Note to
contractors: Expose your writing tasks
By
Mark Hall
The Challenge
Most writing contractors have experienced anything ranging from an indifferent sigh to feigned "sticker shock" when presenting a cost proposal to a prospective client. If you're not highly experienced and have a well-known client list, it's easy to reel back on your heels and say, "OK, I'll give you a special introductory rate," or "I'll see what I can do to keep my estimate within your budget." Unfortunately, capitulating with either of these statements usually means that you have failed to show the value of each stage in your publication process. Failing to do so may adversely affect both your hourly rate and your billable hours.
Exposing Your Tasks
Through my attendance at a presentation by leading interface designer Clement Mok, coupled with my recent work with a sales consultant, I have come to the following realization: in order to prove the value of your work, it is essential to "expose" all the tasks and steps you perform, and the process within which you perform them. While Mok was directing his comments primarily toward graphic designers, practitioners well known for their "black box" creative work, this suggestion applies just as much to the technical writing profession in general, and contract writing in particular. Only by detailing each task we perform can demonstrate the value each part brings to the deliverable "whole."
Think, for
a minute, of all the tasks you perform when writing a user manual. For
starters, I can think of the following main tasks:
That's seven steps already, and the writing has barely started! My point is that only by making each of these steps explicit and associating a value with them--either to promote "gain" (help your client increase revenues or cut costs), or to avoid "pain" (help your client reduce customer acceptance risk)--will the client realize just how each piece contributes to the quality of your resulting deliverable.
The Solution
Start by listing all the steps you take to document "how to" procedures (or other applicable content) for a prospect or client. In this case, however, remember that the procedural steps should be not be written for an audience with publications expertise, but written to be easily understood by a person outside of the writing profession.
Here's an example:
Instead of "perform an audience analysis," say the following:
"Identify and document the intended reader(s) for the publication [15 man-hours]," followed by these (or similar) bullet items:
- Work with client to identify eight or more persons fitting your typical reader profile [1 hour].
- Prepare interview questions (used to gather information on each interviewee's level of subject matter knowledge, educational background, and computer/Web proficiency) [2 hours].
- Send out e-mail asking for participation in interviews (seeking four interviewees, minimum)[1 hour].
- Schedule interviews with each person [1 hour].
- Conduct interviews and take notes [4 hours].
- Analyze interview notes [2 hours].
- Document target reader type(s) (key characteristics) [2 hours].
This breakdown clearly gives the client the time (and implicitly, the cost) breakdown for each step you perform as your render this service. Now I wouldn't suggest plopping this task list in front of your prospective client when you first meet, but rather keep the steps for each of your key services in your memory bank for easy retrieval when your prospect asks why it takes "that long" to do an audience analysis.
Results
You may suspect that mentioning such task steps will scare off your prospects, especially in these cost-conscious times. On the contrary, I have found that by making explicit the tasks that were previously ignored or misunderstood, I've actually improved my level of prospect- and client-communication. As a side benefit, I also screen out prospective clients who aren't willing to discuss the key publication quality/cost trade-offs, or whose purchase decisions are primarily price-driven. (These are often not the best clients through which to build your business and portfolio anyway.)
In the end, helping your prospect make clearly-informed decisions will not only heighten the value of your services and your professional credibility, but will also help you to substantiate every dollar that appears in your cost proposals and thereby improve your bottom line.
