Remote Support Plans/Contract

[Poetik92]

They are currently paying $45 a month total. There's NO way I can match that price. That being said they know that's on the low end and that my prices are higher. I already sat down and did the consultation with them and the most important thing to them is remote support. I'm thinking of about

$25 for business basic

• Monitoring
• Antivirus
• Ad block
• weekly maintenance & tune-up
• Update & Patch Management
• Cryptoprevent
• HDD monitoring
• Email Support
• Unlimited Remote Virus Removals
• 1 Hour Priority Remote support
• Quarterly on-site visits for physical cleaning

Add ons:
Data backup - $5-10
additional remote support hours $??

$35 Business Premium

• Monitoring
• Antivirus
• Ad block
• weekly maintenance & tune-up
• Update & Patch Management
• Cryptoprevent
• HDD monitoring
• Email Support
• Unlimited Remote Virus Removals
• 3 Hour Priority Remote support
• Monthly on-site visits for physical cleaning

Add ons:
Data backup - $5-10
additional remote support hours $??

Anything not covered by the plan would be billed hourly at the appropriate rate with a small discount ($10off)

 

[Your PCMD]

Unlimited Remote Virus Removals

There you go again with unlimited.

• 3a 1 free malware removal per 90 days. Residential. Additional computers & subsequent malware removal discounted 20%.
• 3b 1 free malware removal per 30 days. Business. Additional computers & subsequent malware removal discounted 30%.

Thats mine....

The only things I have unlimited is email support (24hrs) and phone support (shop hrs only)

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

We do unlimited virus removals for both residential and business. We have a very solid package that I have listed here multiple times and it has worked great for us. Also, we are on the high end for residential rates which helps weed out the problem clients. We do, however, have a clause stating we can cancel any plan if we feel it has been abused. We have never had anyone even close to abusing the plan.

 

[Your PCMD]

@Slaters Kustum Machines I totally understand. But it does depend where your located at. Here, people will use the service to death, so we have it set the way we do for that reason. Sometimes I just forget that it is different per location.

I curious as to what you use for your Complete Internet Security.

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

@Slaters Kustum Machines I totally understand. But it does depend where your located at. Here, people will use the service to death, so we have it set the way we do for that reason. Sometimes I just forget that it is different per location.

I curious as to what you use for your Complete Internet Security.

Managed Bitdefender/Unchecky/CryptoPrevent/uBlock Origin/OpenDns.

 

[fencepost]

I wouldn't put in 1 hour remote support blocks - I'd put in 1 incident remote support items, up to 30 minutes each.

And your backup prices may be low. If you're going to be checking reports, etc. you want it at least 10, and I think I saw YeOldeStoneCat say at one point that unless it was 25 he didn't want it.

 

[Poetik92]

Managed Bitdefender/Unchecky/CryptoPrevent/uBlock Origin/OpenDns.

Looking into OpenDNS now, but not seeing any prices, can you give me an idea as to how much it cost? Are you installing it for home users also or just businesses because i see the personal has two free versions and a premium.

I wouldn't put in 1 hour remote support blocks - I'd put in 1 incident remote support items, up to 30 minutes each.

And your backup prices may be low. If you're going to be checking reports, etc. you want it at least 10, and I think I saw YeOldeStoneCat say at one point that unless it was 25 he didn't want it.

So you're saying I may want to increase my add-on price for backups to at least $10/month - $25/month?

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

Looking into OpenDNS now, but not seeing any prices, can you give me an idea as to how much it cost? Are you installing it for home users also or just businesses because i see the personal has two free versions and a premium.

We just set the edge device (router) to use the OpenDNS servers, we don't actually use any of their paid packages. https://use.opendns.com/

 

[cypress]

We just set the edge device (router) to use the OpenDNS servers, we don't actually use any of their paid packages. https://use.opendns.com/

Yup same here.

@Poetik92 Is the 3 Hour remote support priority per device or for all devices included? Because even then for $10 more you are giving them 2 more of your hours. I just feel like this client is trying to get the lowest price they can. If they turn out to be a needy client you could end up losing more than you gain.

Putting them on retainer for a set block of hours each month and then adjusting might be a better route at least in the beginning.

 

[Poetik92]

Yup same here.

@Poetik92 Is the 3 Hour remote support priority per device or for all devices included? Because even then for $10 more you are giving them 2 more of your hours. I just feel like this client is trying to get the lowest price they can. If they turn out to be a needy client you could end up losing more than you gain.

Putting them on retainer for a set block of hours each month and then adjusting might be a better route at least in the beginning.

Well the plans i'm putting together would be for all business clients, and the hourly remote service was going to be per computer. But I see what you mean now, in theory that's 9 hours of remote support between all their computers per month and i'd only be making about $75-$100/month.
Maybe the remote hours should apply per site. Like this:

$35 First computer

• Includes 1 Hour of remote support
• Monthly physical cleanings
• Full Maintenance package

$30 Additional Computers

• Monthly physical cleanings
• Full maintenance package

Then they can pay for add-on's like additional hours, data backups

 

[Poetik92]

On another note, what are you guys using for backing up clients data with the maintenance plans? And are you marking up the cost or selling at cost to keep the plan price down? Is there a re-seller portal where you can manage all your current subscriptions from one spot?

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

On another note, what are you guys using for backing up clients data with the maintenance plans? And are you marking up the cost or selling at cost to keep the plan price down? Is there a re-seller portal where you can manage all your current subscriptions from one spot?

There are tons of options as I'm sure you are aware. We use Cloudberry/Amazon S3 for file backups. I don't have anyone that wants/needs DR like Datto yet. As for markup, everything should be marked up, everything. At least as a default. Sure you can play with the numbers here and there, but don't work or provide service for free.

 

[cypress]

Yeah at 9 hours a month you would be paying them instead of the other way around. That would be brutal.

If you charge $35 per device then that is $105 a month not including the add on like on site service or backups. That's not too bad but I wouldn't go over 3 hours max with remote support for devices.

 

[fencepost]

Are you using RepairShopr? If so, then I'd look at their blog article from last summer on recurring revenue with backups.

If you're doing managed backups (meaning monitored and you fix problems if they arise) then you need to be charging for that - if they don't want monitored, then they can get their own subscription to Backblaze, Carbonite, CrashPlan, etc. possibly with an affiliate link to you but it's not your responsibility. If you're taking any responsibility for it you can't be competing against those vendors on price because then you're basically doing it for free.

As for amounts of remote support, if you do it in hours then they're going to want to use that. 4 15-minute calls? Well, that's 1 hour, right? How about 12 5-minute calls? Same thing. If you do it per incident up to a set amount of time, those 15 minute calls are in your favor instead, and if they feel they're going to need more then they can move up to a higher plan for not much more money.