How to properly price REMOTE Support?

[Majestic]

Hi all..

Have a dilemma here. Sometimes I get calls from clients that require tech support that are can be fairly short. We're talking 15 - 25 minutes. Sometimes it's only 10 minutes.

Anyway I charge $50/hr in my area. Minimum one hour.

I have companies that sometimes call me and I have previous (outstanding) bills from them I have yet to send out. So now they call me and I get a 20 minute call.

Do I charge that pro-rated (as in in 15 minute increments according to a $50/hr rate) or consider the new issue a new call and charge the minimum which is $50 for the 15 minutes? (vs $12.50 for 15 minutes).

I'm trying to figure it out what is fair to them and fair to me..

Majestic

 

[dhrandy]

I would say if it's a different issue, then you charge then the $50 for a new call. It's like working on a clients computer that has 1 problem and them calling later saying they have a different problem. You'll start with a new bill.

 

[frostbyte5014]

I agree with dhrandy but I would prorate and bill them at the end of the month. I would
charge the accordingly based on new or existing issue.

 

[dhrandy]

I would prorate and bill them at the end of the month.

Agreed.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

If its the same company, you may want to talk them into a service contract. Have them pay up front for so many hours of support and start the timer when they call. Give them some incentive to go for it like perhaps tell them if the call stays under half an hour, you'll bill them 15 mins. But you will be a winner in this also because there will be much less chasing paper around and worrying about billing them every time they call. Then whe it gets down to where they only have 1-2 hours left on their contract, start letting them know its almost time to renew.

 

[Majestic]

Ahh! It's very clear to me now.

I'll be charging them the full $50 for any new issues and any old issues will be pro-rated. Past that I will be pushing maintenance contracts more aggressively as it will give further justification to them.

Thanks DHRandy, FrostByte and AnonMac

I really needed to see it from other perspectives.

Majestic

 

[LunchBox]

The last company that I worked they charged $125.00 per hour. For remote work they would create it down to 15 min increments.

We would discourage home users because after 2 hours they would they almost buy a new pc. The rate was for busineses. It would not matter it it was a new issue or old issue. At the end of the month they would get a bill with the dates, amount of time spent resolving each call and notes on the issue. We had contracts with them so we were their IT support and would call regularly.

For clients that would call occasionally and did not have a contract we would still follow the same from what I remember whether is was on site or remote support the time was paid on 15 minutes increments

So $125.00 would be $31.xx if they had a contract it would be $15 cheaper per the hour.

 

[Majestic]

The last company that I worked they charged $125.00 per hour. For remote work they would create it down to 15 min increments.

We would discourage home users because after 2 hours they would they almost buy a new pc. The rate was for busineses. It would not matter it it was a new issue or old issue. At the end of the month they would get a bill with the dates, amount of time spent resolving each call and notes on the issue. We had contracts with them so we were their IT support and would call regularly.

For clients that would call occasionally and did not have a contract we would still follow the same from what I remember whether is was on site or remote support the time was paid on 15 minutes increments

So $125.00 would be $31.xx if they had a contract it would be $15 cheaper per the hour.

Hi Lunchbox..

At $125/hr that might make some sense. But at $50/hr 12.50 does not make sense. I get what you're saying though...

Majestic

 

[geeksmobileusa]

Follow the leader Plumchoice does this exclusively, and they do well. Check out their structure.

 

[computerrepair]

I think that a flat rate is pretty fair for remote support considering you could run multiple session at the same time. I find I am able to hold more customers with a flat rate. Thoughts?

 

[keepah]

New to group but here's my experience ...

Most of my customers are on continuing services agreements and the cost for remote support per month varies by customer. For occasional customers I charge $35/half hour (minimum charge) for each new issue. My experience (and records) show that the majority of my remote support calls take between 15 to 20 minutes to resolve. And by the way these calls are really software training issues and an opportunity to upsell! BTW, in todays economic environment I've been converting a significant number of clients to remote support!

 

[gambit]

Re: Pricing Remote Support

We bill $XXX/hr for on-site service with a minimum of 1-hr. If we just walk in reboot the system and leave, we may send them a courtesy invoice where we bill 1hr and then credit 1hr, leaving a $0 balance.

We only charge drive time after 15min of drive time. Drive time is billed at 50% of hourly rate.

Remote work is billed at 20% less than $XXX/hr with a 15-min minimum.

All services are billed in 15min increments.


I would stay away from AYCE services because all that does is transfer the risk from your client to you. All things being equal, you are not actually making more money and the client is not saving money. If things go good, you make good money, if things go bad, then you lose money. It's your risk.

If you want to do managed services, simply give them a discount from the $XXX/hr for proactively managing the machines.