Offering multiple plans

Here I am going to share about multiple plans to avoid a dead end when we encountered a VIP client.

First of all, we should aware that there are 4 types of client. They have different likeness under different financial condition.

The next step, we prepare plans just as products sold in a supermarket (look at image).

1. Plan A (VIP)
2. Plan B
3. Plan C
4. Plan D (Basic)

Third, we need to sort which services are belonging to each category. For example, translation service is basic, whereas localisation is an additional value; plain translation without proofreading is basic; whereas proofreading is an additional value.

Now we assign them to each category. Here is the example.

Service	Plan A (VIP)	Plan B	Plan C	Plan D (Basic)
Translation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Localisation	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Proofreading	3 stages sweeping refining re-translating, if needed	2 stages sweeping refining	1 stages sweeping	No proofreading
Layout similar to source	Yes	Yes	Yes	No (Plain text)
Expert advice in relevant discipline*	Yes	No	No	No
Post-delivery guarantee	90 days	60 days	30 days	15 days
Image	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
File format as ordered	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Payment	Full in advance (full prepaid)	Half in advance (half prepaid)	In the time of completion (post paid with tolerance, for example, 7 day(s)	Delayed payment (delayed max. 30 days or not applicable under certain circumstance)
Rate	Basic rate + additional value rate(Ex: $100 + $ 30)	Basic rate + additional value rate (Ex: $100 + $ 20)	Basic rate + additional value rate (Ex: $100 + $ 10)	Basic rate (Ex: $100)
Other additional values:
Printed	Yes	No	No	No
Virtual service	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pickup and delivery service*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Consultation	Yes	Yes	No	No
Advertised on my blog, social media account, and network*	Yes	No	No	No

_____

* Under certain condition

We can add as many additional values as possible to VIP Plan or create VVIP Plan to contain the most comprehensive features. This simple strategy saves us, freelance translators, from undervaluing our service.

For long recurrent customers, I offer Plan A, B, and C at a rate similar to Plan B, C, and D, respectively.

Is translation technology siding with freelance translators?

Is translation technology siding with us, freelance translators?

No, it is not.

In fact, translation technology has been siding with third-party services and producing multiple detrimental effects on us, including, but it is not necessarily limited to,

1. lower translation rate in general
2. free translation rate for matching 100% and repetition, which removes our potential profits
3. cutting profit potentials by fuzzy search (this is malicious trick, which diminishes our revenue)
4. limiting translators’ creativity, resulting in a lower quality (A “consistent” monotonous translation is boring and sounds unnatural. And they say such translation has high quality, huh? Insane!)
5. making translation results as third-party proprietary (hell yeah!!!)
6. making people mistakenly think as if translation is “free and easy,” while, in reality, translation is complicated and difficult. Is it easy to translate or localize nuance or atmosphere and symbol?

However, despite the adverse effects, many of us accept to live in one bedroom with translation technology.

Now, the question is:

Will translation technology side with freelance translators in the near future?

Bidding vs traditional systems

Prospects consider 4 factors before purchasing  a translation service in a traditional translation market as follow:

1. quality
2. distance
3. speed
4. rate.

Rate is the last, not the first, consideration. As long as a translator provides high quality, solution for physical distance, and fast deadline, buyers want to pay a comparable rate. Traditional system encourages translators to deliver the best product comparable to its rate, because they want their buyers to be recurrent customers in the future.

In an online bidding system, most of prospects only considers 2 factors, i.e., rate and speed, while ruling out distance and quality. This system results in:

1. translators suffering from “peanut” rate
2. buyers suffering from “peanut” quality
3. some good translators leaving translation profession because they are paid higher in other industries
4. “peanut” results create negative impression as if translators are useless and prevent the buyers from hiring translators in the future
5. the negative impression spreads over the connected World and creates global negative attitudes on translation service and translators

All these unfavorable results originate in the bidding system, which prevails in the online market. The suicidal bidding system, in its turn, destroys the whole translation industry.

The solution is to replace the bidding system with the traditional system, which is adapted into the online virtual reality.

HOW?

Perlu terjemahan sewajarnya ke penerjemah

Orang perlu sehat, sewajarnya pergi ke dokter.

Orang perlu obat, sewajarnya pergi ke apoteker.

Orang perlu terjemahan, sewajarnya pergi ke penerjemah.

Focus 2016: Speed up!

Focus

Speed up while keeping quality!

Tag line

Consider it completed!

(Id. Anggap saja sudah selesai!)

How?

1. Simplify procedure of project acceptance.
2. Develop programmatic procedures to accelerate translation process.
3. Improve post-delivery service: 3-month guarantee.
4. Promote instant translation service via instant messengers, such as, Skype, Google, and Yahoo Messenger.