The busy client who might be losing money
One of your biggest clients sends a steady stream of small jobs into many languages, each needing a minimum fee to a translator, a separate revision, a PM to set it up and often a rush surcharge from a freelancer. They are a pleasure to work with and they pay on time. Nobody knows whether they make money. Meanwhile a quieter client sends large, repetitive technical manuals with high TM matches, which are probably very profitable, and gets no special attention.
Your pricing is based on what the market pays and what you charged last year, not on what each kind of work actually costs you.
Why margins stay hidden
- Revenue is in the invoicing system, costs are in freelancer POs, and the two are not joined by job.
- Extras such as rush fees paid to freelancers, DTP and extra revision are not always recorded against the job.
- PM time is not counted, although it is often the biggest cost for small jobs.
- Minimum fees to translators on small jobs are easy to overlook.
- Reports show revenue by client, which is not the same as profit by client.
What it costs
Unprofitable work that looks healthy. Profitable work that is not protected or grown. Price increases applied across the board instead of where they are needed. Sales effort spent on the wrong kind of client. And no evidence when a client presses for a discount.
| Cost that is often missed | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Translator minimum fees | Small jobs in many languages can cost more than they earn |
| Rush payments to freelancers | Urgent work may earn a surcharge that does not cover the cost |
| Extra revision rounds | Client changes absorbed without charge |
| DTP | Often underquoted per language |
| PM time | Large on small jobs, invisible in reports |
How we build job costing
- Each job's revenue is read from your TMS or invoicing, and its costs from freelancer POs, including translation, revision, DTP and any extras.
- PM time per job is estimated from activity in your systems, such as the number of files, languages, messages and changes, or from simple time logging if you prefer.
- Your overheads can be allocated per job using a method you choose, or left out if you want to see contribution only.
- Margin is shown per job and rolled up by client, language pair, subject, job type, size band and PM.
- Reports highlight patterns, such as small multi-language jobs, specific pairs with rising freelancer rates or clients with many revision rounds.
- The data can feed back into pricing rules, for example a minimum project fee or a revised rate for a pair, when you decide to change them.
What you do with the numbers is a commercial decision for you. The build makes sure the numbers include all the costs.
What changes
You see which clients, language pairs and job types make money and which do not. Price conversations become evidence-based. Minimum project fees or rush rules can be set where they are genuinely needed, rather than applied to everyone. Sales effort goes to the kind of work that suits your agency. And a demanding client can be kept on terms that work, rather than lost or quietly subsidised.
Many agencies discover that their assumptions were mostly right, with a few important exceptions. The exceptions are what the numbers are for.
Do you know your margins?
- You know revenue by client but not margin.
- Freelancer costs and invoices are not joined by job.
- PM time is never counted.
- Small multi-language jobs feel busy but you are not sure they pay.
- Price changes are applied across the board.