Network maintenance is something that should be done on a proactive basis.  To avoid hearing from your clients only when something breaks, you need to get yourself and your clients out of fire extinguisher mode and into a system of proactive network maintenance

Proactive Network Maintenance and Downtime
Before your clients can possibly be “sold” on the value of proactive network maintenance, you’ll need to help your clients estimate and understand the real cost of their downtime.

I recommend this very simple, back-of-the-napkin calculation:

  • What was the client’s net income or bottom line last year?
  • Divide that figure by roughly 250 business days and 8 hours a day.
Following this calculation, if your client had a net income of $1,000,000 last year, your client loses $500 ($1,000,000 divided by 250 business days divided by 8 hours/day) in net income for every business hour of downtime.

If your client loses $4,000 of net income every day that their network is down, is it really all that difficult for your client to justify a small investment in monthly proactive network maintenance?  

Costs vs Benefits of Proactive Network Maintenance
Properly planned, designed and installed small business networks are generally very reliable. However, when pitching a client on the benefits of proactive network maintenance, it’s crucial that you steer the conversation in terms of cost/benefit analysis.

  • First, quantify the concrete benefits you’ll provide to your client.
  • Next, present a monthly recurring cost (ah… recurring revenue stream!) based on your estimated labor billing and required service margins. Perhaps, you’ll offer a bundle of services that can be profitably delivered for $250 to $500/month based on a 2-year commitment.
  • The real deal clincher comes when you begin to discuss the cost of doing nothing to prevent downtime. Your proposed proactive maintenance plan may cost $3,000 to $6,000 per year. However, if you can prevent just two days a year of downtime ($8,000 from the above example) the price is easily made up for.
  • If they’re still skeptical and perhaps don’t believe your downtime cost scenario, take a look at their IT service invoices for the past 12 to 18 months. How many times do you see phrases like, “Server down emergency”?
Bottom Line on Network Maintenance
Proactive network maintenance makes sense for the client and for you.  Clients who pay for  proactive network maintenance inevitably save money in the course of the first year.  By providing network maintenance on a proactive basis, you save yourself major troubleshooting headaches and you guarantee yourself a revenue stream.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Network Maintenance. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Network Maintenance, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.