I offer a monthly maintenance plan that includes 2.5 hours of support per month for 12 months at a reduced rate. The support plan is paid in advance. I have also offered custom plans for 6 months of support for clients who have asked.
The plan includes upgrades, theme customizations, plugin recommendations and installation, general questions, etc.
Another feature of the support plan is being moved up the support request list. A client on a support plan is going to be responded too quickly and the work will have a higher priority than other types of requests.
Ok – so why am I talking about this now? Well, I have recently been asked about offering smaller plans. For example, many people may only need 1 hour of support per month rather than 2.5 and I don’t have any support plans that cover that.
New Monthly Maintenance Plans
- 3 month – 1 hour per month for 3 months. $125 – a $25 savings!
- 6 month – 1 hour per month for 6 months. $250 – a $50 savings!
- 12 month – 1 hour per month for 12 months. $500 – a $100 savings!
The more you purchase, the more you save.
General Information
- Other plans can be customized to suit your needs. Please contact me.
- Plans must be purchased in advance.
- Unlike your cell phone plan, the minutes will roll over. If you don’t use an hour one month, you can use two the next.
- If you are using less time that you have paid for, I will let you know and we can renegotiate the plan. This will entail adding more time.
- If your needs are not met by one hour per month, I will let you know and we can renegotiate the plan.
- As mentioned, your work has a higher priority than other requests.
- I am not available via phone unless the call is scheduled. I do not work on weekends.
- I respond to requests promptly, which means within one business day.
- The plan begins when payment is received and ends on that date 3, 6 or 12 months later. It will not be renewed automatically.
- The plans are available for new and current clients.
Please contact me if you are interested and with any questions you may have.
photo credit: AndyRob
Hi Kim – nice to see you offering a new product.
We offer a similar service and I’d just like to mention a few things:
1. Be wary of rollovers – you can end up accruing a ‘time debt’ to your clients that they can then demand access to. You may wish to limit the rollover to one month max. We actually do it on a discretionary basis – that allows us to effectively reward more profitable clients. The demanding ones will squeeze every minute out of you and will end up being expensive for you to keep, and it’ll make you feel wary of the email queue.
2. Your charges may be too low – $41 an hour on the annual pack is at the very cheap end of any expert service. Given the overhead of managing a support contract (recording time, billing, etc) I’d consider higher charges.
3. Look at what WordPress VIP Support from Automattic comes out at – it’s high end, but sets the bar.
But, support packs are generally a good offering for a business – they provide reassurance that there’s an expert available, and they’re usually more profitable than project work.
Good luck!
Hi David – Thanks for the advice and for the resources.
I appreciate the support.
“The demanding ones will squeeze every minute out of you and will end up being expensive for you to keep”
I’m confused, should one not get “every minute” they pay for?
Hi Dennis – People should get the time that they paid for. I can’t speak for David but I’m assuming that he’s referring to the types of people who track your time to the last 30 seconds but also don’t understand how much time their 25 emails regarding the shade of green a link color should be too to read and respond to. ;-)
Kim – that’s *exactly* my point.
Ultimately a support contract is about availability of support, not the hours used each month.
Especially at those rates – you may wish to consider a minimum time per ticket approach as context switching is difficult for any developer to handle.
Oh my yes, understood, been there, ;-)
Hi Kim,
I always pay for the service I get after, (each 15 minutes – 30 minutes or hours), never in advance for a year or similarly. How much must you pay for every extra hour?? What happen if you don’t like them after 4-5 months? ect. ect. Do you pay in advance for a whole year for your car service or similarly???
Hi Marbella,
Typically people who select the plans have already done a couple of project with me and know that I am someone that can work with and rely on.
I pay for services in advance to receive a discount. Two I can think of are my web hosting and my renter’s insurance.
It’s not for everyone but some people like to know they have someone available for any issues that arise and like receiving a discount.
Similar to an attorney retainer, of course you’ll already want to know if you get along…although I doubt too many offer a discount. LOL
I thought of another example. My community supported agriculture farm share. I usually pay for this in Feb/March and I don’t get the food until starting in June. There is usually a small discount for paying before April and for paying the full amount rather than using installments. It’s done to support the farmers so they have the cash when they need to plant the crops. I can’t, however, get a refund if I decide in August that I don’t like the product. I am, however, more flexible – is things aren’t working out at all between me and client, I will figure out the best for use to sever the relationship.