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OP said: > It's frustrating that I need to wait for our calendars to align and to sit on a call to do this. It is 2023, there should be a self serve tier for

OP said: > It's frustrating that I need to wait for our calendars to align and to sit on a call to do this. It is 2023, there should be a self serve tier for all SaaS products. A call sales only service smells like an MVP to me.

SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
A "call sales only" service can reflect that the company hasn't had time to build a signup flow, or it can reflect a reasoned decision that a large number of low-usage customers won't be helpful for the bottom line. Depending on your infrastructure and the level of support you want to offer, it's easy for small customers to cost more money than you'll ever make from them.
- ipaddr 4y ago
  You could charge more if that's the concern
  - SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
    B2B pricing models are typically artifical constructs only weakly related to the costs of providing the service. If you're targeting medium to large clients processing sensitive data, for example, you might start off by just provisioning a VM for each customer while still charging per API call. The price that you want to charge your target audience (or at least your starting point for negotiations with them) will end up much lower than what you'd need to make money off the hobbyist making 20 calls a month. I wouldn't say this is an unsolvable problem. Sometimes you can build the product in a way that better aligns with your desired pricing model, and other times you can set up some implicit price discrimination in a way that feels more honest than scammy. But is that where your company's limited time and effort is best spent? Often the answer is no.
ozim 4y ago
Who is paying for that? Providing self service tier is not free for the company. You still get support tickets from free tier users. It is also not only building self service flow but maintaining it updating code/documentation. Let alone that it is common knowledge that free users are the worst.
- zinekeller 4y ago
  Who said to provide service for free? The OP didn't even hint about that, in fact from reading the title it seems that they are willing to shove money if there were clear pricing.
  - ozim 4y ago
    Fair enough Let’s rephrase it. Not free but self service paid - who is going to sign up for 5k starting fee and then 1k/month? That is still fairly low for enterprise tier. What people expect is self service tier $100 a month or less. Which by corporate standards is essentially free tier. When we wanted for our company get specialist from one vendor that has free tier they quoted $5k/day. My main point still stands.
    - quickthrower2 4y ago
      Yes depends on the business model. For some 10k * $100/m customer might be of interest, if there is little support required. I think for a simple "API" type service this could work. For others they want 100 * $10k/m and they are offering a rich service with in depth support. A middle ground is provide indicative pricing for enterprise plans, provide documentation so the end users can decide if this will work for them before contacting sales.
    - carlosjobim 4y ago
      Your main point does not stand at all. There are tons of companies selling expensive products and services while listing their prices out in the open.

SpicyLemonZest 4y ago

A "call sales only" service can reflect that the company hasn't had time to build a signup flow, or it can reflect a reasoned decision that a large number of low-usage customers won't be helpful for the bottom line. Depending on your infrastructure and the level of support you want to offer, it's easy for small customers to cost more money than you'll ever make from them.

ipaddr 4y ago
You could charge more if that's the concern
- SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
  B2B pricing models are typically artifical constructs only weakly related to the costs of providing the service. If you're targeting medium to large clients processing sensitive data, for example, you might start off by just provisioning a VM for each customer while still charging per API call. The price that you want to charge your target audience (or at least your starting point for negotiations with them) will end up much lower than what you'd need to make money off the hobbyist making 20 calls a month. I wouldn't say this is an unsolvable problem. Sometimes you can build the product in a way that better aligns with your desired pricing model, and other times you can set up some implicit price discrimination in a way that feels more honest than scammy. But is that where your company's limited time and effort is best spent? Often the answer is no.

ozim 4y ago

Who is paying for that? Providing self service tier is not free for the company. You still get support tickets from free tier users. It is also not only building self service flow but maintaining it updating code/documentation. Let alone that it is common knowledge that free users are the worst.

zinekeller 4y ago
Who said to provide service for free? The OP didn't even hint about that, in fact from reading the title it seems that they are willing to shove money if there were clear pricing.
- ozim 4y ago
  Fair enough Let’s rephrase it. Not free but self service paid - who is going to sign up for 5k starting fee and then 1k/month? That is still fairly low for enterprise tier. What people expect is self service tier $100 a month or less. Which by corporate standards is essentially free tier. When we wanted for our company get specialist from one vendor that has free tier they quoted $5k/day. My main point still stands.
  - quickthrower2 4y ago
    Yes depends on the business model. For some 10k * $100/m customer might be of interest, if there is little support required. I think for a simple "API" type service this could work. For others they want 100 * $10k/m and they are offering a rich service with in depth support. A middle ground is provide indicative pricing for enterprise plans, provide documentation so the end users can decide if this will work for them before contacting sales.
  - carlosjobim 4y ago
    Your main point does not stand at all. There are tons of companies selling expensive products and services while listing their prices out in the open.