What to charge. 4

[Jazztpt]

Hi - hope someone can give me some advice. I am going to be a bit vague about the details as I don't want anyone borrowing my idea.
I work for a local authority which uses an application which is the market leader of its type, it is used by many other Councils across the country and by many in my area.
Now , although this is a market leader the reporting side of things is far from satisfactory and to get decent reports someone has to delve in with Crystal Reports. Because of the time and cost of this most of the users I know have not gone down this route and so have inadequate reporting facilities. My authority is different and we went ahead and assigned someone (me) to produce the reports required. It has been a steep learning curve, not because of Crystal but because of the structure of the DB.
So, having built lots of reports I have had the idea that I could offer my services to the other local Councils and buld the reports for them, after all we all want the same sort of info.
To get to the point, I have had a some interest but am after some advise on what I should charge for my services.
The software company charge £500+ per day, I am sure I can come in under that !
Any advise would be most welcome.
Cheers
Jazztpt

 

[dgillz]

I think 500L per day is fine, maybe a little low.

Go hire any crystal expert and they will charge more than that. You bring to the table industry specific knowledge as well.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"If you have a big enough dictionary, just about everything is a word"
--Dave Barry

 

[Tatertot45]

My question is "How much is your time worth?" My father owns a sawmill that he can pull around the rural area he lives in. He charged the least of any guys in the area, and he was real busy, but he didn't make a ton of money. He was used to the income, but wanted to slow down. I told him to charge more, take less work, and he'll make the same money. So... How much do you want to work and how much do w\you want to earn? Go low, take in everything you can and work like mad. Otherwise, find a mid point, work a little less, be make a little more. i think matching the other guys is good. You charge the same as the other gusy, but bring in the spcific knowledge they are looking for. You offer just a little better deal, for the same price. Who can pass that up?

 

[Jazztpt]

Thanks for the replies and the very good advice. I am going to take it and not sell myself short.

Cheers
Jazztpt

 

[IdoMillet]

£500/day is indeed reasonable. It may make sense to offer a lower rate until you build up a track record, referrals, and testimonials.

Design you approach so it scales and protects you. For example, company logos should be a generic file reference so that you don't need to create different report versions for different companies. Consider protecting the .rpt files so that other people can't break or mess with the design. There are solutions for encrypting/protecting .rpt files...

Give some thought to not only creating the reports, but also the infrastructure to run, schedule, distribute them. If you can offer a more complete solution, you are more valuable.

hth,
- Ido

view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[Jazztpt]

Thanks for the input.
The software I am working with is configured so that .rpt files can be saved and run from within the application. They can then be exported as PDFs, xls etc or emailed so that extra functionality is built in which makes life easier for me.
One thing though which I am unsure about, so we say £500 a day, now how much would be expected to be produced in that day, 1 report ? 10 reports ? I know it would depend on the complexity of the report required. I have already built a number of reports which would easily be tweeked to fit other users, we are after all, doing the same thing with a few variations. So I could very easily produce a number of reports in a day. I don't want to bleed anyone dry but I also don't want to sell myself short either. I guess I will have to go with my gut and see what happens.
Jazztpt

 

[IdoMillet]

You have to decide if you are selling your "time" or a "product" (reports with some customization). If much of the value is in the "product" then you shouldn't just charge for your time.

- Ido

view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[MJRBIM]

What will the market accept as a cost for your services?

What would your council pay if they were bringing in an outsider to do this kind of work?

There is an expectation of value for money - but it works both ways. People undervalue things that are offered too cheaply.

 

[bdreed35]

If the reports are mostly built already, you might to look at a per report charge rather than an hourly or daily rate. If they are asking for a specific report that you have already done, you can have a standard price for that. If they want new reports, then you can have a different price for that.

~Brian

 

[Jazztpt]

I am thinking along these lines now. I have probably already built most of the reports/templates that would be needed myself, but as everyone sets up their data/systems in a different way, and this is the industry knowledge bit, each report will need some tweeking for it to work. So I will probably go with a mixture of charging strategies.

Thanks everyone for their input its been a great help.

Jazztpt