Poll: If you could delegate client communication to an assistant for free, would you do it? Лице кое објавува дискусија: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "If you could delegate client communication to an assistant for free, would you do it?".
View the poll results »
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Even when I'm swamped with work, I like to communicate with my clients myself and don't delegate it to anyone else. I suppose the author of the question was thinking of an AI assistant, and I don't trust them one bit. Besides, now that work has been scarce, it's more than ironic to speak about assistants (free or otherwise)...
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For the past twenty-something years, I've had someone do my invoicing - at the end of each month, I send her a list of the work I've done and she does everything from there on. It costs me less than 1 percent of my turnover and is money well spent, in my view.
Otherwise, it would almost certainly be counter-productive: communication with direct clients is really the only way of knowing if they're satisfied, what needs changing or adapting, getting one's name passed on to other clients and... See more For the past twenty-something years, I've had someone do my invoicing - at the end of each month, I send her a list of the work I've done and she does everything from there on. It costs me less than 1 percent of my turnover and is money well spent, in my view.
Otherwise, it would almost certainly be counter-productive: communication with direct clients is really the only way of knowing if they're satisfied, what needs changing or adapting, getting one's name passed on to other clients and thus building up one's own client base, and so on. I doubt a free assistant would manage that: I'd probably have to spend more time discussing matters with the assistant than I currently do with my clients. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lieven Malaise 
Белгија
Local time: 07:08
Член (2020)
француски на холандски
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For what reason? Apart from invoicing up to a dozen monthly invoices my client communication is mostly limited to an extended version of "hello", "available", "not available", "with kind regards", "please find attached", "thank you for this information" and "well received".
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| No - I am part of my brand! | Oct 1, 2025 |
I don´t do a lot of marketing, but the personal touch is part of what I offer.
I tell telephone sellers that the company consists of me, my computer and a coffee cup - in that order.
That is usually enough to convince them that they need not waste their time on small fry like me. Then I don´t give my employees wellness cures or chocolates or anything at Christmas. (The boss creams off all the profi... See more I don´t do a lot of marketing, but the personal touch is part of what I offer.
I tell telephone sellers that the company consists of me, my computer and a coffee cup - in that order.
That is usually enough to convince them that they need not waste their time on small fry like me. Then I don´t give my employees wellness cures or chocolates or anything at Christmas. (The boss creams off all the profits, and looks after the chief cook and bottle washer, but that is quite another story.) ▲ Collapse
| | | | IrinaN (X)
Соединети Американски Држави
Local time: 00:08
англиски на руски
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| AI-generated poll is probing another chunk of human activities | Oct 1, 2025 |
To gain more data on your communications? Gosh, it's not hard to get paranoid these days...
| | | | Alex Lichanow
Германија
Local time: 07:08
англиски на германски
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...and especially not for free. Haven't we all finally learned that "free" stuff often turns out to be the most expensive?
That being said, it would also not occur to me to employ a paid "secretary" to do my communications. It's not like my emails cost me so much time that they end up distracting me from my actual job.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Босна и Херцеговина
Local time: 07:08
англиски на француски
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Who on Earth would take on my cumbersome asynchronous client communication for free, often involving unpredictable moving parts and communication at odd hours? Another bizarre AI poll? Would you suggest an AI bot to take this over? No thanks, I’d rather give it to 10 year olds than to AI.
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Daryo
Local time: 06:08
српски на англиски
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Never mind the obvious reason to think twice about it, and then again few more times:
'If you're not paying for the product, YOU are the product'
Years ago I was using 'free emails' from one provider as it had all the important functionalities and a very simple 'no-frills' user interface.
Perfect, until one day the company decided to join the herd and 'improve the user interface'.
And in the migration to the ‘improved version’ preserved pe... See more Never mind the obvious reason to think twice about it, and then again few more times:
'If you're not paying for the product, YOU are the product'
Years ago I was using 'free emails' from one provider as it had all the important functionalities and a very simple 'no-frills' user interface.
Perfect, until one day the company decided to join the herd and 'improve the user interface'.
And in the migration to the ‘improved version’ preserved perfectly all my throw-away email addresses while deleteting entirely the only email address that mattered, the one I was using to communicate with my best client.
Lesson learned: for anything that matters, I don't want to hear even the 'f' of free ... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Luca Adie
Германија
Local time: 07:08
германски на англиски
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Probably a blend would be nice. I'd certainly love a "real" assistant, but you do have to pay foir their time...
When it gets hellish in my other job, I cover the expenses of an assistant to come to Munich. Or I pay them as if they were in Munich.
A question to all:
Why do you love translation?
| | | | Zea_Mays
Италија
Local time: 07:08
англиски на германски
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| naive question to put it mildly | Oct 1, 2025 |
How go sensitive client communication and free ai tools together? Sorry, but that's a stupid question.
Someone with vivid imagination like me immediately thinks of the ai bot telling the client funny things (or names!), messing personal addressing, style etc. up - you know, that well-known ai behavior called 'hallucinations'...
(I'm not even considering this assistant could be a person - what would that be? Slavery? Or is the poll author a man, thinking of his wife doing the classica... See more How go sensitive client communication and free ai tools together? Sorry, but that's a stupid question.
Someone with vivid imagination like me immediately thinks of the ai bot telling the client funny things (or names!), messing personal addressing, style etc. up - you know, that well-known ai behavior called 'hallucinations'...
(I'm not even considering this assistant could be a person - what would that be? Slavery? Or is the poll author a man, thinking of his wife doing the classical free secretary job for him like in last century?) ▲ Collapse
| | | | Liena V.
Летонија
Local time: 08:08
Член (2014)
француски на латвиски
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| family business | Oct 1, 2025 |
Zea_Mays wrote:
(I'm not even considering this assistant could be a person - what would that be? Slavery? Or is the poll author a man, thinking of his wife doing the classical free secretary job for him like in last century?)
That or school-age children, I guess. I know some people practice that and it would seem better than an AI bot, but still not something that would usually apply in our line of work. The only ones who need assistants to communicate with clients are big agency owners and they have dedicated employees for such tasks.
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Mario Chávez
Соединети Американски Држави
Local time: 01:08
англиски на шпански
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| No free lunch in life (except at my place!) | Oct 1, 2025 |
I correctly assumed that the assistant mentioned in this, ahem, poll is an AI agent of sorts. Haven't we learned anything from those horrid telephone menus we're confronted with on a regular basis?
If you are a provider, press 1.
If you are a patient, press 2.
For billing questions, press 3.
To repeat this menu, press 4.
And so on.
10-15 years ago, it was still possible to invoke a live customer agent or representative by pressing 0 (zero)... See more I correctly assumed that the assistant mentioned in this, ahem, poll is an AI agent of sorts. Haven't we learned anything from those horrid telephone menus we're confronted with on a regular basis?
If you are a provider, press 1.
If you are a patient, press 2.
For billing questions, press 3.
To repeat this menu, press 4.
And so on.
10-15 years ago, it was still possible to invoke a live customer agent or representative by pressing 0 (zero). Now, some phone menus don't allow it. You have to speak up the reason for your call. But AI agents as they are, they can't understand anything longer than three words.
The tech brotherhood is just a bunch of rich 12-year-olds who want the rest of the world to play with the badly conceived toys they come up with. By the way, there is also a tech sisterhood. I am an equal opportunity critic. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I would not do it! | Oct 1, 2025 |
Communication with our clients goes beyond a simple clarification. It is setting clear expectations about our job, establishing a good deal where the parts feel satisfied, making our clients feel that they are tremendously valuable enough to reserve some time and space only for them, and trying to establish a great and strong relationship with them.
[Editado a las 2025-10-01 15:32 GMT]
| | | | Daryo
Local time: 06:08
српски на англиски
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| Is the idea .... | Oct 3, 2025 |
Is the idea behing this AI hype to end up with two half-baked 'free' Augmented Ignorance software agents 'talking to each other' instead of two humans talking to each?
That surely would be a brilliant idea?
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