Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does flat rate pricing really work and will my
customers really like it?
A: Yes and yes. It can make you more money for
a lot of reasons and it can give you happier customers and employees.
Q: Can changing to flat rate pricing
solve my business problems?
A: It cannot fix all your problems if you have a poorly run
business. See all of our training products to help you in the many
other areas of your business.
Q: How often do you update your flat rate
pricing information?
A: When you buy from us, you will receive the most up to date
information available because we manufacture the CD’s “in house”
in our state of the art production facility, and your CD is produced
the day you order it. We update our master copies throughout the
year to always ensure up-to-date and accurate information is
achieved.
Q: Prices on parts on constantly changing,
especially going up in price, how do I handle annual parts pricing
updates?
A: We suggest you increase your parts prices at whatever the average
inflation rate is once a year (about 3 or 4 percent a year) and
reprint out your price books (takes about five minutes to do this).
Q: Maybe I pay a little more or less
for a part in my city than another contractor does in their city,
what I do about that?
A: The parts prices in the software are set at a national average.
You can change them up or down to reflect your local market
conditions (takes about 5 minutes to do all of them globally). You
can also change a price on an individual part at any time (takes
about five seconds to do).
Q: Some repair jobs may take a little
longer to do or a little shorter to do, what should I do about that?
A: You can adjust your labor task times to reflect the worst case
scenario or you can do what most contractors do, they set their
prices to the average labor times to do a task (the software already
has this programmed into it as a default). Remember with flat rate
you can earn more money overall than using time and material but you
need to realize that the very nature of flat rate pricing is that
you will make a little more or less profit on all jobs, but every
job will be profitable.
A: The software comes with a default at $90 an hour and we recommend
you change it to suit your company (takes less than five minutes to
do). Please become educated in how much an hour you need to charge
to stay in business and earn a fair profit. This hourly cost of
doing business will vary greatly across the
Q: Should I increase what I charge
when I go to flat rate?
A: Probably. Most contractors have never been trained in how much to
charge per hour, so they are currently charging ridiculously low
rates. When they discover what it really cost them to run an
excellent company with excellent employees, they are amazed. That is
why they NEED to use flat rate pricing, so that they can stay in
business! For example, a lean and mean low overhead contractor in
Q: How do I get my technicians to “buy into” using
flat rate pricing? I don’t want any of them to quit.
A: Have a meeting with them and discuss the benefits to the customer
and the benefits to them by using flat rate pricing. Most
technicians are willing to accept change if it benefits them and
benefits the customers they serve. Realize that very few contractors
in the
Q: What operating systems does this software work
with?
A: Any Microsoft® Windows operating system will work.
Q: How does Accu-Pricing™ work?
Step 1: When you receive the software,
load it onto your computer (easy to follow instructions come with
it).
Step 2: After you have loaded the
software on your computer, open the flat rate file and set the
hourly labor rate and the service call charge you want to use (this
takes less than 5 minutes to do).
Step 3: Print out your price sheets and
put them in your technicians’ binders. (Can be purchased from us or
develop yourself).
Step 4: Use your flat rate pricing
books for thirty days and then see what changes you want to make to
them. Make those changes and then reprint the price sheets. Update
your prices each year globally (this means all prices increase)
which takes less than five minutes to do. Every three to five years,
we recommend you update all your parts prices
manually to get them a
little more accurate. Note: This software is 100% customizable. You
can add a new repair task or edit an existing repair task in less
than 60 seconds. There are no complicated formulas or formatting to
learn, this has already been done for you. You just need to know how
to type a number in a box. It has a powerful search engine to
quickly find any information you are looking for.
Q: What are the general benefits of
using flat rate pricing instead of time and material pricing?
* Your company can make more money
because you look more professional and your customers will approve
more work if you remove their fear of the unknown that time and
material pricing has inherent in it. Ever taken a cab ride and watch
the meter add up or go to a restaurant without prices on the menu?
How comfortable are you approving a purchase for something without
knowing the price upfront?
* Your technicians can make more money
because you can charge more and hence pay them more. Also flat rate
pricing allows you to pay your technicians by the task instead of by
the hour. Most repair people today (like auto mechanics) get paid by
the task rather than by the hour.
* It is a more honest way of doing
business than time and material because there are no unpleasant
surprises when a customer knows the total price upfront.
* Less collection problems because the
customer only approves the dollar amount of work they can afford.
* Technicians are able to do a job
without the customer “breathing down their necks” wondering why the
job is costing them so much money and time. Technicians are more
productive and enjoy their work more, which the customer sees,
resulting in greater customer satisfaction.
* If you offer maintenance or service
agreements, flat rate can help sell more of them.
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