I’m Rich, Founder & MD at Astro Agency, a team of strategic planners, creative designers, content creators, web developers and digital marketing experts. We’ve been managing WordPress websites for a long, long time and in this article I’m going to share with you a few tips that have worked for us over the years.
How do you sell website maintenance plans?
When it comes to WordPress, it’s crucial that clients keep their website up to date.
This not only keeps customer data safe but also ensures the smooth running of the website and consequently the business.
By providing a maintenance plan, the client has peace of mind that they can call on you if they encounter problems with their website.
So what are the key things to remember when selling WordPress maintenance packages?
Firstly, have a clear outline of what packages you offer, what’s included and what they can expect from you.
More often than not, a client will come to you looking for help with an issue on their website due to lack of upkeep.
The thing we’ve found most successful when converting enquiries to retained clients is assisting with the issue they have as soon as we can.
After this we talk about how we can help maintain their website so that we can always be on hand when needed and can provide that peace of mind we spoke about previously.
A steady portfolio of retainer clients for maintenance plans provides a good baseline income for any business and these clients should be valued.
Some clients will never raise a ticket with us and others will raise 100, so having as many maintenance clients as possible is a great foundation to build a business from.
What advice could you share on retaining maintenance clients for longer?
In such a competitive and saturated market, it’s difficult to retain clients if you don’t deliver outstanding service.
Most people have been burnt by cheap solutions, so think about how you price your services in order to deliver great customer service.
The key to retaining clients is making sure you always respond in a timely manner, provide updates on a regular basis and communicate timescales of deliverables if you anticipate delays.
Any WordPress developer will know that from time to time, WordPress will throw a spanner in the works with big updates that can affect plugins and themes, so communicating these updates ahead of time where possible is something to consider.
How do you ensure the most efficient delivery of your website maintenance service?
The most important thing to implement when offering, selling, and providing WordPress maintenance is to have a good system in place that allows both you and the client to communicate and resolve any issues that may arise effectively and efficiently.
A ticketing system such as the one Glow has is the perfect solution for clients and allows the developer to immediately answer the request in a professional and timely manner.
Prior to this, having a speedy onboarding process will ensure a smooth transition from initial discussions to retained client.
If this can be automated, even better!
Clearly outline what is included and make sure the client is aware of your hourly rate outside of what they have agreed to, this will help you avoid difficult situations in future.
Why do you use Glow to help with managing your clients' websites?
Glow has enabled us to communicate with the client without the hassle of long email threads.
We can find everything we need in one place and this can be filtered out to the team so that we can respond to client requests in a timely manner.
Further to this, Glow has been crucial in making our business time efficient with bulk updates, time tracking features and it’s easy-to-navigate interface.
We can’t recommend Glow enough!
