Some managed service providers (MSPs) believe that giving things away will lead to sales. Why do some MSPs give away technology assessments? Who was the consultant that charged these service providers a fee and then told them to give away their services? Or was this decision self-inflicted? Are they convincing themselves a “free assessment” as an application process towards acquiring customers makes sense?
Simple answer: It does not. Don’t be the MSP who believes providing clients with free services and doing a good job will get you their business. Their business is getting things for free; they gave you the business alright. People who demand things for free should never be considered a prospect for managed IT services. Doing work for free is a hobby, and no one wants their managed IT service provider to be hobbyists, do they?
This “first it’s free” approach when delivering managed IT services is a quest at outrunning cost instead of catching sales. Sooner or later the bus of debt will run over those being chased by their heavy cost of lack of confidence.
So now you sold the assessment. Congratulations! But remember, managed services are about processes. When you get consumed by the excitement of the deal, you can get swallowed by the complexities in delivering IT if you go off course. Stick to your work scope and your defined processes. The assessment is the first deliverable of your managed services package.
The assessment should not be a proposal. The job of the assessment is to clarify the current circumstances, potential problems, and threats. When the customer buys an assessment, they are paying for an education. The service provider should deliver an unbiased assessment, not a litany of all the great, wonderful things its company would be more than happy to sell. If the customer paid for an assessment, then deliver an assessment. Deliver it with unmatched remarkability.
In managed IT services, everything must start with an assessment, a paid assessment. So if your marketing slick has the words “free assessments,” throw them in the trash before they cost you more money. Then stop at Walmart on the way home pick up a black marker and cross those words off the service vehicle.
Believe in your deliverable. The serious prospects you are looking for are expecting to and will pay for an assessment. When they do, deliver an assessment that’s not simply a printout of information gathered by an RMM tool. Remember, don’t deliver a proposal. Deliver an assessment.
Your capabilities in the delivery of assessments will be what defines your managed IT services deliverable; it will also establish your company’s reputation as a top-rated MSP. It’s the assessments’ value that will drive your prospect toward allowing you to remedy and manage its technology platform. There is nothing free in managed services. What you charge for your services is directly correlated to how you and your prospects value what you do. Giving things away is a crutch to hold up a weak deliverable.
When managed IT service providers focus on paying customers, they will also be focusing on being more remarkable. It’s in the results of your remarkability that your prospect and your clients are more than happy to compensate for services rendered. The best marketing program is when your customers experience your remarkability. When you put being remarkable ahead of marketing, customers will come to you. When you do it backward, you will always chase customers.
Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on the P4PHotel blog.
