phone troubleshooting

[Pants]

Do you walk your clients through troubleshooting steps over the telephone. If so how do you charge for that?

For phone consulting, I plan on 1/2 hour minimum plus 1/2 hour increments, but if I were to do the phone troubleshooting task I think I might want to charge more.... If I only charged 1/2 hour minimum for this kind of work, I'd probably have people calling me all the time and asking for phone support, and I would be stuck on the phone all day.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

If it's a client that is not on a fixed monthly support plan, and if that phone call is more than say...10 or 15 minutes....yes. If it's just a couple of minutes...nah.

 

[solg]

Hello Pants,

First you have to define exactly what is "phone consulting" and "phone troubleshooting." Then how much time each will get and/or what types of services you will offer either for. It's not that simple of a question to answer but knowing what type of customers/clients you have would be a good start. For instance, many techs charge a flat rate for remote/phone support and some charge by the hour. I myself found the $75 per hour with a 1 hour minimum and 15 min increment balances itself out and still earn you a decent profit. On the phone consulting, I usually did 15 minutes but quite honestly that consultation was really to build a rapport with the customer while making an effort to fix the problem but after 15 minutes, I'd say, "I'd recommend bringing in the shop for a diagnosis."

 

[Montrose Computers]

I did over the phone tech support for a small ISP for 3 years so my desire to help people over the phone is long gone. The few times I have tried since were disasters (I service a great deal of senior citizens). If you are good at getting people to understand what you want them to click on over the phone more power to you. Myself I just hate doing it so much I would rather drive out there or try and fix it remotely. There are some many great remote services out nowadays that I would have killed for back in 2005, when I was trying to talk 80 year old ladies through changing their POP3 settings over the phone.

 

[Xander]

I try to steer any/all existing customers to email me. It might take just as long to compose an email but I'm not banging my head on my desk while having them read off every part of an error message. Plus, sometimes, I just need to reply with a simple URL of a tutorial or explanation. I tell them on their first service call, "I don't mind 'stupid questions' but I prefer them via email because I can be more eloquent in text and sometimes provide a simple website answering everything. Plus, on a practical level, it doesn't tie up my phone line." Everybody nods and says that makes perfect sense.

Of course, I still *do* get some of these calls. Non-customers get maybe 5 minutes before I say, "I really can't give you more info than that over the phone. We'd need to book an appointment"* whereas existing customers get a little more slack or I remote in to see what they're talking about. In that case, it becomes an upsell of remote services.


* I really don't mind answering simple questions for anybody over the phone. So long as its quick. If I can fix their problem in 1 minute, I'd feel like a cheat if I had booked a service call. When they thank me, I just tell them to circle me in their Yellow Pages or bookmark my site for next time.

 

[Markverhyden]

I only do telephone support if I can determine that the call will be just a few minutes. Since it's just me, myself and I doing telephone support while I'm onsite is not really professional in my opinion. So there is no charge for the few minutes. But if they need more it's a remote session and that is charged out in 20 minute increments.