Introduction
In today's business environment, managed service providers (MSPs) are doing more than just managing the day-to-day operation of their client's IT infrastructure. They are also helping organizations stay current with the latest tools, trends, and industry best practices to remain competitive and succeed in their field. However, staying relevant to these clients is challenging despite all these activities, and you risk losing them to the competition.
Client relationship management (CRM) is crucial to running a successful MSP business and excelling as an MSP; To achieve this, you need to create a scalable business model that prioritizes your client's success at the center of everything you do.
This means focusing on customer service, technical expertise, security, and proactive maintenance to deliver your clients the highest level of service and value. Concentrating on your client's needs and continuously improving your service offerings can build solid and long-term relationships that benefit your MSP business in the long run.
Most Managed Service Providers cannot afford to get it wrong on the client's face as the business model relies heavily on income that comes from clients, which makes being a managed service provider a challenging job…..or is it?
Now, while every job has its technicalities and complexities, one thing we can all agree makes a considerable difference is delivering on client expectations and satisfaction.
As an MSP, your client-facing team is the heart of your business. They are responsible for interacting with your clients daily, addressing their IT needs, and ensuring that they are satisfied with the services you provide. A strong client-facing team will help you build and maintain strong client relationships, which is crucial for the success of your MSP.
This article will delve into the critical ingredients for making a top-notch client-facing team and how tools like Scribe can help you achieve this. Whether you're looking to hire your first client-facing team or boost the performance of your existing one, this article will provide all the practical tips and strategies you will need to succeed.
But first, let's start with an:
MSP Overview: What it is & what they do
A managed service provider (MSP) is a company that offers various IT services to its clients. These services include computer system maintenance, technical support, network management, data security, and IT infrastructure implementation and maintenance.
MSPs can be said to work in the backgrounds ensuring the smooth run of the day-to-day activities for most businesses. They often work with small and medium-sized businesses that don't have the resources to hire their own IT staff but still need access to expert IT support. They can also be helpful for larger companies that want to outsource some or all of their IT functions.
MSPs help clients optimize their IT systems and improve their overall business operations. They may offer managed IT services, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and more, with a combination of on-site and remote support and other service level agreements (SLAs) to meet clients' specific needs. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can help businesses compete globally by providing services designed to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and allow the business to focus on its core competencies.
In today's business environment, it is not practical for a company to try to figure it out all on its own, especially when implementing and maintaining its core technologies. MSPs are evaluated based on the value they provide to their clients, and some of the key metrics that show the professionalism of a managed service provider include:
- Successful track record of customer satisfaction.
- Providing a wide range of services that meet the average business needs.
- Having Clear pricing and billing system put in place.
- Having a team with Skilled technicians and employees who understand how to solve clients' problems efficiently and empathetically.
- Proactive monitoring and maintenance of implemented procedures to prevent issues, plus providing clients with a robust disaster recovery plan in case of breakdown or technical lockdowns.
- Strong security measures to protect client data and a proven commitment to the business's long-term success beyond just the money they get.
Now, let's look at some:
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MSP best practices: Building a solid team
To achieve a high standard of operations and attract quality clients, it's essential to follow best practices that will help you to provide high-quality service and meet your client's needs, but this is impossible without the people that make up your team.
So how do you put together a client-centric team for your MSP enterprise?
We have outlined five best practices for building a client-facing MSP that delivers exceptional service. By following these best practices, you'll be able to provide value to your clients and differentiate yourself from the competition.
Hire the right people
One thing that makes or mars any organization is the quality of the persons they hire. It's essential to have team members skilled in delivering exceptional customer service [or willing to learn quickly], as well as knowledgeable about the technical aspects of your services. Look for patient, empathetic individuals who can communicate complex information to non-technical clients. Then, build a culture where all team members are trained to help and support clients by default gladly.
Provide ongoing training
There are so many things you need to teach your team if you are very particular about winning with them. First, it is to focus on addressing the client's needs until they are satisfied and paying attention to what they are saying to understand their challenges. This simple act in practice changes a lot that could translate to colossal profitability or loss, depending on whether you succeed in implementing it.
The next most important step is to ensure your client-facing team is kept up-to-date on the industry's latest technologies and best practices. This will not only help them better serve your clients, but it will also help increase their job satisfaction.
You can use tools like Scribe to provide the necessary documentation they need and update it regularly. Scribe is a documentation tool that helps you capture any process and turn it into auto tutorials, documentation and SOPs.
This too can help your client-facing team work more efficiently and effectively.
Create an excellent onboarding culture
Never underestimate how well good onboarding can shape an employee's experience and performance with your company. Especially when they would be dealing directly with your clients and potential income source. To make the onboarding experience remarkable is to set the tone for every other thing, and here are some tips we recommend.
- Provide educational resources that break down their roles, tasks, assignments and how they would go about it.
- Don’t fall trapped in the information overload cycle. Take advantage of a tool like Scribe to provide an evergreen onboarding resource bank so employees can have a repository to fall back on, learning and picking up at a sensible pace and conveniently.
- Have a system for Providing answers to any questions they might have. A pro tip is to make scribe pages of FAQs from past employees in previous roles and share them so you avoid going over the same thing numerous times. While it’s helpful to provide in-person guidance, chances are they wouldn’t grasp all the answers in one day so use a scribe to make that onboarding process smooth.
Set clear expectations
Ensure your team knows what is expected of them regarding client interactions and service delivery. This will help ensure that they can provide high-quality service consistently. Create a process for team syncing sessions that enable your employees to give feedback and drop updates without creating a chaotic work environment on what they are doing.
Regularly solicit feedback
Ask your clients for feedback on the service they receive from your team. This will help you identify areas for improvement and ensure that you meet your client's needs. Also, run these surveys with your employees. You’d be surprised by the amount of information and data you can get from asking them about your customers since they are directly dealing with them. It’s good to gain data from these two sources as it provides insight into what you are doing well but, even better, the low-hanging fruits you can improve on to deliver better experiences. We wrote this guide to provide better insights for succeeding with your clients.
Invest in documentation
How well does your team know about your product? Can they sell it to a prospective client? Do they know enough to convince someone to buy or choose you as their preferred MSP? Proper documentation would ensure that your team has access to all the information they need when talking to clients. This erases friction and helps them build trust and better client relationships.
Document everything. Are there new product updates? New Features? New Launch? Keep it up to date so anyone who needs to can easily access it.
✨ Learn why a comprehensive MSP knowledge base is essential for streamlining your operations and improving customer service.
Your documentation procedures can go beyond telling your employees what to do to showing them how to execute it with Scribe. Scribe lets you capture any process and auto-generate it into step-by-step guides.
Ever wondered how to look ten years younger on Zoom? Here’s a Scribe that shows you how:
Put MSP best practices into action
In conclusion, an MSP's client-facing team is a crucial business component. And because there is no business without the customers who patronize you in the first place, there’s no chance for mediocre service delivery.
By following these best practices and utilizing tools like Scribe, you can build a solid team that can effectively serve your clients and drives your business's success.
