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Application advise

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    #1

    Application advise

    Hello,

    I live in Martinez CA. and over the last 9 years I developed and used a delivery routing application at my last job using a single-user version of Alpha Four V8. I managed and scheduled over 2,500 accounts with it. The company was recently bought out by a large national competitor and I was let go.The new company is now using it's own routing software. Over the years I was constantly tweaking and trying to improve the application and probably have hundreds of hours into what I believe is now a stable and saleable product. Before now, because the app is so customized, I never really considered it a marketable product. Without too much work though I think it could be useful to a few of my old competitors in the area. The applications main features are:

    Stores:

    Customer inventory and equipment data.

    Dates, delivery quantities, sale amounts and the driver ID for each delivery.

    Printable driver route schedules, (Main selling feature).

    Delivery frequency recommendation reports.

    Individual or group sales and usage reports.

    Customer lists.

    It has no accounting features. Here's the crux. I have no experience at pricing or selling something like this and would appreciate some advise. With a few modifications that would adapt and simplify it for my intended customers, I would like to just sell the application, provide training and minimal customer support (support after 15-30 days would be at an hourly rate) and be done with it. I know this isn't much to go on and I'm not asking for hard numbers but can some of you give me your best opinion/suggestion of the value of something like this? What is a reasonable hourly rate to charge for customer support? Any help is greatly appreciated.

    Thank you,
    Kerry Jannsen
    [email protected]
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: Application advise

    Kerry,

    Since this has been on the messageboard for almost 20 minutes and no one has responded, I'll give it a try.

    First and foremost, an application running under A4V8 (or any DOS-based program for that matter) will not be of any interest to a possible end-user. It will have to run under Alpha 5, the latest version being V8 (to be released pretty soon). Most end users like the 'look and feel' of Windows-based programs and DOS is simply a step backward. Functionality and ease of use are certainly important and are strong selling points, but it's hard to put a DOS program up against a Windows program.

    Regarding pricing; you will get a bunch of responses with all different points of view. Development and support rates will probably range from a low of $50/hour to (maybe) $125/hour. Some developers offer X hours (or days) of free support with the sale of an application, and then go to a per hour basis, others might vary. Some developers might base their charge on the size of the client (the old 'Whatever the customer can bare' philosophy). You have to come up with a pricing structure that is somewhat in line with you area. You probably don't want to be too high nor too low in terms of rates.

    Also, you probably should re-think your comment of provide training and minimal customer support (support after 15-30 days would be at an hourly rate) and be done with it. In today's marketplace, I feel that the initial sale should be to beginning of a continual relationship between the developer and the client.

    My opinions, others will vary.

    Dave
    Dave Jampole
    www.customalpha.com

    Women and cats will do whatever they want. The sooner men and dogs realize that, the happier they will be.

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Application advise

      Thanks for the response. Generally I understand and agree with what you say. But in this case I happen to know these competitiors well. They are small businesses and they currently have no routing software at all and likely are not interested in any of the more expensive and well known options currently available. The fact that it's DOS based likely wouldn't matter either as long as it worked and I believe their productivity would be enhanced significantly. I was thinking between $2,500-$4,000 as other more full featured and full support type products range in the tens of thousands. I would always be available for support and could even use something like PC Anywhere to provide support.

      Kerry Jannsen

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Application advise

        Hi Kerry, just to mention there is an Alpha user's group in your area that meets in Moraga. It might work to show the application to some peers for review. I am in Castro Valley.
        Steve Wood
        See my profile on IADN

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Application advise

          Thanks Steve. I will consider doing that. Do you have a schedule? In the meantime I still would appreciate more input/opinions regarding pricing.

          Kerry

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Application advise

            No schedule until later in the Spring; I'll add you to the mailing list.

            On pricing, some advice I got years ago:

            - pick a couple 'buyers', one in the business, one not in the business.
            - explain the product, potential time savings, etc.
            - ask each:

            1) what price would be so high that you could not envision buying it
            2) what price would be so low that you would suspect it to be poor quality
            3) what's the highest you'd pay for it
            4) what's the lowest you'd expect the seller to sell it for
            5) what additional features/benefits would you need in order for you to double (or some factor) each of these values.

            Also, give the product to someone not in the business and ask them to evaluate it, and tell you what the product is supposed to do. You can give them an introduction, but don't "train" them. This tests the intuitiveness of the product and acknowledges that the buyer will probably pass the responsibility of running the software to a secretary, etc.

            And on the DOS equation. I agree with the above, someone somewhere in the buying process will say "But its in DOS", and not move forward. Even small, "unsophisticated" companies are high-tech these days. They have Windows XP and Office 2007 installed. And if they are not so up to snuff, their kids are and will rib them for purchasing a product in DOS. You can still sell a few, but you can't build a market around it.
            Steve Wood
            See my profile on IADN

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Application advise

              Thanks again Steve. That's good advise and I will try it. Please understand I am in no way attempting to market this to a broader range of potential buyers. The reason I'm even thinking about selling it is because the businesses I speak of had expressed interest in the past but I was too busy and not interested in helping the competition. Believe it or not these guys are old school, not high tech and this DOS app would be a big step forward for them. I have no further use for it myself and if I can make a little money off of it while I consider rebuilding it using Alpha 5, thats what I'd like to do.

              Kerry

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