August 4, 2021

How do you price maintenance?

NOTE: Apparently there was a glitch with my email service provider this week and you may not have received a few of my messages. You can find anything you might missed in my daily list archive. My apologies for the inconvenience! —J

Fellow list member Rahul Gulati wrote in with a question about pricing maintenance work (shared with permission):

how do you price application dev maintenance work

fixed monthly retainers or what

is there a video I can refer

When a client is interested in maintenance, what they really want is the peace of mind that comes from knowing that they are covered if the thing they want maintained breaks down.

It’s like an insurance policy, but instead of them getting a cash payout if something goes wrong, you just make sure nothing goes wrong, or if something does go wrong, you fix it quickly.

Since the client is paying for peace of mind and not hours of labor, a fixed recurring amount makes the most sense. Monthly is common but I have also seen quarterly and annually.

The trick with monthly maintenance plans is finding a price that is acceptable to both you and the buyer.

Like all prices, it needs to be higher than your cost, and lower than what it’s worth to the client.

NOTES:

I hope that helps! Thanks for the question RG :-)

Yours,

—J


Enjoy this message? Here are more things you might like:

Private Coaching with Jonathan - Has your successful software business plateaued? Break through to the next level with my private coaching program. Sorry! SOLD OUT through the end of 2021.

Group Coaching with Jonathan - Live group video Q&A sessions every other week, instant access to years of previous sessions, and a dedicated Slack for group discussion.

How To Build Your First Productized Service - A Step-By-Step Guide For Independent Professionals Who Want More Clients Without More Selling

BackRandomNext