10 Questions to Help You Define Your Unique Value as a Translator or Interpreter
When I talk to colleagues about marketing their businesses online—whether via their websites, professional association directory listings, or a social media platform like LinkedIn—the first thing I mention is that you should be able to define your value in relation to the types of clients you want to work with over the long term.
This step is one many people resist taking. It can feel uncomfortable to try to define your value as a professional translator or interpreter. But stepping outside your comfort zone to consider how you define your value will help you sell your services more easily and effectively to the right people. It will start to feel a lot less like selling and a lot more like collaborating.
Of course, no one is born knowing how to sell, and few people like to pitch their services. But what if you could sell without pitching? Sell without feeling uncomfortable? Approach clients with your unique value without feeling like you could be stepping over a line at any moment?
You might think, What if a client gets annoyed? What if they reject me or don't reply at all? But, in fact, we need to shift our mindset about how we approach clients and start by understanding our unique value.
Start by defining your value for yourself
I like to offer colleagues some basic questions to answer in our online presence coaching calls.
Try defining the unique value you provide to clients and your network by answering the following questions for yourself:
What services do you provide?
Who do you serve? Be as specific as possible.
What do your clients gain from working with you in terms of the challenges they can overcome or the goals they can achieve?
What are your clients' long-term gains when they work with you?
What did it take for you to get to this point professionally?
What will it take to continue to grow professionally so you can serve your clients with the highest level of professionalism and expertise?
How do you deliver high-quality service?
What tools do you use as a professional to provide your services?
Why should your clients choose you over someone else? Consider your previous experience, expertise, and education.
Why are you the best professional to meet your clients' needs?
While you don't have to know all the answers to every question right away, it's important to try to complete this exercise as well as possible so you can start to consider how you'll share this value with your clients through your ongoing communications and marketing efforts.
Share your unique value in every touchpoint
Now that you've taken the time to answer these questions, you can start to paint a picture for your clients. Make a list of the various ways you can interact with your clients directly. Here are several to help you get started:
Email exchanges
Phone or Zoom calls
Meetings
Networking events
Conferences
etc.
Take a mental inventory of your presence on various platforms where you have a profile or presence. These would be indirect touchpoints, such as your:
Website
LinkedIn
Social media accounts
Professional directory listings/profiles
etc.
Ask yourself how you're showing up for your clients, both directly and indirectly.
Are you taking the time to consider your words and interactions with clients in a way that evokes a sense of trust and care for their projects or assignments?
Do you sprinkle in some information along the way that demonstrates your unique value and expertise, or do you mostly have transactional exchanges with them?
Does your online presence reflect the value and expertise you provide to your clients? Can they easily recognize it if you're not there to help walk them through it?
What can you adjust about your direct and indirect touchpoints to share your unique value?
When you think about your professional value in this way, you may start to notice that you carry yourself differently while interacting with clients. You may also notice that sharing your value becomes a natural part of the conversation and your initial interactions feel a lot less like that uncomfortable selling or pitching that most of us loathe.
This has certainly been the case for me. And over time, it's made conversations with potential clients more exciting and enjoyable. Perhaps the best part of defining my unique value has been that more of my ideal clients are finding me and hiring me. Fewer potential clients question my rates because we know much earlier in the conversation whether we are likely to be a fit for one another. This saves so much time and energy, and it has helped me grow my business with more of the right clients for me.
What about you? Have you taken the time to define your unique value? How has defining your value helped you engage with clients and grow your business with the right clients?
