been used by other translators when dealing with topics they know nothing about:

-My English is not native.
-I may have made a typo or a grammar mistake while writing over the phone.
-You have more years than I do in the industry, hence I am just an ignorant milennial.
-My branding name (chosen by a 7-figure earning branding strategist) is the Spanish Marketing Ninja instead of Lingo Boring COMMODITY LTD or Bridge Between Cultures LTD.
-I am a sleazy marketer and an Instaguru.


[Editado a las 2020-10-24 10:53 GMT]

[Editado a las 2020-10-24 11:02 GMT]

[Editado a las 2020-10-24 11:24 GMT]
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Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
@Juan Pablo Oct 24, 2020

I’m not knocking your particular business model (I know nothing about you). Nor am I disagreeing with the idea of marketing yourself as a specialist at an above-average rate.

My problem is with the plausibility of this ultra-premium market.

A translator charging four times more than me is effectively claiming to be four times better than me. No way any translator is four times better than me. So it’s a con.


 
Juan Pablo Sans
Juan Pablo Sans  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 15:21
English to Spanish
+ ...
Read the book I suggested Oct 24, 2020

Chris S wrote:

I’m not knocking your particular business model (I know nothing about you). Nor am I disagreeing with the idea of marketing yourself as a specialist at an above-average rate.

My problem is with the plausibility of this ultra-premium market.

A translator charging four times more than me is effectively claiming to be four times better than me. No way any translator is four times better than me. So it’s a con.


It is not a matter of being good or not.

And it is definitely not a matter of them being 4 times better than you.

I understand why you may feel that way though.

Actually, when you ask some of these ultra premium translators why they charge so much, they will in fact make you feel they do so because they are superior to you.

It is a matter of the value you provide to your clients and the weakness or strength position in which you enter the negotiation.

If the client sees your translation services just as a means to get to some place, then you are an expense.

For example, a blogger who just wants a translation of their blog without SEO.

Instead, if client sees you and your services as the only way to achieve their goals, then you are an asset.

For example, the same blogger may pay you a premium for their landing page optimization in your language.

You just need to understand what your value is in that equation.

I suggest you read Pricing Creativity to understand how to do it better and see how you can add more value

Curiously enough, they hate marketing, even though they are applying a marketing principle. 😉.

[Editado a las 2020-10-24 12:58 GMT]

[Editado a las 2020-10-24 13:05 GMT]


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Quality vs quantity Oct 24, 2020

I don’t understand how it can not be about quality.

Adding SEO justifies a higher total price for your service, yes, because you are providing something extra. But this is a matter of quantity: you’re simply billing more hours.

When it comes to price per hour, it has to be about quality. Translation accuracy ought to be a given at any price level, so surely the only way to justify a higher price per hour is to produce, in the same amount of time, a better-written tr
... See more
I don’t understand how it can not be about quality.

Adding SEO justifies a higher total price for your service, yes, because you are providing something extra. But this is a matter of quantity: you’re simply billing more hours.

When it comes to price per hour, it has to be about quality. Translation accuracy ought to be a given at any price level, so surely the only way to justify a higher price per hour is to produce, in the same amount of time, a better-written translation?
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Juan Pablo Sans
Juan Pablo Sans  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 15:21
English to Spanish
+ ...
SEO Oct 24, 2020

Chris S wrote:

I don’t understand how it can not be about quality.

Adding SEO justifies a higher total price for your service, yes, because you are providing something extra. But this is a matter of quantity: you’re simply billing more hours.

When it comes to price per hour, it has to be about quality. Translation accuracy ought to be a given at any price level, so surely the only way to justify a higher price per hour is to produce, in the same amount of time, a better-written translation?


Take a look at this example: if you are just an SEO translator, and SEO is not their main client acquisition channel, they will try to pay as low as they can.

If instead their website is their main client acquisition channel, you will be able to charge them a premium because, for them, the service is vital.

Same with legal translation.

If you need to translate a Terms and Agrrements nobody reads, you will be seen as a commodity.

If instead it is a 1m dollar agreement, your translation is a need.

Every market has those characteristics. You can either sell by the pound or premium.

Main problem is that translation agencies in general are selling by pound counting on enslaving their translators...

[Editado a las 2020-10-24 14:30 GMT]


Kaspars Melkis
 
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