Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
to convert business from competition
French translation:
attirer la clientèle des concurrents
Added to glossary by
Marie Christine Cramay
Oct 24, 2020 13:05
3 yrs ago
18 viewers *
English term
to convert business from competition
English to French
Marketing
Business/Commerce (general)
Cadre de compétences individuelles en matière de vente
Can articulate a plan to convert business from competition
Peut formuler un plan pour ...?
C'est ce "convert" qui me pose problème.
Merci pour votre aide.
Christine
Peut formuler un plan pour ...?
C'est ce "convert" qui me pose problème.
Merci pour votre aide.
Christine
Proposed translations
(French)
Proposed translations
6 hrs
Selected
convertir les clients de nos compétiteurs à nos produits
that's the idea
IOW take away clients from our competitors
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Note added at 1 day 2 hrs (2020-10-25 15:49:54 GMT)
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At the time when MS Word was in its infancy, lot of people were using the now more or less defunct WordPerfect.
In order to "convert (the WP users) to Word" there was a special section added in the "help" menu of MS Word for ex-WP users, to make the transition form WP to MS Word easier.
=
" ... en vue de convertir les usager de WP à MS Word ...."
In this ST if they want to take existing clients from competitors, they have to "make them change their mind" about which offer is better suited.
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Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2020-10-25 16:49:58 GMT)
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... the transition from ...
IOW take away clients from our competitors
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 2 hrs (2020-10-25 15:49:54 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
At the time when MS Word was in its infancy, lot of people were using the now more or less defunct WordPerfect.
In order to "convert (the WP users) to Word" there was a special section added in the "help" menu of MS Word for ex-WP users, to make the transition form WP to MS Word easier.
=
" ... en vue de convertir les usager de WP à MS Word ...."
In this ST if they want to take existing clients from competitors, they have to "make them change their mind" about which offer is better suited.
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Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2020-10-25 16:49:58 GMT)
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... the transition from ...
Peer comment(s):
disagree |
Francois Boye
: Surtraduction ! Que veut dire 'to convert from' ?
2 mins
|
You really expect management-speak / sales rep jargon to obediently conform to some general purpose dictionary definitions? No comments ... except: keep hoping!
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neutral |
AllegroTrans
: converting people into goods??
3 hrs
|
"convertir" can ALSO mean "make people change their mind" (convertir à) https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/convertir //HERE "make them change their mind about what we have to offer" [implied: and as a result take their business away from competitors]
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|
agree |
Eliza Hall
: This is completely right. It's not the only way to say it in FR, and perhaps not even the best, but it works and this is exactly what the EN original means. @François & AllegroT, "convert" is a marketing term--look in business/marketing dictionaries..
20 hrs
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Thanks!
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3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Merci beaucoup pour votre aide."
-3
1 hr
pour passer du domaine de la compétition à celui des affaires
aussi: pour progresser de... à...
Peer comment(s):
disagree |
Germaine
: Si vous vous arrêtez à y réfléchir, cet énoncé n'a pas grand sens, à moins qu'on parle d'un athlète en fin de carrière, ce qui n'est pas le cas.
2 hrs
|
disagree |
Daryo
: grammatically perfectly correct - but real life nonsense
8 hrs
|
disagree |
Eliza Hall
: That's not what the EN means. "Business" here means the clients/customers, not the activities/the company.
1 day 1 hr
|
-3
1 hr
détourner l'entreprise de la concurrence
This is my understanding of the English text. Its business meaning, however, seems puzzling to me.
Peer comment(s):
disagree |
osama ghobrial
: The company shied away from competition
1 hr
|
neutral |
Daryo
: there is nothing "puzzling" in this ST. You are on the right track, but your translation is too ambiguous.
4 hrs
|
disagree |
Eliza Hall
: "Business" here isn't "l'entreprise," it's the company's customers ("we do a lot of business in Japan" = we have lots of customers there). PS See discussion re: countable (the/a business) vs. non-countable (business) nouns.
1 day 1 hr
|
disagree |
Germaine
: For the reasons mentioned by Osama, Daryo and Eliza + See discussion (namely the connotation of "détourner" in French).
2 days 7 mins
|
-2
2 hrs
pour attirer du chiffre d'affaire de la concurrence
l'idée est que la stratégie du commercial (le plan) puise permettre aux clients potentiels de signer avec l'entreprise du commercial plutôt qu'avec la concurrence.
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Note added at 5 heures (2020-10-24 19:04:24 GMT)
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*puisse" avec 2 s ... oups !
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Note added at 5 heures (2020-10-24 19:04:24 GMT)
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*puisse" avec 2 s ... oups !
Peer comment(s):
disagree |
Francois Boye
: Que veut dire 'to convert from' ? Que je sache, cette expression ne veut pas dire attirer.
4 hrs
|
disagree |
Daryo
: it's not about "potential clients" in general - it's ONLY about existing clients - current competitors' clients.
7 hrs
|
neutral |
Eliza Hall
: With the caveat that Daryo is right--the chiff. d'aff refers only to actual customers of your competition--this is the general idea.
1 day 57 mins
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Discussion
Three reasons:
1. "To convert into" = transformer en (I convert water into ice by putting it in the fridge). "To convert from" is a different phrasal verb with a different meaning.
2. You've used the wrong object. What's being converted is not competition or competitors, but the competition's customers. This goes back to the definition of "business" (it's not a business or the business; it's business as an uncountable noun, meaning, in this context, the sales and the buyers of the competition).
3. Given the above 2 problems, what you've written has a completely different meaning to the original:
converting competition into our business = transformer la concurrence en notre entreprise (logically this doesn't make sense in either language, but that's what it means).
to convert business from competition = attirer la clientèle de nos concurrents (ou convertir les clients de nos compétiteurs à nos produits).
Why the text did not say 'converting competition into our business'?
This is the uncountable-noun version of business: converting business, not converting a business or the business. See https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/busi...
Converting/conversion is a marketing term that means turning leads, contacts or other potential customers into real customers: "potential customers have to undergo the process of conversion in order to become actual, paying customers." https://www.b2bnn.com/2017/05/high-converting-business-strat...
"Better conversion strategies can boost your business dramatically... you may not actually NEED additional leads or prospects at all … instead you need much better strategies for converting a larger portion of your prospects into customers." https://marketingwizdom.com/strategies/conversion
The EN text here is talking about converting your competition's customers into your own customers. In other words, marketing strategies directed at people who currently buy from your competitors, and designed to make them buy from you instead.
Peut élaborer un [plan][programme] pour s'attirer la clientèle de concurrents.
Capable d'élaborer un plan visant à [arracher][reprendre][rafler] une part de marché à la concurrence.
Il y a aussi:
Peut élaborer un plan de démarchage concurrentiel - ce qui semble le terme approprié en marketing. Reste à vérifier si l'expression a "bonne presse"...