Working as an Account Manager can be very intense at times, and multi-tasking skills are definitely required in order to be successful. Leads or quote requests are received by e-mail, telephone and our CRM system on a daily basis and these need to be processed and followed up immediately, in order to have a good chance to sell. Once a detailed quote has been sent by e-mail, it is very important to follow up either immediately, the same day or the latest the following day. This ensures that you know if the client received the quote, is satisfied with the cost per word, Desktop Publishing Services costs or the turnaround time stated. The more feedback you get from your client, the better chances you have, to adjust your quote to the client´s satisfaction and hence you have a higher chance of selling the translation project.
Here is an example of where my persistency in following up with a prospect paid off. It was in January of this year when a prospect contacted our Agency by phone. He requested a quote for having a word document translated from English into Argentine Spanish. He told me that the document contained the memoires of his friend´s past, when growing up in Argentina. He sent me a sample page and wanted to receive a quote.
Once the estimated quote was sent he told me that he would have to sit down with his friend and he would get back to me. I followed up at the end of the week and in intervals of 2 weeks, after he had responded that he was not very sure if this translation project was going to happen. Today, I received a phone call and he explained to me that thanks to my great Service, and I think he referred to my constant follow ups by e-mail and phone that he decided to use our Services. I received a 30% down-payment of a total amount of US$ 3,780.00 dollars and I am happy that my persistency paid off in this case.
