Customers WILL pay more for more value

A random thought popped into my (mostly empty) head this morning.  During the last few years that I was running my IT company, I changed from being very nervous when asking for money to being much more comfortable. 

I think the turning point was a book I read – ‘The Undercover Economist’.  Fast forward a year after reading that book … for our Break Fix customers – we had a ‘Now fee’. 

‘Hi, yes of course we can fix your Exchange Server, but unfortunately, our tech’s are busy working on other problems right now.  How many users are without email?  50, ok, I hear you. We’ve a slight problem though, all our senior techs are busy.  However, we do have a ‘Now Fee’ option of £200, this covers their overtime tonight to catch up if we pull them off what they are doing and on to your problem.  You’re OK with that, great!’

Now clearly, the £200 can become £400 or more depending on the impact of the problem, and because our techs were always busy, we always offered and frequently charged break fix customers for it. 

The ‘Now Fee’:

• Earned us lots of money easily (it was more costly for more value)
• Had the effect of making our fixed monthly cost support arrangements become more attractive   
• And, if customers elected not to pay – they waited (and didn’t complain). 

About the Author: Chris Martin

Chris has a first class Honours degree in Software Engineering and Masters in Computer Science. He has the dubious distinction of being one of the earliest Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSE) in the UK. Chris started his career in the early 90s in Enterprise IT at NCR/AT&T as a Software Engineer and morphed into Infrastructure looking after company Network & Servers. He then spent some years in small business, forming and running an IT Support Company. Chris lives in Fife, Scotland with his partner, kid and two dogs. He’s a keen sportsman, cycling, running, golfing and various other (sometimes risky) outdoor pursuits. He claims (and we believe him) that he really wants to be an Egyptologist or Economist.