In our last webinar, during the end of session Q&A we were asked about pricing. Just this week, we have been helping a former student, who is now one of our team, create a quote to a direct client.
Pricing is one of the hardest things to do, especially if you are new to the industry. People are often a bit nervous about pricing themselves out of the market, knowing that what we call the “churn” companies offer such low rates.
Part of setting your rates comes with experience; knowing that your skills are strong, and part comes from the confidence in yourself and truly knowing your worth.
As this seems to be a hot topic, this blog will cover some of the basics for setting your rates*. We will also cover this as a topic in an upcoming webinar, so watch this space!
Getting started…
Firstly, look on transcription company websites, often they will show their rates to customers, and occasionally rates to transcribers. This will give you a starting point.
A transcription company’s rate covers the risk of someone not paying, time for editing, marketing and finding new clients, so they factor this into their costs. Obviously, as a contractor you will not be getting the same rate the transcription company is charging the client, but by doing a bit of online research you should get an idea of your “buffer.”
If you are already a contractor, you will know what you are paid, so you will also have a feel for what you can charge a client.
Once you have decided on the percentage add to the base rate, you need to think about the following: charging for clean transcripts versus verbatim, number of voices, audio quality and turnaround times.
When approached by a client who is looking for a “cheap” option, stand firm and say that you cannot compete with churn companies. Explain that you are US-, UK- or Australia-based (depending on your location), that you do not send your work overseas, and you are happy to sign a confidentiality agreement.
At Top Team Transcripts, we quote either clean or verbatim to clients depending on their requirements. We then have a sliding scale for audio quality: clear, medium and difficult, and the turnaround time.
Most clients want a 24-48 hour turnaround, although some prefer 3-5 days. Top Team Transcripts does not offer longer turnaround times. Our premise is that it takes the same amount of time to transcribe whatever the TAT is, and some clients assume that a 14-day turnaround time will be cheaper as you “have longer,” which makes no sense to us as a business. Also think about a rate for urgent turnaround times. Some clients want their transcript back urgently, and you can charge a premium for this.
So now with these prices on board, you can create a small table giving the turnaround times, together with the rates for clear audio through to difficult. It really is worth getting this done early on as you will then have the rates to hand if someone contacts you for a quote.
Next, create a document called Terms and Charges Letter, add in your business name and a bit about yourself and include your rates table. To finish, add a sentence along the lines of, “If you are happy to proceed, please sign and return this document.” Include space for the client’s signature, and space for them to fill in their invoicing details. Don’t forget to convert the T&C letter into a PDF before you send it. You don’t want to send a Word document, unless you have locked it so that it can’t be altered.
You might also like to think about how you are going to receive audio files from your client. There are many different options like SendThisFile, ScribeManager, Google Drive and Dropbox to name a few, but again, it is worth having a plan ready to go.
We hope this helps. These are just the basics. We go into far greater depth in our transcription course, and even provide a few handy templates. If you found this information helpful, as mentioned above, Sonya and I are working on a webinar where we go into things in more detail, so keep an eye out for that.
Terms and Charges Letters are just one of the things covered in our TranscribeRight course. We also cover confidentiality agreements, subcontractor agreements and much more so you are ready to really hit the deck running with your transcription business.
*Calculating rates is covered in detail in our TranscribeRight course.