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    My New Company - Dara IT

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved IT Business
    mspdara it
    81 Posts 10 Posters 44.8k Views
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    • scottalanmillerS
      scottalanmiller @Deleted74295
      last edited by

      @Breffni-Potter said:

      @scottalanmiller said:

      Not to you it isn't. But to a customer, it will easily feel like a bait and switch. Lure in with what looks very much like a flat, predictable rate.

      Yes but for your example said customer is expecting to pay £75 per month to manage 200 servers. When the £75 clearly states "per server" how per server is defined, you should talk to us about.

      Playing a game of defining "server" when to a customer there is a common definition (the physical thing they bought called a server that they can pick up and hold) doesn't feel right. This feels like a game of redefining words. I realize that in IT server can mean many things, but if you need to play that game, don't make the website look like you have a solid definition and a set price. How do you demonstrate a set price if the thing for which it is set is not defined?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • scottalanmillerS
        scottalanmiller @Deleted74295
        last edited by

        @Breffni-Potter said:

        @scottalanmiller said:

        And a VM takes far less management than a physical machine. Why would each VM cost the same as something so much bigger?

        Because Exchange needs the same level of management and care whether it's physical or virtual. Which you know 🙂 Virtual Exchange helps but not massively.

        But then, why would Exchange, which requires a ton of work, be the same as AD which requires "none"? Virtual Exchange or physical Exchange at the service level is about the same. But at the server level is a bit different.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Deleted74295D
          Deleted74295 Banned
          last edited by

          Having read though the...almost insane level of typing in such a short space of time, I'll lay out a few items for clarity.

          • @scottalanmiller Thank you for the detailed feedback, very helpful.
          • Having read through it...I'm pretty convinced I need to change my pricing strategy and messaging.

          What I might do is create a separate site. Home.DaraIT.co.uk which is entirely focused for that market, so there is no confusion mixed messaging.

          Then for the business users, spend more time on the site about education, rather than trying to tie up knots contract wise and (to my annoyance) you are right that it is near impossible.

          As a preference, would you prefer to have me on retainer per month or only be invoiced per hour as a business customer.

          JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • ?
            A Former User
            last edited by

            IMO most businesses not looking for low end support will avoid a MSP providing any level of support to home users. I know I would.

            Deleted74295D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • JaredBuschJ
              JaredBusch @Deleted74295
              last edited by

              @Breffni-Potter said:

              Having read though the...almost insane level of typing in such a short space of time, I'll lay out a few items for clarity.

              Welcome to this thing called @scottalanmiller

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Deleted74295D
                Deleted74295 Banned @A Former User
                last edited by

                @thecreativeone91 said:

                IMO most businesses not looking for low end support will avoid a MSP providing any level of support to home users. I know I would.

                Is there a business decision behind that? Surely that's the same as saying "Oh I won't use that level of internet provider, I want this provider" and pay £££ for a connection. I'm not targeting the average PC world user. I'm trying to aim elsewhere.

                JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • JaredBuschJ
                  JaredBusch @Deleted74295
                  last edited by

                  @Breffni-Potter said:

                  Is there a business decision behind that? Surely that's the same as saying "Oh I won't use that level of internet provider, I want this provider" and pay £££ for a connection.

                  I would not avoid an IT firm that supports home users just for that reason, but I would be skeptical of their ability to support my business.

                  The difference in service types supported is huge.

                  @Breffni-Potter said:

                  I'm not targeting the average PC world user. I'm trying to aim elsewhere.

                  What you are targeting is not relevant. The key thing is simply that the word "residential" exists at all. This means you are not a B2B focused provider. I would much prefer to only hire firms that are focuse don business support because based on that being all they do, I will have a much higher chance of getting quality service.

                  This does not mean that your company cannot provide quality service to both markets. But you will find yourself being ignored for other choices simply because of it.

                  scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • ?
                    A Former User
                    last edited by A Former User

                    I'd take this company as en example http://www.computer-rescue.ca/

                    They provide Home support. Yet they are on spiceworks and ask so many simple questions about adding new DCs, DNS configuration etc there.

                    Deleted74295D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • C
                      Carnival Boy
                      last edited by

                      @Breffni-Potter, how are you planning on getting clients? (I don't have any advice, I'm just nosey!)

                      scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • scottalanmillerS
                        scottalanmiller @JaredBusch
                        last edited by

                        @JaredBusch said:

                        @Breffni-Potter said:

                        Is there a business decision behind that? Surely that's the same as saying "Oh I won't use that level of internet provider, I want this provider" and pay £££ for a connection.

                        I would not avoid an IT firm that supports home users just for that reason, but I would be skeptical of their ability to support my business.

                        The difference in service types supported is huge.

                        @Breffni-Potter said:

                        I'm not targeting the average PC world user. I'm trying to aim elsewhere.

                        What you are targeting is not relevant. The key thing is simply that the word "residential" exists at all. This means you are not a B2B focused provider. I would much prefer to only hire firms that are focuse don business support because based on that being all they do, I will have a much higher chance of getting quality service.

                        This does not mean that your company cannot provide quality service to both markets. But you will find yourself being ignored for other choices simply because of it.

                        I agree here. Adding residential as an option really changes how people see you (IMHO.) It's okay to cover residential and just not put it out there as advertising. NTG's policy, for example, is we will do residential but you have to treat it like a business (business billing, business rates, business account.) Only makes sense if you are talking about a remote residential office that is part of a corporate contract - when needed we don't want to not offer it, but we don't want home users thinking that they can get service from us.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • scottalanmillerS
                          scottalanmiller @Carnival Boy
                          last edited by

                          @Carnival-Boy said:

                          @Breffni-Potter, how are you planning on getting clients? (I don't have any advice, I'm just nosey!)

                          Always a point of curiosity for me too.

                          Deleted74295D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • Deleted74295D
                            Deleted74295 Banned @A Former User
                            last edited by

                            @thecreativeone91 said:

                            I'd take this company as en example http://www.computer-rescue.ca/

                            They provide Home support. Yet they are on spiceworks and ask so many simple questions about adding new DCs, DNS configuration etc there.

                            No comment as to their competence, when you have a look at my profile do you get that same impression? 🙂

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • MattSpellerM
                              MattSpeller
                              last edited by

                              Good luck with it! That's a tough row to hoe

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Deleted74295D
                                Deleted74295 Banned @scottalanmiller
                                last edited by

                                @scottalanmiller said:

                                @Carnival-Boy said:

                                @Breffni-Potter, how are you planning on getting clients? (I don't have any advice, I'm just nosey!)

                                Always a point of curiosity for me too.

                                Yep, hardest thing for any new business.

                                I already have a confirmed set of clients, My personal reputation for delivering a great service, with professionalism in very high pressure situations is high. They know who I am and what I can deliver.

                                As for residential, I have a paticular profile of customer in mind, These are very much home office based clients, who are used to business level service and they will be paying business rates.

                                On a borrowed laptop so can't write an essay but does that help clarify?

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                                • Deleted74295D
                                  Deleted74295 Banned
                                  last edited by

                                  Had a re-think.

                                  Changed a few things, let me know what you think.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • scottalanmillerS
                                    scottalanmiller
                                    last edited by

                                    Logo is definitely way better.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • ?
                                      A Former User
                                      last edited by

                                      Yep, logo is nice and simple.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • scottalanmillerS
                                        scottalanmiller
                                        last edited by

                                        And is not the same logo of any major product that I know.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • Deleted74295D
                                          Deleted74295 Banned
                                          last edited by

                                          Spent quite a long time sitting with a drawing package, eventually drew that. Fairly pleased with it.

                                          What do you think about content?

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                                          • tonyshowoffT
                                            tonyshowoff
                                            last edited by

                                            Consider a sans serif font. Admittedly, I'm not much of a designer, but web sites with Times New Roman or similar fonts always look as though they're incomplete, even if the rest of the site is very well done, and I think that's the case with this one. It could be an issue of font availability, in which case in your CSS be sure to list multiple font options, including system independent ones like sans-serif.

                                            font-family: 'Open Sans', Verdana, Yomama, sans-serif;
                                            
                                            ? 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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