Chris Martin of Houndog Technology has an interesting notion about how to get customers to pay more for break/fix services: throttling the supply/demand equation. In his blog post, Martin describes his transition from being coy about asking for money to attaining a steady comfort level.
>> Click here to check out Chris Martin’s post on the HoundDog Technology blog.
The foundation, Martin says, is getting people to understand that your professional services cost money and it doesn’t flow freely as water.By charging for premium services, as Martin describes, managed service providers and solution providers can compel users to pay extra for a professional service.
From our perspective, this is about packaging. No one wants to pay extra for what appears to be a margin-rich service. Think about all those extended warranties you turn down at electronics stores when you buy iPods and notebooks. Martin is correct in his assertion that people will almost always pay to resolve pain and for things they don’t understand. And since time is still equal to money, the best time to hit a customer up for a break/fix fee is when something is broken.