Translation retainer

Do you need a translator on retainer?

The world, and your workload, can be unpredictable — most of the time, you won’t know in advance precisely how much you need translated, or how quickly. Often, the volume of material you need translated is not evenly spread out over the year either. That’s why we will usually agree a certain rate in advance, then when you have something you need translated, you send it over to me, and I price it up based on all the various factors involved.

For some, however, the situation is much more predictable and steady. This tends to be the case if you are publishing a certain number of blog entries, social media posts, newsletters etc., of a similar length on a regular basis. In this case, a retainer model may be more appropriate for you.

How does the retainer model work?

Instead of pricing each project individually, we would agree a ‘budget’ (usually monthly, but potentially quarterly). This would entitle you to a certain number of words of translation at a reduced rate. However, if you don’t use up all of those words, then you still have to pay the full agreed monthly (/quarterly) amount.

For example, if we agreed a budget of 1000 words/month at GBP 0.10/word, and you only used 800 words in a month, you would still be charged the full budgeted amount of GBP 100.00. This guarantee is what enables me to offer to translate your texts at that reduced rate. Obviously we would discuss all of this in detail so that we can strike the right balance and determine a budget that works for both of us.

We would also discuss what sort of turnaround times you need. As mentioned, this model is really suited to a very regularly scheduled workload, so you should hopefully have a fairly clear idea in advance of the amount of material to be translated and the timings involved.

What if you need more than the agreed number of words translated?

That’s no problem – in that case, I would translate the full budgeted wordcount at the reduced retainer rate, then translate anything above that budgeted amount at my standard rate. There is no penalty for going over the budget, it’s just that you only get the budgeted amount of words at the reduced rate.

For example, if we agreed that I would translate 1000 words per month for you at GBP 0.10/word, and you needed to have 1800 words translated one month, then I would charge GBP 100.00 for the first 1000 words, then my standard rate for the remaining 800 words.

What about when I’m not available?

I’ll always tell you in advance if I know I’m going to be away (on holiday, for example). We can then agree what the best way forward is. If you’re on a regular schedule, perhaps you could arrange to send me the text earlier than normal. Alternatively, I have a network of trusted colleagues who I can ask to act as holiday cover.

If I’m unable to fulfil my obligations (or to get someone else to cover me) for unexpected reasons, like illness, then I would of course waive the charge for that month.

Interested?

Send me a message at david@bwtranslation.co.uk if you are interested in this option and would like to know more. There’s absolutely no obligation, and I will never hard-sell you on anything if it’s not the right option for your organisation or business.