Have you ever just given something to a client for free?
What about just including or adding on services just because you thought it was the right thing to do?
If you are giving away security services without charging your clients for them, you might be putting yourself in a sticky situation.
You see, part of getting your clients on board with the changing security landscape is educating them on why they absolutely need additional defenses. If you either sold them an all-you-can-eat buffet of IT support and service, or simply added on security you thought critical to protecting their network without having a conversation or tying it back to a legitimate price, they more than likely don’t appreciate or understand why it’s there in the first place.
In those cases, if they were to have a breach or ransomware attack, they may hold you fully responsible.
The buffet is the perfect analogy here (at least how I approach buffets). When I go to a buffet, I hunt for the plates and then start loading item after item on an already full platter. I’m not really sure what’s going to be good and I try to try as much as I can.
I’m essentially diluting the value of any item on that plate in the anticipation that on average, the amount of food is going to satisfy my appetite.
Instead of understanding what that particular restaurant may specialize in—maybe fried chicken and banana pudding—I end up eating a lot of filler and not appreciating the really good items.
Now, imagine if you gave your client an all-you-can-eat option. Would they value all of your services equally? Maybe or maybe not.
They may appreciate a quick response time to solve a problem. They may also appreciate getting a new user up and running quickly.
But for certain items that aren’t as visible. Items like security controls. They may not be aware of the work it takes to protect their data and they may even dislike what you’ve put together for them because it slows down their workflows.
If you are offering a buffet and not getting your clients to understand why they need certain things—especially when it relates to their security, they may never appreciate what you’re doing for them.
Even if they don’t have an all-you-can-eat arrangement, they might still not appreciate what you’ve done unless they understand the costs involved and why it is necessary.
Sticking to a food analogy here, let’s say you decided to surprise your clients. You didn’t tell them this, but you upgraded the ingredients you used to be completely organic.
Maybe one or two would appreciate the difference, but mixed in with a bunch of ingredients, they might not really be able to tell the difference. I know some of you may naturally be able to appreciate the quality of good organic ingredients, but I must confess I’m not one of them.
If you didn’t tell me you changed your menu to completely focus on organic ingredients, I wouldn’t think twice. And even if you did, it might not change my opinion on what was served. Simply because I might not know why organic is better or appreciate the benefits behind the changes on the menu.
If you aren’t communicating what you’re serving up your clients when it comes to security offerings, you may be in a similar boat.
They might not understand what you are doing and might not appreciate the additional efforts to even know that you’re simply doing the right thing.
You are ending up eroding your margins and possibly putting your relationship at risk.
Educating your clients on why they need to both mentally and financially invest in security offerings is extremely important to getting them bought into a plan that works for them. A strategy and partnership rather than a liability.
I will be going through this exact topic THIS Friday at 12 PM ET-- Hidden Liability: How To Tell Your Clients Managed Services Doesn’t Include EVERYTHING
Register at www.galacticscan.com/friday
