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Do You Charge 1k Per Month or Higher For Your Services?

by John Durham
22 replies
If so...

How many clients do you have?

How is that model working?

Are you getting people on six month contracts?

I know there are some like Voasi ... Just wondering how common it is among Warriors to charge that much?

Do you set people up at 1k per month off the bat, straight across, or do you charge 5k upfront, then 1k per month thereafter?

Those of you with high monthly retainers per client...

What is your experience?

sdentrepreneur should also have some good input here...

Here is why I am asking:

Because if I can charge $1,000 per month for a package... then I can afford to create an independent agent opportunity whereby the agent makes an upfront commission PLUS they make 100 dollars per month on the backend monthly for as long as their customers are with us.

Now...

I believe an average agent could do one sale per week if they were working FULL time.

But lets say they only made 2 1/2 sales per MONTH.

At that rate, within a years time they could reasonably develop $30,000-$36,000 per year in passive, residual income.

Im trying to create a simple career path for an independent agent that they can assimilate and reasonably achieve.

If I could sell a package at $1,000 per month, consistently, then that would create an EXCELLENT career opportunity for salesman.

Thats what makes a company run, motivated salespeople, who have a clear path to success.
#charging #grand #month #opr #question #services
  • Profile picture of the author HAdrian1239
    Originally Posted by John Durham

    If so...

    How many clients do you have?

    How is that model working?

    Are you getting people on six month contracts?

    I know there are some like Voasi ... Just wondering how common it is among Warriors to charge that much?

    Do you set people up at 1k per month off the bat, straight across, or do you charge 5k upfront, then 1k per month thereafter?

    Those of you with high monthly retainers per client...

    What is your experience?

    sdentrepreneur should also have some good input here...

    Here is why I am asking:

    Because if I can charge $1,000 per month for a package... then I can afford to create an independent agent opportunity whereby the agent makes an upfront commission PLUS they make 100 dollars per month on the backend monthly for as long as their customers are with us.

    Now...

    I believe an average agent could do one sale per week if they were working FULL time.

    But lets say they only made 2 1/2 sales per MONTH.

    At that rate, within a years time they could reasonably develop $30,000-$36,000 per year in passive, residual income.

    Im trying to create a simple career path for an independent agent that they can assimilate and reasonably achieve.

    If I could sell a package at $1,000 per month, consistently, then that would create an EXCELLENT career opportunity for salesman.

    Thats what makes a company run, motivated salespeople, who have a clear path to success.
    It depends on the news that your targeting and the types of services that you're offering but in the past I have charged anywhere from 1000 to 3000 or more a month...

    and encountered very little resistance.

    if you set yourself up where you're running a company were each of your agents is an individual account manager the only services X number of clients at certain levels at a time... Then you have a bit of an angle of exclusivity... And at the same time the business owner doesn't feel like just another cog in your machine so they're willing to pay more.

    right now I'm focusing on 2 things neither of which lead in with a monthly recurring model... but they could if I wanted them to... because I don't position in myself as a commodity provider....

    Sure, I have commodities to provide but what they are really paying for is me and the knowledge of how all of those things work together to help them... make sense?


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  • Profile picture of the author workers24hdotcom
    Hey mate,

    Which niche are you aiming?
    What kind of service are you or will you offer?
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Im selling a web design package containing google places, onsite optimization, ongoing backlinking services, and a mobile version of the site. Plus content that actually converts vistors.

    However thats hypothetically what I could charge a grand per month for... the purpose of this thread is to find out what OTHERS are doing for those kinds of prices.

    For instance, findlaw.com charges a grand per month for just a few template pages in their site that are optimized....

    I do believe in commodity selling.

    I mean, if you have created a system that can deliver results and you can package it... why not go in confident that you have what they need and sell them your package?

    You can hardly "duplicate" consultants, but you can duplicate salesman selling a package. If business depends on highly savvy sales people then it is a victim to their whims.

    I prefer the emyth route and creating a business that is "systems" dependent, not "talent" dependent.

    This way a system exists whereby any AVERAGE person (who is not hard to replace) can produce a predictable result, by repeating a predictable set of actions.

    I can achieve a predictable number of recruits that it takes to produce a predictable amount of those average people performing predictably, by repeating consistent predictable actions. lol

    Now it's a "machine". I can control the flow by how much recruiting of average people that I do, rather than how many "needle in the haystack" super talented salesman I can only sporadically find and rarely hold onto.
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    • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

      But lets say they only made 2 1/2 sales per MONTH.

      At that rate, within a years time they could reasonably develop $30,000-$36,000 per year in passive, residual income..
      Those rates and set up would not be much interest to a sales person, the start up would be to long and to thin

      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

      rather than how many "needle in the haystack" super talented salesman I can only sporadically find and rarely hold onto.
      You will not get super talented sales people at those numbers, that rate is at beginner level or a little more, and given the long delay to even build up to those numbers it is not really designed for a pro to work and why you would not hold them.
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      • Profile picture of the author John Durham
        Originally Posted by tryinhere View Post


        You will not get super talented sales people at those numbers, that rate is at beginner level or a little more, and given the long delay to even build up to those numbers it is not really designed for a pro to work and why you would not hold them.
        Had I not grossed almost a million dollars in sales within 6 months back in 03 when I did a very similar thing... I would buy this.

        2 1/2 sales per month is low balling the potential deliberately. If you really said what was POSSIBLE for the salesperson, they wouldnt believe it. It would SOUND like a sales pitch instead of BEING a good one.

        You have to let them add it up on their own that they could do twice or three times that much production, that way their own mind takes part in the creation process during your recruiting pitch.

        Maybe these understandings come naturally to me nowadays... I dunno...

        A Good salesperson will say "2 1/2 sales per month? I could DOUBLE that production easily"

        And sell themselves into it.

        Edit:

        On another note, you approach the job seeker market with a commission opportunity in a different way than you would approach the online "opportunity seeker" market.

        The job seeker market is made up of more hardworking sensible type people with more realistic goals. You can create an opportunity for them with limitless potential, but you have to be more conservative with your numbers, and let them come to some of their own conclusions... so your job/opportunity ads dont come off like a Ginsu Knife Infomercial .

        You have to look like a legit opportunity in order to get thousands of resumes. The Job Opportunity market is waaay bigger than the opportunity seeker market if one knows how to approach it.

        But then... few believe me about the potential of Alibaba.com either... so 'sigh" for them.
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        • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
          Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

          2 1/2 sales per month is low balling the potential deliberately. If you really said what was POSSIBLE for the salesperson, they wouldnt believe it. It would SOUND like a sales pitch instead of BEING a good one.

          You have to let them add it up on their own that they could do twice or three times that much production, that way their own mind takes part in the creation process during your recruiting pitch.

          Maybe these understandings come naturally to me nowadays... I dunno...

          A Good salesperson will say "2 1/2 sales per month? I could DOUBLE that production easily"

          And sell themselves into it..
          No at those rates you will only atract dreamers and desperates, pro's pick you not the other way around, and pro can come out of the gate earning those numbers they do not need to wait 12 months to come up to speed.

          It would need a much stronger front end / $ in pockets to attract the right people to sell and also a very good back end from you that gives them some serious plans to sell with then it might attract a few higher end closers.
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  • Profile picture of the author TyBrown
    I don't sell offline consulting but I want you guys to know that a lot of companies can do $1k a month.

    On a couple different occasions I've had consultants who I've hired to whom I've paid around $1k per month. I'm just a small company, a handful of employees and several hundred thousand in annual revenue.

    I say that because I think a lot of people are going to think that $1k is a lot and is only going to be doable for bigger companies. Even a lot of us smaller companies can fork that out if we feel like more money will come from it.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    On another note:

    John Bowers room, the first large internet call center I ever managed... was run on average people repeating a consistent action.

    He had 100 telemarketers all selling a site or two per day, because he developed a system that depended on a consistently repeated action more than it depended on a persons talent.

    Most people cant hire a SINGLE salesperson and get them doing that.

    The key is to simplify the opportunity to where an average person can assimilate it, and also simply the concentrated actions that it takes to produce the predictable result, so that an average person can perform them and produce the result.

    If it takes a super salesman or highly knowledgeable consultants, then your company is at the whims of a few rare talented people... and the tail wags the dog, and you cant predict a consistent growth rate to make projections on.

    In a call center I always know my numbers like the back of my hand, and can just about predict them daily within a few dollars, because they are based on the overall average performance of the lowest common denominators. The average people , performing at minimum quota, by repeating a consistent action.
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    • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

      On another note:

      John Bowers room, the first large internet call center I ever managed... was run on average people repeating a consistent action.

      He had 100 telemarketers all selling a site or two per day, because he developed a system that depended on a repeartable action more than it depended on a persons talent.

      Most people cant hire a SINGLE salesperson and get them doing that.

      The key is to simplify the opportunity to where an average person can assimilate it, and also simply the concentrated actions that it takes to produce the predictable result, so that an average person can perform them and produce the result.

      If it takes a super salesman or highly knowledgeable consultants, then your company is at the whims of a few rare talented people... and the tail wags the dog, and you cant predict a consistent growth rate to make projections on.
      Does that mean you don't believe in the churn and burn, until you have all your players?
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      • Profile picture of the author John Durham
        Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

        Does that mean you don't believe in the churn and burn, until you have all your players?
        Not sure what that means Ken, but I can say this. I expect t0 recruit 100 people to find 3 that will perform average. Not that the repeatable action will require alot of talent, but because most people wont work at an average 20-40 hour per week pace. So you have to find average people who will reasonably perform at an average level.

        I wrote about it in another thread , but I really believe in the idea of creating automated training, and shooting your opportunity out to tens of thousands of people, allowing them to funnel themselves down to the 100 or so that will go out an work at an average pace.

        In call centers it doesnt take tons of people to find average performers... You bat at about 50%.

        But a work from home opportunity is different, you will have to filter through alot more people. Better automate it.
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        • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
          Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

          Not sure what that means Ken, but I can say this. I expect tp recruit 100 people to find 3 that will perform average. Not that the repeatable action will require alot of talent, but because most people wont work at an average 20-40 hour per week pace. So you have to find average people who will reasonably perform at an average level.

          I wrote about it in another thread Ken, but I really believe in the idea of creating automated training, and shooting your opportunity out to tens of thousands of people, allowing them to funnel themselves down to the 100 or so that will go out an work at an average pace.
          " I expect to recruit 100 people to find 3 that will perform"

          That is what i mean by churn and burn. Hire an fire as fast as possible to find the
          the core group. Of course the core talent is mixed.

          Maybe that is just a FL term. I thought it was standard.
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          • Profile picture of the author John Durham
            Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

            " I expect to recruit 100 people to find 3 that will perform"

            That is what i mean by churn and burn. Hire an fire as fast as possible to find the
            the core group. Of course the core talent is mixed.

            Maybe that is just a FL term. I thought it was standard.
            Amway is just one example of literally hundreds of companies who make 100's of millions per year based on that philosophy.

            Small stuff just doesnt interest me Ken, now- 100 working agents...- THAT is interesting.

            Training them all from a forum? That is interesting!

            Whats more interesting is realizing that I have the perfect blend of skill sets to pull it off.
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  • Profile picture of the author Voasi
    John -

    Thanks for the mention.

    I only target industries/verticals I know they can afford the $1k per month. And by no means is $1k/mo the ceiling out there.

    I don't do an upfront fee, just whatever it is. I've debated doing more "Upfront, then $X" - just haven't set it up.

    The model that is working for me is pull marketing. Pulling them into a funnel, like it's there own idea. Like mailers or posting on Craigslist. Utilizing LinkedIn to target the right demographics and utilizing PPC.

    I give all my sales reps 20% residual commission on all deals they bring in.

    The biggest portion of it is the sales training. Going after "bigger fish" requires you to build a pipeline and follow-up, that's what I've seen. It's definitely not selling $50-100/mo packages, where you can just keep dialing and sell a few, let a few slip through the cracks and everything will be "OK". Good sales funnel. Good follow-up. Good presentation. This is what closes the deals for me.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by Voasi View Post

      John -

      Thanks for the mention.

      I only target industries/verticals I know they can afford the $1k per month. And by no means is $1k/mo the ceiling out there.

      I don't do an upfront fee, just whatever it is. I've debated doing more "Upfront, then " - just haven't set it up.

      The model that is working for me is pull marketing. Pulling them into a funnel, like it's there own idea. Like mailers or posting on Craigslist. Utilizing LinkedIn to target the right demographics and utilizing PPC.

      I give all my sales reps 20% residual commission on all deals they bring in.

      The biggest portion of it is the sales training. Going after "bigger fish" requires you to build a pipeline and follow-up, that's what I've seen. It's definitely not selling $50-100/mo packages, where you can just keep dialing and sell a few, let a few slip through the cracks and everything will be "OK". Good sales funnel. Good follow-up. Good presentation. This is what closes the deals for me.
      God I love this post! Thanks!

      You confirmed something to me... that having a flat monthly fee makes it easier for a customer to make a decision and easier to present. So much of success depends on feeding salesman and prospects no more than they can assimilate.

      I also got this from your post:

      craiglist, linkedin, ppc... all that stuff is stuff you can train your recruits to do in their training materials. You can get them to put out the work and expense of creating the "pull".

      Love your posts always Adam! Good stuff man!
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  • Profile picture of the author Adrian Browning
    Banned
    Am I missing something here?

    Why wouldn't you be able to sell a "website package" for $1K?.. Samsung just spent $40,000 on a design, and another $20,000 on usability tests... $1K? I'm afraid that You're thinking waaaay too small here.

    If you're out there hawking these shoddy Wordpress based websites then it certainly isn't a wonder why you view $1,000 as an acceptable form of payment.

    Do you know how much I currently pay my graphics team? what about programmers... do you know how much they take home?.. If my company sold websites at $1K a pop, then where would we actually make any money? LOL

    You can't be serious about this...

    Even if you were approaching this with only the mere intent to build an additional or side income stream, $1K is really scraping the bottom of the jelly jar.

    It is unambitious, uninspiring and unnecessary...

    I mean, you seriously think it's okay to get out of bed and donate valuable time towards hawking websites at $1K?.. why? you honestly don't need to work in this way

    You think anyone can get a fully functional design from me without first handing over a baseline fee of AT LEAST $15,000?.. NEVER, and that's not even mentioning all my intricate and cleverly planned upsells

    My time is far too valuable to be lollygagging and fooling around with Wordpress templates... I'm a grown man for goodness sake

    I'll give you some advice: Last night I had the most engaging and awe-inspiring conversation with the ex Creative Director at Hermes, Jean Paul Gaultier... he told me that if you want to remain wealthy and never fall from grace, then the safest bet is to ALWAYS supply at least one product valued at $1,000,000... Even if it's worth only a 5th of that price it doesn't matter, that price point alone is what draws in all the right people. Two or three sales a year is enough to skate by on.

    Now for those unable to 'read between the lines' I'm not telling you to charge $1Million for a website (although many people do), I'm saying that quality matters more than volume... It is not always about "boot-strapping" your way to a fortune.

    Don't be afraid to set your price points at $10,000 and above because if you don't, then the next guy will!

    - Adrian
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    @ Adrian,

    Point taken well. Yes I meant that backwards.Your extreme examples remind me that in fact 1k per month is really pittance to spend on any department of even a very small company. And their online marketing arm is like a department.

    Having a single part time , 20 hour per week, shadetree webdesigner who knows nothing about marketing on your staff will cost you twice that much per month.

    In fact, in preparation of the materials for this offline venture, here is an excerpt from something I was typing JUST this evening... I dont know how I will use it, probably in some kind of drop off materials or something...

    Ironically I was just writing this tonight...

    Should You Hire A Part Time Web Designer On Your Staff?

    It depends.

    · Is your web designer also a Google Certified Search Engine Optimization Expert?
    · Does he understand how back links work and how to properly network your site?
    · Is he a seasoned advertising professional?
    · Is he a keyword research specialist?
    · Is he a social media expert?
    · Is he qualified or seasoned enough in all of these areas to advise you regarding your business ?
    · Is he a Professional Copywriter?
    · A newsletter management specialist?
    · Does he know how to create successful press releases?

    If your full time web designer isn’t all of those things, you may as well hire a child to sit around and draw pictures of all day. That’s honesty.

    It takes TEAM of specialized experts to effectively bring all of those delicately balanced elements together and make a website profitable.

    You need a team who constantly monitors your positioning, and your sites performance. A team that is comprised of advertising experts , industry savvy graphic designers, copy writing pro’s, Certified Google Optimization Specialists, Newsletter Management Specialists, Social Media and Mobile Marketing Specialists.

    You want your site to get what it deserves right?

    Here’s is what many business owners fail to understand:

    “It Cost More To Lose, Than It Costs To Win”

    You can hire a whole team of specialized experts to build, monitor, and manage a successful website for you, who know EXACTLY what to do, more cheaply than you could hire a part time shade tree staff designer who is not competent in all of those areas.

    This is as far as I got ... It's rough still... it may be useful as part of a mailout, or drop off... I just wanted to write the piece while it was in my head, and incorporate the basic idea into my presentation somehow...

    I think a strong point is in demonstrating that having a team of individual specialists who collectively work on and monitor your site from all angles... is more cost efficient and effective than having a shade tree designer on your staff who is a jack of all trades and master of none....

    Sharing this freely because its just a small piece if not a "scrap piece" to a bigger puzzle.



    -JD
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    • Profile picture of the author Adrian Browning
      Banned
      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

      This is as far as I got ... it may be useful as a mailout, or drop off... I just wanted to write the piece while it was in my head, and incorporate it into my presentation, if for nothing else; rebuttal ammo?

      I think a strong point is in demonstrating that having a team of people who monitor site is more cost efficient and effective than having a shade tree designer on your staff....
      Again, this is just rearward thinking and nothing more than dogmatic gibberish...

      Anyone with half a brain understands how 'business' works...

      Shade-tree? what in the hell is that?... For these purposes, I employ four Graphic design graduates and two more designers that have exceptional skill and talent. Also, my programmers are some of the best that I have ever worked with (which is why I've got them all tied into hyper extensive contracts)

      "Design+Programming" is just one arm of my corporation which is, in it's entirety, a Marketing and Media firm.

      Even those who share the same IQ level as a Cocker Spaniel would fully understand that you make more money building websites inhouse, and then adding SEO, Copywriting and the like as upsells...

      This can turn a simple $15,000 deal into double or triple that, and that's not even taking into account the monthly retainer for PPC and SEO

      Besides, as the majority of my clientele are upscale individuals and organisations, 35% of them operate marketing departments of their own and delegate only specific portions of their strategy to my firm... Even then, $40,000+ deals are extremely common place. If I told you how much we tear through in a month, you'd probably fall off the side of your chair and spill your night-time Café au lait all over yourself

      - Adrian
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  • Profile picture of the author jamtrading
    obviously how much you charge is based on what your offering, however, sometimes charging on the higher scale represents how good and/or valuable your product is but you must be able to back this up with your offering
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  • Profile picture of the author Voasi
    John -

    Just sold a $10k website package today. We're also doing marketing starting at $10k/mo. and scaling it up after the first month (first month is to find our metrics and test marketing concepts, A/B splits, etc...)

    Yes, plenty of money to be had out there.
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  • Profile picture of the author maxrezn
    I'll spill one of my tips to selling high priced sites/marketing packages. (Mostly for service industries)

    When you're demonstrating the value to the prospect, compare your package and offering against a typical 5 page Wordpress site with no bells and whistles. The point is to make them see just how stupid it really is to buy a bare bones website. How do you do this?

    Use Google Keyword Tool to pull up search estimates for their keywords. Let's say 5,000 people per month search for their services. With a bare bones cheap site...the site is no where to be found on Google except for maybe 100 times a month. From the 100 times somebody sees it...maybe 10 people click and 1 person calls. (Preferably use their estimates..not yours).

    At an average transaction of $500 (you should find this number out in the discovery process)...they are only looking at a maximum revenue of $6,000 from their website that year.

    NOW...your package has EVERYTHING they would ever need to dominate their competition online. Out of the 5,000 searches...2,000 people will see the site on the results...200 will click..and 20 will call per month. Over the course of a year that's $120,000 in revenue.

    A completely different ballgame. Once you show them the numbers (using their own estimates and not yours), people will GLADLY give you $1,000 per month.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Mmm, wonder where you learnt that?

      Best,
      Ewen

      Originally Posted by maxrezn View Post

      I'll spill one of my tips to selling high priced sites/marketing packages. (Mostly for service industries)

      When you're demonstrating the value to the prospect, compare your package and offering against a typical 5 page Wordpress site with no bells and whistles. The point is to make them see just how stupid it really is to buy a bare bones website. How do you do this?

      Use Google Keyword Tool to pull up search estimates for their keywords. Let's say 5,000 people per month search for their services. With a bare bones cheap site...the site is no where to be found on Google except for maybe 100 times a month. From the 100 times somebody sees it...maybe 10 people click and 1 person calls. (Preferably use their estimates..not yours).

      At an average transaction of $500 (you should find this number out in the discovery process)...they are only looking at a maximum revenue of $6,000 from their website that year.

      NOW...your package has EVERYTHING they would ever need to dominate their competition online. Out of the 5,000 searches...2,000 people will see the site on the results...200 will click..and 20 will call per month. Over the course of a year that's $120,000 in revenue.

      A completely different ballgame. Once you show them the numbers (using their own estimates and not yours), people will GLADLY give you $1,000 per month.
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  • Profile picture of the author KyGunator
    I charge 900-1300 per month per client, ongoing, no contract. I target big city lawyers mostly. Just started this strategy a few months ago, I have a couple. It takes me 2-4 months before actually closing the deal with them and seeing the cashflow.

    Without going too much into my prospecting methods - they essentially get pitched non-stop by retards who suck. So I stand out. I get them on page 1 of Google for free, then talk money. It's great because:

    1) It gives me better negotiating leverage at that point, rather than asking for the sale when they aren't yet experiencing the increase in clients.
    3) It shows them I'm the real deal who delivers like a boss.
    2) It helps reinforce fear off loss, if they decide not to do it, their site and the elevated leads dwindle off - and I go to their competition.
    3) It also allows them to experience what it's like working with ME. My customer service level. My casual approach. I even go drinking with them and shit.
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