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seriös nachlegen

English translation: only to lose credibility/to come off as unsound/look foolish

17:00 Jan 5, 2016
German to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Business/Commerce (general) / Bidding process
German term or phrase: seriös nachlegen
Ebenfalls muss die Preistaktik bei Großtendern dahingehend verändert werden, dass wir nicht im ersten Schritt zu vorsichtig agieren und danach nicht mehr seriös nachlegen können.
It seems to me that there are two ways in which a bid might be too cautious:
a) set too low to reel the customer in
b) set too high to avoid the risk of making a loss on the deal
There are four previous entries for nachlegen, but they don’t quite clarify what is meant here. Does it mean “so that we can up the price later on” or “so that we can come back with a more serious offer”?
Thanks in advance.
Lancashireman
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:28
English translation:only to lose credibility/to come off as unsound/look foolish
Explanation:
...when we revise our bid

It seems to me, that the two terms need to be separated, even if you wish to match the colloquial tone, such as:

only to look foolish later on
Selected response from:

Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
Local time: 08:28
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2only to lose credibility/to come off as unsound/look foolish
Ramey Rieger (X)
5negotiate further on a serious note
Cillie Swart
3seriously up the price
Donald Jacobson
3make a credible counter offer
Michael Martin, MA
3improved etc.
Cilian O'Tuama
2to follow (it) up appropriately
barbarameyer


Discussion entries: 12





  

Answers


17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
seriously up the price


Explanation:
bid or ante

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Note added at 19 mins (2016-01-05 17:19:52 GMT)
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TheFreeDictionary.com

Donald Jacobson
United States
Local time: 01:28
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Cilian O'Tuama: sounds like opposite to me, from context given // Could well be downward bidding.
7 hrs
neutral  Michael Martin, MA: Not the opposite. “Up” is actually the right direction. But adding “seriously” is often suggestive of a hefty increase. A “credible” increase is all that’s needed here.
1 day 1 hr
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13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
to follow (it) up appropriately


Explanation:
Seriös seems to be a false friend here. I read it initially as sincerely, earnestly, solemnly and then came up with 'appropriately' as a more appropriate word choice in the context.

'To follow (it) up' may be the way "to phrase the English [of nachlegen] in a neutral way", perhaps?

barbarameyer
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 14
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15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
only to lose credibility/to come off as unsound/look foolish


Explanation:
...when we revise our bid

It seems to me, that the two terms need to be separated, even if you wish to match the colloquial tone, such as:

only to look foolish later on


Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
Local time: 08:28
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 70

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  BrigitteHilgner: "only to lose credibility" is my favourite. Happy New Year!
11 mins
  -> Something WE never do, right? Happy New year to you, too Brigitte - it's the year of the LAUGH (I've declared)
agree  Harald Moelzer (medical-translator): with Brigitte in every aspect (including Happy New Year ;-))
8 hrs
  -> Happy, healthy New Year to you, too Harald!
neutral  Michael Martin, MA: This seems to flow nicely but "nachlegen" is more than revising one's bid, Ramey.
10 hrs
  -> I see it as 'more strongly facing the competition' the ST doesn't specify in which direction.
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29 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
make a credible counter offer


Explanation:
This means being able to up the price in a credible way, the implication being, if the original bid was too low, a much higher counter offer might not be credible.

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Note added at 31 mins (2016-01-05 17:32:04 GMT)
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Nachlegen obviously means to increase the original offer.

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Note added at 1 hr (2016-01-05 18:31:38 GMT)
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Seriös = credible. Making a counter offer implies "Nachlegen". Otherwise, it would be a joke, not a serious counter offer.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2016-01-05 19:00:05 GMT)
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Thanks, Lancashireman. I thought the definition of "counter offer" was only concerned with the give and take between two parties, or at least, made no assumptions about how many parties may be involved in any bidding.

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Note added at 1 day1 hr (2016-01-06 18:10:22 GMT)
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Here's how I might do the whole sentence:

In addition, our bidding tactics have to be revised to avoid being too cautious in the first round as this handcuffs our ability to make a credible counter offer in the second round (handcuffs our ability to credibly top our initial offer in the second round)

Again, I CANNOT agree with any translation attempts that don’t reflect the real meaning of “nachlegen” - that an initial offer has to be improved upon (increased).
Plenty of examples out there showing how it’s used in this type of context:
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/kamps-uebernahme-barilla-wi...


Michael Martin, MA
United States
Local time: 02:28
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 159
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hi Michael. I'm not sure I want to introduce the element of a 'counter offer' here as there is no mention of other bidders in this sentence (which is something a of a standalone afterthought by the writer).


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Cilian O'Tuama: One "real" meaning is erhöhen alright, but it can also be temporal, as in "react".
1 day 3 hrs
  -> Doubt it. Not in this context.
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1 day 3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
improved etc.


Explanation:
submit an improved bid w/o losing face (or RR's "credibility")

This seems to work whichever way you understand the German. We don't know for whom it improves.



Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Local time: 08:28
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 151
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4 days   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
negotiate further on a serious note


Explanation:
This is referring to an attempt to avoid the situation where you bid too low just to win the tender, but then are unable to really do a good job with the work itself simply because your costs are to high and the price too low to ensure an appropriate margin. Ideally you want to be able to bid high enough so that if the client does negotiate the price down, you can always go back later and say we need more money and the client will have a more serious look at your request.

If your initial bid was too low, they will simply say, well then you should not have bid this low in the first place.

The idea of counteroffer is not relevant here.

Cillie Swart
South Africa
Local time: 08:28
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
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