Letter to my favorite client

There are many ways to express your feelings to your favorite client. A few words in emails, a short conversation by phone or IM, asking and providing feedback, even a nice gift with a thank-you note. But you can’t get much more personal than that, can you? So, I decided to write them a nice letter here where I can express myself freely and let all the love shine through!

Dear favorite client,

I know Valentine’s Day was a few weeks back but I just can’t wait until next year to express my gratitude for our cooperation. I’ve been in the market for almost 11 years now and still you taught me so many things recently. I have been enjoying our cooperation immensely and I wanted to let you know how much appreciate you.

Thank you for taking the time to convince me to use new equipment and software. Your time investment certainly paid off for both of us.

Thank you for being there during my first steps on your projects and replying to my never-ending questions and helping me to make sense of the complicated processes, which I’ve come to love.

Thank you for having faith in me and taking into account my language opinions as to Greek grammar, spelling and terminology.

Thank you for making me feel part of a team, even though I’m a freelancer and used to work alone.

Thank you for being flexible on deadlines when you send me too much work.

Thank you for respecting my time with regard to deadlines, weekend work and questions. And for saying thank you after every little thing I do for you.

Thank you for giving me the flexibility to take a few days off or take a vacation upon prior notice. At first, this felt weird, not having 100% freedom as a freelancer, but then when I looked at the bigger picture (you needing me to be there to take care of important projects), it’s a pleasure for me now to always be here for you.

Thank you for sending clear instructions about each project.

Thank you for always being so nice in our email conversations. Simple phrases like ‘Have a nice evening!’ and ‘How was your weekend?’ really go a long way.

Thank you for making me realize that IMs aren’t for friends and family only. Before you came along, I wasn’t comfortable talking with clients via IM. Most of the times they wanted to discuss about projects which they could have easily emailed me about or asked for free short translations.

Thank you for being there to answer all my questions and help solve any software problems at a moment’s notice.

Thank you for replying to emails promptly and for confirming every single delivery.

Thank you for giving me the flexibility to reject projects from other clients that aren’t 100% up to the high standards you’ve helped me establish.

Thank you for giving me the flexibility to raise my rates for other clients by providing me steady work for so long.

Thank you for always sending me interesting projects to work on. I’ve always enjoyed my job but we all know that not all our projects are as fun or interesting.

Thank you for providing me with work when things are so bad financially in Greece. Work has slowed down from other clients, most companies have been avoiding translating their manuals for the Greek market, but not you.

Thank you for always paying on time.

Thank you for letting me know when I miscalculated an invoice and almost lost hundreds of euros.

And last but not least:

Thank you for being a great company in general and making me proud when I talk to other freelancers that work with you and they always have the nicest things to say. It’s an honor to be part of your team!

Christos wrote a post about The ideal translation agency recently, which was based on the good things our agency clients do and they things we’d like them to stop or avoid doing. The difference with this one is that there are agencies or clients out there who do everything right, how great is that? 🙂

Do you have clients you appreciate that much? What are your favorite client’s traits and the things you are grateful for in your cooperation?

About the author

Catherine Christaki has been a full-time English-Greek translator since 2001 and co-owner of Lingua Greca Translations since 2012. She specializes in Information Technology, Medical, and Technical texts and loves writing for the Adventures in Technical Translation blog. She regularly shares her experience and insight on social media and blogging for translators, giving interviews and presenting at conferences. Connect with her on Twitter @LinguaGreca.

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