Handling Offers When Your Schedule's Jammed

In this article, I'm going to walk you through the approach you need to adopt when your schedule is jam-packed for the next week or two but you've just received a job offer from an agent/client.

My writings are geared toward freelance translators, but the advice contained herein will work for pretty much any freelance occupation.

Once you're an established freelancer, being full up for the next few days or even weeks is a common situation to be in. In fact, it's probably going to be your default state.

Which is why it's so vital to know exactly how to handle offers that you can't actually handle (at least not right now) as skillfully as possible.

Before we get into it, I want to talk a little bit about the concept of "scarcity" - as there's a lot of misunderstanding in this area.

In marketing and sales, "scarcity" refers to the notion that a good or service that is hard to obtain is perceived as having more value.

The "scarcity" idea is applied by making your product or service appear rare so that you can charge a higher price for it or, ironically, actually sell more of it.

Time-limited offers are the classic example of scarcity marketing in action.

Yet what you want to keep in mind is that scarcity doesn't mean unavailability.

Scarcity only works when coupled with AVAILABILITY.

After all, if you went to a fast-food place every day and they were always out of burgers, eventually you'd stop going there and permanently take your business elsewhere. Even if their burgers were your favorite, you'd stop going because you never actually get to eat one.

So while having a full schedule might impress upon agents/clients that you're an in-demand freelancer, being constantly unavailable is just going to result in them dropping you and never calling you again.

This can be seen in an image from a translation agent that I shared the other day. It was a list of 10 things freelancers must avoid, and number-10 on the list was frequently refusing projects on the grounds of being busy with other work.

Don't let this be you.

You want to keep your pipeline so full that it's in danger of springing a leak.

So what do you do when you're schedule's filled to the brim for the near future and an agent/client contacts you with a job?

The first thing to know, and this is sales 101, is that you want to be POSITIVE not NEGATIVE.

In other words, rather than saying that your schedule's full and that you can't take on the job, you want to tell them WHEN you CAN deliver.

Basically, you don't want to be saying no.

(I feel like an idiot for even telling you this but it's amazing how many people I coach who do say no and then wonder why their pipeline keeps drying up.)

Note that "no" can take many forms.

It has nothing to do with whether the statement itself is negative or positive.

All these "positive" statements are actually rejections:

• I'm really busy this week.
• My schedule's full.
• I'm tied up with other projects.
• I have three other jobs in.

Instead of rejecting the offer, the key is to MAKE an offer.

It doesn't matter whether it's for April 2021!

MAKE AN OFFER.

OK, I think the best way to help you is to give you an actual example of a phone conversation.

(TIP: If the job offer comes in via email, pick up the phone and call the PM with your offer rather than replying to the email. This demonstrates enthusiasm to retain the agent/client's business and work out a solution.)

This is based on a conversation I had with an agent on the morning of August 30. At the time, my schedule was completely full till September 7 - so over a week ahead.

(The conversation was in Japanese so this is a translation.)

(My annotations are shown in bold italics.)

A: Agent M: Matt

A: Hi, this is (name) from (agent's company name). We've got another job from (end client's company name), so I'm calling to find out about your availability. It's around 1,400 words - the same as last time. It's a smallish job - so preferred delivery is probably this evening.

M: Good morning, (name)! That's great. So glad they keep coming back! No rejection, just positivity, and a reminder that this repeat business is thanks in large part to the quality of my work - and our win-win partnership.

A: So when can you deliver by?

M: Lots of work in this week, but I can get it to you first thing on the morning of September 10. I immediately follow up what looks like a rejection (which I include for the scarcity effect) with a positive, specific offer. It's way in the future, but I don't even mention that.

A: OK, let me confirm with the client and I'll get back to you. After all, this is a half-day job that I'm asking for over a week for.

M: Great. I'll pencil it into my schedule for now, anyway. Always assume the sale.

She called back a few minutes later after getting the OK from the client and made the order official.

But even if she hadn't got the OK, and the job ended up going to someone else, she would still have come away from the interaction with an image of me as a keen, helpful freelancer with a "let's see how we can work this out" attitude.

The tips in these articles give you lots of tools for tweaking your approach, but for a basic grounding in success attainment as a freelance translator, be sure to read my Amazon/Kindle ebook, 88 WAYS TO BE SUCCESSFUL AS A FREELANCE TRANSLATOR.

Best of luck on your journey.

Matt