Wildix Blog

Any MSP’s top priority must be earning repeat clients through the right services and attitude

Today’s savvy business owners understand that a faithful customer base is the lifeblood of their business. After all, customer loyalty increases profits, improves sales success, and allows for sustainable growth. This is on top of the fact that acquiring a new customer is much more expensive than retaining existing ones (in fact, some studies indicate that it costs six to seven times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one).

However, anyone who’s sought out loyalty knows it’s no walk in the park to earn. Conventional thinking suggests that winning lasting customers is just about having the latest technology at a very low price — along with good installation services. However, earning customer loyalty is much more complex.

In truth, loyalty takes intense dedication from the seller’s side to earn; more than high-quality services and especially more than low prices, it requires a consistent understanding of the customer’s business issues and challenges. What builds loyalty better than anything else is a clear demonstration of this understanding, and earnest work in addressing those issues. Customers need to know you’re invested in their growth and success, and when it comes to UC&C, that typically comes from more than selling a one-off telephone system.

For proof of this, we just have to look at how other companies build loyalty with their customers. It never happens overnight, or just through slashed prices, or through placating their feelings. Rather, it happens over time, and always as a result of the seller addressing the issue at the root of the customer’s business situation. This in turn builds trust, giving the customer a solid foundation to rely upon you as a strategic advisor for business needs.

Think about your own case a second: what brands are you loyal to? Because I’ll bet your first choice for anything you need is not just the brand with quality service or low prices, but the one that you know understands you and attends to your issues.

I’m no different, of course. As a constant traveler, my personal example is Marriott Hotels. Anytime I travel, I book at a Marriott, not just because I like their rooms — it’s also because, no matter my travel situation, I trust Marriott to listen to me and solve my problem right away. Frankly, thanks to that sense of value, when I travel, I don’t bother looking at anywhere but a Marriott.

This didn’t happen because of their prices or even the added perks of a loyalty program. Actually, it happened for the simple reason that Marriott has consistently shown me they’re ready and eager to address my business need, which is getting a quiet room right away. When I’m traveling and I call a Marriott location, I know they’ll tailor the experience to my needs: I’ll arrive without having to waste time checking in at the front desk, and the hotel will have a nice, quiet room ready for me.

In so few words, I trust this brand because they’ve shown me that, no matter where I go or when I call them, they’ll address my specific needs. They take the complications out of my business issue and all the while make me feel that my trust in them is well placed.

In thinking about how to earn loyalty, we ought to think in terms of care and reliability. When a customer is deciding on whether to stick with a business, most likely they’re thinking, “Can I communicate with them easily? Can I count on them, and what is the business value that I am receiving from this relationship?”

All told, we might go so far as to conceive of loyalty as a two-way street between buyer and seller. Sure, to exist at all there has to be that customer returning to you, the business owner. But earning those repeat visits takes care, attention and full commitment to their success and business needs.

So, as we weigh all these points, we come to the big question: How is an MSP supposed to win loyalty?

There’s no single answer here, of course, just as there wouldn’t be a single answer for any other business vertical. But in general, there are some key points that are valuable to explore.

First off, yes — winning loyalty will take excellent products and services. It’s just a fact that customers are only going to buy from a business that brings them a positive business outcome, and you’ll need to deliver that to keep them satisfied.

The counterpoint, however, is that plenty of other businesses can provide excellent products and services. To stand out, you need more than just the newest technology and services.

To do so, it’s critical to embrace not so much the tangible points or rewards of a loyalty program, but the principle that a loyalty program represents. You have to give them a sense of belonging and exclusivity if you want to see any belonging given back.

Communication is indispensable here. There are two principles to follow here: being frequent and just as importantly, forthright. Any customers that you haven’t been in contact with for a while are ones you should check up on, because frankly, they need to get more from you before they’ll give anything on their end. If you’re providing them software or hardware as a service, you’ll have a far and away easier time of this, since you’re bringing them what they need on a regular rollout to begin with.

As for being forthright, this comes down to honesty in your communications. As you talk to your customer, ask yourself: Are you acting as the expert, or are you buckling to the customer’s limited industry knowledge? Are you recommending something that solves their core business issue, or are you just following what they think is right? The challenge here is not just telling them what they should do but making sure you’re invested in the outcome that you create.

What never, ever builds loyalty in this market, however, is boiling everything down to price. If all a customer cares about is the lowest possible number, they aren’t looking for someone to stay with; they’ll be fine shopping around on every system they buy. Odds are, they’ll find someone willing to dip lower than the cost you present. As an MSP, will your business really gain any value from these kinds of customers? Are you winning a sale, but losing revenue in the process?

Really, despite the channel’s obsession with cutting prices and margins, boiling everything down to a lower monthly fee isn’t what keeps customers coming back. Loyalty, when it comes down to it, only happens when you strike a particular balance of personal and practical value. Crafting that kind of relationship certainly takes effort, but it’s effort that pays off exponentially over time.

If you want to succeed, remember that the people who’ve bought from you before are a potential goldmine waiting to be tapped. The only way they’ll open up, though, is if you give them enough reason to — both when it comes to tangible outcomes and the less tangible sense of relationship.

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To stand out to your prospects, take your value statement from general to specific

Before you can truly make an impact on potential customers, those prospects must have a clear idea of the value you can provide.

This is more or less the idea behind the concept of positioning or aligning your business with a specific need that customers already have. But, what does that mean specifically for MSPs who are competing in a crowded market?

The problem small MSPs face here is exactly what positioning aims to solve: currently, end-users already have an idea of what UC&C “should” be, and thus to market themselves small IT businesses must specify their unique value beyond the general concept of Unified Communications.

Yes, you can tell your prospects that you can upgrade their phone systems or provide video calls — but why should they go with you instead of the leading brand for VoIP and video, a company they already associate with high value and performance?

The answer will not come down to a matter of general benefits your business can provide, but rather, down to the specific value you’ve already marketed yourself as being experts in.

Moving Away from the Generalist

To explain why, consider the alternative of being an expert, being a generalist: this would mean you do a little bit of everything, trying to tell your prospects that your company is good for any value they could ask for in UC&C.

Although this might seem like the approach to catch the attention of the most customers possible, the truth is it will only hurt you from a marketing perspective. Remember, there are already big names out there that promise total value in UC&C. Not only are they more powerful in their marketing capabilities, they’ve already claimed space in the public’s mind as the preferred solution for general digital communications.

If you try to compete with this point, you simply won’t succeed, because you’ll be trying to dislodge beliefs that massive spending campaigns created.

In this way, being a generalist is not helpful for branding. Not only will it mean you’ll struggle to claim a spot in your customer’s mind, but consider that it also makes satisfying buyers more difficult due to the simple fact that delivering on a general value statement is both difficult and less memorable overall.

Embracing the Specialist’s Role

The alternative, acting as a specialist, solves both of these problems. For one, being a specialized expert makes it far easier to be memorable to customers.

This is because specialization creates a firmer identity for you. Instead of being a general UC&C provider, you become the business that connects multiple office sites, or enables smart working, or brings on international calling capabilities. This pinpoints your value and builds your brand; it emphasizes that you bring measurable value in a way the public can easily remember.

Positioning in this way is essential because it’s the primary method open to you in finding room in your customer’s mind. Although they are likely already decided on who provides value in UC&C, you can still claim a spot when it comes to who provides value on specific parts of UC&C.

This, not being a generalist, is the way to market yourself in a memorable fashion.

Building Your Base

However, a concern you may have with this approach to marketing is that it will leave you with too small of a base of prospects. What if the value you advertise doesn’t reach enough people?

This is in fact a necessary tradeoff when specializing your value proposition: your pool of likely customers will almost certainly shrink. A general value statement, after all, will appeal to more people than a niche one.

While it’s natural to be concerned about missing out on potential buyers, this is not anything near a deathblow to your business. Remember that, from a marketing perspective, reaching more people isn’t worth the investment if most of them won’t respond well anyway. If you act as a generalist, most of your leads will have little reason to respond to you; your business isn’t one they recognize as a provider of general UC&C value.

On the other hand, building a base of customers that need your niche value is an approach with enormous ROI. A loyal customer base, even if they’re small, will bring you constant income as a result of consistently going to you for value and support.

Also, these earnings will be measured against the expenses of advertising to a smaller group of in-target leads, reducing the money and effort spent on this process. This in short means more money earned versus less spent in total when compared to marketing to fair-weather generalist buyers.

How to Specialize

All this said, the question then becomes: how do you actually complete the process of specializing?

The answer will come down to what your business does well. What are you already experts in? What value are you most capable of providing? Whatever the answer is, it’s important that you invest not just in delivering it, but in telling in-target leads it’s your specialty.

This process is key to winning over prospects because, again, it’s the best way to be memorable. The generalist is a role that’s already been taken up by big names; the fact is, reclaiming it will usually take more investment than its worth.

Specializing, meanwhile, ensures you can achieve the most targeted positioning possible. On top of reaching customers who are more in need of your services, you’ll simplify the process of pitching your services, because your prospects will already have a strong sense of your value.

Finding the specifics of your value in this way will generate greater success, through the simple foundation of greater understanding — and greater appreciation — from your customers.

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Why your communications system needs this pivotal web technology

The effectiveness of any unified communications and collaboration solution depends on the working parts inside it. As your organization’s main data channel to customers and colleagues, your VoIP system must have smart technological components to function safely and efficiently.

But, how do you determine something so important, especially if you don’t have much detailed technical knowledge? One of the easiest ways is to check if the solution uses WebRTC, a highly effective component for VoIP technology.

For the biggest reasons why, this post will take you on a deep dive into WebRTC and how it works.

What Is WebRTC?

Short for “Web Real-Time Communications,” WebRTC is an internet technology that was created in 2011. The technology itself is a collection of Javascript APIs, or functions and commands created from existing code in web browsers. Its purpose is to collect data input by users, then transfer that information directly to a contacted second party.

Notably, WebRTC is open source, meaning anyone can add to it, develop it or use it entirely for free. All this is great news for developers because WebRTC is immensely helpful for creating a wide variety of web communication tools.

The primary reason why is its usability. As previously said, WebRTC allows for instant data collection and transfers, making it a highly effective way to establish online communications. While it’s primarily known for voice and video streaming, it can also exchange other data such as text or files.

However, what’s especially groundbreaking about WebRTC is that it works entirely as its own web component. Regardless of whether you’re sending or receiving information, this technology will always handle the operation itself, without additional plugins. This means that when an application uses WebRTC, it will never need additional installs to perform real-time communications.

Another significant advantage is that WebRTC handles data transfers through peer-to-peer connections. Rather than going to a server, the information streams directly from one user to the other. This further increases its ease in development and usability by simplifying the communications process as a whole.

WebRTC for Browser Applications

Unsurprisingly, then, one of the biggest advantages of WebRTC is enabling VoIP solutions or even video calling applications to run directly in the browser.

Put another way, a significant number of UCC and VoIP services have to be downloaded and installed to operate. However, this can often create a less intuitive user experience. If you only use UCC for the occasional video meeting, it can be annoying to launch an additional app every day. Alternatively, if you work within your browser, switching from it to a separate program wastes time and decreases focus.

But with WebRTC, users don’t have to bother with these tedious processes. The nature of this technology means that all your communications happen right in the browser, all as soon as you log in.

Because WebRTC works through fundamental web coding, this convenience extends to all major browsers as well. Google Chrome readily accepts all WebRTC content, as do Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge. The same goes for mobile browsers, meaning you don’t need a separate mobile app to use these tools on the go.

WebRTC and security

Considering how frequently cyberattacks target UCC systems, it’s especially convenient that WebRTC features plenty of built-in security measures.

Notably, WebRTC establishes its communications through direct peer-to-peer connections. This means that instead of sending you to a third-party server, you are patched directly to the other user. As a result, your communications are accessed by exactly two entities: yourself, and the person you’re talking to. At no point in the process is your data accessed by an additional piece of hardware or technicians.

This is vitally important for security because it minimizes the stages during which your data can be illicitly accessed. If your communications are routed to an external server, hackers may be able to breach it and intercept your data there. If your connection is accessed by techs or data is offloaded, it can be picked up by hackers there as well. By eliminating these vulnerable points, WebRTC limits how hackers can access your data and keeps your communications far more secure.

However, even without servers, data can still theoretically be hacked during its peer-to-peer transfer between applications. Fortunately, WebRTC includes built-in measures to prevent this.

WebRTC also features data encryption, or protocols that encode your data to prevent illicit access. Two measures — Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS)​ and Secure Real-Time Protocol (SRTP)​ — work in tandem for this process.

As a result, your data is encrypted with codes that are:

• • Highly complex
  • Unique to this one communications session
  • Verified at the beginning of the session as unique and complex
  • Never decrypted before reaching the users’ application

These factors all ensure that there is a minimal chance of hackers gaining access to your data. Even if they intercept it, they will have virtually no ability to decode and consequently use it.

WebRTC also provides built-in protections against intrusions by being hosted entirely within your browser. Since WebRTC doesn’t need any installations to run, it doesn’t actually exist on any files in your computer. This means that even if hackers remotely access your device, they will have no way to access your actual communications system.

Finally, because WebRTC runs directly in the browser, it is automatically updated every time your browser gets an update. This means getting the latest version of the tool just takes re-launching your browser, further streamlining overall usability.

WebRTC and Wildix

All these reasons are why Wildix is built primarily on WebRTC, and how Wildix gains tremendous security and ease of use.

Thanks to WebRTC, Wildix can launch a full suite of communications tools right in your browser. With no additional downloads, you’ll have access to chat, voice calls, video conferences and even full-on webinars.

As for security, Wildix gains additional inherent protection thanks to its foundation on WebRTC technology. With direct peer-to-peer connections and innate encryption for all your data, Wildix achieves total data security without sacrificing usability.

With highly effective, enterprise-grade capabilities across the board, Wildix makes the most of WebRTC for a truly effective UCC solution. As far as modern communications systems go, it easily leads in the market by utilizing and even expanding on this key Open Source technology.

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