Easier Money Details
Who: Dealers and sales staff can sell any of our
products and we can assist with installation, training, and direct support as
needed. When we started, the business model required direct support of the
dealer in almost all cases for Call Accounting, OnTime4Class and many of our
other products. Now with remote access to customer computers, within seconds we
can offer more services as an option.
What: The new technology and changing economy forced
us to expand our business model. When the economy stumbled, many of our dealers
retired or went out of business. End-users would call us and needed help. At
first we tried to find a new dealer but found we could serve them better and
faster via a direct internet connection so we began to charge for the service
and support.
When: We created a reasonable price for training and
annual service - we began to offer it to the dealer as an option with any of
our products over the last few years.
Why: The majority of the dealers did not use us for
help unless the customer was a long distance away or they were unable to
resolve the customer's issue. Other dealers lost a tech or two and needed the
extra help. Needs differed with each dealer, so we changed our sales and
support philosophy. You do the billing for your customers, but we'll provide
the support.
Where: If the computer that has our software has internet
access, we can help via remote desktop connection. If that's not possible we
may be able to help by phone and email.
Can you give us an example? Ten years ago if we sold
a Centralized Call Accounting system with four remote sites and the main
location, our bid would include the software and installation assistance. Now, dealers can purchase a service bundle for
just 10% more, and then the customer is
trained by our staff, the installation is done with our programmers, and first
year's end user questions and tech support are handled directly by us. This is
available with Call Accounting, OnTime4Class, InnService and Spark. It is required for Smoke Signal, AppointmentReminder Software and Doctor Reminder Software.
We can send you an order form detailing dealer cost and
options, as well as MSRP suggestions that can be a guideline for pricing. (We
consider these minimum markup amounts.)
How: None of this could be done when we started
selling call accounting twenty years ago. We built a network of dealers by
selling software and supporting the installation team by phone, then later with
pcAnywhere for difficult problems. We still need a local contact for technical
support but now the dealer does not need to do more than telephone programming
in most cases. He can then turn over the software implementation, training of customers
and tech support to us if needed. Everyone concentrates on their own specific
areas of expertise!
