Now let me qualify this statement and say that it is not that good levels of service aren’t important, just that they are not something you can ever think of as a marketable USP, or something to lead with on your customer literature; and let me tell you why and shine some light on the folly of thinking that it is.
At the moment we are working with many of you, building “Value Propositions” to define marketable USPs and then taking your product or services offering to targeted vertical markets, but for those of you who we are not working with, I promise you will never see leading with good service, as a strategy from us.
All of us in the industry know that getting network infrastructure to be 100% reliable, when building on foundations built by others, is impossible, thus our 24-7-365 support packages for customers, but trumpeting that we will always be there to support the network that a customer has just paid handsomely for, is quite frankly not what our customers expect and thus it does not resonate with them.
Let me tell you why; it is linked to perception and how the world is changing, and basically it is all down to customer expectation. To draw an analogy, let’s draw a comparison between ourselves and the car manufacturers; look out of the window at the car you are driving, it is highly complex piece of engineering that you paid a lot of money for, it is capable of going at least 12,000 – 15,000 miles between visits to the dealership for servicing and at no point did the manufacturer concerned advertise with leading statements that “It Will Start Every Morning” or “Look At Us, We’re Giving You A 3 Year Warranty!”
As the owner you expect that it will start every morning, in fact you would be very disappointed if it didn’t, and if it didn’t you would not want to be hearing all about the complexities of the internal combustion engine, you would expect it to be fixed! And PDQ!
This is the world we now live in and your customers are exactly the same, they do not want to know about problems, they have paid you handsomely to deliver and they expect things to work! Their car, their smart phone and a host of other technological devices will not be letting them down, so they don’t expect their IT to be letting them down either; and if it does, they will EXPECT it to be put right; thus the fact that it will be put right, is nothing to shout about in their eyes, it will be expected.
Thus the folly of expecting to lead with “Good Customer Service” or “Excellent Response Times”, it is just isn’t something that will come as a surprise. It would be akin to advertising that your chicken sandwich has chicken in it!
Like a lot of people reading this post, you may be looking at the challenging market conditions, (which will only get more challenging), wondering just how you start the highly specialised process of targeting new markets and acquiring new business, (which will invariably necessitate you removing an existing supplier), and key to this will be building value with your target audience in what you have to offer, which must be far better than they already have, otherwise why should they bother?
Part of the answer to this process is identifying target verticals where you have a marketable USP, something of value to your chosen target audience! So just how do you do this? Well this ability to target and obtain new business is a skill in short supply, as explored in my recent post; MSP’S and VAR’s,,,,,, Just Where Is Your Immediate Skills Shortage?
Luckily help is available to the owners of MSP’s and VAR’s looking for the answers to the challenges that growing sales pipelines and delivering sustained growth present. My fellow directors and I have over 40 years combined experience in growing businesses, including growing an MSP from £900k to £3.5 Million turnover during the last recession, and as such, can deliver sales, operational, business development and marketing experience that is IT sector specific, straight to your door.
Working on a flexible basis around the needs of your business and supplying the skills and expertise required in order to succeed on your behalf, we have already constructed and delivered highly targeted sales, marketing and business development campaigns for MSP’s and VAR’s, building bespoke product offerings including public Wi-Fi services, secure cloud based hosted desktops and traditional IT infrastructure services, for companies looking expand into the Pharmaceuticals, Law, Independent Schools, Recruitment, Accountancy and Financial Services sectors, to name just a few.
In many cases we build and run the campaigns from the ground floor up, operating as outsourced sales and business development resource partners, or alternatively just build the highly targeted and effective marketing campaigns required to feed your sales operation and to drive growth to your business.
We know how to build these models, they are “Current” and continually evolving, we know how to target and speak to the decision makers in your target markets and most importantly, we know how to grow your business and make you money!
If this post has resonated with you and you would like to explore how we can help you achieve your growth aspirations, then please do not hesitate to contact myself or my colleague Jane Gatfield on 0118 947 1010, or email us at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk or janeg@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk
For more information about our services please visit www.virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk
To read more posts covering all aspects of sales, marketing and business development for MSP’s and VAR’s, please visit our blog; to http://it-business-growth-strategies.blogspot.co.uk/
DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER
This post forms a small portion of a white paper I have written covering The Art of The Approach, a specific sales based white paper written for the IT Sector. To request a copy please email me directly at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk
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