In today’s global economy, opportunity abounds for companies seeking revenue growth. It takes a concerted effort to create momentum around your product and build trust. But, it doesn’t stop there. RFP responses greatly impact your revenue team’s potential and your organization’s ability to expand.
Breaking down language barriers in the RFP response process is integral to your global expansion efforts. Since your team and prospects span oceans and time zones, know that RFP translation makes content accessible and clear. And that RFP software is here to support your process.
Why RFP translation?
In an RFPIO customer Facebook survey, we asked whether RFP responders thought RFP response collaboration or processes affected team productivity most…89% voted for effective collaboration.
To drive RFP response success, effective collaboration is a must-have for navigating complexities. Growing your business globally increases that complexity, down to the very language your team members and prospects speak.
During an RFP project, you inevitably bring in subject matter experts from different fields. Just because you’re a US-headquartered company doesn’t mean those experts will live in the United States or speak English as their first language. You might have branches or satellite offices in different countries.
According to Dr. Robert S. Frey: “Working with culturally diverse technical subject matter experts across the world presents meaningful opportunities (and challenges) for proposal professionals.” When working with prospects at global organizations, the same communication rules apply.
You need faster response rates to save money and boost time management. And you need a project management tool that’s intuitive and interactive when it comes to RFP content management.
RFP software is a universally useful tool. If your RFP software has an integrated language translation piece, you’re sure to exponentially improve your collaborative efforts and drive home a quality RFP response.
Collaboration is all about effective and efficient communication. Nothing helps this effort more than literally speaking someone’s language. Which is why RFP translation is essential to your RFP response process.
RFP translation: Garner trust and confidence
When you receive an RFP, this is your revenue team’s chance to build an effective business relationship even before a sale ever closes. This is the time to cultivate a partner and establish congenial and helpful rapport.
With RFP response language translation, it’s easier to garner trust and confidence from prospects. No matter where they are in the sales cycle, you’re the product or service provider going the extra mile by speaking their language. They won’t have to do the extra work of translating anything, because your RFP software does it for them.
The key to successful RFPs lies in generating and maintaining the best content. Highly effective RFP response content speaks to the nuances of various target audiences.
Language barriers are a big deal—and even, a potential deal-breaker. Utilizing language translation inside your RFP software keeps content on point, speaking to the audience in their native language.
Stay consistent and compliant with RFP translation
Brendan Blok is the global business advisor and pre-sales manager at Basware. Before using RFPIO, their RFP content was drafted primarily in English and stored in various multiple spreadsheets. Local pre-sales reps in Germany, France, and Finland performed ad-hoc RFP translation, resulting in cumbersome, inconsistent, and error-prone RFP responses.
Such errors are damaging in today’s international economic environment. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on May 25, 2018. The penalties for noncompliance can be crippling. Certain European countries have paragraphs that say you’re not allowed to conduct business internationally with two different languages.
You Might Like: How Basware Used RFP Software For Efficient Language Translation
You Might Like: How Basware Used RFP Software For Efficient Language Translation
To stay in compliance, you can no longer use individual translators when conducting international business in the European Union because of the potential for human error when it comes to data protection. This means businesses must rely on things like analytics, algorithms, and artificial intelligence for translation capabilities.
In today’s global commerce milieu, you can’t do business without accurate, consistent language translation. Responding to an RFP is certainly no exception.
Win more business globally with RFP software
RFPIO customers use our RFP translation tool to collaborate efficiently, win RFP responses, and grow their business on a global scale. More language offerings are in the making. Today RFPIO supports 16 languages, including:
- Chinese
- German
- Norwegian
- Russian
- Swedish
- Finnish
- Portuguese
- Korean
- Greek
- Italian
- French
- Spanish
- Japanese
- Polish
- Danish
- Dutch
Overcoming language barriers during the RFP response process is immensely rewarding. In doing so, you harness the powerhouse that is human collaboration.
