For many small and medium business prospects, their technology mindset starts out with the “if it’s broken, then we’ll fix it” attitude. However, we all know that it costs much less to provide proactive maintenance to maximize business continuity than it does to deliver reactive, emergency support. That said, It's time to help your prospects and clients adopt a different attitude – one that considers Managed Services. But getting some business owners to change these attitudes is not an easy task for some Managed Services Providers. How to do it effectively can be just as frustrating a riddle for providers to solve as it can be for business owners to understand.
Here are some tips to help your clients understand how Managed Services are both efficient and effective for a growing business:
Highlight the Costs
While many business owners don’t feel the need to fix it until it’s broken, they do not understand that they actually spend more money working that way. The costs of their current monthly fix-it’s are actually running higher than regular, preventative maintenance fee plans.
Cover the Insurance Factor
Clients may not think proactively enough about what might happen should they lose their main server until the day it actually happens. Inform your clientsof the business continuity risks and what could happen in the event of a server failure. Losing information, losing valuable work time, and the possibility of even more long-term business damage may strike the right cord.
Recovery Costs Big-Time
Be sure to mention the recovery costs that could be incurred in the event of a real emergency. From labor charges to lost man hours, recovery costs can be double or triple what a regular maintenance plan can run a business owner.
Prove the Benefits of Proactive Measures
By explaining the benefits of proactive maintenance measures, a prospect or client is more likely to understand that they will be saving money by maintaining their technology in a proactive manner, rather than fixing it reactively over and over again. Instead of paying higher rates to fix it after it breaks, they will be paying considerably less to keep it from breaking in the first place.
Fear of the Unknown
While many business owners are cost-conscious, they are also savvy enough to understand that an all-inclusive plan is beneficial. With most flat-fee IT maintenance plans, a business will not have to pay out more money if something does go wrong with a a covered user, system or service, allowing them to feel the security of being able to budget for their IT maintenance costs month after month and expecting no extraordinary fluctuations for maintenance services.
Often, it is not that the business owners do not want to change the way they handle their technology, it is simply that they do not understand there is a better way of maintaining the critical systems and services that power their business until it is pointed out plainly.
Changing your clients' perception of flat-fee, proactive Managed Services plans can be achieved when presented properly.
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Erick Simpson
MSP University
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