Do Maintenance Contracts Help Manage Client Relations?

[greeneagle]

Do Maintenance Contracts Help Manage Client Relations?

Managing client relations is an integral part of the Web Design business. Everyone seems to handle their clients differently, but it comes down to meeting their needs on a timely basis for an expected cost.

One of the main sources of revenue in this industry is repeat business, including maintenance. There are different views on how to handle maintenance and associated costs with customers:

1) On a “Services as Used” Basis

This method may or may not require project cost estimating. The “As Used” method has advantages for clients that need to feel more in control of costs and where maintenance volume may not indicate the need for a monthly maintenance contract. Another advantage is when “Start-Ups” are involved, the business owner or entrepreneur may be more budget minded and not want to commit to a monthly capital outlay.

The disadvantages here are that not many clients understand Internet and Search Engine mechanics. Most, still see their Web Site as a Static Media and don’t realize the need for SEO, Fresh Content and Linking Programs. Many times these costs are mentioned in initial client meetings but not quoted in the Web Design phase.

We have found that many customers preferring this open ended maintenance agreement fail to request timely updates, SEO and Linking programs. Sometimes, this can be remedied with a concerted effort toward Client Education by the Web Design Company.

This method can also bring difficulties for the Provider. When performing a host of different services, estimating can be very time intensive and not as accurate as some would like, even with detailed aids such as spreadsheets. This method also makes it more difficult for the Web Design Company to predict income and to provide a steady income base for the business.

2) Maintenance Contracts

Maintenance Contracts come in many flavors, but most are extremely limiting as to what services and quantity of services are to be provided for a flat, predictable monthly fee. One of the issues that come up immediately is additional cost of services not covered. One way that this issue can be diminished is to normalize all service costs and provide all services at that hourly fee.

This method is good in that the client knows exactly what to expect in service level and can predict cost. The Provider can also better schedule workload and predict revenue.

Maintenance plans come in incremented monthly service time and can be designed for different customer requirements. For example; 5, 10, 15, & 20 hour per month plans.

We really can’t imagine a client desiring a valuable Web Presence not needing at least 5 hours/month in updates, promotion, monitoring and reporting. But, then again it comes back around to client education.

These plans are usually tailored to offer the client “best value” options and may not require as much estimating and other logistical losses.

How do you handle client education?
What has been your experience with customer Site Maintenance?
What system/systems work best for you?
Do you estimate everything, detail the invoice, or both?
Do you provide value and/or ROI (Return on Investment) calculations for your customers?

Looking forward to your insight and experience,
Thanks,
Ken

[matauri]

I've moved your topic here Ken, as I think that its an important part of a web design businesses, especially for new businesses.

Personally I think SEO should be separated from site maintenance, for the most part. SEO is a specialized field IMO, much like programming can be. I've seen many designers that have maintenance programs that include SEO, yet have a very dismal response rate. You wouldnt have a plumber doing an electricians job would you? Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of web designers that take an active interest in SEO practices & updates (I know I try to), but for small man outfits thats near impossible to incorporate with other tasks, so you arent getting the best maintenance program in SEO. Therefore, if someone wants their SEO kept up to date, they should really consider those that specialize in that field, or larger businesses that have specialized staff in that field.

How do you handle client education?
Important to be educated yourself to begin with. The passing on of bad knowledge & advice is worse than no education. I was reading a tutorial the other day (a current one supposedly) in a magazine, and it was teaching long ago deprecated code. I think that clients also have to be kept appraised of 'whispers in the wind', and given options.

What system/systems work best for you?
I use pre-paid hours, unless a certain amount of monthly time is required.

Do you estimate everything, detail the invoice, or both?
Both, sometimes you can only estimate an item.

But then, I believe nothing can ever be written in stone, you have to allow for customization to suit the situation.

[greeneagle]

Cindy,

Thanks for the move! - Here's our take:

We sat aside all requests from clients during the Florida update and subsequent search engine shakedowns for a 6 week period to make sure we were on top of changes, killing all income during that period - to ensure that we could offer our clients maximum value with all new and revised design.

We are not sure that design and SEO can be completely divorced. We always start with a competitive analysis whenever a client introduces a new product or radically modifies a brochure. This approach has created great value for our clients from the initial build. Here are a few recent examples (about 2 weeks ago):

GOOGLE Searches:
1) “mixing barite” - #3 and #4 positions out of 3,210 hits
2) “mud mixing on land rigs - #1 & #11 positions out of 13,000 hits, You beat Rigzone, SPE and most everyone!
3) “mixing drilling fluids on land rigs” - #1 & #2 positions out of 3,050 hits
4) “land rig mud mixing” - #1 position out of 13,000
5) “mud mixing equipment” - #27 out of 36,500 hits
6) “mixing drilling fluids” - #21 out of 17,200 hits
7) “Desanders” - #6 out of 1,690 hits
8) “Density Separators” - #5 out 27,800 hits

YAHOO Searches:
1) “mixing barite” - #1 and #2 positions out of 11,900 hits
2) “mud mixing on land rigs” - #1 & #11 positions out of 1,520 hits
3) “mixing drilling fluids on land rigs” - #1 position out of 1,520 (beating Schlumberger’s “Oil Field Glossary” and everyone else!)
4) “land rig mud mixing” - #4 position out of 8,920
5) “mud mixing equipment” - #4 position out of 64,100 hits
6) “mixing drilling fluids” - #1 & #3 out of 28,600 hits (beating Baroid, Baker Hughes and everyone!)
7) “Desanders” - #17 out of 1,010 hits
8) “Density Separators” - #10 position out of 30,600

MSN Searches:
1) “mixing barite” - #1 and #2 positions out of 1,366 hits
2) mud mixing on land rigs - #2 & #3 positions out of 692 hits, Just behind The International Association of Drilling Contractors!
3) “mixing drilling fluids on land rigs” - #1position out of 203 hits (Beating The EPA!)
4) “land rig mud mixing” - #1 & #2 positions out of 1,683
5) “mud mixing equipment” - #1 out of 12,589 hits
6) “mixing drilling fluids” - #1 out of 4,372 hits (Just beating Halliburton in the #2 spot!)
7) “Desanders” - #4 out of 436 hits
8) “Density Separators” - #19 & #20 out 5,833 hits

aolsearch.com (America On-Line) –
1) “mixing barite” - #3 and #4 positions
2) mud mixing on land rigs - #1position
3) “mixing drilling fluids on land rigs” - #1& #2 positions
4) “land rig mud mixing” - #1 position ( Beating IADC, SPE and everyone!)

OOPS!, Above results for Vortex Ventures are wrong, I just checked after a 40 link, incomming link program, looks like the above results have improved in the last couple of weeks! How do you manage customer value updates and education, when it occurs this rapidly?, You can't just let it ride, they also need to predict workload, orders and possibly even investment revenue, including increased lines of credit! How does everyone manage all these aspects of multiple client relations?

We just don't believe it is possible to provide real Internet Presence Value without applying fundamental SEO knowledge at both the original design and maintenance stages.

But again, the issue here is how do you educate your client on value provided and also charge accordingly.

We recently conducted extensive research on maintenance rates by American Companies. Our finding was that the lowest rate was around $37/hr based on a very limited contract, that would have included additional charges for new products, services, pages, and any design that required "radical" redesign.

At that point we decided to "level" all our fees at one price for all maintenance services provided for our customers who subscribe to one of our maintenance plans. We believe that this model assures our clients of a predictable and expected maintenance/SEO price going forward. When viewing client needs both consistency and predictability, especialy for a start-up or for an established company, inexperienced in outsourcing professional expertise, rate at the top of the list. Very important for maintaining good client/provider relations.

Obviously, we could not "level" or reduce pricing from "Normal" without guaranteed volume!

Just our experience,
Ken