Many brand new computer consultants lose money on phone support. They may want to present customers and clients with the best service so they include phone support in service contracts. However, many will give it away for free as a result.
If you’re using an hourly billing rate, your hours spent on phone support need to be handled the same way as on-site time. You will be contacted frequently if you offer phone support and will be dealing with it on a remote basis. Your clients will be able to get you anywhere.
Phone Support Takes Time
Phone support takes a lot of time, and if you are not charging for it, it’s free to clients and will suck valuable profits. No business that wants to survive charges nothing for services. Don’t offer phone support for free, not even if you’re claiming only offer it to good clients or “just this once.”
Free Phone Support Drains Incentive
When you offer phone support for free, you are minimizing the desire among clients to call you for on-site time. Why would a client want to pay you $100 for an on-site visit if they can call you for free? And will the clients that would take advantage of free phone support be good clients for the long term? Eventually, human nature dictates that these types of clients will take advantage of free phone support and drain your funds.
Don’t give away anything for free – not even phone support, which may seem simple. The information you give via phone is as important as on-site work. Giving away phone support for free will not help your business and will not increase loyalty among clients. Even the best clients will abuse free phone support.
Blogged By: Computer Consulting 101
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