The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2017 - 29

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL LINGUIST

BY JUDY JENNER

Skeptical Hippos and a Paradigm Shift

few months ago I had the chance to
speak at the wonderfully organized
BP17 Translation Conference
in Budapest, Hungary. (According to
the conference website, BP stands for
business practices.)
Having been asked to give one of the
main TED-style talks, I settled on just a
few image-based slides to discuss how to
convince clients that you're worth every
penny. One of the most popular slides
featured an image of a skeptical-looking
hippo with the appropriate caption
"skeptical hippo." I used it to illustrate the
type of client who cannot be convinced of
your value as a translator or interpreter,
no matter the price or situation. I'd like to
suggest that we spend very little time on
skeptical hippos when negotiating with
clients. Instead, we should focus our efforts
on those clients who can be convinced of
our value with a strong argument-the one
linguists often forget to present during the
negotiation process. Allow me to elaborate.
At some point in our careers we've all
met skeptical hippos. These are mostly
direct clients who:
■■

■■

Have somehow gotten stuck with pricing
and implementing a translation or
interpreting project, but would rather be
doing something else.
Think translation and interpreting
are unnecessary.

■■

Think that everyone should just
speak English.

■■

Have many more important things to do.

■■

Think they would be excellent at doing
the translation themselves because they
studied in Spain during their senior
year in college, but: a) don't have the
time, b) were told by their boss to hire a
professional, or c) find that their Spanish
is just a "little bit too rusty for this manual
on hydropower and its applications."

■■

Think they should spend zero dollars on
this project.

■■

All (or a combination) of the above.

Does this sound familiar? I bet it does. I've
had quite a few of these clients throughout
the years, and what I've learned is that no
matter the argument, you usually can't
convince them. The usual arguments we've
presented are: our impressive credentials,
certifications, translation or interpreting
experience, recommendations from clients
and colleagues, subject matter expertise,
etc. While these are all very worthwhile
and should be mentioned, they have, in my
experience, not been enough to convince
the skeptical hippo. Thus, in many cases
it's probably best to just send in your price
quote. When the skeptical hippo reacts
along the lines of "That's outrageous! I
thought it would be 75% cheaper than this!
I could do this myself!" you thank them
politely for their interest and move on.

Instead of focusing solely on our
qualifications, let's focus the client's
attention on the revenue that their
company is more than likely to make
thanks to language services.

As entrepreneurs, time is the only
resource we truly have. This means that
every moment we spend convincing
potential clients of our value when it's
already quite clear they can't be convinced,
we're blocking ourselves from using the
time to work on lower-hanging fruit: clients
who can be convinced with an economic
argument. Some of these skeptical hippos
might be so skeptical that they think
we should pay them for the privilege of
working for them. (I can almost see some
of you nodding in agreement as you read
this.) Now, what's that one argument we
oftentimes forget to use to convince clients
we are worth every penny?
You see, potential clients frequently
consider translation or interpreting as a
straight cost, which makes sense. They
have to spend their money to get these

services from us. However, sometimes
the person who has been tasked with
pricing and implementing a translation or
interpreting project has failed to consider
that translation and interpreting services
are an investment in any company's future.
(Usually someone higher up on the chain of
command realizes this.) For a company to
grow-even American companies who have
a large market share in English-speaking
markets-they have to look at markets
abroad. And foreign markets mean foreign
languages, which is where we come in.
So, I suggest a paradigm shift when
it comes to having conversations with
clients about the value of translation and
interpreting services. Instead of focusing
solely on our qualifications, let's focus the
client's attention on the revenue that their
company is more than likely to make thanks
to language services. Remind potential clients
that language services are an integral part
of their international growth strategy. They
only have to invest in, say, the translation of
a brochure that one time to reap the rewards
of reaching XYZ potential new customers
in markets they have not been able to
reach previously. Now that's an economic
argument everyone at any company in the
world, regardless of size, business model, or
target markets, understands-except for the
skeptical hippos, that is.
Judy Jenner is a Spanish and
German business and legal
translator and a federally and
state-certified (California,
Nevada) Spanish court
interpreter. She has an MBA
in marketing and runs her boutique translation
and interpreting business, Twin Translations,
with her twin sister Dagmar. She was born in
Austria and grew up in Mexico City. A former
in-house translation department manager, she
is a past president of the Nevada Interpreters
and Translators Association. She writes the
blog Translation Times and is a frequent
conference speaker. She is the co-author of The
Entrepreneurial Linguist: The Business-School
Approach to Freelance Translation. Contact:
judy.jenner@twintranslations.com.

This column is not intended to constitute legal, financial, or other business advice. Each individual or company should make its own independent business decisions and consult its own legal, financial, or
other advisors as appropriate. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of ATA or its Board of Directors. Ideas and questions should be directed to judy.jenner@entrepreneuriallinguist.com.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2017