Henry Ford once said, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” Keep this in mind when packaging your IT solutions. By not giving potential clients options, you’re reinforcing your authority in the field. You’re essentially telling prospects this: I know where you need to be, and this is the only way to get there.
At TruMethods, our members come to us with questions about packaging and pricing all the time — for various reasons. To survive, you need to build your pricing and packing around your Super Power — your competitive advantage — if you want to increase monthly recurring revenue (MRR) as an IT provider.
When MSPs with several service level offerings come to me for advice on packaging and pricing, I point out the obvious to them: You’re spreading yourself too thin. If you’re putting extensive time and effort into your service packages, you’ll bleed time, resources, and energy unless you limit the number of options you offer. If I still haven’t convinced you, there are a few other aspects of your business to consider.
Don’t undercut your own credibility
You shouldn’t offer different service levels because it undercuts your own credibility as an IT provider and confuses clients about what the best IT solution is for their businesses. By only selling a single package, you’re telling a prospect that you’ve identified the best path to a successful IT partnership. The best solution is the one you’re offering.
Remember: Your clients are signing up for the business value you provide. Be upfront with what’s in your services agreement. Be crystal clear about it, and keep the language in the document to a minimum. The agreement should be only one or two pages.
Your offering impacts your entire business
Your offering is at the center of your business. It affects the following key areas: your ability to sell to new customers, your ability to deliver quality service, and your probability of growing your customer base. Imagine how multiple offerings would impact your business. It would be tough to sustain each of the three areas I just mentioned. There would be too many variables as a result, and it would be tough to increase MRR.
What should your one package look like?
Your package should include what you sell to each customer and what promises you make to deliver IT solutions that meet their needs. Show how what you’re going to do will impact your clients’ businesses. What you’re doing and how you’re doing it isn’t as important to customers as what they’re getting out of it. Focus more on the people impacted by your services and the positive results they’ll experience. When you’re able to do this, your IT service offering becomes more appealing to potential customers.
Many MSPs struggle with sales, especially when they’re unsure of how to price and package their services. And there are a lot of IT providers out there losing potential customers as a result of mistakes in their packaging of IT service offerings. Next time, when you’re unsure of how to package your offering, think back to Ford’s words. If you can’t remember his quote, consider the following: Less is more.
Photo: Overcrew/Shutterstock.com
