All MSPs at one point or another are likely to deal with clients who are not ‘tech-savvy’ or do not understand the different technical aspects of backup and disaster recovery management. In these cases, it is important to treat these clients a little differently to ensure their satisfaction and to maintain, if not better, the reputation of your MSP.
How to Engage and Empower Your Non-Technical Clients
- Take time out of your day to observe how the company/business and its employees use technology. This will give you insight into their business, how they operate, and what their pitfalls might be.
- Use clear, ‘layman’s’ language, but be sure not to make the person you are speaking to feel like they are inferior or even stupid. There are many buzzwords and acronyms that IT professionals use on a daily basis that the average person is not familiar with. Don’t assume a client understands a concept because it is simple and logical to you. Rather stick to speaking about what technology can and is doing for the client, instead of how the technology works, and you should be in the clear.
- However, there are times when there is no other way than to get technical, which can be a challenge with non-technical clients. In this situation, it is important to educate your client on the terms and concepts that are relevant to their systems. This can be done by creating a clear list of technical terms and their definitions for the customer.
- The above tips provide advice as if you already have a non-technical client, but what if you are trying to pitch your services to one? Firstly, look over your presentation to make sure it uses language that an average person could understand, then omit anything that is too technical. Rather punt how the services you are pitching will help the business, or even how the manager or the CEO would look good in implementing your MSPs solutions. Additionally, doing a little research into what this specific business needs and wants and pitching how your specific services will help achieve the business’s specific goals will give you a leg up on the competition that pitch the same services to every client.
Your non-technical clients will appreciate the effort you make in understanding their business and tailoring a solution to its needs, while communicating clearly and making it easy for management to trust in you. An MSP that can do this efficiently will be able to successful build its client base in any industry, no matter the clientele. By adding ActiveImage to your portfolio, you can ensure that you will have a solution for any business’s needs.
