10 common mistakes a new translation agency might make.

Managing a translation agency isn’t an easy task, each order is very time-consuming. In a different article, we have already explained the advantages for translation agencies of using Smartlation to process translation orders.

In this article we’ll explain most mistakes made by translation agencies in order to help avoid them, this is a great article for new translation agencies.

1. Forgetting that different languages are priced differently independently of the word count.

This is basic knowledge, but you would be surprised to see how many translation agencies provide a quote for translation into Japanese based exclusively on the word count, and pricing it the same as a translation to English or to Spanish, then getting in trouble when the translator sends an invoice higher than the price offered to the final customer.

2. Forgetting to ask translators to send daily progress reports.

At times translators fail to send a project on time, sometimes the translation agency is informed about an unexpected delay or cancellation from the translator’s side the same day of the deadline. In order to meet all deadlines and guarantee results for customers on time it is mandatory for translation agencies to request a daily progress report from freelance translators in order to monitor them.

3. Assigning projects to non-native translators.

At Smartlation we allow customers to choose their own translator, including non-native translators. After processing thousands of projects, we realized that non-native translators most often provide lower quality than native translators (of the destination language), that’s why we prioritize native translators in order to ensure maximal quality, sending the project to a non-native speaker may result in the need to start over.

4. Not charging in advance

Scams are big business within the translation industry, both by fake customers and fake translators, that’s why it is critical to charge customers in advance in order to ensure profit and payment to the freelance translator, in the end, if there is really a problem with the translation from the translator’s side, you can always refund the payment. Freelance translators are the base of your company and they expect your agency to defend and value their work.

5. Not comparing the translation provided with machine translation before delivering to customers.

As mentioned in the tip above, scams are big business within this industry, one of the main tasks of a translation agent is to assure the translation provided is a fully human translation. Smartlation just launched a Google Extension to detect machine translation easily. With this extension you can compare any translation to Google, Bing and Yandex translators in a couple of clicks. You can also check it manually on the website of each service.

6. Remember to email non-returning customers to get them back!

Returning customers are the base of your business. Sometimes returning customers forget about your advantages and look again for translators through search engines, leading to competitors. Mailing old customers often results in returning customers, try it, it’s free!

7. Rely on professional and native translators.

The economic crisis pushed many people to look for freelance jobs and to adopt new professions. Many of these people are great translators, but the truth is that a good result is more likely to be guaranteed if provided by a professional translator, especially if a native translator — in contrast, sometimes native translators do a better job than professional translators who are non-native speakers. The combination of both characteristics is always the best. Over time you’ll learn who the best are, independent of their educational status or native language.

8. Consider repeated content when quoting a project

Many translation projects have numbers and repeated content which does not need to be translated repeatedly but copied and pasted only. If you consider repeated content when asking for a quote from a freelance translator you can get a better deal for your customer and beat expensive competitors — remember that retaining customers is beneficial both for the agency and its translators, with lower prices everyone wins.

9. Don’t refuse a project, look for the translator your potential customer needs.

At Smartlation one of our ways of increasing our partners’ growth is by allowing them to offer more languages to their customers (over 140 and growing). When a customer requests an order in a language you don’t have translators for don’t refuse it, visit us and request an instant quote for free directly from translators, based on your customer’s needs.

10. Make sure the customer is satisfied, ensure project quality or provide a new translation.

A couple of days after the translation service is delivered it is a good idea to ask the customer if they are satisfied with the project. If the customer raises a complaint it is necessary to check the project quality, and if the customer is right about the low quality, then send the project to a different translator free of additional charge to be provided to the customer. Remember that the main income comes from returning customers and it is critical to retain them. If the project has low quality, we must both provide the customer a new, correct version and detail to the failing translator what the errors or mistakes were, freelance translators deserve to get paid for their work, and when a project is done incorrectly, they deserve to know why they won’t be paid, sending them a copy of the corrected translation is also a good idea in order for them to know that another colleague needed to redo the project, otherwise the lack of payment would be unfair.