A few years ago, I met with the owner of a security integration company at a Starbucks. This was an introductory meeting to discuss my company’s services and how we could help his company’s sales performance… and it looked promising, until he said this: “I don’t understand why my sales people don’t just tell their customers that we’re going to host and manage their access control, video, or whatever – anything. How easy can it be?”
In 12 seconds I knew this was a disaster waiting to happen and we didn’t move forward. This owner was committing the #1 mistake made by leaders and owners hoping to increase their RMR… he didn’t appreciate how hard it is.
It’s not easy.
For one, it creates a ton of change for your customer. Even if your point of contact loves the concept of moving from a break-fix service scenario to a predictable maintenance agreement, someone in accounting or purchasing may hate it because it changes their world. Most people hate change … and shifting from systems to a service model creates change for your customers.
Secondly, it creates a ton of change for your sales people. Their quoting process changes, their commissions change, their messaging changes, their lack of conflict with their customer changes - their world changes… and they hate change.
I can write for 10 days straight about shifting your business from a project-based company into a services company, and how to selling more recurring revenue … I really could write about this forever. However, if leadership does not buy into the difficulty of this challenge, none of my other ideas will matter.
So, what can you do? If you’re an owner, get out in the field for six months to see how hard it is to sell these services. I mean six months because you’ll see an early perception of success and think I’m wrong; but those success stories usually get beaten in the committee meetings. Six months … then give me a call.
