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Just wanted to tell you thanks for saving me the other day with the key/file recovery, I really really appreciate it. I know it was beyond what you should have had to do, and wanted to let you know that I realize it and am grateful. Your help is appreciated more than you know. I don't know how best to say thanks, but in my eyes it raised RBS up a level or three above the rest. S.S. Mesa, AZ
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Setting Your Prices
This is by no means meant to tell you what you should charge. It simply gives you some guidelines to use when deciding.
Most RBS Providers charge a monthly fee for their services. Some collect this fee monthly, while some collect it in advance every few months. Some offer a free month for six months' payment in advance. Some offer the first month free as a trial.
Most providers these days have a tiered pricing plan that includes different levels of service. Here's a sample of a few plans that are reasonable around the United States. Please note that these are samples only, intended for use in these discussion notes only, and not for setting your prices unless they seem reasonable to you after you have done appropriate research.
Plan A $19/mo - One backup a week, held online for 30 days, 500 MB total storage
Plan B $35/mo - Five backups a week, four incremental and one full, held online for 30 days, 1 GB total storage
Plan C $55/mo - Five backups a week, four incremental and one full, held online for 30 days, 2 GB total storage
Plan D $75/mo - Five backups a week, four incremental and one full, held online for 60 days, 5 GB total storage
Plan E $99/mo - Five backups a week, four incremental and one full, held online for 90 days, 10 GB total storage
Here are some factors you should consider when setting prices.
Your base cost of doing business - Utilities, salaries, insurance, amortization of your equipment, postage, professional fees, your RBS Support Subscription, etc - all the "normal" costs incurred by a business.
Cost of acquiring customers - How much are you going to pay for each customer you get? Factor in commissions to sales people, advertising, marketing, and related costs.
Discounts and incentives - Factor in that first free month or that 13th free month with a year's paid subscription. Factor in the cost of that modem you're giving away, or any other cost specifically handled as a discount.
Your target return on investment - How much profit do you want to make (reasonably) within what time frame?
Local market conditions - Are you in an area that traditionally pays higher prices for business services (New York, Washington DC, etc) or are you on a low-priced marketplace like Smallville Idaho? Charge the most the market will bear.
Reasonable prediction of numbers of clients - The more clients you have, you can afford to charge less to each client. That's not to say that you'd WANT to charge less, but you COULD. Do some market research and try to predict the numbers of customers who will take up your service, and within what timeframe.
Extra Services
Archiving service - Store your customers' data on CDs are tapes for a period of time, one, five, or ten years.
Initial onsite backup - Go to the customer's office and do the first full backup. This is done by about 20% of RBS Service Providers, although that percentage is dropping monthly as the practice becomes less popular.
Regular onsite backup - Go back to the customer's office monthly to do a full onsite backup, system maintenance, etc.
Dedicated service - Usually offered to large customers only, dedicated service can mean a dedicated private connection between your Server and your customers' computer network, or it can mean dedicating a server for a single client.
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