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Poll: When was the last time you got a new client from a colleague's referral?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jan 26, 2020

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "When was the last time you got a new client from a colleague's referral?".

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neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 17:51
Spanish to English
+ ...
I don't remember Jan 26, 2020

Seriously, who keeps track of these things? Not me. It takes me all my time just doing the actual (expletive deleted) work and admin.

Elke Fehling
Philip Lees
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 17:51
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
I often get referrals from within the agency Jan 26, 2020

ProZ.com Staff wrote:
"When was the last time you got a new client from a colleague's referral?".


It was quite a while ago. I do, however, often get PMs telling me that so-and-so (i.e. a specific person from the same agency with whom I certainly have worked before) recommended me. I'm not sure how true that always is -- it may simply be a business writing convention which sounds friendlier than "I stumbled upon you in our database".


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 16:51
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Last week Jan 26, 2020

A good part of my new clients has come in through referrals from either colleagues (a few are Prozians) or long-standing-customers.

 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:51
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
I suspect that is not the purpose of the question Jan 26, 2020

neilmac wrote:
Seriously, who keeps track of these things?

I'm not convinced that the original poster is genuinely interested in the answer. The dramatic increase in this kind of poll over the past half-year or so is clearly part of a calculated attempt to increase participation in ProZ forums. On my forum "front page" this morning there 36 topics, of which no less than 12 topics were initiated by site staff. One third! I very seldom pay attention to such polls but while some, like Henry's questions about changes to KudoZ, actually look sensible and worthwhile, most look like filler.

The problem is that there is a finite number of questions that participants find truly interesting. That suggests a tendency towards diminishing returns in terms of the 'marginal interest' generated by each additional question. It also risks a kind of crowding out effect whereby a flurry of topics initiated by 'government' (site staff) distract from or discourage genuine activity initiated by the 'private sector' (members).

Real engagement has to be organic, and is probably quite difficult to cultivate.

Regards,
Dan


Zibow Retailleau
Jennifer White
Elke Fehling
Arkadiusz Jasiński
Erik Freitag
Mario Freitas
Josephine Cassar
 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 17:51
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
And some were not admitted: Jan 26, 2020

Dan Lucas wrote:

The problem is that there is a finite number of questions that participants find truly interesting.


Last year I tried to start a poll asking whether "TM Town", the hype feature of the year 2017 (or was it 2018?), has led to new leads or not, completed by the question "What is TM Town?". The poll never started and I never heard from proz staff, why not.

[Bearbeitet am 2020-01-26 12:26 GMT]


Maria Silvestri
Robert Rietvelt
 
Elke Fehling
Elke Fehling  Identity Verified
Local time: 17:51
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
I agree Jan 26, 2020

Dan Lucas wrote:

... The dramatic increase in this kind of poll over the past half-year or so is clearly part of a calculated attempt to increase participation in ProZ forums.



Yes, I see that too. Not just the polls, all kinds of "off topic" postings. It also happens on the Proz Facebook page. It is as if they pay people to keep a constant flux of postings, and the subjects are usually only remotely relevant for professional translators.

I really wonder about the purpose.
Is it simply to make it look as it was a very committed community or is there something else behind it?

Or is there such a great need to involve in online small talk?

Elke


Joe Ly Sien
Robert Rietvelt
 
Maria Silvestri
Maria Silvestri  Identity Verified
United States
Member (2010)
Italian to English
+ ...
Doesn't get to happen often enough Jan 26, 2020

I do try to refer colleagues as often as I can. Sometimes, I am offered projects in the reverse of my language pair (that is, from English) and I am able to recommend a few people who may be suitable for the project. I'm happy to do so because we're certainly not in competition and I would appreciate the same being done for me.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 13:51
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Last month (by coincidence) Jan 26, 2020

I get referrals regularly from friends/colleagues. But in order for these to be called "clients", a job has to be confirmed and paid, and that's not as common as the referrals. Let's say for each five referrals, one becomes an actual client. And further into this pattern, most of these referrals that do become clients are one-timers.
So, considering my history of referrals by friends/colleagues, I'd say these would represent less than 5% of my regular clients. In other words, it's not a r
... See more
I get referrals regularly from friends/colleagues. But in order for these to be called "clients", a job has to be confirmed and paid, and that's not as common as the referrals. Let's say for each five referrals, one becomes an actual client. And further into this pattern, most of these referrals that do become clients are one-timers.
So, considering my history of referrals by friends/colleagues, I'd say these would represent less than 5% of my regular clients. In other words, it's not a resource to be entirely discarded, but we should not invest too much in it, either.

Note: As mentioned below, it's a reciprocal thing. You must also refer colleagues. People who never refer colleagues will likely not get referrals either. I notice this in most social media sites. Those who are willing to help have their return. Those who never help and always criticize the 'system' never see much results.

[Edited at 2020-01-26 17:52 GMT]
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Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 17:51
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
Agree with Dan Jan 26, 2020

Dan Lucas wrote:

neilmac wrote:
Seriously, who keeps track of these things?

I'm not convinced that the original poster is genuinely interested in the answer. The dramatic increase in this kind of poll over the past half-year or so is clearly part of a calculated attempt to increase participation in ProZ forums. On my forum "front page" this morning there 36 topics, of which no less than 12 topics were initiated by site staff. One third! I very seldom pay attention to such polls but while some, like Henry's questions about changes to KudoZ, actually look sensible and worthwhile, most look like filler.


Talking for the sake of talking, and often hardly or not at all translation related, like a topic the other week: 'Do you have a pet?' (???????)

[Edited at 2020-01-26 18:31 GMT]


ahartje
Elke Fehling
Jennifer White
Philip Lees
Platary (X)
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 17:51
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Nobody is forced to reply to polls Jan 26, 2020

Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Talking for the sake of talking, and often hardly or not at all translation related, like a topic the other week: 'Do you have a pet?'.


Nobody is forced to reply to polls. Not all polls will be interesting to all people. Yes, sometimes the polls appear to be scraping the bottom of the barrel. The purpose of polls is not to provide answers to the original poster but to give either a quick answer or a longer comment about the topic. Nobody is forced to do polls. There have always been serious polls and playful polls. This fact may have been less well known when polls were not shown on the recent topics list.


Andrew Morris
 
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 17:51
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
`@ Samuel Jan 26, 2020

Samuel Murray wrote:

Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Talking for the sake of talking, and often hardly or not at all translation related, like a topic the other week: 'Do you have a pet?'.


Nobody is forced to reply to polls. Not all polls will be interesting to all people. Yes, sometimes the polls appear to be scraping the bottom of the barrel. The purpose of polls is not to provide answers to the original poster but to give either a quick answer or a longer comment about the topic. Nobody is forced to do polls. There have always been serious polls and playful polls. This fact may have been less well known when polls were not shown on the recent topics list.


Well Samuel, do you have a pet?


Kay Denney
 
Elke Fehling
Elke Fehling  Identity Verified
Local time: 17:51
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
But why? Jan 26, 2020

I am here to talk about translations. If I want to discuss my pet, I refer to the "Translators with CATs" (!) group.

Why does there seem to be a need for "playful posts"? Who wants them?

I think Proz is trying to reinvent itself. Only it is way too late. There are already social media channels for all of these topics.

How would you feel if your bakery all of a sudden confronted you with the question if you have pets? What do pets have to do with bread? Wh
... See more
I am here to talk about translations. If I want to discuss my pet, I refer to the "Translators with CATs" (!) group.

Why does there seem to be a need for "playful posts"? Who wants them?

I think Proz is trying to reinvent itself. Only it is way too late. There are already social media channels for all of these topics.

How would you feel if your bakery all of a sudden confronted you with the question if you have pets? What do pets have to do with bread? Why would a bakery even make a poll about non-bakery related topics? I would seriously wonder how they can afford to pay someone for irrelevant polls like this. Is that where my money for bread goes to? Maybe I should go to a different bakery, where they care more about baking. But stop. There aren't so many bakeries where I live...

[Bearbeitet am 2020-01-26 19:57 GMT]

[Bearbeitet am 2020-01-27 18:39 GMT]
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Jennifer White
Robert Rietvelt
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 17:51
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Robert Jan 26, 2020

Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Well Samuel, do you have a pet?


As a matter of fact... three cats and four rabbits. Here's a picture of one of the rabbits:

white rabbit


 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:51
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
More than a year ago Jan 27, 2020

It has happened, but not recently.

As for relevance of the polls, think of them from the site managers' point of view: One of their main jobs is to attract people to the site. When people don't come to the site, its usefulness declines. The poll has been quite popular over the years. Sometimes as many as 1,000 people have responded to a question. That's a lot of extra traffic in a day. Based on the dates of the archived polls, it appears that they have been running since 2005, for a
... See more
It has happened, but not recently.

As for relevance of the polls, think of them from the site managers' point of view: One of their main jobs is to attract people to the site. When people don't come to the site, its usefulness declines. The poll has been quite popular over the years. Sometimes as many as 1,000 people have responded to a question. That's a lot of extra traffic in a day. Based on the dates of the archived polls, it appears that they have been running since 2005, for a total of more than 4,000. It's no wonder we see some repetition and some questions that we don't think are "important." That's not the point.

At the same time, the polls, like the rest of the forums, engage translators in conversation. We meet and get to see that we have colleagues who are in the same boat. We hear how they manage their challenges. I'm encouraged when I see that the majority of them respond to a given situation the same way I do. I often learn from their responses.

Finally, if a question doesn't interest me, I don't click on it. We have that choice.

[Edited at 2020-01-27 00:40 GMT]
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Gibril Koroma
Philip Lees
Josephine Cassar
Carmen Lanzrein
 
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Poll: When was the last time you got a new client from a colleague's referral?






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