What’s So Sexy about Selling Supplemental Services?
What’s so sexy about selling supplemental services? The short answer: absolutely nothing. However, selling supplemental services that are closely tied to your managed services platform,such as help desk and Level 1 support–for your client or for an IT department directly–can be extremely lucrative for MSPs and here’s why.
Not only are these and other add-on services in high demand with small and midsize businesses (SMBs), but they also present MSPs with much higher margin opportunities—in some cases, nearly 100 percent markup—and are a great point of entry for hesitant IT departments. These services also add greater business value to the client without (when done correctly) adding unnecessary cost to the MSP.
So why aren’t more MSPs selling supplement services? The truth is, many find it difficult to deliver the 24×7 services customers want. Others may lack the required capabilities or relationships, so they turn down lucrative business opportunities. And some venture to take on the extra service commitments only to find that they stretch resources too thin and cause disruption, since many calls come in during non-business hours.
To offer the best portfolio of supplemental services, MSPs should partner with vendors that provide proactive, as well as managed service, options, and that have the ability to extend their services to the IT department. Doing so will provide the MSP with the flexibility needed to scale the service offering to customers’ needs while offering a predictable cost that can be accounted for month after month and easily marked up.
Other key benefits to selling supplemental services include the ability to:
- Build a bigger book of business without having to do the heavy lifting around maintaining a 24/7 service delivery model
- Develop and sustain recurring revenue streams
- Manage technical labor resources more efficiently
- Improve customer satisfaction
- Increase profitability
The bottom-line for MSPs: Although not a sexy sell, supplemental services are a necessity and provide a number of opportunities to build and sustain recurring revenue streams and improve service and customer satisfaction, while increasing your profitability. It’s not a sale that happens overnight, so take the sales process slowly, build on your relationships, and sell one service at a time.
Frank Colletti is vice president of sales for N-able by SolarWinds, a global leader in remote monitoring and management (RMM) and service automation software. In this role, he is responsible for building the sales infrastructure and culture that supports the company’s managed service provider (MSP) partners worldwide, including new customer acquisition and vertical market efforts. With more than 16 years of experience in sales leadership, Colletti brings an in-depth understanding of sales and MSP expertise to N-able. Since joining the company in 2003, he has made significant contributions to the success and year-over-year growth of N-able and its MSP partner community.
