Over the last 5 years, The Translation People has worked tirelessly to develop its international business, especially the markets of France, Germany and the US, which has resulted in The Translation People being shortlisted for the North West Insider’s International Company of the Year!
Despite always having overseas clients, our real focus began some five years ago when we targeted Germany in earnest. We already employed some German staff and there was a good level of knowledge about the German market, Europe’s strongest, within the company. After commissioning an OMIS report from UKTI, we opened an office in Bonn and set about researching the key sectors we were targeting and discussing what companies in Germany were looking for. We also set about recruiting new translators who could translate to and from German, as this would be the key requirement for German companies. In addition, having German staff who really understand the German market has helped build Germany up to be our second biggest market behind the UK, with our biggest client over the past two years being German.
France was the next market to be targeted, much in the same way as Germany, however with a focus on the markets that we felt had the biggest potential: Food and Drink, Luxury Goods and Technology. Again, we opened an office in Paris and took on experienced French staff before launching a recruitment drive for translators working in and out of French, which has enabled us to work with prestigious clients from the targeted sectors.
Both these markets have seen rapid growth over the last few years, with sales to these regions grown by a whopping 149% since 2011. International sales overall now account for 43% of all turnover and there are plans to maintain this growth over the next few years. Alan White, Business Development Manager, commented “Although these sales figures are excellent, we have only really scratched the surface in France and Germany so we will continue our drive across multiple markets.
“It is important to note that our success is not only down to having local staff that understand the market and suppliers who can translate the different language combinations required in these markets. We have invested heavily in technology to ensure that we are able to provide appropriate solutions for the markets we are targeting, such as devising innovative solutions for interfacing with content management systems and the editing software that are used by companies in those countries.”
“It has been this combination of a local approach and the provision of a compelling, original and flexible solution that has been key to our success in France and Germany.”
