It’s easy to sell value-added services.
To align your support offering to your clients vision, to present a service that ticks all the boxes.
And yet so often the service-dream isn’t deliverable. A classic case of over-promising and under-delivering – and it can be catastrophic.
Being unable to deliver those services your client confidently bought into can have a lasting effect on your business relationship and any new opportunities. The minute your customer questions the value that they were promised, whether it be field services, remote support, consultancy services or any other value-added support, is the moment you have to start working to retain that client.
I have seen this happen often.
Sales teams (in the main) selling everything from slightly ‘embellished’ services, to those that aren’t practically possible to deliver, to those that don’t even exist!
Fantastic for those quick (and profitable) wins but at what long-term cost?
When businesses don’t deliver the services promised, Sales teams have to switch from revenue-generators to customer-retainers. Not only does it mean your expensive sales resources aren’t working on new business generation, it means they’re actively working to not lose the business money.
Far from ideal.
Then there’s the risk to your reputation and your most stable revenue stream (yes, service!) falling off a cliff.
My advice?
Sell only what you can confidently deliver. And if you can’t compete with what you can confidently deliver, it’s time to invest in your Service organisation – in your systems, processes and people – to develop something you can really stand-by (and shout about!)
Trust me, it will buy you customer loyalty and renewed business.
For customers who have been misled before? Study the case studies, call the references, interview the service providers. Do you due diligence and you’ll find there are some exceptionally capable service providers who can deliver what they promise.
It’s not rocket-science; deliver what you sell and sell what you can deliver.
