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ASP Forum
Selling Maintenance Contracts Overseas
"We've been very successful at selling maintenance contracts
to our U.S. customers, but we're getting a lot of pushback from
our efforts to sell the same offering in Europe. Our sales reps
say that customers there don't expect to pay extra for any kind
of services—services are supposed to be part of the purchase
price. Any advice?"
—Sonia from Syracuse
Sonia—
There is a difference in the way maintenance and support contracts
are perceived in different geographies. In most of the western
world you'll find similar behaviors to what you see in the US, but
Asia is a different story and there is additional inconsistencies
between the various Asian countries. There are differences in the
market behavior between consumer, SMB and enterprise, but there
are several things you should consider before doing anything:
1. Look at the competition, best if you can talk to
some of their current or recent customers and find out their
practices and not just their statements.
2. Get the sales team on board. If the sales team does
not support you, there is little chance you'd be successful. Try
and recruit one or more agents from the team. Provide sales
information and training and give them information and tools to
address objections and emphasize benefits. Make sure there is
something in it for the sales team as well.
3. Start with the end in mind — do not sell
products with no maintenance contract and then attempt to add
maintenance requirements
4. Take your time and be prepared for many discussions
explaining to you that you know nothing about China / Japan / Korea,
that nobody charges for support there and neither should you, and
in fact the competition is supplying on-site techs, free of charge,
for every $50 license sold
5. Set realistic objectives and raise them as you make
progress, do not expect US level success rates on day one, but do
provide the best level of service you can
6. If possible, hire a local to look after your
interests in the region (no expats for this position)
—Haim Toeg
Principal, Toeg Consulting
832-419-5645
haim.toeg@toeg-consulting.com
www.toeg-consulting.com
Being based in New Zealand, we operate overseas almost exclusively.
I can advise that we have maintenance contracts with 99% of our
client based across 40 countries including many European customers.
There are no regional or territorial issues involved, but we have
had to implement help desks across the timezones we support.
I’m not sure why you would be getting this problem unless it’s the
packaging of the service that’s not suiting the market.
—Peter Trumic
CEO
Tourplan Holdings
www.tourplan.com
+64 3 3669669
[If you have other advice on this question, please send an email to
membership director Jane Farber at jfarber@asponline.com, and
we'll post your feedback.]
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