As a professional localization service team, we have long regarded good reviews from our customers as normal and essential. However, there is another aspect of translation and localization that is often treated as less important in the industry but we consider crucial: supplier satisfaction. Having happy suppliers is every bit as important as having happy customers.
We recently took some time to read what professionals we work with have been saying about Clearly Local on employer review sites like Proz.com and Glassdoor. We take great pride in the fact that on Proz.com, the leading freelance translators community, Clearly Local has an overall 5-star rating. Clearly Local has almost as many entries as leading LSPs that have been in business for more than 20 years, including RWS, Lionbridge, and TheBigWord. We also have a rating of 4.9 on Glassdoor. The ultimate beneficiaries of this genuine and strong relationship with suppliers are our customers, as it pays off in high-quality deliveries. By extension, it is these satisfied customers that have helped us to grow as a company. This is the secret that has allowed us to double our revenue every year for the past several years.
| Company | Score | Entries |
| Clearly Local | 5.0 | 59 |
| Translate Plus | 4.8 | 44 |
| Acolad Group | 4.7 | 145 |
| RWS | 4.5 | 81 |
| TheBigWord | 3.8 | 63 |
| TransPerfect | 3.6 | 162 |
| Lionbridge | 3.3 | 65 |
| Welocalize | 3 | 92 |
So how did we earn so much praise?
360° Transparency
There is an unfortunate tradition in our industry of passing problems to suppliers rather than translation and localization companies dealing with them themselves. Clearly Local is challenging this tradition. Our relationship with suppliers is characterized by cooperation and transparency. When problems appear, our language managers intervene as soon as possible to analyze the issue and find the root cause, and then plan and implement solutions that work for our suppliers. At the same time, if we get good feedback from customers, our project managers and language managers will share it with relevant translators as soon as possible, motivating the team to continue delivering results in line with customers’ expectations. It avoids the common pitfall where translators who do not get feedback from customers can end up feeling either unappreciated or directionless, as they don’t know which aspects of their work are valued by customers.
Partner Centricity
In the global supplier relationship, we have always put the interests of our partners first, putting in place our “On-Time Payment Scheme” that is unique in the industry. Regardless of the size of the project or the project timeline, Clearly Local is committed to ensuring the professionals who work with us are paid on time, even when payment from our customers is delayed. Of course, using this method places additional stress on the company’s cash flow, but we believe that the pressure of payment collection should not be borne by our language partners. We have been fortunate in that most of our customers have a professional attitude and comply with the payment terms agreed.
Facilitate Translators’ Work
Full-process project management is another secret of our good supplier relationship. Our project managers will not simply dump a project on a supplier and leave them to figure things out. Instead, project managers will communicate with translators to plan a project progress timeline, help generate QA checklists, and are available to answer any questions arising from the translation, from the project process to tools that streamline translators’ work. Rather than simply outsourcing work, our experienced project managers take responsibility for the entire project management process. They are trained to provide clear instructions for each project to help our translators get things right the first time and avoid any unnecessary back and forth that adds to the workload and stress, especially when project managers and translators are in different time zones.
Team Integration
Freelance and partner translators are treated and considered entirely as part of the team. We provide a similar level of trust, support, and knowledge to our translators, respect their time and ensure timely communication. We also do everything in our power to allocate a certain volume of work and pay at a reasonable rate to ensure a certain level of activity and revenue for our suppliers.
In essence, we treat our suppliers just as well as we treat our customers, and this is the fundamental reason we have received such praise on ratings sites. It’s an approach that creates a virtuous circle in which happy translators give projects their all, resulting in satisfied customers who then send more work for our translators.