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The prospect of timeshares has been around for some time and we hear most about timeshare with vacation homes in remote parts of the United States or its possessions. In the aviation industry, there are companies that sell timeshares for their aircraft and are doing quite well with the plan. Well in this situation, Time Shares has nothing to do with vacations. Actually the heading should be “Block time”. Let me explain; let’s say you determine that your time (screwdriver time) is worth $ 125.00 per hour and you want a service contract or some type of commitment from a customer that is not willing to make a commitment with you for fear of the unknown. In a conversation with the customer, you mention that your rates are $ 125.00 per hour for service (parts are extra), and you also mention to the customer that your services can be purchased as a block for 10 hours for (lets say) $ 1,000.00. In all actuality, your rates are now $ 100.00 per hour at the discounted rate, but you have a commitment for 10 hours. This may be an inducement for the customer to purchase the “time” as a unit and then they will know what the next 10 hours will be billed at. The customer will realize a savings of $ 125.00 for the 10 hours. And you (the ISO) will be prepaid for the next 10 hours. When you study this plan, and do the math, your options are unlimited. With this “Time Block” plan, the customer will get (about) 5 service calls for a fixed price. The only unknown is the parts issue, and quite frankly, that issue is in their lap. Let them call their supplier for parts and supplies.
Plan “C”: We know what the cost is to service a Docutech printer and we know what a printer costs to support in the field (on average) is. If we take “Averages” into consideration and expand it out over a wide range of customers and volumes, we might come up with an “average service call,” which, by the way, is not easy if we are to include parts (on a well-working machine) * Notice I said a well-working machine. The Plan “C” for full service could be (let’s say) $ 250.00 per service call (parts included) Flat Rate. Before you get involved with a strange customer or a strange machine, first become familiar with its service history and make sure the copier / printer is up to date with all maintenance. In all fairness, the machine should be brought up to excellent operating condition first, then you could start plan “C”. And as you have guessed, parts will have to be harvested from other used copiers and printers to make sure that the “flat rate Plan C” works.
At first, when Plan “C” is considered, it looks like it would be impossible because of what parts cost. Quite frankly, it scared me to death as well. Case in point is the price of a low voltage power supply from the manufacturer. In order to make Plan C work you would have to (actually) fix the power supply for about $ 25.00 or less. Or in the case of a broken developer housing, we would actually have to fix the device and not replace it. How about a failed PWB? Send it out to be repaired. Some rebuilders charge about $ 125.00 per PWB to repair them. As an alternative, you can always eliminate all electronic PWB’s from the flat rate (per) call charge. But you have to make this point clear in the beginning that no electronic parts will be covered.
Plan “D” was suggested by several ISO’s and it works for them. Let’s say you land an account that has multiple machines. Let’s say, for argument sake, that there are 4 large copiers in the shop. With Plan “D” you provide service, and the customer supplies the parts and materials. Question here is what do you charge them? Do you become an employee? Most ISO’s wanted to remain independent so they will be able to respond to other service calls. Plan “D” is a lot like the timeshare but with a little difference. One ISO reported that he starts his day off at his main account every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:00 AM and does his magic until he feels that everything is under control. Then in the afternoon, he is available for service calls. The average time spent at his “main account” is about 12 hours a week for which he bills his customer for $ 1,200.00. That works out to $ 100.00 per
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