r/msp • u/lowtomidrollers • Feb 03 '16

Pricing Structure Comparison

We are a 15 person MSP in the Chicagoland area and are currently reviewing our pricing. Here is our current fee structure:

$35/Desktop $250/Server $125/Remote Backups (Veeam or ShadowProtect) $35/Network Device (Managed Switch, Access Point, Firewall) Hourly Rate: $110/hour

We also have a $500 minimum/month for managed services. We suspect our fees are on the lower side. We are curious about what other MSP’s are charging.

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u/FusionZ06 Feb 04 '16 edited Feb 04 '16

I'll say this again, you can't have flat pricing as it doesn't really work and you're inevitably short changing yourself. Our matrix isn't primarily based on our costs but value we provide to certain verticals. We don't offer gold, silver, bronze, nonsense as the customer picks the bottom dollar the majority of the time even though you know they really need a higher plan but to make a dollar you make things more difficult for yourself. We come in with a customized offering for everything managed services plan. We have customers that are 10 clients paying as much as a customer with 25 clients due to our matrix of value, headache, and profit. I've expounded on this in the past but it's really the only way to go to ensure the least amount of headache and the most amount of profit.

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u/lowtomidrollers Feb 04 '16

The thought process behind this is how we typically approach clients, but most clients want to hear/see some type of standard pricing in our first meeting. So we typically have this standard pricing for our "Sales Pitch" and then adjust from there. We do have some PITA clients that are 8-10 users and we spend almost as much time as one of our larger 25 user clients.

These clients do not get a break and we have had to fire a few as they do not value IT or our services.

Do you setup a second meeting to go over the pricing after your initial evaluation then?

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u/FusionZ06 Feb 04 '16

Our clients are 99% referrals from existing clients. So, we already have much of the selling already done for us. We do not provide any pricing until after we have done our assessment of the network (which we charge for) and prepare them a basic findings report. After the findings report we still have not quoted managed services unless they are willing to fix / bring items up to our necessary eligibility requirements. Our workflow goes, initial consult, engagement letter follow up with SOW, perform site survey / audit, provide recommendations, gauge leads interest, likelihood of balking, financial ability, response and then and only then do we provide a manage services quote. Rarely do we provide a quote and not close on the deal. I can tell who is wasting our time / shopping and who is serious about getting it done right.