Fixed Rate Or Hourly

[Ed Miller]

Hi all,
I offer a range of services such as a full service and set a fixed rate for this. I then do an hourly rate for on site and remote work, and give the customer a quote on estimated time taken to complete the job. My question is should I advertise the prices of my services on my website
www,elmcomputing.net

 

[pcpete]

I would only advertise prices if they make you look like a great value, otherwise no. Possibly advertise a flat price loss leader as a way of making them think all of your prices our low.

 

[Y.F.N.C.G.]

For me, displaying prices has always been about filtering clients before they contact you.

If your prices are seen as lower than your competition, then you will end up getting a lot of bargain hunters and people who don't have a lot of money to spend. Not usually the ideal client, but if you can get a lot of them then it works out.

If your prices are seen as higher than your competition, then you will filter out the bargain hunters and end up getting customers who are used to paying a premium for great service. These are the best clients to have. However, you need to make sure you do a good job of conveying that value and delivering on it.

If you don't display your prices, you can still do some filtering by conveying the type of services you provide and the type of client you provide them to, but you have to do a better job of that or you will still waste some time talking to price hunters who have no intention of paying a reasonable price for your services.

But never focus on price, whether you display it or not. Always focus on the value and the results, if those are great, then price wont be an issue.

 

[Ed Miller]

lots of my customers don't think twice about my pricing , but there are a few that i feel you compete a say 2 hour job £40.00 job and there 100% happy that their equipment is working but yet they argue about paying a £40.00 when if they called out my competition it would cost £60 -£80 for the same job.

I should also point out 99% of people use me again after finding me

 

[HCHTech]

I should also point out 99% of people use me again after finding me

I know you are probably just being a bit facetious, and you probably do get a lot of callbacks. However, 99% is an unbelievable recidivism rate. Unless you have a captive audience, we are in way-too-competitive of an industry for this to be true. Hyperbole aside, you should be measuring this. Tracking repeat rate helps you see trends in your own customer base. Then the moment you decide to track it, you will find out that it is more difficult than you thought (especially for residential work). It is not just the number of total customers you have seen divided by the number of customers you have seen more than once.

How long of a period to you pick, for example? When you get a new customer, they don't call you back immediately, so do they count against your repeat rate? Plus, residential customers will never call you up and tell you that they have moved on to someone else. You have to just notice that they haven't called you back in a while. How long is a while? 6 months? 12 months? 24 months? "Low risk" customers might only call you once every 2 or 3 years, while "high risk" customers might call you every few months. How do you account for that? Business customers need you regularly, maybe every single week. Do they automatically increase your repeat rate? Maybe business customers should be left out of the equation altogether?

Anyway, I guess I was feeling picky this morning. I know when I first started I wanted to keep track of a bunch of different things, among them, callback rate / repeat rate / recidivism. In the end, I decided that I couldn't really track this accurately, so I measure two numbers, and update them once per month.

"Total" repeats = total number of customers i have ever seen divided by total number of customers who I have seen more than once.

"Seasoned" repeats = Total number of customers I have had for at least 12 months divided by number of THOSE customers who I have seen more than once as of now.

I watch both of these numbers from month to month to see if they are going up (= good) or down (=bad). Then, I try to analyze why that might be so.

I know, I know - I need a hobby.

 

[Ed Miller]

I know you are probably just being a bit facetious, and you probably do get a lot of callbacks. However, 99% is an unbelievable recidivism rate. Unless you have a captive audience, we are in way-too-competitive of an industry for this to be true. Hyperbole aside, you should be measuring this. Tracking repeat rate helps you see trends in your own customer base. Then the moment you decide to track it, you will find out that it is more difficult than you thought (especially for residential work). It is not just the number of total customers you have seen divided by the number of customers you have seen more than once.

How long of a period to you pick, for example? When you get a new customer, they don't call you back immediately, so do they count against your repeat rate? Plus, residential customers will never call you up and tell you that they have moved on to someone else. You have to just notice that they haven't called you back in a while. How long is a while? 6 months? 12 months? 24 months? "Low risk" customers might only call you once every 2 or 3 years, while "high risk" customers might call you every few months. How do you account for that? Business customers need you regularly, maybe every single week. Do they automatically increase your repeat rate? Maybe business customers should be left out of the equation altogether?

Anyway, I guess I was feeling picky this morning. I know when I first started I wanted to keep track of a bunch of different things, among them, callback rate / repeat rate / recidivism. In the end, I decided that I couldn't really track this accurately, so I measure two numbers, and update them once per month.

"Total" repeats = total number of customers i have ever seen divided by total number of customers who I have seen more than once.

"Seasoned" repeats = Total number of customers I have had for at least 12 months divided by number of THOSE customers who I have seen more than once as of now.

I watch both of these numbers from month to month to see if they are going up (= good) or down (=bad). Then, I try to analyze why that might be so.

I know, I know - I need a hobby.

by 99% i mean the vast majority some i hear from once monthly or weekly others every 3 months and some 2 times a year! i meant the 99% loosely, I do however need to get more business customers = more stable income .... any tips on approaching business customers

 

[HCHTech]

A lot of the business customers I have came from me fixing the home computer of the owner. I try to always ask what folks do for a living, which leads into interesting conversations if nothing else. If I find they have or work for a company in my target market, I'm never shy to say "Well, if you ever need help for your business, be sure to give me a call." I don't think that ever lead to a commitment right then, but time will pass and the phone will ring. "Hi, this is Paul Smith, The last time I saw Mark, he said he could help with my work computers, too. I've got a problem..."

Most of the rest of the business customers I have probably came from my BNI activities. The last few came from my website, or adwords, etc.

You could always try cold calls, it works for some - not my cup of tea, though.

 

[Ed Miller]

ou could always try cold calls, it works for some - not my cup of tea, though

yer totaly agree thats not mine either

 

[Markverhyden]

Putting up a basic price list on a website, etc is very important in my book. Does not have to be very complex. Maybe a list of basic fixed rate services with a hourly labor rate for other work. Then a small blurb about projects and special requests being price on request. My customers know what my rates are but they also know I will quote flat rate for a well defined project. But those always have limits due to out of scope work, delays beyond my control, etc.

 

[Ed Miller]

updated my site business pricing to come


http://www.elmcomputing.net/