5. Clients
Thanks for joining us again today for episode 5 of the Break-Fix to MSP guide. Today we are going to talk about clients, customers, patrons or whatever you choose to call them. Personally I prefer clients.
There are of course two types of clients, those you already have and work with and those who you currently don’t work with. Let’s have a quick look at both.
New Clients
In some respects this is simpler, when speaking to prospective clients you can show them the clear pricing that you will have defined. It’s all you can eat, fixed fee based upon the tier they choose. (If indeed you have tiers).
However, even for new clients you need to be able to demonstrate exactly what the service looks like. This begins with the pricing matrix of course, but then you need to explain the benefits of the services you are offering.
The bottom line is that most of your clients won’t care about what tools/systems you use, they won’t really be interested in how you deliver the service. What they are interested in is having secure and reliable access to the IT systems so they can get on with doing their own job.
Existing Clients
I think this is more problematic for MSPs (and I will now be referring to us as one) - Your current clients may be happy with the reactive support they are receiving and might not want to move to the new method.
The first question you need to consider here is, does that matter? Are you happy to keep on clients on the break-fix model or will you stop working with them if they don’t transition to the MSP model? Most MSPs in my experience still do some break-fix work for some clients and there is nothing at all wrong with that.
Demonstrate Value
One thing you will have to get used to in the world of MSPs is showing value, and this begins right here. Explain to your clients what the new world will look like. Explain that there will be no unknown costs to enable the client to budget better.
In addition to this, explain the extra value you will be adding. The extra security measures to keep them safe and the benefits of patching systems etc will all help the clients understand the reason for the change.
You have an advantage with existing clients as you will hopefully have a good working relationship so will be able to discuss your plans with them and hopefully they will be receptive to change.
Show Costs
It’s also good to show costs, have a list of what a client has paid over the previous 12 months and it may be a very bumpy list. The new model will smooth that out and may be less expensive for the client, so if this is the case, be sure to show them.
One thing to remember is that you don’t have to do it all at once, bring on a few new clients onto the MSP contract and see how it goes, convert a couple of break-fix clients too, but don’t worry too much about getting everyone on the same billing from day one.
I think that’s enough for today, I certainly feel like i’ve typed clients enough so let’s leave it there.
Next week we will discuss the onboarding process for new clients and for clients who are moving from their old break-fix relationship to a fixed fee.
Until then,
Chris
