How We Separate Ourselves from Other MSPs Through Customer Service

The MSP market is growing exponentially. According to a Global Managed Services Industry 2019 Market Research Report, the global managed services market is expected to reach USD296.38 billion in value in 2023.

It is not surprising as more and more companies realize that they can get enterprise-level IT services and solutions while saving on IT costs on both infrastructure and staff.

Unfortunately, with any growing industry, more and more players are coming out of the woodwork to join the party.

As a result, there is more competition, and the challenge of getting more clients became more difficult. As one of the top managed service providers in the country, we are continually looking for ways to separate ourselves from the pack.

One thing that we discovered that really works is excellent customer service. Sounds simple enough, right?

However, customer service is not as straightforward as you might think. With high-level IT technicians and specialists that are used to high-level terms and jargon, they may come off as elitist and snobbish to a non-technical customer.

So, the company takes specific steps to deliver excellent customer service to customers. It includes:

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Objective and Realistic Expectations

A lot of managed service providers will promise the sun and the moon to get a client on board. That is all well and good as long as you can deliver the sun and the moon. It is a common occurrence. MSPs promise fast database and systems migration, no downtimes as soon as the client signs up, quick turnaround on everything.

Well, it turns out that those are all talk that can’t be backed up by actual actions. The result, disappointed customers who want nothing more than to move on from that specific provider. What’s worse is that because of the bad experience, they may never trust other service providers as well.

Here in thinkIT Solutions, we start the partnership with clients through an objective evaluation of their current IT services to see vulnerabilities and areas for improvement. We also take into consideration other factors like type of industry, employee schedules, and other things that can affect the delivery of services. Once the evaluation is done, that is when we suggest realistic action plans that have to be approved by the client. It includes realistic timetables and expectations.

Open and Proactive Communications

There are a lot of managed service providers who only become visible to clients when there is something wrong going on. Their attitude is that of a fireman; you only ever remember them when your house is burning. That is all well and good, but it is not a recipe for a lasting relationship with customers.

Communications should start as soon as they have signed up to your company. thinkIT Solutions’ IT specialists do daily health checks and send these reports to the customers’ point of contact regularly. It lets the customer know that you are on top of everything and that your company is not slacking off on the job. You also want to educate your customers about the job that you are doing for them. This way, they will have more appreciation for what you do.

Last, you want your clients to be able to contact you on the channel of their choice. Whether it is through phone, email, chat, or social media, you have to always be accessible to them.

Regular Customer Service Training

A lot of managed service providers focus solely on the technical skills of their IT specialists that they forget to train them on how to interact with customers appropriately. You may think that these are all common sense, but you will be surprised that common sense is not all that common.

What we do is we provide regular training to our employees about how to properly talk to customers. It includes handling irate and angry clients. It is not perfect, but the practice goes a long way to helping IT specialist, who are usually notoriously introverts, express themselves positively to customers.

Resolve Issues as Fast as Possible

For all the things customer service can do to smoothen relationships with customers; in the end, results are all that matters.

Whether they were polite or mad when they escalated the problem does not matter. It is your company’s duty to manage, maintain, and support their IT services as your customers. Calmly address them and make realistic assurances. Take the complaints, concerns, and issues of your customers with grace and resolve them as quickly as you can.

Once everything is fine and dandy, you’ll see. Your clients will be thanking you profusely for a job well done.