ElinaSel wrote:
I have been wondering about this for a long time - why this particular agency is unwilling to go on and justify/explain why they charge a minimum fee, whenever a client questions it. I asked about it once, and the response was that it will 'look bad' to the client if you explain and explain about everything.
It may also look bad if you too quickly agree to lower the price you first gave them and indirectly claimed to be fair.
I have no idea why the agency thinks what it does. Other than preferring not to bicker about pennies (taint of trade and all), another intuitive explanation is a possible fear that the price would be deemed unfair if explained.
(Imagine telling an old client that you raised your prices by 50 % because you made calculations and noticed that it wasn't profitable
.) Of course, if the end client is a private person with a limited budget, they may have to choose the lowest offer even if they want to choose a pricier one.
True, but there are ways to talk to individuals about that, and they hardly bring in much of an agency's revenue anyway.
And for private persons, it may be difficult to imagine why ordering from a translator directly and through an agency may lead to different prices.
Not if they have a minimum of sense. At least not after they hear an explanation that works. Not talking to them at all is an 'easy' solution that has obviously not worked out so easy so far.
So many clients know so little about the principles of business.
So many agencies do!
Some business basics should perhaps be included in school curricula?
Actually, just sitting down and thinking for a while like a reasonable person is probably what people don't do, and suffer for it.
I have gotten the feeling that in Finland people as service buyers often seem to assume that whatever the rate, it's hardly ever justifiable. They say that the price has 'air' if it has a margin!
Perhaps margins have been inflated on occasion by those quoting prices. Or perhaps business has a bad press. Margin is fair when it corresponds with the benefits given to the client and the work or resources invested by the agency. Some people won't understand even this, but for those few it doesn't pay to give everybody else a discount.
So many people simply do not understand where all the money comes from that pays for their holidays, sick leave, etc... And if you explain to such people that the price covers costs such as time spent on invoicing, they see it as unreasonable - in some people's view, the price should only cover time spent on the 'actual' work.
Well, invite the client to come to your office and fill the invoices for you for no pay.
At any rate, admin charges should normally be low in comparison to the 'actual' work when reflected in rates.
But then, if every business educated their clients, perhaps these notions would slowly go away..
Yeah, especially if the more significant players stopped driving rates into the ground to compete but came up with a different method instead.
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
