What do you think about our pricing scheme?

[hightechrex]

I'm rolling out new services. There in beta stages right now and are up for change

What I'm Asking
Is this a model you can see people paying for?
What do you think would be the most common pick?
any other thoughts or concerns


http://www.rexbytes.com/#!virus-removal/c1i25

 

[kwest]

I offer a free tuneup with every virus clean. I like the idea of giving them options but I am not sure who will buy the third one because it is an extra 100 for a year of antivirus.

People like free stuff so I learned from a friend that whenever you do anything free add it to their bill as free. Clients like that.

My rate for virus removal in shop is a flat rate of 100.

 

[Kitten Kong]

I personally can't see anyone paying an additional $100 to configure a av program, and for a years subscription.

Subscription to what for starters?, avg, avast, Norton, Mcafee, Kaspersky..

I like the idea of the backup, but one way to differenciate yourself from your competition, is to say something along the lines, of as we all virus removal, we automatically backup your data (charge something like $75 or so, for both).

Al;so, just had a look at your site, and am slightly concerned with the chooserex page.

You have put down pretty much that your the best thing since sliced bread.

IE you do the works.
Same-Day Services
No Fix No Pay Policy
Virus Scan Includes Backup
Free Remote Support
Macbook Screen Repairs
Experience & Certified Techs
Price Match Guarantee On Parts
Fixed Rate On Services
14 Day Guarantee On Labor
Locally Based & Owned

On the other guy part of it, you have put down that the only good thing about them, is they are locally based and owned. Everything else, is either a / or x. How do you know for instance, that they don't do free remote, or price match on parts?

Or that the GS don't do macbook screen repairs?. If I was 'the other guy', I would be extremely pi££ed at this.

Also both of these pages have compare ninja table links visible.

 

[hightechrex]

I offer a free tuneup with every virus clean. I like the idea of giving them options but I am not sure who will buy the third one because it is an extra 100 for a year of antivirus.

People like free stuff so I learned from a friend that whenever you do anything free add it to their bill as free. Clients like that.

My rate for virus removal in shop is a flat rate of 100.

Its an extra $100 for...

Spam Removal: Some people have well over 8,000 spam emails
Antivirus Configuration: Antivirus is no good if its not configured correctly. You'd be suprised how many shops don't do this.
AV Subscription: A 1 year subscription can be used on anywhere from 3-5 PCs.
Data Backup: Another thing that most if not all places charge extra for.

All of this for $200. Seems like a good deal to me. There basically getting a full range of protection. I'm one of the people that feels its almost criminal to run a virus scan without backing up data, but for the people that really want to save the money or who aren't concerned they have the $65 service.

Any other thoughts?

 

[hightechrex]

I personally can't see anyone paying an additional $100 to configure a av program, and for a years subscription.

Subscription to what for starters?, avg, avast, Norton, Mcafee, Kaspersky..

I like the idea of the backup, but one way to differenciate yourself from your competition, is to say something along the lines, of as we all virus removal, we automatically backup your data (charge something like $75 or so, for both).

Al;so, just had a look at your site, and am slightly concerned with the chooserex page.

You have put down pretty much that your the best thing since sliced bread.

IE you do the works.
Same-Day Services
No Fix No Pay Policy
Virus Scan Includes Backup
Free Remote Support
Macbook Screen Repairs
Experience & Certified Techs
Price Match Guarantee On Parts
Fixed Rate On Services
14 Day Guarantee On Labor
Locally Based & Owned

On the other guy part of it, you have put down that the only good thing about them, is they are locally based and owned. Everything else, is either a / or x. How do you know for instance, that they don't do free remote, or price match on parts?

Or that the GS don't do macbook screen repairs?. If I was 'the other guy', I would be extremely pi££ed at this.

Also both of these pages have compare ninja table links visible.

You should see the competition down here and you would understand my confidence lol. And also, yes that is correct.. Geek Squad doesn't do macbook screen repairs. Everything I listed is all things that any repair business who takes themselves seriously should have.. and then some.

Everything I listed is in my opinion a necessity.
You should strive to have some of your work done same day if you can. Why have machines sit around?
You shouldn't charge people if you didn't fix their problem.
A Virus Scan SHOULD include a backup. Doing otherwise is almost criminal.
I never understood why people charged more for remote support. I'm charging for my knowledge, time, and office space.
Alot of places dont replace Macbook screens and Geek Squad doesnt. I do.
Technician should be experienced and certified in some way shape or form.
Price match guarantee on parts is something I threw in because some people come in with their own parts and in some cases I can make concessions.
If i did good work, you bet your last dollar I will guarantee it for 14 days.
Locally based and owned is just an added bonus. People expect higher quality work from locally owned companies.

Also: I haven't paid for compare ninja yet and the / means that it's half and half. Meaning, some businesses do and others done. I actually tried to be as fair as possible with that chart.

 

[PCX]

I'm rolling out new services. There in beta stages right now and are up for change

What I'm Asking
Is this a model you can see people paying for?
What do you think would be the most common pick?
any other thoughts or concerns


http://www.rexbytes.com/#!virus-removal/c1i25

First off, your prices are way too low. That said, you are doing it the right way. With this pricing scheme, instead of giving the customer a yes or no choice, you are giving them an A, B or C choice. Most customers will go for the B or C.

Personally, I would have it set up as, A: Virus removal, B: Virus Removal and Tune-up or C: Virus Removal, Tune-up and backup maybe.

I offer a free tuneup with every virus clean. I like the idea of giving them options but I am not sure who will buy the third one because it is an extra 100 for a year of antivirus.

People like free stuff so I learned from a friend that whenever you do anything free add it to their bill as free. Clients like that.

My rate for virus removal in shop is a flat rate of 100.

I still do not understand why anyone would do this. Just to give you guys some perspective. We up-sell a tune-up with just about every virus removal and about 7 out of 10 computers that come in for any other service. On average we make an extra $7000 give or take each month. Is putting the word free on an invoice really worth losing that much money?

 

[mau64]

PCX states that prices are too low but in my area, I would have a hard time selling at even his prices.

There's a guy here that gets a lot of business, although he screws up quite a bit, and charges $89 for a wipe and restore. It's rather annoying talking to people constantly getting his prices brought up. I just want to tell them to go to him and be disappointed.

With that said I like using Free as well, it helps make your service more valuable. And even if I offered it separately, I would have a hard time taking a machine back to a customer that wasn't tuned up. I'm thinking of doing a flat $99 for virus removal and tune up, but that's high dollar around here in Seymour, IN.

 

[PCX]

PCX states that prices are too low but in my area, I would have a hard time selling at even his prices.

There's a guy here that gets a lot of business, although he screws up quite a bit, and charges $89 for a wipe and restore. It's rather annoying talking to people constantly getting his prices brought up. I just want to tell them to go to him and be disappointed.

With that said I like using Free as well, it helps make your service more valuable. And even if I offered it separately, I would have a hard time taking a machine back to a customer that wasn't tuned up. I'm thinking of doing a flat $99 for virus removal and tune up, but that's high dollar around here in Seymour, IN.

I do not want to get into to much of a debate, but adding free services does not add value to your services, adding value adds value to your services. What do I mean by that? Adding a service for free, that would otherwise (by your competition or any other repair business --to include big box stores) be a paid service, actually devalues the service itself as well as the original service or repair to be done. Charging for a service actually shows value in the service itself. Charge appropriately for your time and quality of work and value will be evident. If you can't bare to see a computer leave your shop without a tune-up, then use that as your selling point.

So what would add value to your services? Things like faster turn around time, full diagnostics, guarantees, warranties and small tweaks here and there that would not add much time to the repair (or that would not otherwise justify a chargeable service), but would greatly benefit the customer.

 

[mau64]

I do not want to get into to much of a debate, but adding free services does not add value to your services, adding value adds value to your services. What do I mean by that? Adding a service for free, that would otherwise (by your competition or any other repair business --to include big box stores) be a paid service, actually devalues the service itself as well as the original service or repair to be done. Charging for a service actually shows value in the service itself. Charge appropriately for your time and quality of work and value will be evident. If you can't bare to see a computer leave your shop without a tune-up, then use that as your selling point.

So what would add value to your services? Things like faster turn around time, full diagnostics, guarantees, warranties and small tweaks here and there that would not add much time to the repair (or that would not otherwise justify a chargeable service), but would greatly benefit the customer.

These are really good points. I'm still working out how I'm going to price stuff in 2013, even considering putting a pricing table on my site much like Rex here, but I still need to call all the local shops and get their prices on simple stuff and price accordingly and competitively to them.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

I still do not understand why anyone would do this. Just to give you guys some perspective. We up-sell a tune-up with just about every virus removal and about 7 out of 10 computers that come in for any other service. On average we make an extra $7000 give or take each month. Is putting the word free on an invoice really worth losing that much money?

Agreed, specially when they come in with a bunch of unfamiliar software on startup thats used for work or perhaps device software but several different brands for the same type of device and then I have to contact them and inquire which ones they are no longer using and sometimes they know and sometimes they have to read to be the info on the device.

 

[mau64]

Btw Rex, I think your prices are fine but the $199 I don't see too many people hitting. Would love to know how much you sell of that in a 3 month span, or even over a year.

Pricing around here is wildly varied. I just called three local shops and asked about OS reinstall, virus removal and data backup. I got this as a result:

Shop A
Virus removal - $80/hr
Reinstall - $150
Data backup - $40

Shop B
Virus Removal - $40
OS reinstall $50
Data backup - free with service

Shop C
Virus Removal - $42-$72
Reinstall- $126.99
Data backup - $26.99-99.99

My prices
Virus removal - $69
OS reinstall - $99
Data backup - included with orders over $99 or just my hourly rate.

My prices are actually what I'm about I start charging, these are raised from my older prices. Also wanting to do $55 on site for the first hour then $45 for each hour after that.

Calling competitors really opens your eyes on pricing. So Rex I would call around and price on research with what your competitors are charging. Still lower than what I want my prices to be at but I still hear a gasp from some of my prices to people around here.

 

[hightechrex]

My only problem is that (and ComputerRepairTech can vouche for this) is that in Columbia, SC income is heavily fragmented and scattered all over. One neighborhood or town will be in a much higher income bracket then a town.. say, down the street. Determining fair pricing is something I've been struggling with. There are towns up the street where people would pay $150 on a virus clean up and about 2 minutes away... people would only spend $65. How do you find a medium? I don't expect to make everyone happy, but atleast capture the masses.

Ideas?

 

[PCX]

My only problem is that (and ComputerRepairTech can vouche for this) is that in Columbia, SC income is heavily fragmented and scattered all over. One neighborhood or town will be in a much higher income bracket then a town.. say, down the street. Determining fair pricing is something I've been struggling with. There are towns up the street where people would pay $150 on a virus clean up and about 2 minutes away... people would only spend $65. How do you find a medium? I don't expect to make everyone happy, but atleast capture the masses.

Ideas?

That's the thing, you don't try and find a medium between poor people and rich people, you target one of them and stick with the pricing that goes with that market. Jacksonville is much the same way. For instance, one one of the main strips in our town, you will literally see a Trailer, Country Club, Gas station, middle class neighborhood, one stop bait and tackle, salon, tanning bed etc, gated community, Trailer park, another gas station with a random store, barber shop and tons of pot holes, abandon churches, more trailers parks, high end apartments, more trailer parks, really really really nice house by themselves. And that is all on a road that is not much more than 5 miles long. Point is this, the income level of the people in our area vary greatly. Target the tax bracket that you want to serve (preferably the higher tax bracket) and price accordingly. Do not worry about those who cannot afford your services.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Prices are something that is relative to the area you service. I can say your prices are low for...my area and my targeted clientele. But I don't know your area or your targeted clientele.

Regarding your chart...first, I lump cleaning up bad stuff as "malware". Cleaning "malware" should include viruses, worms, adware, spyware, trojans, etc. Your padding that first column to include all those things...as if other peoples cleanings don't include those. It's all "malware"...to include all those.

The extra charge to "backup data"....IMO you should backup a computer before doing major work on it anyways..to protect yourself. What if you yank some new rootkit that tanks the HDD, or you do something that blows away hidden/relocated files that get tucked into some hidden directory...like some of the rogues do. Backup is for your smarts and protection.

Todays antivirus programs (at least the decent ones) are configured right out of the box...real time file protection, updates, etc. Except for servers....doing it for basic home users isn't anything special. Yeah OK maybe some home accountant that needs quickbooks (or other accounting software) data directory excluded, or a gamer, or someone with dozens of gigs of Outlook PST files. Yeah business networks require additional stuff..but I'm figuring this comparison chart isn't aimed at business clients.

And what AV brand are you including in that service?

 

[hightechrex]

Prices are something that is relative to the area you service. I can say your prices are low for...my area and my targeted clientele. But I don't know your area or your targeted clientele.

Regarding your chart...first, I lump cleaning up bad stuff as "malware". Cleaning "malware" should include viruses, worms, adware, spyware, trojans, etc. Your padding that first column to include all those things...as if other peoples cleanings don't include those. It's all "malware"...to include all those.

The extra charge to "backup data"....IMO you should backup a computer before doing major work on it anyways..to protect yourself. What if you yank some new rootkit that tanks the HDD, or you do something that blows away hidden/relocated files that get tucked into some hidden directory...like some of the rogues do. Backup is for your smarts and protection.

Todays antivirus programs (at least the decent ones) are configured right out of the box...real time file protection, updates, etc. Except for servers....doing it for basic home users isn't anything special. Yeah OK maybe some home accountant that needs quickbooks (or other accounting software) data directory excluded, or a gamer, or someone with dozens of gigs of Outlook PST files. Yeah business networks require additional stuff..but I'm figuring this comparison chart isn't aimed at business clients.

And what AV brand are you including in that service?

I plan on bundling it with Kaskpersky. I've already bumped my pricing up a smidge.

 

[Ctrl-z My PC]

no opinion on prices, but you can get rid of the tag...not exactly ethically (and not recommended except for testing purposes only)... by adding:

<style>
.compareninja_ribbon { display: none!important; }
</style>

to the HEAD section of your HTML...

 

[DocGreen]

no opinion on prices, but you can get rid of the tag...not exactly ethically (and not recommended except for testing purposes only)... by adding:

<style>
.compareninja_ribbon { display: none!important; }
</style>

to the HEAD section of your HTML...

It looks like he's using Wix as his sitebuilder... is he able to do what your suggesting? When I used Wix, they stored pretty much the entire site on their servers and the only way we had to modify it was through the sitebuilder... couldn't actually manually modify the code.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

My only problem is that (and ComputerRepairTech can vouche for this) is that in Columbia, SC income is heavily fragmented and scattered all over. One neighborhood or town will be in a much higher income bracket then a town.. say, down the street. Determining fair pricing is something I've been struggling with. There are towns up the street where people would pay $150 on a virus clean up and about 2 minutes away... people would only spend $65. How do you find a medium? I don't expect to make everyone happy, but atleast capture the masses.

Ideas?

You are absolutely right. You will never make everyone happy. I get so disheartened when I hear a tech lower his price because a customer just berated him for his fees.

Establish fees that you know you can pay the bills, keep the doors open have some left to give to the wife for groceries and not be in the poor house. It seems you did that I think your prices are very fair maybe even a little on the cheap side.

If you lower your price to your worst or poorest customers then you will not survive except maybe from your mom's house using craigslist to get customers.

We establish a minimum charge to check in a computer no matter what. That is $49.99. Our tune up is like your virus removal and charge $99. Backup $49.99 with other services but a stand alone backup is $99-$149(meaning we did no other service on their equipment).

If you seldom get people refuse service then you are probably too low.

 

[ComputerPro]

prices

Yours looks good. Not sure about the $199 though. Seems worth it, but around our area it would be a harder sell.

Our prices work for us around here and we remain competitive. When we start approaching the $200 mark then thoughts of 'maybe I should just buy another unit' start to surface. And rightfully so to be honest, depending on the age of the system being repaired.

Our prices are basically flat rate services but we have hourly also. They are as follows:

$39 - Quick fix pkg. Any super small thing, like laptop doesn't connect because WIFI is turned off etc.

$59 - Regular bench fee (also our in-shop hourly rate) Any small thing that takes over 30min but under 1hr. Example... like Dell not booting error. Chkdsk the drive in another system and its fixed type of thing. Something quick and easy but something the customer definitely could not do by themselves. We don't do many of these.

$99 - Complete Service Pkg. This is our bread and butter. 95% of our in shop repairs. They get virus removal, tune-up, defrag etc, temp clean, multiple scans, physical dustout and cleaning. We make our money by volume with these and its priced accordingly. If we did one CSP pkg then we would lose our shirts, but if we have 12-18 of them going at the same time and a few techs bouncing between them all then it becomes a good thing.

We sell it for say a virus infection by saying: "Our $99 complete service pkg removes all the infections AND you get all the extras along with it, in one big tune-up, cleanup, deal. We can just remove the virus for $59, but how did it get there in the first place? Is the system out of date? Have the wrong AV? etc.. With the complete service pkg you get all the updates done, AV installed and configured...etc... Nobody really ever says no.

$99 - Rebuild - This is our rebuild price for no data backup, basically load OS and update.

$149 - Rebuild with Data - Same as above but with data backup and restore.

$99 - Laptop DC jack repair plus cost of jack / powerboard. Avg total is around $125

$175 - Average screen replacement pkg, includes screen and labor. This is a great money maker for us as the screen, to the customer, seems like a very hard expensive repair deal. But in reality much, much easier than removing the motherboard for example. Avg screen is between $60-$100 from our vendor.

$149 - Our 'complete service pkg 99' but includes pickup and dropoff, local only. We have a handful of older clients that just don't want to mess with unhooking stuff.

On the business side. Rebuilds and Complete Service Pkg's are the same but with one exception. We do a lot more on-site stuff with them and thats billed at $99 per hour. We also have lots of them on monthly contract pricing where they pay a flat rate for us to act as their I.T. dept.

Pricing is a whole world in and of itself, that can be hard to master. You can have lower rates and make a ton of money IF you are setup correctly to do it. Look at Planet Fitness lol. They just opened in our town and charge $10 per month. $20 for the big VIP pkg. We laughed at first but a few months later other gyms are closing their doors and Planet Fitness is jam packed!

You just have to have the correct strategy for they pricing model that you are using. But you don't have to 'always be cheaper' than the others. You can charge more, you just have to prove the value in your services.
Around our area we are average to slightly higher than average, but yet we dominate the competition for the most part.

 

[ComputerPro]

forgot one thing....

Another thing I forgot to mention is CHARGE A DIAGNOSTIC FEE lol.
Big topic of debate....but what we found is.

A diagnostic is NOT an estimate. An ESTIMATE can be free. But an estimate is just that. Its an estimate lol, not a quote, not a contact, just an estimate. Since we have flat rate pricing for the most part a 'free estimate' is easy! "My computer is flooded with viruses can I get a free estimate?"
Sure, its $99 "But you haven't looked at it yet". All virus cleanups are $99, thats our rate. You get the idea. If they ask for an estimate for an item on a menu, you just bring out the menu and point to the price.

Now if its a laptop for example and you have to rip the board out of it etc... then your getting into a diagnostic. Anything where you are 'working' on the system you really need to get paid for.

Here is the kicker: If your diagnostic is 'free' and they stop in and say thank you and just pick their system up... you've just lost money. Not broke even, but actually went backwards! How can you survive like that?
The funny thing is they will almost 'always' take the unit back. If nothing more than to throw it in the garbage.

We charge a $39 diagnostic fee. Low and fair enough so no one will complain, BUT...the real reason is this. We offer them an option to 'recycle' their system with us and we will 'waive' the diagnostic fee. I mean what do they want with a broken system anyway right? So now they leave happy (you just saved them almost 40 bucks!) and you get another system to add to your parts room which you can resell. If the laptop had a bad mobo you would still wind up with:

keyboard
screen
hard drive
memory
optical drive
plastic shell and trim
sometimes AC adapter

So for your time invested you've really made your company probably close to $100 bucks. Its a win/win, they don't have to pay, and you don't work for free.

We have a very few people pay the diagnostic fee. And thats ok, we covered our time looking at the system. But I would say 98% are overjoyed to recycle the unit.