 Hello everyone. So today I want to talk, well, okay, before I start my talk, please don't forget if you haven't yet to subscribe if you want videos about freelancing, about freelance translation and stuff like that. Now we'll get to the video. Today I wanted to talk to you about sales, about a specific thing that I've come across when doing sales for translation and for translators and in my experience, this is more or less how it works. Usually nobody you talk to needs translations. Nobody you talk to will need translations in your language combination. And this is what I've found when I'm talking, when I'm networking, when I'm doing sales, when I'm going to these meetups and to these conferences and trying to see other people who might need my services, who might need translations done. No one needs any translations ever. But what happens is they will three, six months down the line be in touch with someone and then hear about someone who does need translations or at some point in the future they'll hear about someone who's working on a translation or who needs something to be in a different language or something along those lines. And so what will happen is all these people you talk to who don't need translations will in the future have access to or be in touch with someone who does need translations. And at that point in time you can get that business hopefully. But this is very tricky, right? Someone you talk to if three, six months down the line they find out that someone needs a translation, how can you be sure that they will contact you for that translation, right? Well, there are various methods to do this. First of all is obviously to keep in touch. Whoever you talk to, keep in touch with them. Don't bother them, but follow up. If it's a friend, obviously, then you don't need to worry about it too much there. You need to worry more about the fact that they know that you're a translator. They don't associate you with, oh, my middle school friend who used to drink a lot and wears really weird shoes. But my friend from middle school who wears really weird shoes but is also a translator. And, you know, some of these things they need to be top of mind. And so make sure that your translation aspect is top of mind. But for people you're meeting at these networking conferences and stuff like that, a thing is just to keep in touch. Whenever you talk to someone, something will come up. Maybe you'll say, oh, did you read the latest article about whatever this? Oh, I heard you're interested in golf or something along those lines. So a couple weeks down the line send them and hey, I saw this article about golf in our area. They're opening a new golf course. Did you hear about this? Stuff like that. Just to keep in touch. And again, just to keep it top of mind. And that way, three, six months down the line, when they hear about someone who needs a translation, they'll be like, oh, yeah, I know a translator. Here, let me find their information. I'll forward it to you. And you can see if you need that translator services. And so every time you're networking, every time you're meeting someone, even if they have no need for translations and they say, I don't need a translator, I've never needed one, probably never need one, it's still a good contact. It's still someone to keep in mind. And this goes for friends. This goes for acquaintances. This goes for people you meet on the street or wherever it might be. So you just want to make sure that they keep you top of mind, they keep you and the fact that you're a translator top of mind. Now, one method to do this, which will really depend on your situation is to offer commission. Now, this has worked for me in the past on certain occasions and certain times not. It really depends on your relationship with the person you're talking to, et cetera. I've found that this works better with friends, people you know, well, rather than complete strangers. But you can say, look, for every translation job that I get, I will pay you a 10% commission or whatever it might be. And that person is usually happy. They get 10% just for forwarding you an email address and then you get business. And presumably if you're getting paid, you have no problem giving 10% of what you get paid to someone for letting you get paid. Right? The reason I say it works better with friends is because friends know you, they trust you. Some random stranger, like they'll say, okay, I can get 10%, which isn't much money, but I don't want to risk ruining my reputation. Sending a contact to a translator who have only met once and I'm not sure if they're any good or something along those lines. That's why I feel like offering a commission works better with someone who knows you well, but that just might be my impression. You can see what works best for you. It has worked for me in the past though. And you know, certain people, they're happy to do that. In fact, I've had certain people who keep sending me different possible translations. Not all of them work out, but when they do, I'm happy to pay that 10%. This could be a good method. I know of some people who even put it on their business card and say, I will pay a 10% commission for every translation you do. I don't do that. I do send it out on my invoices. And the idea there being is someone who's already worked with me and so hopefully likes me and my work and trusts me. At that point, they'll be more comfortable to recommend me to someone else and send me as a referral to someone else if someone else needs a translation. See what works best for you. Either way, when you do sales, it's just one of the things that I found in my experience that you should keep in mind. No one you talk to will say, oh, I'm glad you're a French to English translator. I need a French to English translator right now for what I'm doing. No. And many times they'll say, oh yeah, I think we have something that's interesting that usually never works out. What does work out is three, six months down the line, they'll be in touch with someone who needs a translation done. And at that point, you should hope that they know how to get in touch with you and that they do get in touch with you by whichever method works best. If you have other methods that work well for you, please feel free to share them in the comments below. If you know a way in which you can stay top of mind or in which you can get translation jobs, even if the person you talk to at that moment in time doesn't need a translation, right? Hopefully you do find this useful and you can find it useful going forward with your translation career or whatever career you might have. If you're any other type of freelancer, if you're a freelance designer, chances are whoever you talk to doesn't need a design done right then and there, but they might need something in the future in which case hopefully you can stay top of mind. So once again, please don't forget to click like so I know what works and what doesn't. And don't forget to subscribe if you want more videos in the future like this that deal with freelancing, freelance translation and stuff along those lines. Okay, thanks. Bye.