[asterisk-biz] Typical quotes for small business VOIP setup

[Steve Totaro]

On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Fred Posner <fred at teamforrest.com> wrote:
> On Jan 13, 2009, at 5:25 PM, Tom Moore wrote:
>
>> It all really depends on what they want, queues, ring groups, ivrs
>> that type
>> of thing.
>> I'd be glad to give you an ideal break down of what it might cost if
>> you msg
>> me privately.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> Hi,
>>
>> What is typically quoted for setting up a asterisk based voip services
>> for a small business firm (around 20 to 30 people).
>> Assume this is only for the consulting(configuring, setting up,
>> troubleshooting etc) and not for the hardware costs....
>>
>> thanks.
>> George
>>
>
> Instead of trying to figure out what others charge, decide what you
> want to make per hour. If you want to make 55, charge $55 and quote
> per hour... change 75, 85, 95, 150, whatever you feel is deserving of
> your service.
>
>
> Fred Posner
> fred at teamforrest.com
>
> Main:           +1 (212) 937-7844
> Direct: +1 (503) 914-0999
>
> www.teamforrest.com
>

Slightly shady but go to www.buyerzone.com and pretend to be a
consumer and fill in the features you would provide as a vendor.

You will get get quotes from a multitude of vendors with a multitude
of different solutions.

I find quoting in the middle is the way to go.  You don't want to
price like Cisco and you don't want to price like a computer shop that
learned about Asterisk but don't really know the ins and outs and
winds up under pricing themselves, stopping Asterisk installations and
giving it a bad name.  I pick up a great number of customers this way.

Price yourself so that you can take the good months with the bad.

For me it depends on the feature set, the customer, and trust.  You
are selling yourself in reality.  If I am consulting for a small
startup, I always start with my default hourly rate and then negotiate
from there.  If I am quoting for a pharmaceutical or other big money
maker, I don't haggle but may give them NET30.

#1 Thing going into deals.  Asterisk can do "Anything" is a selling
point, but make sure your scope of work reflects the features the
customer wants.  Have a checklist and a customer sign off list and
acceptance form signed at the end of the project.  Then they cannot
come back and say, "you said it could do this and that".

Finally, try to get as much money up front as possible.  Sell chunks
of hours (possibly at a discount if you feel the customer is top
notch.

I have a list of questionnaires that cover basically everything and
since I have been doing this for so long, I can pull out the
information from the client that they would never even think of, such
as tracking advertising campaign results so the client can boost the
money making advertising and ditch the adverts that are not bringing
in business.

-- 
Thanks,
Steve Totaro
+18887771888 (Toll Free)
+12409381212 (Cell)
+12024369784 (Skype)