This is probably going to be an issue for more clients as the economy worsens and they look for places to cut expenses.
We charge for support monthly and it is optional. If they quit and then want updates at a future time, we require 6 months minimum since we cannot support them unless they have the latest version and it is worth that. Also, if they prepay for a year, they can pay for 10 months and get the 11th and 12th at no charge. This seems to be working ok for the past 10 years or so. We only charged monthly before that and it was not a good business model for us. We tried billing by the call and that was a total failure. We will never attempt anything like that again. I am interested in what others do. ----- Original Message ----- From: MB Software Solutions General Account To: ProFox Email List Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 1:15 PM Subject: [NF] What to charge customers when they let support lapse Asked via tweet earlier today how vendors handle clients who've let support lapse. I eluded to the proverbial concern about customers not wanting to pay for the milk since they can get the cow for free. Got this tweet back from Jody Meyer: JodyMeyer: @mbabcock16 /Client Support/ We back charge here at MAGI to catch them up. There is no free milk here. Seems like a good policy. But I know this one client would say "look, we like your software, but it works fine for us and we'd rather pay an hourly rate since we'll only need you (probably) 3 hours annually." And he's right from the perspective that the software not only works, it works well, even after 6 years of usage. (That's the problem with building great software---you don't make any money on recurring support fees!!!! LOL!) I've got another client down in TX who bought FabMate but wanted to wait some undetermined amount of time until they renew on FabMate support/upgrades as well. This all sucks of course, as I'd like to build my business model on recurring income. I'll keep upgrading/enhancing software (if it needs it), but to do it and then have this guy come back some point in the future to then buy another year of support (but receive all of the goodies I've done since he let support lapse) doesn't make me warm and fuzzy. The first customer has a point. The second customer is a bit different and I really don't want to give them upgrades they never paid for. I'm not going to hold them hostage, but am looking for advice on how best to handle these situations. tia! --Mike --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative text/plain (text body -- kept) text/html --- _______________________________________________ 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/073b01c9acc3$0b2f9e00$8600a...@w2k3s02 ** 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.
