https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
    • MSP 501 Information Center
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
    • MSP 501 Information Center
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

Strategy


Shutterstock

Customer Service Excellent

What Amazon Can Teach MSPs About Customer Service

  • Written by Jonathan Hartman
  • July 27, 2018
The time is now to focus on enhancing the client experience. Never has so much disruptive, transformational technology been available to service providers to solve customer problems.

The pressure to deliver a positive customer experience has never been greater. Real-time access to information and the ease of comparison shopping have elevated expectations and radically changed the buyer’s journey. How customers are treated has a profound effect on future transactions: Those whose problems are resolved with minimal effort are far more likely to repurchase goods or services and increase how much they spend. Do a great job, and they will reward you with more business. Here are some stats that prove it:

According to the Consumer Expectations in 2018 report from Avionos, 17 percent of consumers are willing to share even more personal information during the buying experience if it means Amazon can better anticipate their needs. Avionos’ 2018 Procurement Officer Report shows 78 percent of B2B buyers start their product searches on either Amazon or Google, and the growth of Amazon Business has led 65 percent of B2B buyers to make more business purchases through Amazon.

According to Walker Sands’ 2018 Future of Retail study, half of consumers ages 18-25, and 57 percent of those 26-35, receive one or two packages from Amazon per week, and just one in 10 consumers is concerned about Amazon gaining a monopoly.

Why is that? My take is, it’s the company’s maniacal emphasis on customer experience.

While channel companies may have a complicated relationship with Amazon because of its role as both partner and competitor, if you are looking for a customer experience role model in the digital realm, look no further. Amazon has redefined customer expectations in a way that is impossible to ignore. “Keeping up with the Bezos” is putting major pressure on companies in every industry, and the channel is no different. Whether you’re an MSP delivering remote services, an integrator focused on deployment projects or a product reseller, the customer experience is fundamental to any long-lasting relationship.

Not to mix my retailer metaphors, but channel partners need an “easy button” that their customers can press for a simplified buying experience, so that they can easily achieve their goals and feel good about what they have accomplished.

Harness the Amazon Effect

Amazon pioneered digital suggestive selling with its “customers who viewed this item also viewed” prompt. Amazon is also using artificial intelligence (AI) for product searches and fraud detection, among other functions.

“Machine learning drives our algorithms for demand forecasting, product search ranking, product and deals recommendations, merchandising placements, fraud detection, translations and much more,” wrote Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in a shareholder letter. “Though less visible, much of the impact of machine learning will be of this type — quietly but meaningfully improving core operations.”

Simplicity and satisfaction are at the heart of the Amazon customer experience. The company figured out long ago that the easier you make it for customers to do business with you, the more likely they are to keep doing so.

Yes, technology is foundational to a stellar customer experience, but only when you have the right client relationship. Technology alone can’t solve business problems. Partners need deep relationships with customers to understand the culture and personalities involved. 

For their part, customers must get to the true core of a problem by sharing with partners what’s causing them pain; otherwise, the desired business outcomes can’t be achieved, regardless of the technology.

By getting to know the customer as deeply as Amazon does, partners can help them in concrete ways, such as creating and maintaining user-friendly, responsive websites that are easily accessible from both computers and mobile devices. Well-run sites have to be supported by back-end systems that manage inventory, complete transactions and quickly deliver relevant information. Delivering all that is an opportunity to become indispensable.

Partners must collect and organize data about their customers to inform strategic decisions that strengthen the bond. Amazon seems to know what we need before we begin searching. MSPs collect plenty of data on their customers, thanks to the RMM and PSA systems they use to deliver services. The question is, how well they are we using that information?  MSPs – and channel companies in general – need to invest in areas such as advanced analytics, AI systems and mobile access to enhance the customer experience.

And don’t forget security: You can’t deliver a great customer experience if you fail to protect your customers’ data. Customers are less and less tolerant of a breach and won’t hesitate to pull the plug if one too many bugs (or worse) find their way into the network. When’s the last time Amazon apologized for losing credit-card data? 

Exactly my point.

So how can partners beat Amazon at its own game? User-friendly technology is key, but nothing replaces the personal touch. It’s the emotional aspect. People react intellectually to a hassle-free experience, but whether they come back to you is often an emotional decision. Any contact with customers in face-to-face meetings, on the phone or through email must strike the right tone. You must be responsive, listen and address their questions and problems to ensure a positive experience.

If contact with a human in your organization is off-putting to customers, the experience suffers. Make certain you are backing up the technology with great people skills; otherwise, you can’t truly deliver an excellent customer experience.

As vice president of sales for PlanetOne, Jonathan Hartman is responsible for driving sales initiatives, increasing revenue and closing record deals across the company’s growing nationwide partner base.

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Business Models Mobility & Wireless RMM/PSA Sales & Marketing Security Strategy

Most Recent


  • Rocket boosters
    Nerdio Puts Rocket Boosters on MSP Partnerd Partner Program
    Partnerd program ups the ‘nerd’ factor, providing the tools, education, and resources needed to succeed for MSPs.
  • MA merger acquisition
    Service Express Snaps Up Two Providers with Key IBM Cloud Expertise
    The acquisition comes amid ongoing M&A among managed service providers, including N-able and Node4.
  • GoTo Expands Mobile Device Management with Planned Purchase of Miradore
    The acquisition will allow for flexible end-to-end support of all devices for SMBs.
  • Catching cloud in net
    Node4 Is Growing, Acquires Microsoft Cloud Specialist risual
    MSP Node4 acquires risual to strengthen Microsoft Cloud capabilities and public sector footprint.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • USB drive
    A Coup and a Theft: Why MSPs Can’t Let Clients Get Lax About USB Security
  • Welcome Mat
    Ex-Telarus Exec Scott Forbush Leaves Upstack for PPT Solutions After 5 Months
  • Ransomware skull and crossbones
    JBS Did What it 'Needed to Do' with $11 Million Ransom Payment
  • hybrid clouds
    Nutanix, HPE Team on Hybrid, Multicloud via GreenLake

Upcoming Events

View all

MSP Summit

September 13, 2022 - September 16, 2022

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

May 1, 2023 - May 4, 2023

Galleries

View all

Microsoft Reveals 2022 Partner of the Year Awards

July 6, 2022

Channel People on the Move: AT&T, HPE, Google Cloud, Comcast, More

July 5, 2022

Missed June’s Cloud News? AWS, VMware, HPE, Google Cloud Made Headlines

July 5, 2022

Industry Perspectives

View all

The Role of Mentors and Sponsors in Advancing Your Tech Career

July 5, 2022

How to Make Embracing Change Part of Your Company Culture

July 1, 2022

How to Differentiate to Leverage 5G’s Revenue Opportunity

June 28, 2022

Webinars

View all

VEP Platform for Delivery of uCPE, SD-WAN and SASE

June 29, 2022

The Digital Worker: How to Empower Customers with a Flexible, Scalable VDI Solution to Enable Remote Work

June 30, 2022

Growing Partner Revenue and Customer Satisfaction with Power Management Services

June 23, 2022

White Papers

View all

Work Goes Remote – (and Other Top ITOps Trends)

May 25, 2022

The New Bottom Line: How MSPs Can Meet the Healthcare Crisis While Evolving Their Businesses

April 19, 2022

How to build a Security Operations Center (on a budget)

April 4, 2022

Channel Futures TV

View all

Vonage a ‘Single Communications Stack Provider’ for Partners, Customers

IBM, Partners and the $1 Trillion Hybrid Cloud Opportunity

June 26, 2022

Agents Share ‘Secrets,’ Industry Opportunity

May 11, 2022

AT&T, Microsoft, Cisco, ThreatLocker on Unlocking Partner Potential

May 6, 2022

Twitter

ChannelFutures

.@GetNerdio has significantly revamped its Partnerd partner program, originally introduced in May of 2021.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

July 6, 2022
ChannelFutures

With planned acquisition of @MiradoreLtd, small and midsized businesses can now partner with @GoTo for a one-stop-s… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

July 6, 2022
ChannelFutures

Read about @ScienceLogic's two new hires. dlvr.it/STRqwM https://t.co/BWeZo4fXbs

July 6, 2022
ChannelFutures

Breaking down the 2022 #Microsoft @msPartner of the Year Awards. dlvr.it/STRlVC https://t.co/HspwIXREp2

July 6, 2022
ChannelFutures

RT @MSP_Summit: Today's #MSPSummit & Channel Leadership Summit #SpeakerSpotlight is on @Len_DiCostanzo, CEO of MSPToolkit! Learn from one o…

July 6, 2022
ChannelFutures

Global software company @Nable has acquired @Spinpanel, a multi-tenant Microsoft 365 management and automation plat… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

July 6, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@nitelusa weighed in on @ABIResearch's latest study. dlvr.it/STRVYg https://t.co/CudmYUiLjz

July 6, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@Zoom's hiring of Brandon Knight brings aboard one of the most respected contact center experts in the agent chann… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

July 6, 2022

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X