Freelance Writing & Business Communication

Just how do you price corporate writing/editing (or training) work?

I am often asked questions about pricing corporate work. The first question I ask back is this: “How much do you charge per hour?” All too often, I am greeted with a blank stare, or the person replies with something like this: “I want to know how much clients expects to pay.”

Allow me to be blunt: I don’t give a hoot what the client expects to pay. I give a hoot about what I expect to earn. And the only way I can earn what I expect to earn is by knowing my hourly rate.

When asked for a quote on a corporate writing or editing gig, I define the scope of the project (how many interviews and meetings, how much research and background reading, how much writing, how many revisions, will I be working with a designer or webmaster, and so on). Then I estimate to the best of my ability how many hours it will take me to complete the job. Once that is done, I multiply my hourly rate times my estimate of the hours required to complete the job. And that is how I generate my quote. I couldn’t do it with knowing number of interviews and meetings, background research, word count, possible number of drafts/revisions, approval process, and so on. And I certainly could not do it without knowing my hourly rate.

To that, people often say: “But what if your estimate is too high?”

My answer is simple: “I don’t land the gig.”

And that is a good thing. If I think a job is going to take 20 hours to complete and based on that I issue a quote for $2,500 and the client is only willing to pay $500, then I am better off spending time looking for better paying gigs.

Scoping out the project applies to my business communications training work too. For instance, if someone wants me to conduct a 3-hour email writing seminar, I can pull it off the shelf and do it–no problem. But if the client wants me to customize my examples to meet the learning needs of the company (which makes a lot of sense) I am happy to customize the training session. I then have to calculate that development time into my quote. Same with media interview training. I have an off-the-shelf seminar that I deliver, and it’s quite effective. However, most companies expect me to customize the training and mock interview questions to meet their needs. That makes a great deal of sense from the client’s point of view; it takes time to do from my perspective. Add customization to a three-hour training session and you may be looking at an additional 3 to 6 hours of of development time. And time is money.

So follow the rate formula: Know your hourly rate. Scope out the details of the project. Estimate how long it will take you to do all that you have to do. Multiply your hourly rate times your hours estimate. Then issue your quote.

If the job goes to another writer or trainer, so be it. If you land the gig, you are going to feel good about yourself and your client, and you will do a better job. At least that has been my experience.

If you are interested in more posts on pricing corporate assignments, please read my pricing corporate work articles here: http://paullima.com/blog/?cat=15

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Paul Lima is a freelance writer and business writing instructor. He is also the author of several books on business writing and the business of freelance writing.