Tess Whitty, a Swedish translator I know, recently wrote a post on her own blog that was about unsolicited e-mails she gets from other translators. As I read it, I nodded in agreement with each of the points she made. Take the introduction, for example:
"Almost every day, I receive emails addressed to 'Dear Sir/Madam' from freelance translators applying for a job as a freelance translator, translating into or from other languages than Swedish. This is inevitably a result of someone finding my company information in a database, among many other companies and sending out mass emails to most of them, without checking the company facts."
Same thing here!
I currently receive several e-mail applications from translators each week, just about all of which get binned within 60 seconds (I'm sorry to say) because they don't meet my basic selection criteria. It's easiest to summarise these here as a list of do's and don'ts:
10 "golden rules"
- Address your e-mail personally, i.e. use the actual name of the person you're writing to, not an impersonal "Dear Sir or Madam" – it will catch their attention right away and make you stand out from the crowd.
- Never send the same unsolicited e-mail application to a group of agencies or other translators – it won't be personalised or meet each person's specific needs, so it's likely to waste their time and land in the bin.
- If you really do want to do point 2, don't make the e-mail addresses of all the other people you are contacting visible to the reader – this data is private and the recipients won't want to know who else you have chosen to write to.
- Tailor the content of your message to the recipient by checking out their website (or blog) first of all; the more you refer to that, the more impressed the recipient will be – because you are showing them you have made an effort to find out about their company and needs. If you do translations in a language the company doesn't offer itself, then there's not much point in asking them for work, is there?
- Don't mention their website or blog if you haven't taken a look at it beforehand – it's annoying for them if they can tell you haven't read the information they've put on it (or haven't read it properly). Take your time and learn something about the firm before you apply.
- Only apply to a translation agency for freelance work if it offers your target language to its customers. Check out their website beforehand and see if your language is listed as one that the agency covers. If it isn't, then move on to the next potential customer on your list – your chances of finding a new business partner are much higher if you offer them something you know they need.
- If an agency you are interested in working for has provided a special e-mail address for unsolicited applications on their website, then please use it. And if they have posted instructions on how to apply for work, please follow these carefully. Again, this will impress the agency as they will see you have been making an effort to find out about them.
- E-mails that contain spelling mistakes or are poorly worded or structured are very likely to get binned quickly – if you are a translator, then you are a language specialist, so regard anything you write as a sample of what you can do. "If she makes mistakes in a simple e-mail like this, what will her translations be like?", the recipient will ask himself.
- If you decide to write your e-mail in a language that's not your mother tongue and you feel the e-mail is important (which it is as you are trying to win a new customer and ultimately boost your income), then ask a friend or colleague who has a very good grasp of the language or is a native speaker to check it for you. After all, it ought to be as well written as any e-mail you write in your first language.
- Last but not least, if you really are interested in working for a particular company, then follow the message up with a phone call to the same person a few days later. This kind of contact is more personal than e-mail correspondence and will help the recipient remember you when a suitable assignment comes in. A phone number ought to be listed on the "contact" page of their website.
These are just a few brief tips about applying for work by e-mail. If you follow this advice, chances are you'll get more (positive) responses from the potential customers you contact and a few more assignments as well. Why not try it out? Apply these "golden rules" and see if they can improve the results of your own customer-acquisition strategy. And remember: sending a prospective customer an e-mail for the first time is like handing them your business card.
Regards
Carl
images: © Iwona Golczyk, S. Hofschlaeger / PIXELIO
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