Are you raising prices?
Scott Huxley
?? Driving Business Value by Reducing Technical Debt | LinkedIn Humorist ????
I see constant debate over pricing MSP services, from break/fix IT providers, IT providers in other countries such as the UK and others transitioning to "MSP" which I always find an interesting almost laughable thought process. After all, what is MSP? We will save that for another day.
Pricing Models
I have seen a wide variety of different models so let's start with some I have seen-
- Per device
- Per user
- Per whatever I feel like how noisy they will be.
For me, I don't believe there is a right or wrong answer here. You elect to pick a pricing model that fits your business. I have always understood the per user model much better than the rest, after all devices do not create tickets users do. Regardless all three models exist in the market today.
Pricing
On this one I would love input from my friends across the pond! So, comment below. I often see people in the UK saying that the $150 - $300 simply doesn't exist across the pond.
Truth is in North America that $150 - $250 per user does exist, that being said I have seen numbers much lower around the $65 - $125 per user too.
If you have not raised your prices in the last few years then you most certainly should look at that, additionally if you do not already ensure that your MSA includes a clause to raise the contract rate by a certain percentage year on year.
How To Price Your MSP Offering
When you started your MSP there are no real guidelines on what to charge, so typically we all charge based on "What the market dictates in your area." - probably for sure one of the worst pricing models to have btw!
My advice on working out how to appropriately charge would be to join a peer group. You pick one that works for, there are many, many out there.
One resource I found for example is the TruPeer group that started under the leadership of Gary Pica - a well documented MSP legend if you speak with him.
I see lots of people make mistakes when pricing their own offerings, so check out their packaging and pricing advice from them for a start.
Prices Are Going UP Not Down
MSP's typically do not raise rates because of fear, fear of a client leaving or starting to shop for alternate options i.e cheaper alternatives! If you are delivering true value to your clients then that really shouldn't be a worry. Cheaper IT is always available, with the results to show for it.
In summary- take a very good long look at your pricing and update accordingly. Ensure that clients understand it's not just raising prices to raise prices. Common drivers in our business are increased employee costs, increased healthcare costs - in reality running an MSP and keeping amazing employees is not easy these days
You may need to raise your prices to ensure you can continue to deliver the amazing services you provide your clients.
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1 年In the UK I would say most are still less than ￡80 a user/seat,. I would say the top quartile is around ￡110 = $140. Having said that we have clients in special situations who are almost $200. Selling at a lower level is just lazy unprofessional selling.
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1 年I don't think there's a wrong pricing model. But I do think there are wrong/bad ways to go about it. Making things too confusing is a big one. People have a hard time saying "yes" to things they don't understand. And if it's not clear on what things are billable and what is not billable, you're setting yourself up for misunderstandings. The most amusing pricing/packaging failure I've come across recently is we came in behind an outgoing MSP who charged the client $X per device per month for a set of services which included up to 1 hour of support (per device). Client had 30 devices. . .so when the MSP's monthly invoice didn't show 30 hours worth of work, the client went "WTF?!?". When I heard this I'm just thinking why in the world would an MSP do that to themselves, but I guess each MSP is at a different place along their journey.