TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I am sorry if I sound harsh, but I would get over it if I were you. You win some, you lose some. She may come back anyway. You know what you are worth so stick with your time/cost estimate.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+rick=rickquatro -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+rick=rickquatro -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Chris Morton
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 9:35 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: BIZ: Dealing with price resistance?
*** LONG QUERY AHEAD ***
*SCENARIO*: Jeannie is the marketing director of Blue Supply, a smallish, high-tech industrial supplier in the hinterland. Through a LinkedIn ProFinder feeler placed almost a year ago by her digital marketing guy, I've been courting Blue on and off ever since.
To date, Blue has OEMed widgets from others, stuffed them in their own boxes, and sold the latter to global industrial concerns. Blue only ever shipped the destructions, er, user manuals furnished by its OEMs.
Now Blue has developed its own widget. Jeannieânever having entered this realm before (and not knowing much about project management and realistic timelines)âbegan looking for a freelancer to magically whip up a ~50 page technical user manual over a two-week period.
Yours truly has done this many times over and has the chopsâalong with a rock-solid portfolio and written recommendations singing my praises. Its apparent that Jeannie only looked at the sample manuals I provided, never bothering with the recommendations nor taking a few moments to look at my extended LinkedIn profile that tells the whole story.
Jeannie kept me hanging for several weeksâtime I could have used to create her manual, which will ultimately form the basis, it appears, of others to come. Anyone who knows InDesign knows that it's critical to set up the first go-round (that will become a template) correctly. This is all Greek to Jeannie.
She wanted me to give her an estimate as to the number of hours I thought it would take me to complete her project. I told her a reasonable number of hours, perhaps less, but that it's near impossible to estimate never having seen the widget (nor having any notion of Blue's culture, expectations, etc.). Much also depended on the ready availability of subject matter experts to assist my when I got stuck documenting the widget's hypergymballic mode when exposed to sulfur-induced cryptonium at 2000 degrees.
Although I offered to meet in person or speak by phone, Jeannie has always kept me at arms length, only communicating via email. I've only had the opportunity to speak by phone with AJ, the project manager; it sounded like he was firmly in favor of me.
Although I kept trying to get the engagement commitment, Jeannie put me off for yet another week. Attempting to meet her absurd deadline now meant working exclusively on her assignment around 24 x 7, putting off all of my regular clients, not sleeping, nor having any downtime to do anything else.
All the while, Jeannie doesn't know what Jeannie doesn't know, and her initial whack at a newly-designed user manual incorporating Blue's branding is already set to miss the mark.
Finally Jeannie sent me the inevitable email late yesterday:
*Thank you so much for your interest in working with us and for your patience as we reviewed candidates. We have decided to go with another writer for this particular project due to timeline and budget. It was nice connecting with you and I am happy to keep you in mind for future projects if that is of interest to you.*
*Thank you,*
Because of her hemming and hawing, coupled with my multi-year sales experience, I'd seen it coming. I wasn't surprisedâjust really POed to have spent so much time courting her and the company only to be treated like this. I know full well that Blue Supply isn't going to be well represented by the "other writer" (likely a chainsaw repairman) who agreed to both the ridiculous deadline and gave her some absurd cost estimate.
To add to my head-spinning, after sending me this kiss-off note, she finally accepted my invitation to connect on LinkedIn and also viewed my profile!
*QUERY*: If I even elect to pursue Blue Supply, how would you go about standing firm with your hourly rate and, more importantly, politely and professionally convey the notion that, "When you finally realize you've set the project up for failure and also determine that the person you hired doesn't know Jack (if she ever wakes up to that), you'll know where to find me."
Are there any good books you can think of that address this issue in a similar context? That is, Jeannie can have any two of the following: Cheap, Fast, Good. And to quote a friend:
"She can have it fast and good, but it won't be cheap, and that's what you're willing to promise. If she insists on cheap and fast, you're not the right fit because you won't do anything that doesn't include good. Or she can have it cheap (relatively) and good, but there's no way in hell she's getting it before Thanksgiving, from you or anyone else."
Apparently Mr. All-Too-Eager Woodrow the Woodsman has promised Jeannie all three.
Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com
