Tight times, I'd go for the hourly rate. Of course, you might also start charging a minimum that is about half the support fee, plus hourly billing. That might force the customers to hedge their bets with an annual support contract. As a matter of fact, you might even email those who don't have support and inform them that you have listened to the masses, and you "feel their pain"....
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of MB Software Solutions General Account Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 10:37 AM To: ProFox Email List Subject: [NF] Yearly maintenance fees/support versus maintenance billing by the hour A client has been using FabMate Lite for 5 years without any further expense than the initial software. It's been "courtesy" hours in the past 5 years, and probably not even 10 hours per year. He calls me on Saturday and says they can't get into the program now. I'm virtually certain it's not my problem, as nothing has changed in years. However, I told him that I can't offer him free support any more. I'm now giving away the FabMate Lite software for FREE and only charging for an annual maintenance/support contract should they choose to be supported. (If it works for them "as is", then by all means that's fine too and free for them.) So I basically told this client (who really hasn't paid anything to MBSS since Fall 2003 other than a few hundred for something the db guy did to screw up some files) that he'd need to buy a support contract. He doesn't want to, and just wants to pay the hourly support rate. How would you respond to this guy? I'd really like to get those yearly support contracts (for approx. $1200/year), but this guy doesn't want to spend anything, and while I understand his point (...that he'd rather pay $150/hr for 7 hours per year than $1200/year as he's still ahead then in numbers), I want to make a smart business decision here to help drive revenue for FabMate Lite support (which is the only revenue stream for that product now). Your advice appreciated! tia, --Michael [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED]@shelbynet.com ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
