1. Resellers/System Builders
2. Break-Fix Services Providers
3. Professional Services Providers
4. Managed Services Providers

Now let's discuss the pricing and positioning of each of these service delivery models.

Resellers/System Builders

Because of the competitive challenges faced by resellers/system builders, pricing for their services tends to be very aggressive, as it is difficult to build a unique value proposition for a commodity service which compels a prospect to choose one provider over another - hence the proclivity for many resellers/system builders to compete on price.

Positioning a hardware warranty services agreement as the answer to alleviating a prospect's pain points concerning hardware failure and its negative impact on efficiency, productivity and net profits may not be a persuasive enough message in the SMB space to secure enough business to meet the reseller/system builder's revenue requirements. This is the reason that many service providers offer hardware warranty services in addition to break-fix, professional and managed services for equipment they have built, installed or manage after the sale.

Break-Fix Services Providers

Break-fix services providers share competitive challenges similar to those faced by resellers/system builders, and pricing for their time and materials-based services tends to be aggressive, as it is remains difficult to build a unique value proposition for a commodity service which can be sourced from a multitude of vendors. In this service delivery model, the provider may price their services in the following manner:

Per hour
Per hour based upon response time
Per hour based upon service required
Per hour based upon number of resources
Per hour based upon skill set of resources
Per hour based upon time of day
Per hour based upon day of week or holiday

...or any combination thereof. In addition, the break-fix services provider may allow customers to receive reduced labor rates by offering the ability to purchase blocks of hours in advance. This is commonly referred to as "block time".

Positioning break-fix services as a necessity for prospects and customers whose businesses are reliant on technology is not a tremendously difficult task, and achieved more easily by a break-fix services provider than by a pure reseller/system builder - especially when targeting the SMB space. This being said, it is generally not difficult for the break-fix services provider to secure enough business to meet their revenue requirements.

Additional project revenue can be had by the provider that delivers professional services to their customers in addition to break-fix services, and these services are normally quoted on a per-project basis.

Professional Services Providers

Unless the professional services provider delivers highly specialized services, their service delivery model is not immune to competitive challenges. Depending upon their ability to demonstrate to their customers a unique value proposition which differentiates them in their market, their pricing can range from very reasonable to very expensive, based on this uniqueness and what their markets will bear.

Experienced professional services providers with a solid change management process will normally price their deliverables as a firm quote containing very specific detail regarding the work scope to be delivered, and will do an excellent job of setting and re-setting customer expectations throughout the project lifecycle. This not only guarantees profitability, but increases customer satisfaction as well.

Positioning professional services solutions as the answers to meeting prospects' and customers' needs in areas such as increasing efficiency, productivity, alleviating business pain and mitigating risk is not normally a difficult goal to achieve, and becomes easier the more vertical-specific or specialized these solutions are.