Live Prompt Help Desk Support
A New Business Model
Our Approach
Over the past few years, there have been several entities that have elected to provide “back office” support for Agents.
The first is the Master Agent. The depth of this support varies from Master to Master.
In some cases, the paperwork to initiate orders is the extent of the support. In others the Master is providing a more well- rounded service including facilitating MACS and repairs. The Master in this case charges the Agent by deducting commission, usually 1-2%.
Within the last few years, supporting Agents has become its own stand alone business.
These companies provide a full range of support options including but not limited to developing, training and implementing social media strategies.
In both cases, the Agent will pay for support.
CRA, although also providing a service option for the Agent to pay, now offers a New Business Model. The customer pays for the support, not the Agent! This model enables the Agent to turn a cost center into a profit center. The benefits to the Agent are many:
- Residual Income
- White labeled service creates brand recognition
- Agent acquires an instant team to support its new customers.
- CRA will invoice the Agent’s customer of their behalf
- Much stickier customers
- Decreases churn
- Locks out the competition
- 100% penetration into the account
Instead of telling the customer “call me if you have any issues”, promising quality support when time and staff constraints make this nearly impossible, CRA’s model now makes it possible to deliver the promise of excellence without hiring a staff and investing upfront.
The goal for any Agent should always be to sell more and manage less. Now there is a real option for Agents to do just that.
The helpdesk offering is not a TEM solution. Any TEM product is designed to empower the customer to help themselves. It is a tool that encourages INdependence. The helpdesk model is designed to foster dependence! Our mission is for the customer to become as reliant as possible, in as many company levels as possible. The deeper the penetration into the organization, the longer it lasts, and the greater the revenue stream.
How to Sell Helpdesk Services
The most critical concept in successfully selling helpdesk services is to position this sale in front of any commodity sale. A commodity sale is any Telecom product, including products such as cloud computing. First, the customer must decide if they want to pay for “help”. If this is not presented in this order, the customer may become engrossed in discussing product and will view the discussion around helpdesk services as going backwards. The key is if they say “no”, to no longer continue to provide support for free. The customer should be told to utilize the 800# on the cover page of their invoice, for service. Quality support costs real monies and the customer has and will always understand that.
Ask questions, just as you would in any sales process. Do not assume a need based upon size. You will often be surprised that the small sized business is very interested in paying for support. Once you assess the needs, you can use savings generated from commodity sales to off-set some of the cost for support.
The easiest sale to make will be when the decision maker--we call the “purse”-- and the IT support--we call the “pain”-- is one and the same person. This occurs in the small to mid-sized business often. When they are separate individuals, the culture can play a big role in how quickly a decision is made and if a sale is possible. Specifically, if the IT employee is highly valued in the organization, the CFO will be more willing to spend on outsourcing the help and assign IT to higher initiatives more suited to their training and abilities. If that is not the case, the assumption may be that IT should simply work longer hours to get the job done.
The new Telecom sales entrepreneur quickly realizes that what they really want to convey to the customer is that they are an expert, a “consultant”, not just a broker who has a “consultative” approach, but a trusted advisor. The Agent wants to stand out, find a way to convey a deeper value to their customers. Are they selling expertise or selling commodity services, or both? How to market the business becomes just as challenging as how to define what the offering is. CRA is more than a helpdesk service. It defines the approach for each and every customer.
This approach--selling “help” first--enables the Agent to be what most have intended all along, without any upfront cost, any work, or any expertise. The result? More profit!