ERS Interpreting Services

Introducing a New

Approach to Arranging First-Rate Interpreters For Your

Organisation

An Expert’s Advice For Keeping Your Channels of Communication With Your Deaf and Non-English Speaking Clients Clear and Open

Marcus Turley

Marcus Turley___________________________________________________

Copyright © 2014 Marcus Turley All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior

permission of the author(s).

___________________Arranging First-Rate Interpreters For Your Organisation

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Introduction

As both a Deaf person and a veteran businessman, I know from

personal experience how frustrating it can be when an interpreter

disappoints you. There’ve been far too many times when I’ve

expected an interpreter to be available for an appointment, only

for them to either not be available or, more frustratingly, be using

the wrong form of sign language, or simply not be accomplished

enough to follow the conversation.

You simply can’t take the risk of this happening when you arrange

an interpreter for an appointment.

Put simply, whatever the nature of your organisation, it’s almost

certain that you’ll need an interpreter at some point, whether

that’s on a regular basis or for the occasional one-off

arrangement. It could be that you’ll be welcoming a new client

who is Deaf, or isn’t a native English speaker. It could be that

you’ll be doing business with organisations in other countries and

need to make sure channels of communication stay as clear as

possible. It could be you have a Deaf employee who will require

an interpreter in order to deliver their best possible work.

Marcus Turley___________________________________________________

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Regardless of the specifics, if an interpreter isn’t available on

time, or turns out to be less accomplished than they claimed, it

will reflect badly on your organisation and may sour your working

relationships. In certain cases, it may even prove dangerous. For

example, doctors depend on their communication with their

patients being crystal clear at all times, so a poor quality

interpreter may well affect the standard of care they are able to

provide. After several frustrating experiences like this, I began to think to

myself that surely there must be an alternative… one that would

make first-rate interpreters accessible to any organisation

whenever they were needed, even at incredibly short notice.

I pondered this question for a long while, when finally it hit me. As

the CEO of the ETT Intl group, surely I could apply my experience

and expertise in business concierge services to create a new

system for booking interpreters that would solve these problems

once and for all… And so, after a little research and planning, ERS Interpreting

Services was born! At ERS, we’ve created a unique booking service that takes all the

hassle out of arranging an interpreter. Whether you need

someone to interpret sign language for a Deaf person or translate

for a non-English speaker, in person or on the phone, they can be

booked at incredibly short notice, with a guarantee of the highest

standard of service. It’s no exaggeration to say that, at the time of

writing, there’s no other service like it in the UK. However, as this is such a unique and revolutionary service, I felt that organisations should receive a little guidance in order


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to help them make the most of the possibilities it offers. That’s why

I decided to write the guide you now hold in your hands. The pages

that follow set out everything you need to know about booking

interpreters through ERS, from choosing the right interpreter to

what you should expect to pay for their services. If you read to the end and keep this guide to hand for the next time

you need an interpreter, I guarantee that you’ll have nothing to

worry about and communication within your organisation will be

raised to a whole new level!

Marcus Marcus Turley

ERS Interpreting Services

Marcus Turley___________________________________________________

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How does ERS work? At ERS, we have developed a unique booking system for

interpreters of both sign language and spoken language.

Interpreters register their details online, after which customers can

book them through real-time appointments and a real-time

schedule. At a glance, they can see exactly which interpreters are

available and when, then book whoever best suits their

requirements and their schedule. It really is as simple as that! This sort of real-time scheduling makes such a difference when

you need an interpreter at short notice. Many of the problems

that arise with scheduling interpreters are created by the fact that

the majority of them work freelance, which can make contacting

them and arranging an appointment quite time-consuming. Our

approach does away with this, and makes the whole process far,

far more straightforward for both you and the interpreters. They

simply timetable when they are available, then you can contact

them with the click of a mouse. It eliminates so much of the back-

and-forth that often occurs when scheduling interpreters the

traditional way and also reduces the amount of paperwork


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involved (something that most interpreters I’ve met aren’t great

fans of!). Another major advantage of this is the cost involved. Most

agencies will only book interpreters for a minimum of around three

hours at a time, which means that if you only required an

interpreter for half an hour, you would still be charged for the full

appointment. Given that our goal at ERS is to make the process

of booking an interpreter as flexible as possible, they will charge

by the minute instead, so you’ll only pay for the time you need. With time and money having become precious commodities for

both government and private organisations, savings like this can

make all the difference in the long run, freeing up resources to

reinvest in your organisation’s growth.

What are your legal obligations when it

comes to providing an interpreter? If somebody requests an interpreter, it is your legal obligation as

an organisation to provide one. But even setting the legal aspects

aside, refusing to provide an interpreter when one has been

requested will not reflect well on your company, so it’s in your

best interests to do so. When the ERS process makes it so quick

and easy, there really isn’t any excuse!

How to book an interpreter through ERS The first step of the booking process is to go to the ERS website

and select which specific location you are in, which will then take

you to the appropriate registry, with its own costs and

Marcus Turley___________________________________________________

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languages. You can then browse a list of all the interpreters

available in your area, along with pictures of them, their

schedules, their skillsets and their feedback ratings, until you find

someone you’re happy with. Simply select who you want to hire, then select when you need

them, based on which blocks of time are available in their

calendars. You will then be sent a phone number with a PIN code

to call at the designated time, which will then connect you directly

to them in a conference call (or a video link if you are hiring a sign

language interpreter). If you pass on these details

to the person you’ll be speaking to, your interpreter will be ready

waiting for you both, so you can launch straight into your

conversation! It’s even possible to do this in real-time, using iPads or similar

devices with video conferencing software. For example, if you are

a GP with an appointment booked with a Deaf person, we can

arrange for an iPad to be delivered to you beforehand, so you can

speak to your patient in real-time! A courier will then arrive to

collect the iPad once you’re done. This system means that you’ll

have access to an interpreter when you need one, without the

need to pay their travel costs, but also without the need to invest

in any new technology. Traditionally, sign language has always been used exclusively in

face-to-face situations, but advances in video conferencing and

similar technology mean that this need no longer be the case, so

there’s no need to actually arrange for an interpreter to travel to

you. And that means your costs are reduced even further and it

will be considerably easier to arrange appointments at short

notice. I firmly believe that this not only represents a huge leap


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forward in terms of interpreting, but also in sign language itself,

which has been opened up to a whole new dimension.

How regularly are interpreters likely to be

available? This all depends on how unusual your requirements are. For

example, if you simply need an English-French interpreter for a

phone call, they may well be available with just half an hour’s

notice, but a sign language interpreter may not so easily

available, in which case you’d have to wait for a booking, or

choose a different interpreter. Availability also depends on the

interpreters’ lifestyles and working hours. Some interpreters work

full-time, whereas for others, it is a part-time career that they

balance with children, or other work. The good news is that the ERS booking system allows you to see

all this at a glance, so it’s incredibly easy to find a booking that

works for you and keep your calendar organised, even if it’s not

the time you’d have originally preferred. Furthermore, while it’s

impossible for us to guarantee that your interpreter of choice will

always be available exactly when you need them, our team is

constantly expanding, so there’ll almost always be someone with

the required skillset available when you need them. This is the key to the effectiveness of our system – it helps ensure

you are covered no matter what, even in an emergency. You’ll

know exactly who is available and when, so there’ll never be any

nasty surprises if, say, you wanted to book a particular interpreter

but hadn’t realised they were going on holiday. It makes

scheduling so much more straightforward and provides you with a

little extra peace of mind.

Marcus Turley___________________________________________________

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An important point to remember when

booking sign language interpreters If you need to book a sign language interpreter, bear in mind that

there are actually multiple forms of sign language. It’s a common

misconception that it is a universal language, but it actually varies

from country to country. Be sure to check in advance which form

of sign language you will need to have interpreted so as to avoid

any embarrassing mix-ups. We will be able to advise you if you

are in any doubt.

Forming a long-term working relationship

with an interpreter It’s quite possible that if you work with a particular interpreter who

you get on well with and who impresses you with their skills, you’ll

want to work with them again and potentially form a long-term

working relationship. This is no problem at all, as when you

search for an interpreter you can narrow your search results to

focus on specific names, so it’s easy to find the person you want.

Furthermore, you’ll always be able to call up your booking history.

Your respective email addresses and other contact details will be

kept totally confidential at all times for the sake of privacy and

security, but it’s incredibly easy to find anyone whose work you

especially appreciated in the past and rehire them, their schedule

permitting.


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Rating your interpreters to help us

maintain the highest standard of quality At ERS, we only want to offer our clients the very best interpreters

in the UK, which means honest feedback is absolutely essential to

us. Whenever you book one of our interpreters, you will be invited

to leave feedback when the job is done. This takes the form of

several key questions, including: 1. Are you satisfied with the service? 2. Are you satisfied with the cost? 3. Are you satisfied with the interpreter’s punctuality? You can answer each of these questions with a rating of 1-5.

This will help us maintain a high standard of service and ensure

there’s minimal chance of any client being disappointed with one

of our interpreters. Any interpreter with consistently poor ratings

will be removed from the database. Given our experience in

concierge services, we are committed to quality, so we will have

no hesitation in removing someone if they are not performing to

the standards we and our clients expect. A major advantage of this approach is that it’s in the interpreters’

best interests to deliver the best work they can, or they’re unlikely

to receive further bookings in the future. However, it benefits them

as well, as it cuts down on most of the paperwork at their end, so

they have more time available to take on paid work. To ensure that such standards are the norm among our

interpreters, we have a comprehensive prequalifying process for

all our interpreters, which includes checking for NIC membership,

Marcus Turley___________________________________________________

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as well as verifying all their qualifications. This is especially

important for foreign language interpreters, as there are a lot of

people currently trying to enter that field, making it more important

than ever that their qualifications are legitimate and that they have

the experience they claim they do. It does take time to arrange all

this, but it’s more than worth it in the long run. This is very different to traditional agencies, who often lack any

sort of checking or feedback processes for their interpreters,

meaning that you’ll have little guarantee of the quality of service

you’ll receive and little opportunity to put things right if an

interpreter turns out to be wrong for the job. In contrast, the ERS approach really does provide a win-win

situation for everyone!


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How is costing worked out?

This all depends on the interpreter. As a general rule of thumb,

interpreters with particularly high ratings or specialised skills will

generally cost more to hire, as their skills will be in especially high

demand. However, our stringent checking process means that no

matter what budget you have available for hiring interpreters, you

are guaranteed a high standard of service.

Marcus Turley___________________________________________________

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Conclusion

If your organisation already makes use of interpreters, I hope

everything you’ve read has helped you to reconsider the way you

book them and inspired you to take steps to improve the way you

communicate with Deaf people and non-English speakers. If

you’re looking at interpretation services for the first time, I hope

you can now see that making experienced, effective interpreters

available is very much a responsibility for you, but that ERS’

unique booking system now means that doing so doesn’t have to

be unnecessarily difficult or time-consuming. I wish you the very best in the future and hope I’ll get a chance to

connect you with the perfect interpreters for your organisation!


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About ERS Interpreting Services

ERS Interpreting Services offers a new approach to providing

first-rate interpreting services for both private and public

organisations. Gone are the days of frantically trying to arrange

an interpreter at the last minute, only to find when (or if) they

arrive that they were the wrong person for the job. The UK’s top

interpreters are now directly available to your organisation, at

whatever times you need them.

We appreciate what a difference the quality of an interpreter can

make to a meeting or appointment and so we are constantly

working to recruit the UK’s top interpreters for both foreign

languages and all variations of sign language. And more

importantly, we have devised a revolutionary way of making them

available to you at the exact time you need them, drawing on our

years of hands-on experience in business concierge services and

cutting-edge business technology. Our unique online booking system places the finest interpreters in

the UK at your fingertips, whether it’s a foreign language

interpreter or an expert in sign language. With just the click of a

mouse you can see exactly which of our team of expert

Marcus Turley___________________________________________________

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interpreters are available and make your appointment straight away.

Just visit our website to find out more and to make your

first booking…

www.ersinterpreting.com We look forward to working with you and transforming the way

your organisation communicates!

http://www.ersis.biz/

http://www.ersis.biz/

INTRODUCING A NEW

APPROACH TO ARRANGING

FIRST-RATE INTERPRETERS

FOR YOUR ORGANISATION An expert’s advice for keeping your channels

of communication with your Deaf and non-English speaking clients clear and open

Far too many organisations have been let down by poor quality interpreters in the past, but this special guide from Marcus Turley, CEO of ERS Interpreting services, will change that forever. Inside, Marcus introduces a new approach to arranging interpreting services for organisations – one that takes all the stress and hassle out of not only finding first-rate interpreters, but making sure they are available at the exact times you need them.

Some of the topics covered include:

Why it’s so important to have experienced, capable interpreters available for any business

How to choose your perfect interpreter and develop a great working relationship with them

What your legal obligations are when it comes to having interpreters available

Taking advantage of modern technology to create a new approach to sign language... And much more!

Whatever the nature of your work, if you are a client-

facing organisation, you need to have experienced, capable interpreters available to you, so don’t take any chances – follow Marcus’ advice and ensure you have the right interpreters available whenever you need them.

www.ersinterpreting.com

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ERS Interpreting Services