20th Anniversary: An Interview with the TextTrans Team – Part 2

This is second part of the interview the TextTrans team prepared for its 20th anniversary. You can read the first part here.

Robert: Now I would like to see if anyone has questions to one another.

Lau: I do! I want to ask Samanta what it is like to work with a family member, like Claudio!

Samanta: It’s not hard for me to work with my uncle. Also, we don’t work together in the same office. And Claudio knows how to separate things too! When he needs to say something, he does it.

Robert: Fabiana and Tatiana, I would like to ask you the same question, since you are sisters.

Fabiana: Unlike Samanta and Claudio, sometimes we work in the office side by side!

Tatiana: I love it. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, we have worked from home, and I miss the coffee breaks with Fabiana and Samanta! Now I have a question for Patrícia: What has your experience been like at TextTrans?

Patricia: Something I feel from all of you is that you’re very kind in your emails. That surprised me because I’ve had experiences that were not so good in the past. This thoughtful communication really helps on a day to day basis. For example, when something goes wrong during a project, I get a considerate message from you and I think, “Well, I have to make it work because everybody involved is so kind.” And if we think of the statements we’ve received from other translators this month, we can see they feel the same. That makes TextTrans unique from the point of view of the translators. This has been my experience with TextTrans so far, and it makes me want to work to meet everyone’s expectations, to make everyone’s work easier.

Robert: And what did you expect before? What did you think you were getting into?

Patricia: When I started as a freelance translator at TextTrans, I just wanted to make some money while I was studying. I did not know the company. With time, our relationship grew into something great. I was thrilled and grateful when Claudio invited me to work as a Language Specialist on the team!

Robert: Thank you, Patrícia. Now I have a question for Lau. You started at the company working with me, on the business development and marketing side of things. What are the big differences between that job and the job you’re doing now, in production? Which do you think is harder?

Lau: Project Management is harder for sure, because it’s 100% my responsibility. To be a great PM you have to meet deadlines, you need to like being in contact with the clients and translators,  you have to be patient, pay lot of attention to details, be organized and so on.

So, yes, the role that I have now is harder because it has way more responsibilities, and I really like it!

Robert: It’s probably good that you did the sales part before going into Project Management because now you know how long it takes to get the clients to come on board!

Lau: Yes, it was definitely an important experience because I could see and understand the whole process since the beginning. When I was in sales, I noticed that it can be very challenging to find an opportunity for a partnership and that it takes time to finally close the business. So, when I moved to production and started working on a daily basis with the clients we already have, I was able to understand how important it is to keep our clients happy and satisfied with our work. Of course new opportunities are always welcome, but our main purpose here is to keep doing a good job with the ones we already have, since quality is our number 1 goal.

Fabiana: I have a question for you, Robert. What do you think that changed in the company since you started working with us 4 years ago?

Robert : The company has changed a little bit in terms of the culture. Now it is much more open, ready and fast-acting when it comes to new opportunities.

Now we respond very fast to new proposals! There always was an awareness of treating the client well, but now we are ready for new stuff too. The basics are still there – respect, good service, and good quality. But people are happy to see the growth and to see new clients come in. That’s a positive thing. As a company, we are happy to see new businesses and the beginning of relationships that will last into the future. Also, we’ve very rarely lost any client; so when people start working with TextTrans, they continue working with TextTrans. I can’t remember any client that we’ve lost recently.

Claudio: You often have wanted to push us further, right, Robert?

Robert: I like the fact that TextTrans is quite conservative in terms of taking on too much work or too many translators.

You don’t want to go overboard or to take on too much work because you don’t want to compromise quality. I think that’s very good.

And, yes, sometimes I would want to push you guys to do more, but more isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s better to go at your own pace and control how things are going, maintaining a high level of service, quality, and relationships. There’s always potential to grow and to do more, but it’s good to do it at a rate people are comfortable with.

Everybody on the team is very capable and talented. It’s a great team and people always say good things. I’ve seen other companies, big and small, that don’t have that same attention to detail or concern for good service, and I’ve seen that doesn’t work so well. So, TextTrans is doing a good job.

Robert: My question is for you, Claudio: what’s your hope for the future for the company?

Claudio: First, I would like to say that the team I have now is amazing. And it is so great that we are having this opportunity to talk and see each other’s face since we work in separated offices located at different places and we hadn’t had the opportunity to meet yet.

Anyway, my hope for the future is that we continue to grow, as we are doing at the moment, gradually and at our own pace. And also that we continue to maintain the respect that we have for everyone on the team!

Actually, I wanted to thank you, Rob! Since you joined us, you gave new energy to the company; everybody agrees with that, and it has been great. You brought us from having only a handful of clients to having many different clients that send us plenty of work as well as having brought so many new accounts with existing clients. That makes us more comfortable, confident and relaxed for the future! Thank you very much!

Robert  

It’s been a pleasure!

Well, the interview is coming to an end. Congratulations to all of us for these 20 years of TextTrans. This great team has made remarkable achievements. And thank you, Claudio, for leading everyone in the team!

All

Thank you.