Phone support is a service that you should offer.  There are times when phone support makes more sense than you going and doing an onsite visit.  How to charge for providing that phone support is the difficult decision.  

You have to charge for phone support.  The best model to use is charging the same rate you are using for onsite visits.  Giving away phone support for free or charging less for it is unwise.  It will only end up losing you money. There are real costs associated with phone support including:

  • Your time (answering, logging, recapping)
  • Toll free number
  • Cell phone minutes
  • Calling card costs
The best way to protect yourself is to establish a minimum charge for phone support.  We like to use a 15 minute minimum.  If you don’t have a minimum you’ll get interrupted with one or two minute requests for things that are absolutely trivial.  People won’t care if they spend $3 or $4 on a phone support call.  They’ll start to think twice if each call costs at least $25.

After your minimum rate, what do you charge for phone support that goes over 15 minutes?  You can charge by the minute after that, or you can continue to use set minimum increments.  We prefer the set increments where for every 15 minutes afterward it’s an extra x number of dollars.  

There is always some flexibility when the call is 16 or 17 minutes.  Your best judgement will tell you what to do in these situations. When deciding whether to round up or down consider these issues:

  • What was your prep time?
  • How much research time did you need?
  • What type of documentation was involved?
  • Did you have to send them follow up?
Bottom Line on Phone Support
Phone support must be charged for. How you charge for it is the question.  We like to set a 15 minute minimum and then use 15 minute increments thereafter. This system protects you from losing real money and time, and it forces your clients to think about whether they really need the phone support.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Phone Support. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Phone Support, 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.