A 90-Day Plan for Translation Agency Client Renewals

What to take away

The ninety-day sequence

The sequence moves from confirming the decision-maker and assembling account evidence to reviewing needs, documenting terms, resolving open items, and confirming the next term. Each day marker below is a point to take that action, not a standard contract term or notice period.

Day 90: check who decides

Confirm the approver, the budget cycle, and whether the person who championed you internally is still in place. A departed champion is the most common cause of a renewal that fails for no visible reason, and it is entirely detectable in advance.

Day 75: assemble the evidence

Pull the account's own history: how much content reused existing translations, how terminology decisions accumulated, how reviewer changes trended, and what the client's own steps cost in elapsed time. The method for producing those numbers is in the translation agency reporting and client retention guide.

The point is not to prove you were good. It is to show what would have to be rebuilt if they started elsewhere.

Day 60: hold the review that is not a sales meeting

Ask what should change. Listen for anything about volume, markets, timing, or people. A client planning a new market next quarter has just told you the shape of the renewal.

Day 45: put the renewal terms in writing, plainly

There is no universal contract term or notice period for agency renewals. Use the signed agreement's actual term, renewal date, notice deadline, and proposed price; write out the applicable dates rather than relying on an assumed standard.

State what happens to the translation memory and termbase, who prepares the export, when it is delivered, and how long the client can retrieve it. TMX (Translation Memory eXchange) is a format for translation memories, and TBX (TermBase eXchange) is a format for termbases. Confirm the client can use the files before the contract ends.

Day 30: resolve the open items

Anything unfinished from the review. Nothing kills a renewal like an outstanding problem raised sixty days earlier and still open.

Day 15: confirm, and say what happens next

Confirm in writing, including the first project of the new term.

Price changes at renewal

If the price is moving, say so at day 45, not day 5. Put the current and proposed amount or rate in writing, alongside a reason the client can verify: actual linguist costs in the pair, a change in the review model, or an expansion in scope they asked for. There is no single renewal increase that fits every account; use the account's documented figures.

The labor side is covered in the translation agency pay rates and labor costs in 2027. The mechanics of setting the number are in the translation agency pricing and profit guide for 2027.

Two moves work better than an unexplained increase. Offer a scope change that holds the price, so the client can choose. Or attach the increase to something they get: a shorter turnaround commitment, a second named linguist on the account, or terminology maintenance that was previously ad hoc.

What does not work is a quiet increase that appears on the first invoice of the new term. It will be found, and it converts a price conversation into a trust conversation.

Automatic renewal, done honestly

Automatic renewal is a legitimate structure, and regulators still watch it. The FTC account of a case where a risk free trial turned out to be neither is a short read on the pattern that causes trouble.

Trouble comes from hard-to-find terms, hard-to-complete cancellation, and mechanics that do not match the promise.

Apply that to your own agreement with four tests.

If any answer is no, fix it now rather than during a dispute.

Do not let retention become dependence

Some agencies protect renewals by making it hard to leave: memory that is never exported, terminology held only in the agency's tool, a format nobody else reads. It works briefly and it is the reason procurement teams ask about exit terms.

The stronger position is the opposite. Say plainly what leaves with the client, and compete on being better rather than on being difficult to replace. Clients who know they can leave stay longer.

Feedback around renewal

Renewal season is when agencies most want a testimonial, and it is the moment to be most careful. Use one process for every client, disclose material connections, and leave critical feedback visible. The FTC's Endorsement Guides and its Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule address disclosures, incentives, and deceptive review practices; do not condition an incentive on a positive review.

If the account includes spoken work, renew it as a separate line with its own terms. Interpreting is scheduled by appointment with cancellation exposure that written work does not carry. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook profile “Interpreters and Translators” (SOC 27-3091) describes the distinct professions.

Honoring the new term depends on depth described in the translation agency hiring and training guide for 2027.

A renewal that expands into a new market is a positioning decision covered in the translation agency marketing and growth guide for 2027.

Common questions

Ninety days seems long for a small account.

Compress it, but keep the order. Even at thirty days, checking who decides comes before assembling evidence, and evidence comes before terms.

What if the client will not meet before renewal?

Send the evidence and the terms anyway, and ask one question they can answer in a line. A client who will not meet and will not answer a question is telling you something worth hearing early.

Should I offer a discount to renew?

Rarely, and never as an opening move. A discount granted to renew becomes the new price. Offer a scope change instead.

How do I handle a client who wants to bring the work in house?

Help them do it well, and say what you would keep doing. Many in-housing projects come back partially, and the agency that behaved well during the transition is the one that gets the call.