Selling technology is simple.
Its constantly evolving nature means there’s always a new device or solution to take to market.
And in an ‘always-on’ age, in which digitisation is key, Managed Service Providers and Value-Added Resellers also benefit from enterprises’ voracious demand for the latest bottom-line-boosting innovation.
But the profit margin in pure technology resale – whether it’s hardware OR software – can be wafer-thin and the proverbial race to the bottom is seemingly never-ending.
In addition, enterprises are rarely fixated on the nuts and bolts of their communications stack.
Instead, they (rightly) obsess about ‘outcomes’, such as quality, reliability and security.
Meaning, for MSPs and VARs, service assurance is where the new juice is at.
In short, promising to deliver a service, defining how that service will support a customer’s business and then showing that service is being delivered.
Do that, and you build trust.
Build trust, and you have a sticky customer, more likely to deliver you increased margin.
The service relationship squeeze
Too many enterprises have become dis-trusting because they perceive that their service providers have become unreliable.
The ubiquity of the technology being sold has led to increased competition and MSPs being over-stretched or under-resourced. They may struggle to give each customer the attention they would like to, until a loud problem occurs.
Most MSPs are not easily able to provide the required performance reporting transparency to communicate with customers in the limited contact time they have.
Traditional network monitoring tools do not provide easily understandable metrics which can be shared with non-technical staff and customers.
It is often necessary for Service Managers and Sales Executives to lean on expensive engineers and operations staff to obtain this kind of data, and thus, efficient and clear analysis of service data, if available at all, is restricted to their largest customers.
“Recent increased commoditisation means that some providers have insufficient margin to provide a good service,” says Martin Saunders, Product Director at UK Service Assurance experts Highlight.
“Also, solutions and services have become increasingly sophisticated and complex, sometimes rendering historical SLAs no longer relevant and therefore MSPs are unable to provide a satisfactory service”
This squeeze on MSPs’ ability to satisfy their customers has led to the acceptance of a high rate of churn, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
A shift in focus, not just technology
Richard Thomas, CEO and Founder at Highlight, says trust should be present at the very start of a relationship and that, like any relationship, communication is the key.
“If a customer knew from the outset that a channel existed through which they could have a clear view of performance for the duration of a contract, they would be more trusting,” he says.
Highlight’s Service Assurance Platform is a clever and affordable way to provide MSPs and enterprises with that shared view of their network performance, transforming complex network data into an appealing, flexible and readily understandable web portal.
Its fully-transparent nature affords both MSP and customer a 24/7 ‘warts-and-all’ running commentary on delivery against SLA – just the kind of openness upon which trust thrives.
However, although deploying a tool such as Highlight can have a significant impact, combining that strategy with a cultural shift in thinking can really deliver tangible results.
“MSPs should also shoot for an attitudinal change,” says Thomas.
“They should not see themselves as a background entity or an emergency backstop.
“They should adopt a mindset that everything they do is in the context of delivering a service.
“They then move away from thinking about a stack of shiny new technology to thinking in terms of how it helps their customer’s business meet its aims.
“This leads to a much better conversation that the customer can relate to – and a conversation with two sides is what counts”
So, maybe swap selling low-margin technology for selling trust?
Perhaps a little less easy, but surely more rewarding.
“Service Assurance is the key differentiator, both to help win new business, but also to help retain business at a margin that’s acceptable,” adds Saunders.
“With an effective service assurance strategy, backed up with the best service assurance platform on the market, providers can stop selling the latest shiny technology and start selling effective solutions to customer problems, for which customers will pay a lot more.”
To learn more about how Highlight can help you get more from your customer relationships, visit www.highlight.net
