Another day, another few meetings with folks working on different aspects of their business of selling IT stuff as a service.
I am now very much convinced that being absolutely precise in what services you offer (and which ones you don't) correlates well with overall business success.
But why does this appear to be difficult for many SPs to get right?
It's A Noisy World Out There
Everyone is selling something. Lots of generic and largely meaningless words tossed around. Jargon is everywhere.
As a result, many of us have become adept at filtering out what we perceive as background noise.
I don't know about you, but hardly a day goes by without getting 6 or 7 email pitches that don't really speak to me, and usually about 2 or so "cold calls" that ring on my desk that I'm dumb enough to pick up.
I can't recall what any of them were about. They never make it past my noise filter.
Try These On For Size
Now, in this noisy world, how are you describing what you do? How good is it at cutting through the noise? Go take a look at your web page, or your latest marketing collateral. Look at it as would a customer or prospect.
What do you see? All of these have been gleaned from various web properties I go look at.
Old school: "IT solutions provider" -- now, really, what the heck does that mean?
New school: "robust, enterprise-grade IT infrastructure for demanding applications" -- OK, now I have a good idea of what you think you do well.
Old school: "hosting and co-lo services" -- sounds pretty pedestrian, no?
New school: "modern, efficient data centers that offer the utmost in availability, security and protection" -- wow, that sounds cool, doesn't it?
Old school: "cloud services on demand" -- since no one is really sure what a cloud is, you're already in trouble!
New school: "elastic computing, network and storage resources that are pay-per-use" -- well, that's a bit clearer, isn't it?
Now, given your particular background, you might dismiss all of this as "just marketing stuff", but before you do, let's remember that part of marketing is clearly communicating your value proposition.
People don't buy what they don't clearly understand. And if you can do that cleanly and efficiently (without a bunch of expensive sales calls, meetings and workshops), you'll come out way ahead.
Barriers To Being Precise
Sometimes, I meet SPs who are basically unsure of what their unique value proposition might be, or exactly why it might be interesting to a prospect. That sort of uneasy gestalt leads to generic and vague language being used to describe the various offerings.
It reads like gloop, frankly speaking.
If this sounds like you, there are all sorts of consultancies that can help you work through that sort of positioning muddle in a day or so. It's a good investment since it helps on so many different levels. And sometimes you need an outsider to guide you through the process. BTW, I do that sort of thing on behalf of our partners occasionally.
Other times, there's a fear of not appealing to everyone. The result is a vague and expansive offering designed to be as broad and inclusive as possible just so you can attract as many prospects as possible.
Unfortunately, this sort of thinking tends to be self-defeating in several ways.
First, since you haven't been clear about what you do better than anyone else, you tend to get people who aren't quite sure what they need, or why they need it.
You spend a lot of time in what I call "pre-sales therapy", helping them figure out what they want, constructing the business case, helping to sell it internally, negotiating a special set of contracts, etc.
That's an expensive hit-and-miss proposition, especially for an SP that wants a standardized and repeatable business model.
Second, by trying to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to almost no one. Face it, if someone came into your office and said "I can do anything you need, and I'll be really good at it as well!", you'd tend to be a bit skeptical, no?
The Value Of Precision
An investment in being extremely precise in your offers and your overall positioning seems to pay benefits in multiple regards.
It's easier to describe who you are and what you do. It's easier to compare and contrast yourself against various competitors and alternatives. You'll find qualified prospects far easier, and keep the unqualified ones away.
Your infrastructure and processes will line up nicely behind the external offers, lowering costs and increasing efficiencies. Sales training will become easier, as will generating marketing materials. You'll find partners who want to work with you to complement what they do, and vice versa.
Precision is good, as far as I can see. The more precise, the better.
And, if you really feel the need to throw a wide net out there, have a standardized bucket of "custom services" that have a more consultative and/or tailored feel to them.
Even imprecision can be done precisely :-)
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