METM17 presentation

Client mapping and profiling: an experiment

 
Anne Murray, Barberà de la Conca, Spain 
 
Where do clients come from and where do they go? What makes a good client or a bad client? Can bad clients lead to good clients? And can good clients lead to even better ones? As a freelance medical translator and editor without a website or any active targeting of clients, I have asked myself these and similar questions over the years. This presentation is an abridged version of a talk given at the MET medley in Barcelona in September in which I described the findings of an experimental study of my clients and freelance business. I analyzed trends in turnover, numbers of clients and jobs, and work in my specialization, medicine, since 2008 and then conducted a more in-depth analysis of my clients in 2016 and 2017 to see, among other things, where they had come from. Did they all lead back to a few “index cases”? I also created a system for rating clients based on my needs and preferences. I hope my findings will provide some insights into the importance of considering the long-term implications of all dealings with clients, however “desirable or undesirable” they may initially seem. The findings may also encourage participants to set up their own system for prospectively analyzing their work and client network as a means of better understanding their business and moving closer to their goals.

 
Anne Murray is a freelance medical translator, editor and authors' editor based in Barberà de la Conca, Tarragona. She has a degree in translation from Dublin City University and a foundation certificate in medical writing from the European Medical Writers’ Association. She has been a member of MET’s council since its founding and currently holds the position of chair.