On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 11:59 AM, MB Software Solutions General Account <[email protected]> wrote:
> Last year I sold a 1-yr support contract to this old client for $1188 > ($99/month) and later in the year he said "well, since we haven't used > any support hours, can we ask for you to enlarge these fields and change > these screen layouts?" I agreed to do that, as I wanted them to feel > that there was a value of sort to the contract, and not just an > "insurance" kind of feeling where you paid me but got nothing new. ------------------------- I guess you have to define your terms. 1. What do you think that the support contract entitles the customer? 2. Do you keep individual versions of software by client? 3. Are changes by one client given away to others at a later time/release? 4. Is there a version in place today and is there a timely update to it, say annual or longer / shorter? 5. Do the customers feel that they get any value out of the subscription? I have seen other subscription services from accounting systems so I know that they are making improvements and or changes to the code base and they give that release at a fee as well. If your are on the annual subscription it may be very cheap and if not you will pay more for the update. The subscription give you a leg up on the emergency / support line. It may have given you a preview of an upcoming release, or other feelings that the software company was interested in your opinion. In the end the customer has to feel that they get some value for the funds they are paying. You could state that the monthly fee is for data storage and safety. Backups, restores if necessary etc. This is something that they can put to a consumable type of arrangement instead of what they see today of paying for changes and they never ask for them. I am just trying to toss out ideas at this point. -- Stephen Russell Sr. Production Systems Programmer Web and Windows Development Independent Contractor Memphis TN 901.246-0159 _______________________________________________ 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] ** 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.
