I had a customer call for a quote on hard drive backup, she has to send her laptop back to the manufacturer for a screen replacement. She already had received a quote from my competitor for $60 unlimited! I'm wondering if maybe I need to adjust my pricing. Feedback appreciated!
What do you charge for backup?
- Thread starter ell
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Sorry, she claimed she had 65 GB, I would assume to an external drive, she didn't really say. I charge $50 for first DVD, $15 for each thereafter.
ComputerClinic
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I would charge an hours worth of work if she is providing the external media. Does she want the data restored after the screen replacement? If so, maybe an hour and a half.
PCSupportGlasgow
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I quoted $50 up to the first 10 gigs, then she cut me off, saying she could get unlimited backup for $60. Regardless if its to a image, dvds or whatever $60 for 65 gigs seems cheap to me.
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PCSupportGlasgow
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wouldnt worry about it you will always gets cheapskates. fortunately for the good at their job amoungst the tech fratenety those very same people will normally come back further down the line when they realise the reason your that bit more expensive in hourly rate but not in final bill than mr no fix no fee down the street.
Probably another craigslist customer, thanks for the input!
PCSupportGlasgow
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So here is my take...
First... be firm in your pricing otherwise you let others dictate to you how you operate your business.
Second... know your competition and how they perform the backup.
Third... Rather than just quoting a price provide several options. Full drive image, ongoing remote backup, backup to external media. (Have pricing for each and be prepared to explain the differences.
Fourth... This will most likely set you apart from the competition becasue you took the time to find out what option is best suited for this individual
From you example I think that this customer was trying to get the best percieved value but may not have had enough information to make an informed decision.
I would have sold my service like this.
Me: When was the last time you had a complete image made of your computer?
Customer: What do you mean?
Me: Well we have several different ways to backup your computer but a complete image takes a snapshot of your computer as it is right now. This allows your to restore your computer to the state it is in now and reduces repair costs down the road should your hard drive got bad or they wipe your drive when it is in for service.
Customer: How much is a complete image?
Me: $99.99 plus we will restore to your computer 2 different times in the future should you have problems. As an additional option we can also setup a remote backup option to collect any new files and pictures you put on each week or month.
Now... you have trumped the compeition with your options. If the client is not interested in the complete image no worries. I charge less for a complete images than I do for sellect files and folders becasue of the amount of touch time it actually takes.
Phil Jones - CEO Site Tech
Yes, this is why I asked, I need to work out some pricing. This was a good wake-up call for me, I haven't really had many stand alone back-up requests so I haven't worked up a decent pricing structure. I'm kind of stuck in the middle, I have 2 Geek Squads in town and a couple larger tech support co's along with a couple $50 flat rate biz's and ofcourse the craiglist pizza techs. I don't want to go too cheap, but I don't want to price myself out of work either. She sounded very young and not really aware of what she wanted, I'm sure she was just told to backup her drive before shipping it in, and not willing to spend more then the $60 quoted. What do you generally charge to backup and restore files when performing a format & reinstall? Do you charge by the GB or flat rate?
We operate on all flat rate pricing. Essentially the client pays for the solution. When a computer comes into my shop I have a set methodology that is used for any repair. We rarely have to do a format and reinstall for things other than complete hard drive failure. We average about $150 per repair and I am trying to raise the bar to $175
I don't believe in charging per GB or by the hour because it is all about the end result and not how much data there is or how long it will take. Clients don't trust hourly rates and I feel that charging per gig is like charging more to defrag a 80gb of data than 40gb. It takes a bit of upfront time to start defrag but after that you just walk away and let it run. Creating a drive image is essentially the same thing. Setup the image paramaters, start the process and walk away.
For sellective backup I charge $125.... (Where we backup individual files and folders.) This is because it take a bit more touch time and because I think all clients should have an image. Aslo the higher price is there because I want really want customers to have a good image and this stears them to this option. With a good image you can restore individual files and folders as well are restore the entire computer. Why would't a customer want both options. I mentioned that I include 2 restores of data from the image... this brings them back to my shop when they have problems... it creates a habit for the customer to call on us. I want people to think of us first for all their needs.
Thanks
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anonymous Mac Tech
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$80.00 for backup which includes restoring the image/data if needed. $120 if it involves removing the drive from the machine to get an image/backup. This includes whether its saved on our servers or to a customers external drive. Even when a customer does include their external drive we still create the image on our servers and then give them a copy of the image. The images usually stay on our servers for a minimum of 30 days. We still get plenty of people wanting us to retrieve data off of floppies/zips and transfer the data to CDs/DVDs as well as folks wanting us to retrieve data off of some really old obsolete machines. Prices on these backups run between $80-$160.
Glad you have your price.
I am glad that you have decided on a price for the backup.
In reflecting on these posts and pricing I have one observation that is common amoung all of us. It is the statement It is this much if I do x and more if I do y.
This opens the door for several issues. First it will allow competition an opening to compete and it may make the customer uneasy because they may not like all the if this and that the service will cost more.
For example (although I agree with the pricing differences) Charging $65 for data backup with the drive still in the machine and $80 if the hard drive needs to be removed.
If we weigh the extra revenue vs the added time vs the opening our competition is given are we hurting ourself? This is a decision that needs to be made by each of us but it is something to consider.
I am glad that you have decided on a price for the backup.
In reflecting on these posts and pricing I have one observation that is common amoung all of us. It is the statement It is this much if I do x and more if I do y.
This opens the door for several issues. First it will allow competition an opening to compete and it may make the customer uneasy because they may not like all the if this and that the service will cost more.
For example (although I agree with the pricing differences) Charging $65 for data backup with the drive still in the machine and $80 if the hard drive needs to be removed.
If we weigh the extra revenue vs the added time vs the opening our competition is given are we hurting ourself? This is a decision that needs to be made by each of us but it is something to consider.
good point, when you have a customer who just wants it fixed the cheapest and best way, don't want to try and confuse them with lots of scenarios, but I've burned myself more than once giving a fixed price then find a Pandora's box of problems going in. I've had pretty good luck giving the customer a range quote, like maybe I could say, "it would be $65-80 depending on hardware removal."
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heres what I've worked up, feel free to critique! I also price-checked my competitors before doing this, I'm trying to stay in the middle range.
DATA BACKUPS $60-80 imaging $80-95 individual files
$65 unlimited image to external drive without drive removal> $80 with removal
$80 individual file backup to ext drive without removal>$95 with drive removal
$50 up to 3 dvds (12GB). $16 each additional DVD
Windows repair:
$50-95
Virus removal:
$50-80
Windows reinstall:
$80 from cd ($120 with data restored)
$75 from partition ($115 with data restored)
$40 data copy and restore
DATA BACKUPS $60-80 imaging $80-95 individual files
$65 unlimited image to external drive without drive removal> $80 with removal
$80 individual file backup to ext drive without removal>$95 with drive removal
$50 up to 3 dvds (12GB). $16 each additional DVD
Windows repair:
$50-95
Virus removal:
$50-80
Windows reinstall:
$80 from cd ($120 with data restored)
$75 from partition ($115 with data restored)
$40 data copy and restore
So what are we charging for... Time or Solution?
I am sure that you now feel much more prepared since you have set some prices. Here you have a is something to help people decide on what they want to charge....
First are you charging for your time (Even with flat rate) or are you charging for the solution.
Let me explain. With data backup the solution is to backup the data that is needed.
Now how do we do it... There are many different ways. We image the drive, remove the dirve and copy, we hook up an external drive and copy, we copy to a computer on the network and burn disc. These are called the "how" it gets done. Some take more effort than others.
So if we chage more for one and less for another I would say that we are in a sense charging by the hour rather than by the solution. Sure the by hour rate is cloaked in a flate rate price but if that drive pull backup takes less time than anohter type of backup are you going to give a discount... probably not.
Both pricing structures are very valid... but looking at things this way can simplify how you look at pricing.
More specific... I am confusued about data copy and restore for $40.00 isn't this actually the same as a backup? What is the difference between individual (sellective backup) and data copy. Why the two different prices?
I am sure that you now feel much more prepared since you have set some prices. Here you have a is something to help people decide on what they want to charge....
First are you charging for your time (Even with flat rate) or are you charging for the solution.
Let me explain. With data backup the solution is to backup the data that is needed.
Now how do we do it... There are many different ways. We image the drive, remove the dirve and copy, we hook up an external drive and copy, we copy to a computer on the network and burn disc. These are called the "how" it gets done. Some take more effort than others.
So if we chage more for one and less for another I would say that we are in a sense charging by the hour rather than by the solution. Sure the by hour rate is cloaked in a flate rate price but if that drive pull backup takes less time than anohter type of backup are you going to give a discount... probably not.
Both pricing structures are very valid... but looking at things this way can simplify how you look at pricing.
More specific... I am confusued about data copy and restore for $40.00 isn't this actually the same as a backup? What is the difference between individual (sellective backup) and data copy. Why the two different prices?
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