Ring! Ring!

Customer: Thank you for calling Acme.  This is Karen.  How may I direct your call? 

Me: Hi, Karen!  This is Daniel with Indy’s I.T. Department.  Is Terry available? 

Karen: Oh, Hi Dan!  Say, I was just thinking about sending you an e-mail.  My computer is acting up a bit.  Something about a reboot needed for updates? 

Me: Oh.  Hang on a second, let me check my dashboard … And yes.  Updates were pushed to your machine last night.  And a reboot is needed for at least two of those updates.  What was on the screen, this morning, when you came in? 

Karen: It had a message up asking to reboot, but I had left things open, last night. 

Me: Ah.  That is why it did not reboot last night.  When you have a chance, like when you go out for lunch today, do that restart process we used before.  It should be fine, by the time you get back. 

Karen:  OK.  I’ll try that.  Let me find Terry for you. 

Me: Thanks. 

… 

Terry: This is Terry. 

Me: Hey, Terry, it’s Dan. 

Terry: Hello, Dan.  What can I do you for? 

Me: Well, I’m following up, late, on a promised conversation.  Back in late May, we set you up with managed services, on a trial basis, you just pay for the subscriptions for security, backup, and office.   

Terry: Oh, wow.  It has been 6 months already, hasn’t it? 

Me: Yes.  It has.  Look.  I know you are busy with year end stuff, so I will just jump to the important points without the fluff and BS. 

Point one: In late June your bookkeeper’s PC started throwing errors on the hard drive.  We scheduled an outage window and replaced the hard drive on a weekend to limit impacting your day to day.  The following week was payroll before the July 4th weekend and all the data and information was there.  That saved you from serious pain with your staff.  

Point two: In mid September, your son brought his friends in and they jumped on your wifi with the laptops for ‘homework’, but instead tripped the anti-virus tools because of their systems trying to infect your business systems.  To fix this, I came in, scanned and cleaned those laptops, scanned all of your systems, modified your network to have a guest hotspot which you had stated, previously you did not need.   

Point three: In October you purchased a new piece of equipment that was installed, improperly, by the vendor.  You called me when your new printer was not available, sometimes.  That new printer was set with a static IP address that was in use by another printer.  I had it fixed, remotely, in just a few minutes then used the server to install that new printer to all the systems you wanted it on. 

Point four: Thanksgiving weekend, while we both were out of town, you received security notices from your alarm system and  you could not access your camera system.  A quick call to me and a brief remote session and your camera system was back online and you were able to get video of the attempted break-in to the police. 

These are the major incidents I have helped you with.  I have a much longer list of minor issues, like when your Outlook hijacked because of a weak password, or just now Karen’s questions about updates I pushed out last night needing a reboot.  In the last 6 plus months, your staff are better trained to recognize e-mails with potential threats to the business.   

Terry:  And now it’s time I started paying for this ‘incredible service’? 

Me: Yeah, pretty much.   

Terry: Dan, I’ll just be honest with you … I do not think your managed service is worth what you quoted me.   

Me: OK, Terry.  Let’s take that failing hard drive incident.  That machine running faster with the solid state drive we put in, right?  She is getting things done more quickly?  And how much would it have cost to have her machine down for month end payroll?  How many of your staff would have taken the holiday weekend to find another job because their checks were going to be late?  How much would it have cost to recreate all that data versus the cost of maybe getting that company file recovered by one of those data recovery centers?   You did not even have backups on that machine or your server.  And you still believe saving your company from such a financial mess is not worth what I have quoted you? 

Terry: Dan, my margins are so tight, right now.  I have to compete with China and other countries where labor and life are cheap.  I just don’t have the money to afford your services.  Let’s just keep as we have been and revisit in March, OK? 

Me: I’m sorry, Terry, but no.  Not OK.  I cannot and will not continue to provide you free services and assistance.  I will have a contract in your inbox in 5 minutes.  Sign and return with first payment before January first or all future service will be on the higher break/fix rate and EVERY request for assistance will be billed.  Your subscription services will not be terminated if you choose not to sign. 

Terry: And what if I told you I do not need your services any longer? 

Me: Then I would be forced to terminate your backups, remove the security suite, and disable your Office365, including your e-mail.  I would work with whom ever you asked me to, migrate your office365 e-mail and content to, but it would be done business hours only and at T&M rates. 

Terry: You have me over a barrel, here, Dan.  I feel like you are trying to take advantage of me. 

Me: Terry, I recognize that.  But can you honestly say you have gotten no value out of the services I have provided you these past several months? 

Terry: Well, no.  Of course not.  You have been there when I needed your help. 

Me: Other than the tools subscribed to, or hardware needed to fix an issue, have I charged you for anything these last several months? 

Terry: Nooo … 

Me: Then who is being taken advantage of?  You just asked me to extend a free trial another 3+ months. 

Terry: OK.  I get it.   Let’s go ahead and just end the service you have been providing.   

Me: Alright.  I will have the backups stopped, later today.  The security suite will start uninstalling within the hour.  Your systems will probably take a performance hit as the disk encryption software that is a part of the security suite is reversed.  Then the remote assistance tool will come off, as well.  I can get you a list of local vendors who can take on your Office365 master account.  But that needs to be migrated out by next Thursday.   

Terry: DAMN!  You can’t do all that so quickly!  I need time to find someone else to do these for me!  I don’t want another disk to fail and be screwed without backups!  Let’s not be so hasty, Dan!   Look, I just think your rate per machine is too high.   

Me:  We put you on the trial that quickly.  The bundled package of the tools you are already getting and a couple of others that help make my life a bit easier, leaves me with approximately 30 dollars per machine per month for labor to review each machine’s logs, answer calls and e-mails by your staff.  And as you know, I answer the phone or call back shortly after a missed call nearly 24, 7.  My total margin, including labor is floating about 11%.  What was your margin per piece for that large Lebanon order you were bragging about back in October? 

Terry: 11%?   Really?  Dan, if you are only making 11% margin … Why are you at such a low margin? 

Me: Because you do not see the value in what I charge.  You just said so.  Until you are in deep trouble and I pull you out of it, that is.  You are right.  11% is barely sustainable.  

Terry: I did not know your margins were so low.  I thought you were getting … I don’t know what I thought.  OK.  So … Office365?  What do I pay you and how much do you pay for it? 

Me: I charge you MS recommended of $15 per user per month.  My vendor charges me $12.50.  I don’t have the volume to get better pricing.  And one ‘How do I …?’ phone call from your staff burns through the margin for that user license. 

Terry: You need to communicate better what you provide.  And you need to raise your rates! 

Me: Terry, I have told you what I provide.  I have shown you what I provide.  And you still do not see the value I provide, until you are threatened with losing that value. 

Terry: Send me a new contract.  What duration are you needing? 

Me: Terry, my rates have not gone up, across the board, in 4 years.  They ARE going up this January.  And the term of the contract is 24 or 36 months.  Which contract you agree to determines what your monthly payment is. 

Terry: OK, Dan.  Sounds like you are starting to think like a business person more than an hobbiest. 

Me: Terry I have been told pretty much the same thing several times this quarter. 

Lesson Learned

As small business owners, we do our best to help other small businesses. We want everyone to succeed. The problem becomes when discounts, free trials, and over the top generosity becomes expected and not appreciated. Dan has learned the hard way that kindness and generosity in business has its place, but so does standing one’s ground when it comes to valuing the skillset he has honed over the last 30 years in the I.T. industry. Terry learned that a managed services plan taken care of by an I.T. professional like Daniel seems like a lost cause until reminded of all the things fixed or addressed before it became an issue.

A managed services plan is like an insurance plan for your small business. You think it’s a wasted expenditure until a need presents itself. Then you’re glad you allocated for the investment. Can you and your business afford to be down for an hour? An afternoon? A day? How much is that peace of mind worth to you, to know that you have a specialist looking out for you and your business’ best interest?

– Shawna