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Lesson learned...
Aug. 3rd, 2005 11:38 amI got an inquiry yesterday from an established client, from a project manager who likes to ask for an estimate of the job (i.e., a quote). I put my word-counting skills (acquired long ago in the publishing field) to work, applied the "expansion factor" to account for the fact that the English word count is 15-25% greater than the source Russian count, and submitted my estimate.
The response was a note suggesting my estimate was 50% too high.
What I should have done from the start (and what I ended up doing, since it didn't take all that much time) was to run the assignment through an OCR program. When I did so, it turned out my initial mark-one-eyeball estimate was about 6% too high, but when we consider the spread in the "expansion factor," my numbers were basically right on the money.
What to do?
Well, one of the basic laws of dealing with people is to leave the other guy an out, so after laying out the facts, I cut my initial estimate by some inconsequential amount and offered to cut my rate significantly if the client could wait a few days for the translation.
I received a notice to proceed for immediate turnaround, and - having finished the item just a short time ago - it turns out the actual word count is about 5% above what I'd estimated. (If you're thinking we're not talking a large assignment, you're right. Why, then, all the fuss? Well, let me put it this way: the overall amount in question is one that I - and probably you - would not walk past if we saw it lying in the street.)
So the lesson learned here is: when feasible, let the other fellow know up front that your estimates are based on something you can back up.
In other news, there is little other news. I have two other items to translate, one of which is halfway done, and three invoices to write. Not a peep from the direction of the launch campaign, so far today.
Cheers...
The response was a note suggesting my estimate was 50% too high.
What I should have done from the start (and what I ended up doing, since it didn't take all that much time) was to run the assignment through an OCR program. When I did so, it turned out my initial mark-one-eyeball estimate was about 6% too high, but when we consider the spread in the "expansion factor," my numbers were basically right on the money.
What to do?
Well, one of the basic laws of dealing with people is to leave the other guy an out, so after laying out the facts, I cut my initial estimate by some inconsequential amount and offered to cut my rate significantly if the client could wait a few days for the translation.
I received a notice to proceed for immediate turnaround, and - having finished the item just a short time ago - it turns out the actual word count is about 5% above what I'd estimated. (If you're thinking we're not talking a large assignment, you're right. Why, then, all the fuss? Well, let me put it this way: the overall amount in question is one that I - and probably you - would not walk past if we saw it lying in the street.)
So the lesson learned here is: when feasible, let the other fellow know up front that your estimates are based on something you can back up.
In other news, there is little other news. I have two other items to translate, one of which is halfway done, and three invoices to write. Not a peep from the direction of the launch campaign, so far today.
Cheers...
