Translator mailing lists and message boards are full of translators asking, “Can you charge extra for…?” (formatting, translating from a poor-quality PDF, talking to the client’s staff on the phone, and so on). If the client is an agency, you have to negotiate those extra charges (or extra unpaid work) directly with them. But here’s my solution for when you’re working with direct clients (and of course you can agree, disagree, or offer your own solution).
- Charge the client an all-inclusive rate that’s high enough to cover the occasional unexpected “extra” service: for example the client needs hard copies of a translation with your Certified Translator stamp on them, necessitating an impromptu run to FedEx. What’s that you say…you passed the ATA exam and you never downloaded your Certified Translator seal to have a stamp made? Well, you’d better take care of that right now!
- Then, don’t nickle-and-dime the client for these small extra services. Of course if you spend hours on an extra task, you should charge for it. But the FedEx run, the 15-minute phone consultation, the 33-word e-mail that the client forgot to ask you to translate…don’t make a big deal out of those.
- But don’t let the client simply forget about them either; it’s a good reminder of the value of a professional translator, and of why the client pays you a premium rate in the first place. My solution: put those items on your invoice, and in the column where you would normally include the cost, write “Courtesy.” “Overnight delivery of hard copies: Courtesy.” “Press release headline suggestions: Courtesy,” and so on. This will jog the client’s memory, remind them of how you helped them out in a pinch, and hopefully help you retain them as a premium client. To me, adding an extra charge for a task that took 10 minutes looks a bit petty and desperate; better to charge a higher rate overall and then do those Courtesy services without additional billing.
I agree with all you said Corinne: a certain amount of “give” on the translator side is I’m sure matched by “give” from the client in most cases, whether that’s a PM in an agency, a hassled technical writer in a company, or someone at the tight end of a deadline at an advertising or marketing agency. And it’s so much nicer to be nice anyway!
Among lawyers, or rather during first year of continental-style law school, they introduce the concept of ‘do ut des’. In reality, it simply means more or less the same as the doctrine of consideration in common-law schools (which actually recognizes the validity of contracts reciprocating a service already performed), but — in any case — the mechanic is that you give in order to get back. Arab traders take it farther — they will give to indebt you. Their markets are very abstract, the market truly is free along with contractual liberty and contractually set prices, they usually (not always) love to play that game. And, guilt will be the most important motivator prompting a westerner to play along. In short, they invest, by heaping courtesies and advice and free treats (e.g. tea, biscuits etc.) on you, at which point you look really bad leaving the shop without having bought something, anything. Not unlike the modern notion of content-driven copy that converts ‘non-paying customers’ (i.e. visitors) into paying customers.
For the record, translators are in a unique position to do the same sort of thing but in a far less obtrusive way — sometimes also in B2B, but especially with consumers there’s often opportunity to give the client a lot of useful knowledge, some general and some specific to his situation, e.g. describe the process, the pitfalls, give guidelines on how to choose, use our network of contacts to recommend a couple of options (the best pro’ the field if money doesn’t count, a smart newbie if the client counts money), offer insights in general. If they don’t end up making a transaction with us (we don’t really want to guilt-trip them into it), they will probably spontaneously give us some referrals that we might not even find out about if the prospects don’t mention their source.
Clear and crisp. Yet sometimes one comes across more extreme examples, such as the agency that wanted me to “translate” a slogan for a regional tourist board from french to dutch billing only the four words. This is re-inventing a new slogan in another language, as literal or otherwise straight-on translation is of course out of the question. I have no idea how much a communication agency charged them for creating this slogan in french in the first place, but certainly a lot less than that.
I quite agree that when one frequently works for a direct client or for an agency one gets work that can be done quickly and other texts that take more time. That’s all in the game, it usually about evens out and I never fussed about it, but did mention difficulties when they arose.
Totally agree!
That reminds me of negotiation tips from The Enterpreneurial Linguist. I wholeheartedly agree with you on the idea of not nickel-and-diming the client, Corinne, but I think we need to take it further and not nickled-and-dime the client emotionally, either, in a way that also kills the charm.
The point is, when we itemize our courtesy on the client’s invoice, it stops really being courtesy, it only borrows the nobler name. The closer the courtesy items invoiced get to something that would normally carry a definite monetary surcharge — the lower the worse — the more easily will the clients notice.
They might even realize that we’re trying to get them indebted emotionally for a greater amount as a preferred option to charging them a low monetary amount we feel meh about receiving. That could have all sorts of bad consequences emotionally.
The other problem is that once you do have an all-inclusive price in place, whatever has been sold cannot be given away any more — it already belongs to the client. Calling it courtesy would be double charging at that point, or something comparable to the ways of restaurants that include a tip (or ‘gratuity’) in the bill but still expect the discretionary extra anyway.
Finally — yeah, once again, you’re spot on about how translators shouldn’t have a detailed list of odd jobs/tasks at cents each. Courtesy really should enter this equation. But perhaps the old, more traditional sort of courtesy, maybe with some indirect ways of making sure the client knows that something isn’t really his due, isn’t ‘not a problem at all’ etc.
My policy so far is that asking politely, in a sincere way, will almost always work, unless it’s illegal or something I can’t or won’t do. On the other hand, decreeing uncontracted and unremunerated labour upon my shoulders will not, especially if it’s secretarial work that qualified translators shouldn’t be doing unless maybe assisting a senior citizen or tech-challenged consumer (not a business exec who sees us on par with his office gophers as opposed to his inhouse lawyers and doctors etc.).
Okay, over to you. I could keep typing for hours about this particular subject. 😉
Actually, sometimes I don’t charge anything for small service either (such as a translation of just a few lines), but your solution of indicating them in your invoice as Courtesy service is really a good one, I think I’ll follow the lead 🙂
It’s different for direct clients. But agencies not only expect you to do formatting at no charge, but also don’t even allow the time for this in their delivery deadlines in many cases.
No project takes less than one hour. While it can be expedient not to charge for everything for repeat customers, sometimes you have to take a stand and quote a “minimum charge” to stop the flood of “it’s only a few words” requests that they want back the same day.
The Courtesy idea is great, it’s a good reminder that we are taking trouble to do a very short translation after a project’s been closed and it is likely to be read as what it is, a favour.
Great post as always! It is important to provide good customer service, and in order to do so, we do have to include some little extras sometimes. What I have not done before though, is to indicate it on the quote, that it is included as a courtesy, so thanks for the great tip.