| Stephen Abusah | email | Jan 6 2012, 03:39 AM |
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We are a property management company in Ghana and have recently installed the trial version of LandlordMax on three (3) different computers that handle different segments of our properties. What we intend to do is to be able to merge the different databases as a single unit. What we want to know at this point is to find out if it is possible to merge these separate databases. Thanks in advance. |
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| Stephane Grenier | email | Jan 6 2012, 10:39 AM |
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Hi Stephen, It's currently not possible to merge different databases. As far as we know, no other property management software solutions offers the ability to merge different databases. That being said, we are expecting to offer a network based version which should be available very early in 2012 (most likely end of January). The upcoming networked version will be available in three options: 1. SOHO for up to 2 users at $495 2. Pro for 3-10 users at $995 3. Enterprise for 11 or more users at $2995 Regards, Stephan Grenier Founder LandlordMax Software Inc. http://www.LandlordMax.com http://www.FollowSteph.com http://www.RealEstatePigeon.com http://www.BlogBlazers.com |
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| Tony A | email | Jan 6 2012, 10:47 AM |
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Do you have more information about the upcoming versions? Are there other updates/features/fixes, or just the addition of networking? Will existing installations be able to upgrade? In my opinion, SOHO should be more than 2 users... in my case, we're 4 (me, my wife, my partner, and his wife), and we'd likely not be willing to spend $995... Tony |
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| Stephen Abusah | email | Jan 8 2012, 11:45 AM |
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Thanks Stephan for your prompt response. With respect to SOHO, I think I agree with Tony A. In my company, there is the CEO, GM, and two (2) Property Managers who'll be in direct use of the software should we decide to go in for it. Additionally, our budget restraints would not allow for a spend of $995 to get the Pro version. Is there a way you could re-consider limiting it to 2 users and instead make it four (4). I am sure loads of other companies have this this concern and I believe its going to widen the base of use of your software. Thanks once again for your custom. Stephen Abusah |
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| Stephane Grenier | email | Jan 9 2012, 08:57 PM |
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Hi, I will try to respond to each of your questions all in one post, so please bear with me if it's a bit longer or has some repetition. The upcoming upcoming version will be called 6.05d. It will not be a major new release even though this is our biggest upgrade ever by at least twice the effort! We're doing this so people can more cost effectively upgrade. In terms of features, it will have some fixes and enhancements, but nothing in terms of new features. New features will all be for the next version. Yes technically networking is a new feature, but it's really more of a different offering which is also another reason we didn't want to increase the main version number. Much like the Mac OS offering update was. And yes, existing installations will be able to upgrade to the networked version. Not only that, but you can apply the full price of your purchase against an upgrade to any of the networked versions (ie. you'll get a $165 network upgrade discount). In terms of the SOHO, the key differentiator we're looking at is the difference between one person using it for themselves on multiple computers (usually a laptop and a desktop at home). Basically remote Home Office. Once you add employees, or several users, then the complications and effort required usually go up. Not just in terms of programming effort and costs, but also support efforts and costs. That is our support costs will increase because the needs of multiple people will be higher and more complex. You're now probably going to need assistance to adjust the configurations on network setup where the server is running to allow the individual people to connect remotely from their home computers rather than just at the office. Keeping everything within an internal network or with a couple of computers is much simpler than once you start to have employees, VPN's, etc. As well, and this is also very important, the more users you have per install, the more people we'll probably have to provide support. Remember that support is free. If we charged for support, we could probably get away with charging less for the Pro version. But because it's included, it also has to be absorbed in the price somehow. So although it could be less than $995, we'd then have to charge at least $120/hour and the difference wouldn't be that much. We're very affordably priced compared to our competition, and reducing the price much would leave us very little room for profits. If you want us to continue improving the software and expanding what it does, we need the revenues to support those efforts. And yes, most likely not all four people will contact us, and there will be some help between yourselves, but the odds are very likely that we'll need to assist you as a customer much more than a single desktop user would. This means our support costs for any and all of the networked versions are going to be significantly higher, and the more users the higher the support costs will be. In other words, and you are both perfect examples, you have 4 people each for your setups. That means we have now 4 people to support. At a price point of $495, we just simply cannot offer free support. To be quite honest, the cost alone of making the networked versions is more than $495 per license based on our projected calculations. We're initially going to be selling the SOHO version at a loss to get it started. The key is that we don't expect many people to purchase it, mostly single users who want to connect when they're on the road (laptop and desktop - a lot of our customers are in this scenario). This will help them get started and help them grow their business. It's a convenience more than a network setup. It helps them save having to transfer their databases back and forth between their laptops and desktops on a fairly regular basis. If we didn't offer a 2 person version (the SOHO version), we'd just have the two Pro and Enterprise versions. The only reason we're willing to do it at a loss is for long term growth. And we also believe the cost of supporting people from moving database back and forth between their laptops and desktops will offset the loss. Additionally, you also have to remember that the needs of multiple users quickly start to escalate because they have different requirements. Above the normal performance issues, once you start to have more than 1-2 users you start to need types of users. That is some users can access everything whereas others can only access other things, and maybe some can access everything. You also start to have a lot more data, which leads to advance features that single and SOHO (2 users) probably don't need to manage all the data. Basically things start to get more involved. If you compare us to our competitors, I don't believe you'll find any networked property management software solution that supports 4 users under $1000. I've only seen one, and well, how shall I put, it wasn't exactly the best. We get a lot of their previous and angry customers coming over. And over the last year we've seen them only drop their price. Usually constant price drops are a sign that your business is not doing so well and that you're struggling to get any sales you can... In any case, offering the software at $495 for more than 2 users just isn't financially feasible. It's much like you trying to rent a 3 bedroom apartment for the same price as you rent a 3 bedroom house. The 3 bedroom house will always be more expensive because of all the added costs. And unfortunately here we're basically renting the 3 bedroom apartment (SOHO) version at below cost, so there's no way we can then rent the 3 bedroom house for the same price, as much as we'd like to. Regards, Stephan Grenier Founder LandlordMax Software Inc. http://www.LandlordMax.com http://www.FollowSteph.com http://www.RealEstatePigeon.com http://www.BlogBlazers.com |
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| Stephane Grenier | email | Jan 9 2012, 09:14 PM |
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Hi, To give you guys an even better understand of what we're working with, my initial analysis when we started to look at pricing was to offer the software at $695 for the network server and then charge $100 per user license. In other words, the 2 user license would be $695 + $200 = $895. A 3 user license $995, 4 users $1195, and so on. This is much much more inline with the actual costs of the software, but it's not really friendly. It just makes the pricing too complex. I don't want us to spend large amounts of time just explaining how the pricing works. Above that, what we found is that charging based on the number of users would quickly be very complicated and costly to implement. Up to a number is much easier than having to push the count in the licensing. Basically you have 3 license versions instead of a networked license with the specifics stored somewhere. With such a precise count, people will naturally always be moving up and down based on their employee count, which means the licensing system needs all these flexibilities built in it. But more importantly, with such a detailed count, that means people will be changing their licenses all the time. You add an employee, you add a license. You terminate an employee, you remove a license to save money. You're always trying to exactly match your license. That's a lot of work for both of us, but more importantly it's extremely expense to manage from our side. And that's where the tiered pricing came from. I'm sure you can figure out our costs and what I was trying to say in the previous post, but hopefully this helps give you a better idea of how and why we're pricing the networked version like we are. As you've probably already figured out, 2 users isn't profitable at the SOHO price. However because we don't have to do build such a complex licensing system, along with all the additional costs, we have a bit of leeway when it comes to pricing. And I'm sure you'll appreciate why we have to price it the way we do. Btw, if you do find a good property management software solution that's more better priced, please do let me know. I'd love to know about it, because as far as I understand, they just don't exist. And if it's the one that's just shy of $1000 and it's discounted by about 10%, please don't mention it, we already know about it. It's the one that's not doing very well right now, and we don't expect to see them around much longer. Regards, Stephan Grenier Founder LandlordMax Software Inc. http://www.LandlordMax.com http://www.FollowSteph.com http://www.RealEstatePigeon.com http://www.BlogBlazers.com |
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| Stephane Grenier | email | Jan 9 2012, 09:51 PM |
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Hi, Another way to look at this is that you're basically paying $250/person, and that will most likely last more than a year because of the free upgrades, probably 2-3 years. And it's possible that you never upgrade, but ignoring that, let's say 2.5 years. That means you're paying no more than $100/person a year for software. Less than $10/month a user. That's very affordable! In terms of your total business cost, you probably spend more on stationary per month than you will on the software! There's no property management software solution on market that will charge you that little. Most make it so that you pay at least $200/user per year, generally much more (around $500/user per year). SaaS solutions (web based hosted solutions) generally come in around $250/user/year, more or less. But the big issue here is that you have to pay every month, no matter what. And if they ever close up shop, you lose everything right away. You can't just keep using the software until you find a replacement solution. Regards, Stephan Grenier Founder LandlordMax Software Inc. http://www.LandlordMax.com http://www.FollowSteph.com http://www.RealEstatePigeon.com http://www.BlogBlazers.com |
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| Tony A | email | Jan 10 2012, 12:19 PM |
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Stephan, All good points and reasoning. The biggest attractions I had to LandlordMax is the fact that the software is feature rich with low cost, and that you support it well with online documentation, video examples, and these forums. Networking is definitely lacking, and you're on the right track to add that feature. And, you're right, that this will then lead to people requesting user types/permissions and many other features. These are all positives since it means people are paying attention, using your software, and asking for more. You're building a community of customers each with their own vested interest in your continued support and success. I think that most people envision up to a handful of users in a SOHO business (ie: more than 2)... Whatever pricing structure you settle on, we will need the ability to expand - if I start with SOHO, I need to be able to upgrade to PRO later in order to add more users and maintain my current database. Tony |
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| Stephane Grenier | email | Jan 10 2012, 05:29 PM |
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Hi Tony, Thank you for understanding and your very positive comments. You are absolutely correct in that our goal is to build a community of customers rather than just trying to be a fly by night shop selling whatever we can to whoever. Our goal is long term customers, and I believe it shows in our growth: http://www.followsteph.com/2011/08/23/landlordmax-2010-best-fiscal-year-yet/ It is very possible that people envision more than 2 users, but that's the crux of the issue. At what point do you do the cutoff. It might just be that the name has to be adjusted. Perhaps we may just rename SOHO to something else, Pro to SOHO, and Enterprise to Pro. We're still open to working on those details. The key is that we have to keep those price points. If we open the current SOHO (2 users) version to more than 2 users, we have to increase the price to at least $795-$895 to be able to make any kind of profit. Most likely on the upper end. That now basically kills any that target market's price (the single user with a laptop and desktop that don't want to move their database back and forth) And I don't know that this benefits anyone because the price is already so close. Plus that version wouldn't be up to ten users. Our goal is to really grow the product, and this price structure doesn't allow us any room at all to even operate, never mind subsidize any new growth or feature development... So basically all that to say the pricing structure is not likely to change, however we may consider renaiming the versions. In terms of expansion, that's already fully planned. Basically you can upgrade to any of the networked versions. All you have to do is pay the difference. So if you purchase the SOHO version and then decide you need to upgrade to the Pro version (assuming no name changes), then all you need to pay is the difference in price between the Pro and SOHO versions. You don't pay the full price of the Pro version. Same as upgrading from the desktop version to any of the networked versions. Regards, Stephan Grenier Founder LandlordMax Software Inc. http://www.LandlordMax.com http://www.FollowSteph.com http://www.RealEstatePigeon.com http://www.BlogBlazers.com |
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