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Subject:RE: Anyone know anything about The Help Factory? From:"Sharon Burton-Hardin" <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 11 Dec 2002 13:54:02 -0800
Actually, I wanted to know who he was and what he was doing.
I think it may also be a brilliant idea but the lack of any contact info
disturbs me. Most of us have about 10 ways to contact us. We want clients to
bug us in all those ways.
For a structured Word file, it would take about half an hour, tops. And, as
someone else pointed out, the probability of getting that structured file is
small. Then the click starts ticking.
Heck, we have a small client that we don't make a lot of money from, but
they are good for about 8 little projects a year. They are not hard and we
can do them fast. The client is happy, we are happy and there we are.
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-71429 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-71429 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of
eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 1:48 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Anyone know anything about The Help Factory?
Geez there are a lot of suspicious/paranoid people out there. I think it
could
be a brilliant strategy to get work.
You do the quick conversion requiring the client to adhere to your
templates.
When the client realises it's difficult to standardise the templates, charge
for
the conversion to the standard template. Then when they want more Oomph in
their
help files, charge for the customisation. As you now have the original
files,
propose improvements to the writing, layout, organisation, indexing, etc.
all
with associated fees.
Turn around of files through a standard filter wouldn't take any appreciable
time, so $30 may reasonably lower if not cover the cost of labour if not the
software.
Retail stores have loss-leaders all the time to drum up business. Why not
use a
proven marketing technique to boost business for techpubs outfits? The smart
shopper knows how to identify a loss-leader and doesn't fall for the trap of
buying more than the bargain item.
Eric L. Dunn
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