3 MSP Pricing Strategies: Which Is Best for You?

In my last blog, I focused on specific items that MSPs should look at when expanding products and services offerings. Now let’s move toward the complete process by discussing pricing strategies surrounding this area — for instance, adding backup and disaster recovery (BDR) to your line card. BDR is an easy and quick way to start out, and it’s also one of the most widely adopted and required services offered by today’s MSPs. Aside from the actual add-on, pricing is a crucial step in solidifying that this process is successful on an ongoing basis. Consider these points:

1. Types of Pricing Packages

Before you do anything else – even the physical work of the add-on – you need to map out your business strategy. What are you looking to offer, and what are the main goals to be achieved? Do you want to drive additional revenue with existing customers? Simply fulfill current client needs? Attract new clients? Whatever your needs, it’s best to narrow down your strategy.

2. Choosing a Pricing Package

Look first internally, at your staff, cost and tools. Figure what the total cost of delivery will be, before anything else. If you are adding a BDR package, think about how much it will cost in total, including staffing, equipment and time. Be honest with your staff – and yourself – about where you stand and what you can deliver before making any promises to customers on price. While you want to keep your customers happy, and attract new ones, you also want to ensure that pricing makes sense for your business as well. Issue a service level agreement (SLA) that ends up being unattainable, and you risk losing clients and harming your reputation in the long run. So, it’s important to ensure that you are realistic about pricing from the beginning.

As mentioned earlier, the tiered approach is the most popular in the IT channel space as those rates are usually tied to the service-level rate. Many MSPs begin there because it’s the safest path, and it often makes the most sense based on client needs and budget.

If you are looking to stray from tradition, consider the price-per-user/device model. This is becoming more widely adopted and is known loosely as “selling the cake and not using the ingredients,” a term coined by managed services trainer Gary Pica of TruMethods. While we have seen this within the MSP community, it’s best used only once you understand your client’s environment as well as your back-end cost structure. Once that’s in place, a service it becomes easier to position and sell. With this model, there is also room for flexibility. For instance, if a client adds two staff members, you simply add two per-user charges. If they reduce by two, you simply cut your pricing commensurately.

À la carte pricing can be a foot in the door for MSPs; however, because this strategy tends to be very low margin, you have to be exact. I don’t typically recommend this method unless your sales process is fully defined, and you know how you are going to upsell that client in the future. If you don’t have those items in place, especially when offering a single solution like BDR, it’s a lower perceived value. While it may be a great way to start out, you are not going to stay in that position very long if a competitor were to approach your client offering one of the other packages we discussed, like per user/device and/or the tiered approach.

3. Ensuring Seamless Product Integration

Whatever pricing package you choose, it should fit into your existing model so clients fully understand what they are paying for and the ROI they are receiving. This also helps with cross-selling/upselling in the future, once you decide to offer additional products, for instance, beyond BDR. Look at the big picture, and find out what you can deliver — pick a package that’s profitable for you and will also drive home revenue. The value is in the delivery, and at the end of the day, the pricing model you use will be the one that works best for you and will consistently show up-front value to your clients.

The bottom line is that pricing is critical to the success of your value proposition and longevity with your clients. The key is making sure that you take all areas of your business into consideration so that you choose the pricing package that is best for you and your clients in both the short- and long-term.

Got an innovative pricing strategy? Tell us about it! Entries are open now for our fourth annual Channel Partners’ 360° awards program.

Michael Barnes is Continuum’s director, new partner acquisition, where he manages the account executive team responsible for new partner recruitment. Prior to joining Continuum, Michael was Senior Channel Marketing Manager, Experian Data Quality, where he led the development and execution of the go-to-market strategies with key technology partners.