Can Too Much Self-Service be a Bad Thing?

Customer Prefer to Help Themselves

Where is the first place your customers go when they need help with your products?  Chances are they are searching for an answer to their question using Google, Bing or another search engine.  In a study of 150  technology users – both individual consumers and business professionals – ServiceXRG finds that 83% prefer to attempt to find an answer on their own with remainder indicating they go directly to the vendor of service provider for assistance.  Of the individuals that attempt to solve their own problems most (50.4%) are likely to search for an answer on the web using a search engine; A third (31.4%) will seek guidance from a friend or colleague; 15.7% will start their self-help exploration with vendors’ web sites and the remainder will rely on social networks for help. Read more

The Case For Dedicated Support Sales Teams

Technology services support and maintenance contracts have become an established and vital source of top-line corporate revenues. In fact, for many technology companies today, these contracts account for a third or more of total corporate revenues and, managed properly, deliver both a predictable and renewable revenue stream. Yet, despite the contribution of support and maintenance to financial viability and overall corporate health, companies’ sales processes and practices remain largely product-centric. Organizations must recognize the value that lies in developing best practices around their support sales process, including hiring sales teams dedicated to support and maintenance activities. Read more

Service Channel Strategy Imperatives

Technology vendors have long looked to channels to broaden their access to markets that expand their geographic reach and enhance their skills and resources. While many vendors form channel relationships to sell products, more than two-thirds (69.7%) of technology vendors surveyed for this report use channels to sell, deliver and renew support and maintenance services.

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Why You Need a Service Segmentation Strategy

A service-specific segmentation strategy provides insights into the needs and expectations of customers. As a result of this greater insight it is possible to better respond to the needs of unique customer segments and improve overall support sales and delivery effectiveness. Companies with service specific segmentation can efficiently allocate resources based on customer needs and relationship value. Further by providing offerings targeted at specific customer segments it is possible to improve sales effectiveness as measured by attach rates, and customer retention as measured by contract renewal rates.

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