essential mistakes translation company directors should avoid

Copyright © Levent Yıldızgören - ATC Conference, 14 September 2012

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The 7 Mistakes Translation Company Directors Should Avoid

Managing Director TTC Language Services

Levent Yıldızgören

ATC Annual Conference, 14 September 2012


+ 1 – Ignoring people development


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Do you regularly encourage your colleagues look for new ideas, new methods? Or ‘this is how we do things here’ is used to fend off any new ideas. How you answer this may indicate your company’s approach.

When people are developed, they are motivated. And motivation does wonderful things. It provides innovation. It lights up people. It also gives people a purpose to come to work and enjoy what they do. (rather than just something they have to do for a living).

But what is the best way to go about it. To do this, you need to find out what your employees want to achieve or most excited about. This will give you a good idea what ambitions your staff member has and where he or she would like more training, support or feedback.


+ Annual employee appraisal reviews can be a good opportunity to

encourage and discuss development plans.

And you can allocate an annual training budget for each employee. We do this in TTC and it is working very well. Some years we go over the budget and some years it is not used at all.

If one of your project managers would like to get a qualification in project management, you can set up a training plan with them and discuss what would be a win/win outcome.

Not only this will motivate your workforce, it will also save you money as it will ensure better staff retention. So you don’t have to spend time on recruitment and new staff training.

In summary People development

* will motivate your staff

* will make them more productive

* will increase staff retention


+2 -Ignoring your own development


+ For the same reasons as above, we need to be developed and motivated in

order to develop and motivate others.

People running businesses need to set aside a budget for their own development. I know a very successful entrepreneur who puts aside 10% of his income for self-development and business travel. So that he always has money available to him, whether it is for development or meeting an important client or supplier.

When was the last time you spent money on your own development?

I heard that Dalai Lama says he meditates one hour everyday but if he is very busy he meditates for two hours.

Another benefit of this is keeping up with the developments:

Translation industry is directly effected by the developments in IT and web technologies. New tools and programs for translation industry as well as general office use are appearing on monthly basis. It is essential that we follow these developments so that we can utilize them in our own operations.

A new accounting package directly linked to your bank account or issuing invoices as customers place orders can save your company valuable time and improve your bottom line.


+3 - Not going social


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If you are not using social media platforms to engage with your audience you could be missing a great opportunity.

Social media provides a free platform, which can enable businesses to connect with their existing and potential customers.

If someone Google’s your name, can they find enough information about you or your company that could affect their purchasing decision?

People will Google you to find out more about you and definitely before meetings and negotiations.

When they do, can they find out all the information that you would want them to know about you including your photograph?


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+Measure of online influence - Klout


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When Google’d do your pictures come up?


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Richard Branson & Virgin

The approach adopted by both Branson and the Virgin companies has paid dividends:

- over 2.4 million people choosing to follow @RichardBranson on Twitter,

- 250,000 on Facebook and

- 2.9 million on Google+.

https://twitter.com/richardbranson

https://twitter.com/richardbranson

http://www.facebook.com/RichardBranson

http://www.facebook.com/RichardBranson

https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/109525300902232636271/+RichardBranson/posts


+Burberry |Google+ page (1.4million followers)


+4 - Not networking and pitching regularly


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Running a business can be a lonely job. Networking is a great way to make connections and spread your message.

Also it can provide you with peer to peer mentoring and advice.

And if it is used effectively, it can also generate business connections.

The best source of business is word of mouth. Clients who have been referred by a person they trust, are already aware of your company. And they have already learned how credible your business is. If prospects come to you through referral, you can also assume that they have a genuine translation requirement.

In a nutshell: With word of mouth, half of the sales has already been done before a prospect even contacts you.


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Also, one of the added benefits of networking is that you can hone your pitching skills.

When you meet someone for the first time they usually ask, ‘What do you do?’ And you only get a moment to introduce yourself which can be around 60 seconds or less.

Very few people can say what they do with any clarity or impact. And rarely it is captivating. This is why pitching skills are so important.

Can you get an informed response from somebody whom you have not met before in 60 seconds?


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If we can create an informed response on somebody we have not met before, even if they do not have any translation requirement, they will be spreading our message.

Most business owners are not able to pitch effectively and often their message is lost in technical jargon or irrelevant information. Pitching is creating an informed response from someone who has no idea about what we do. It is also called elevator pitch because you have 15 seconds before the person loses interest in what you are saying.


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5 - Not using power teams


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There is no excuse for us not using power teams of experts for professional support such as business advisers, PR experts, brand experts, graphic designers, copywriters.

Good design means good communication with your audience. And good copy will put your message across effectively.

Business advisers can provide important support. When we are involved deeply in our business, it is not always easy to see the solutions. Business advisers can be a great help when used effectively.

Financial budgets can be tedious and really boring. It takes too long to create them and most SMEs would normally avoid them.

So you can get a finance expert to create this for you. So you’re not missing out on very important reporting such as annual and 3 yearly plans.


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For example if you don’t have the time to write a blog post, the content experts will do this for you and write fresh, engaging, keyword-rich copy.

There are different price levels for these services. So it may not necessarily be too expensive. Don’t believe that these services are for big businesses only.

Depending on the project you can hire power teams by the day, part-time, project based or even hourly by using platforms such as Peopleperhour.

In the long run, it will save you time and money if you let the experts do what they do best as efficiently as possible, while you can use your time to do what you can do best – run your business.


+6 - Not developing your intellectual property


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Every business owns non-tangible assets such as intellectual property (IP). This can include trade marks, logos, processes and anything you have developed in order to carry out your activities.

Your company has more assets than you might have thought. Many translation companies underestimate the value of IP and how important it could be for future profit.

We need to get this IP out and turn it into a transferable asset which you can monetise. Your IP can also have a positive impact on the value of your SME in case of a sale, merger or acquisition.

Also, developing your intellectual property is essential for growing your business.


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So how can we realise the value of our intellectual property that we are sitting on? To start with we need to have a documented system in place that records our quality system, our project management and our customer care.

This way, you will develop your intellectual property and create many valuable documents at the same time.

Also if you don’t have documented procedures, this may be stopping your progress already. Here are some indications to take into account:

Do your project managers complain about unreliable translators too often? Do they always complain about unreasonable customers? Then chances are they are spending time fire fighting and these may be signs of things not going very well.

Do all employees share the same idea about quality, customer care? For instance, does everyone follow the same procedure when a client makes a complaint?


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7 – Blaming economy for lack of growth


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According to Common Sense Advisory’s calculations in 2012, European Translation market value would be around $16.5 billion (western Europe’s value is $7.6 billion)

The global market value is $33.5. And most interestingly, according to their calculations the annual growth rate is 12.17% in 2012.

These are encouraging figures. And gives me hope and makes me glad I am in this industry.

However, despite these figures, there is a common perception amongst some business owners that we cannot possibly grow our businesses because of the global crisis.


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While some multi national businesses may be affected by the downturn directly, we as SMEs still have many opportunities.

In fact, times of economic pressure have always driven innovation. While large and inflexible companies might fall, small and flexible companies can react quickly to a changing market and thrive.

The same applies to ‘banks are not lending anymore’. Yes banks are not lending as they did before but there are many other financing models coming up, such as crowd financing, crowd funding and crowd investing. In order to get this financial support business owners need to think on their feet and come up with a compelling vision and a rock-solid calculation for their enterprise that will excite and convince micro-investors.


+Take away points 1/2

Invest in people

Your employees are the most productive when they are happy within their working environment. And to keep them happy and motivated, you need to invest into their professional development and offer regular training for each member of staff.

Invest in yourself

If you are not at your best, your whole business will suffer. So try to adapt your lifestyle to improve your wellbeing, relax regularly and allocate time and money for your personal and professional development.

Grow against the flow

The economic downturn can be a driver for innovation. Translation companies should invest now to be in a good position when things pick up.

Go social

Embrace the free and effective marketing opportunities of social networks, blogs and online video.


+Take away points 2/2

Use a team of experts

To get the professional support your company deserves, use a power team of business advisers, mentors, PR experts, graphic designers, and copywriters.

Grow your network

You are not alone. Many excellent sales leads come from networking,

Make use of your IP

Find the hidden treasures in your company – intellectual property – and make

your SME more valuable.


+About the Author

Levent Yildizgoren is the Managing Director of TTC Language Services (www.ttcltd.com). He is an experienced Turkish translator and PRINCE2 qualified project manager.

Levent has been in the translation industry since 1992. He is a general council member of the ATC and ITI.

Levent loves cycling, swimming, video games. He regularly participates in activities supporting local charities.

He can be contacted:Tel: +44 (0)1245 216933Email [email protected] @yildizgoren

http://www.ttcltd.com/

mailto:[email protected]

https://twitter.com/yildizgoren

https://twitter.com/yildizgoren