Selling an IT service contract to your clients is a great way to ensure consistent, regular income for your IT business.
Most clients, however, will want to “try you out” before signing up to a long-term agreement, and will be likely to give you one or more small tasks before committing.
This article provides some tips on progressing from these ad-hoc projects to the sale of a full IT service contract.
Perform One-Off Assignments Perfectly
No client will wish to sign up to an IT service contract if the client hasn’t been completely satisfied with your services on smaller jobs.
Treat the first assignment that you do for each client as an extended interview. Follow up on your work, seek feedback, and check that the client is completely satisfied.
Highlight Savings and Benefits
Often, the certainty of regular income will allow you to offer your services to contracted customers at slightly lower rates.
If clients are beginning to give you work with increasing regularity, make it clear that they could save money by switching to an IT service contract.
Also, highlight any additional benefits that contract customers enjoy—priority on emergency call-outs, purchasing advice, and anything else that your company may offer.
Produce a Proposal
Your clients are likely to be busy and unlikely to commit to a long-term IT service contact as the result of a quick conversation.
Follow up your suggestion with a detailed written proposal that they can consider in their own time. After you have handed over the proposal, you have a reason to follow it up with a scheduled call or meeting.
Producing a well-written, tailored proposal for a prospective client shows that you take your business seriously. Over time, you can tweak the proposal to increase your chances of a successful sale.
How do you go about selling a service contract? Share your tactics in the comments box.
And to follow-through on the concepts introduced in this post, be sure to download your free copy of the special report on IT Service Contract Secrets for Getting More Repeat Clients and Recurring Service Revenue.
Creative Commons Image Source: flickr thetejon
Topics:- Managed Service Provider MSP