Pricing Your Products or Services 8

Manufacturer's representative

5 to 25 percent commission, or more depending on industry and the point in the distribution chain. Sales reps who are also dealers selling to the end-user, and reps who assume all marketing costs, might get considerably more than 25 percent, while someone who reps the product to distributors might only get as little as 2 to 3 percent commission, depending on the industry practices.

Medical claims processing

5 to 13 percent of collections. In states that prohibit a percent of collections fee, a flat fee is charged.

Newsletters

for a single newsletter written and sold to multiple companies (such as health and wellness newsletters distributed by chiropractors), $800 to $1,000 per thousand, imprinted with logo of the company ordering the newsletter.

Newsletter writing for large corporations (such as an internal or external company newsletter)

up to $1,000 or more for a four-page newsletter, research material provided. The exact fee will depend on the company, the nature of the publication, the geographic location, and the writer's negotiating skills.

Newsletter production

see desktop publishing prices.

Product fact sheets, writing

$120 to $300 and up.

Photography, brochures, catalogs

$150 to $500 per shot.

Photography, presentation slides

3.5 to 5 times production costs.

Public relations

$35 to $75 per hour; press releases $150 and up per page.

Research for corporate newsletters

$30 to $60 an hour.

Resumes, writing

$150-$400 depending on skill of writer and services (such as cover letter, resume distribution, etc.) included in package. Resumes, typesetting

$30 to $45 per page. Resume, storage

$5 per resume. Resumes, extra printouts

$1 per page or $20 per 25 pages. Blank sheets $.10 a page; blank envelopes $.25 each.

Retainer agreements

Retainer agreements are usually figured by multiplying the normal hourly billing rate times the number of hours the client company wants set aside for its work. Some retainers paid in the Northeast:

• $1,700 per month plus expenses for 20 hours of work as a retainer to handle advertising for a company with $20 million in annual sales. Any hours over 20 in any given month are billed at an additional fee whether all hours have been used in preceding months or not.
  
• $1,000 per month plus expenses for computer consulting and troubleshooting for a graphic arts firm with a network of three computers, a laser printer, and an imagesetter.
  
• Retainer for legal research: full expected cost of the research (held in escrow, with charges deducted from escrow account as incurred).

Sales letters, writing

$100 to $500 per page and up, with highest figures going to seasoned professionals in direct mail.

Tax preparation;

tax preparers who are not CPAs often charge by the form, charging about $25 to fill out Form 1040, using the client's figures, and $5 to $15 for each additional form. Bookkeeping or other services and electronic filing are extra. Tax preparation at accounting firms is billed by the hourly billing rate of the person assigned to do the return.

Training seminars

$50 to $90 "per head" or a flat fee, which can run from $500 to $2,000 or more a day, depending on the instructor's reputation. Minimum fee of $300 for short sessions is not unusual.

Trademark search

by an attorney, with an opinion about the availability of the trademark, $200 to $500, with higher fees for searches for unregistered marks. (Preparation of trademark application is extra.)

Translation

agencies charge their customers approximately $.085 to $.13 per word, depending on the client, the language being translated from and to, and the technical difficulty of the work.

Typesetting

$25 to $50 an hour; $30 to $45 per page; one-page flier is $30 to $45; standard letterhead (typeface and logo chosen from sample book) is $15.

Website design

$35 to $60 per hour and up. Flash programming, and special effects typically command the highest fees. Ecommece sites, content management systems or other functions that require programming would be billed at programming rates.

Writing, books

depending on the publisher, the experience of the writer, the number of previously published works, etc., $2,500 to $15,000 and up, as an advance against royalties.

Writing, articles

$.02 per word to $1 per word and up. Most established writers try to get a minimum of $.50 to $.60 a word, unless the article can be written very quickly. Pay of $.35 a word for a 1,000-word article can work out to over $100 an hour if it only takes three hours to write and research the piece.

Writing, technical

$35 to $60 per hour and up.

TIP: When estimating the time to write a manual or other kind of technical book for a corporation, multiply the time you think it ought to take by 150 percent. Then multiply that figure by your hourly rate. This allows for jobs that take much longer than expected.

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