Sep 6, 2021 | Marketing
The change in the workforce from a mainly “in office” model to remote and hybrid models has opened up an entirely new avenue for remote support sales for MSP companies.
It’s estimated that at the end of 2020, approximately 59% of the U.S. workforce was working remotely anywhere between 1 to 5 days per week.
It’s no secret that when employees aren’t working on the same network in the same building that data security becomes much more complicated. Many organizations haven’t yet connected the dots to just how much an unprotected remote team can put them at risk of a compliance breach.
IT business remote support and remote MSP services are a perfect fix for many of the compliance risks that a remote and hybrid team can bring. Here’s how to drive that point home to clients you may have with compliance needs, such as medical facilities, accounting firms, financial firms, retailers, and others.
There are Higher Security Risks with Remote Employees
Just saying that remote employees are at a higher risk for cybersecurity, doesn’t drive the point home as much as giving statistics that back up the point.
Use some examples or stats that illustrate the dangers of remote teams not having security properly addressed.
Here are some that you can use:
- 58% of organizations predict that remote workers will make them more vulnerable to a data breach.
- Approximately 20% of organizations have reported a data breach due to a remote worker during the pandemic.
- 30% of remote workers admit to allowing someone else to use their work device.
Remote Support Can Be Compliant With HIPAA & Other Data Privacy Guidelines
If you’re looking to gain more business from organizations that worry about data privacy compliance, then you want your marketing to emphasize your remote support being HIPAA compliant, PCI compliant, etc.
Highlight the security you use to build trust in the remote support process. Tie that into compliance factors to give potential clients a full picture of what you can offer to reduce their risk.
Include details on encryption for your remote support connections and include a link to your firm’s data privacy policy.
Cite your experience with compliance in general and how your remote support is an extension of that.
Many WFH Employees Are Using Personal Devices
One compliance nightmare is the thought of data getting exposed because it’s on a WFH employee’s personal device that can be accessed by someone else.
Approximately 69% of surveyed remote workers are using personal devices for work activities. This leaves things like PII, access to patient records, patient billing information, etc. at risk of being involved in a compliance violation.
Explain how your company can use remote managed support to monitor devices, “wall off” company files and put systems in place that secure logins to company cloud storage to keep sensitive files from being exposed.
Non-Compliance Fines Can be Stiff
One accidental exposure of sensitive client or patient data by a remote worker can mean stiff fines. Providing details on the types of fines companies can face, puts the value of your remote managed IT services into perspective.
For example, HIPAA violations range from $100 to $50,000 per violation. A single patient record being exposed can be considered one violation.
Remote Support Provides an IT “Lifeline” to WFH Staff
When employees are working remotely, they can feel isolated from their team. Instead of asking a supervisor or colleague about a questionable email, they may just click the link without thinking.
You can emphasize to your prospects that remote-managed IT support gives a “lifeline” to remote team members. They have a resource they can go to if they have any questions about potential phishing emails. Likewise, if their system is acting up and they know they have someone to call, it can be looked at right away to ensure it’s not a virus or hacker.
Ongoing Remote Management Can Solve Many Security Worries
Promote how your remote support services package multiple safeguards together. You can continually monitor systems to ensure no threats are present, as well as keep updates and patches installed in a timely manner.
The speed of remote support also means that any technical issues are looked at right away and addressed before they can cause a large problem.
With HIPAA and other data privacy standards, the effort an organization puts into protecting data is taken into consideration in the case of any breach. Using managed remote support both mitigates issues and is proof of taking appropriate measures to protect data that are collected and stored.
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Aug 9, 2021 | Uncategorized
Remote support can be a great addition to the products and services your small business is already providing, but only if you have good support technicians.
If customers aren’t getting the help they hope for, word will get out, and you’ll find that your remote support revenue is going down as a result.
An average of 58% of Americans will switch to another company if they’re not happy with the customer support they receive. On the other hand, 89% of consumers are more likely to purchase more from you after a positive experience.
To grow your remote support business and your company reputation in a positive direction, it’s important to position your tech support team for success. If you just throw them in the deep end and expect them to come out on top, you could find that your miscalculation has lost you an important client.
How do you set your remote support team up for success?
1. Allow New Support Techs Time to Train With an Experienced Technician
Just because someone has good technical knowledge, doesn’t prepare them for being online with a customer during a remote support call. The experience is very different when you’re logged in to someone’s system and with them potentially on the other end of the connection expecting you to fix everything.
You give your new techs a better chance at success and more confidence in handling support sessions on their own by allowing them some training time with an experienced technician.
Being on several support calls where they can watch an expert and then slowly ease into the lead role themselves, can ensure they’re properly prepared when doing their first solo session.
2. Train Them on Your Customer Personas
Every business has different customer personas. These represent the different types of customers you provide remote support services to. For the average MSP or IT business, you may have personas that look like this:
- Experienced with tech, like to know what’s being fixed and how
- Not comfortable at all with technology, anxious when things go wrong
- Business owners that just want things to work as fast as possible
Each persona will require a slightly different approach. For example, those not comfortable with technology will need more patience. Users that are tech-savvy will want a full report of what was done after the call is over.
For all personas, support technicians need to learn how not to talk down to people but to vary the explanations they use according to persona type.
3. Make Sure They’re Familiar With Your Products & Services
Often remote support calls end up being sales opportunities as well. For example, if a customer needs help removing a virus, once the malware is removed, a technician that is familiar with your offerings may offer to send some information on your managed antivirus plan.
If the technician doesn’t know exactly what you offer, a sales opportunity could be missed. Also, a customer might wonder why the tech can’t answer a simple question, like what’s included in a managed IT plan.
Provide your remote support technicians with a listing of your products and services so they can become familiar with them if asked or if an opportunity to mention one arises naturally during a support call.
4. Provide Them With a Reliable Remote Support Tool
Few things are more frustrating to your technicians and your customers during a remote support session than having problems with the connection. If a tech keeps getting cut off or can’t reboot a system without getting disconnected, it can cause your customer to go elsewhere for support.
You give your support team the best chance of success when you give them fast and reliable remote support tools. Robust remote support software doesn’t have to break the bank and it can pay for itself in time savings and happy customers.
5. Outline Remote Support Expectations
If you send a technician into their first remote support call without letting them know your expectations, you’re setting them up to disappoint you if they fail to record a support session or don’t send the client a follow-up note.
Go through a standard remote support call and write down the process and what you need to have done before, during, and after.
- Is there specific information they need to ask of the customer for your records?
- Do all sessions get recorded?
- Are they to note the support work performed in a CRM?
- What do they do if the session runs longer than expected?
Make sure you don’t just assume your technicians know all your expectations. Write these down so they can refer to them and become familiar with the entire process.
Set Your Remote Support Team Up for Success with Instant Housecall Software
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Jul 19, 2021 | Uncategorized
Of all the services that IT businesses provide, the one that is typically the “bread and butter” is managed services. A managed support plan keeps revenue coming in the door each month and can be streamlined through an RMM tool to be very time efficient.
If you can effectively use your other popular services to cross-sell MSP plans, then you can increase your revenue and gain more long-term clients.
One of the services that can act as a springboard in this way is remote support. It’s gained in popularity during the pandemic out of necessity and due to the rise in work-from-home employees. This is a trend that’s not going away.
The number of employees permanently working from home is expected to double in 2021.
Because the need for remote support has increased sharply, it’s a great tool to use for promoting your managed support services. You can think of it as a steppingstone in your sales funnel if you do it right. Here are several ideas you can use.
Bundle It in as a Selling Point
Having unlimited remote support as a managed service plan feature can be the deciding factor that pushes a company towards a remote support plan. Bundling remote support with your services packages can also be a better deal for a customer who may be using a lot of remote tech support.
For example, a company with 30 remote employees might be paying nearly as much for remote support troubleshooting and software setup and not realize it. For just a little more they could get a full package of much-needed services, such as managed antivirus, backup & recovery, patch management, and more.
The thought of unlimited remote support can be a big draw and it can make the “numbers make sense” to a business owner that’s trying to justify the cost before moving forward.
Use It to Draw People to Higher Level Support Plans
Remote support can also be a handy way to entice lower-tiered support plan customers to a higher level of support. For example, your most basic MSP plan may not include remote support as a part of the package, but your Intermediate tier does.
Getting remote support along with all the other services could be worth it, especially if a basic tier customer is having to pay for remote support on top of their monthly fee.
You can even do a few tiers and increase the level of support as people choose a higher-level package. Such as:
- Basic Plan: No remote support included
- Intermediate Plan: Three hours of remote support included per month
- Premiere Plan: Unlimited remote support included
Add a Link to Remote Session Summary Notes
When you finish a remote support session, it’s a good practice to send a summary of the session to the client afterward so they understand exactly what was done. This is especially true when you’re providing support remotely for an unattended device and the owner wasn’t there to see what you did.
This summary note can be sent via email or through a virtual sticky note on a screen when using Instant Housecall remote support software. On your summary note, you can include a message about your managed IT services.
For example, you could do something like, “We identified a virus that was causing your PC issues. We’ve completely removed it and checked to ensure all files were intact. Your system is clean and operating normally now. PS: You may want to check out our monthly managed services, which include managed antivirus/anti-malware!”
Do a Price Comparison on Your Remote Support Page
If you are bundling unlimited remote support with one of your managed services packages, then you can do a price comparison on your remote support page. You might actually capture a new MSP customer right away with this tip.
Do a comparison such as the average price for a 1-hour remote support session x times per month, and the price for your managed services plan with unlimited remote support.
You can’t just assume someone is going to figure it out for themselves that if they’re using a lot of remote support, it’s a better deal to just get a managed services plan instead. Spell it out for them!
You could even offer two buttons on your remote support page:
- One button to initiate a one-time support session
- One button to initiate the session and at the same time, sign up for managed services with remote support included.
Use a Remote Support Software That Streamlines Your Process
Instant Housecall is a powerful yet easy-to-use remote support software that allows you to spend less time and energy providing quality remote support.
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Jul 5, 2021 | Marketing
Being able to do things remotely thanks to the internet is convenient and saves time. Instead of having to wait on a PC service call, a customer can get help right away through remote support.
You also don’t need to have additional techs and vehicles to handle things that could be easily done without leaving your office, so it’s a win-win for everyone.
But, when you’re not there in person speaking face-to-face, some things can get lost in translation and you end up with costly miscommunication.
The average cost of miscommunication for a business is between $4,000 and $6,000 annually per person.
You can head off remote support communication challenges by putting some systems in place that help clarify each part of your remote service.
Clearly Explain Remote Support Steps & Cost on Your Website
If someone is requesting remote support for the first time, they may already be apprehensive about how this all works. You don’t want a misunderstanding about something like a remote client install to erode trust in remote support and cause someone to run away scared of a virus.
Make sure you clearly explain the steps that happen during a remote support session on your website. This includes how the installation of the client works.
Some of the things you want to communicate are:
- That the client download and install are needed to allow you to securely connect to their PC.
- That the software is safe.
- That the software can be automatically removed after the session if they like.
- The steps for installing the remote support client.
- The expected wait time for an agent to respond to their request
- Details on how you’ll chat with them during the session.
- Your remote support pricing and how it’s paid (i.e., upfront, after the session ends, by credit card, by PayPal, etc.)
Use a Button to Make it Clear How to Request Support
Using a small text link to connect to remote support might be lost on some people. Connecting to a tech support provider remotely is a big deal, so your link to initiate a remote support session request should reflect that.
Put remote support as a menu item in your site navigation. Then, after you communicate how your remote support works, add a big button that the user can click to initiate the session. This will remove any confusion about the action to take to start the support session.
Use a descriptive button label, like “Start Remote Session,” “Get Remote Help Now,” or “Request a Remote Session.”
Preinstall the Remote Client on PCs You Sell or Service
You can eliminate a potentially confusing step in the communication process for users by pre-installing the remote support client on their computer when possible.
For example, you could include it on any new or refurbished computers that you sell and place a shortcut on the desktop. For service customers, you could ask if they’d like that added to save time should they need IT help in the future.
Record the Session for Clients to View Later
There’s a lot that goes on in a support session and even if a client is present at the time, they most likely won’t remember everything you did to get them out of a jam.
Use a remote support software like Instant Housecall to allow you to record each session so you can provide a copy to the client afterward. This will also save you time answering calls days later from the client asking, “What was that thing you clicked again?”
Enable Multi-Agent Calls for Two Techs to Work Collaboratively
When a technician hits a problem during a remote support session that they need help with, having to disconnect and reconnect can lead to confusion for the customer and make the entire process take longer than it needs to.
Using a remote support tool that allows you to do virtual “3-way calls” can streamline the process when another technician is needed to advise on a particularly tough problem.
This also reduces miscommunication when a customer is trying to tell another technician what the previous one did. Both techs can work collaboratively in real-time avoiding miscommunication problems.
Leave a Virtual Note or Printout for Your Client
If you’re connecting when a customer is away, they can be left wondering what you did and what was fixed if they haven’t had a chance to check email yet for a message.
Send a note at the end of the remote session letting the client know what was fixed and what the total price was. Make it visible by using a remote support tool that can print remotely and/or can leave a virtual sticky note on their computer screen. This removes the potential for confused customers calling you and asking if the remote IT work was done, and you having to track down the technician to ask.
Use SMS Alerts So You Know When a Client Needs Help
If someone clicks your remote support button and doesn’t get a response, they’re going to lose faith and might reach out to a competitor for help. Your techs can’t be everywhere at once, but they can know right away when a customer is requesting a remote session via SMS.
Enable SMS alerts that allow your team to respond quickly to a remote support request no matter where they are.
Instant Housecalls Has Multiple Features to Enhance Communications
Instant Housecall remote support software has all the features mentioned above to improve communications, and much more!
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Jun 21, 2021 | Remote access, Small Business
A famous quote from Einstein is, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
There are two common frustrations with people that are dealing with any type of technology company, from their cable company to their IT provider. These are:
- Hearing technical jargon and having no idea what it means; and
- Getting talked down to like they’re a child.
Balancing those two can be challenging for a technology business owner, but it’s important if you want to keep good customer relations and continue growing your customer base.
42% of people will switch service companies if they feel put off by rude or unhelpful staff.
There’s a fine line during remote support sessions between oversimplifying and being way too technical in your explanations of an issue and resolution. But when you hit the sweet spot between the two, you can have a fruitful engagement with customers without any misunderstandings or hurt feelings.
The Problem With Speaking Tech Talk
When you speak in technology and IT jargon during a remote support session, what you say can go completely over the head of your client. You may think everyone knows what IP whitelisting means but find out later (when there is a problem) that wasn’t the case.
For example, say you’re adding an IT security measure that involves IP whitelisting. Your client only has a vague idea of what you mean, so when you ask if there are any other IP addresses to add to the whitelist, they say “no.”
Then a day or two later, you receive a frantic call because staff members suddenly can’t connect to resources. All the client knows is that something was working and now it’s broken because of something you did during your remote support session.
Had you noted that IP whitelisting looks at the virtual address of every device connecting to a system and blocks those not on the list you could have avoided a problem and a bad experience for your customer. They may have realized you were asking about the actual employee devices that needed to connect.
The Problem With “Talking Down” to Customers
On the flip side of speaking “tech talk” is speaking down to customers. No one likes to be disrespected, which is what they feel when they think they’re being talked down to.
They might feel that you’re wasting their time by over-explaining something that they already know. They can also end up feeling that they know more than you do because you’re speaking to them on such a low level of technical expertise.
How to Walk the Fine Line Between “Tech Talk” and “Talking Down”
Read the Room
When someone makes an inappropriate or irrelevant comment in a group, a friend might say to them, “Read the room!”
What this means for your remote support engagements is to cue from your client’s technical knowledge as you’re providing support.
If you’re getting ready to launch into an explanation of how email signatures work when helping someone with an email issue, pause and see if you’re getting some feedback. Such as, “Yes, I have my email signature set up already.” You’ll gain a clue into their technical knowledge and can adjust accordingly.
MSP providers can be working with customers at drastically different technology comfort zones, and you must be able to adjust how you explain an issue and resolution to match each level.
Watch Your Tone
When people feel talked down to, it’s generally about the tone of the support person. You can say the same exact thing and have it taken two different ways, depending upon your tone.
If someone is hearing a condescending tone in your voice, they will instantly go into defensive mode, which is going to make your work harder and strain the customer/business relationship.
You may not have any idea that you’re speaking in a “tone,” at all. But if you begin to get negative reviews that mention this, it’s a clue that you may need to make some adjustments.
Learn to Explain Things Simply Using Examples
Going back to the Einstein quote about explaining things simply, often an example is a great way to shed light on a technical explanation.
For example, say you’re trying to explain how memory impacts performance and why someone may need a memory upgrade.
If you launch into a monologue about 8GB of RAM compared to 12GB of RAM, you’re bound to lose some people.
Instead use an example and simple, understandable terms, such as:
“Memory, or RAM, impacts how many things you can do on a computer at one time. Expanding your system memory allows the PC to handle more programs being open at once and can respond faster to requests.
For example, I worked with a client having problems similar to yours with browser windows freezing, especially if they had videos or ads loading. We tripled their memory from 4GB to 12GB, and those freezing problems were eliminated. I think increasing your system memory will do the same for you.”
Use Speech Techniques for Better Remote Support Communications
One of the tenants of giving good speeches and training sessions includes these three steps:
- Tell them what you’re going to do.
- Do the thing.
- Tell them what you did.
Often support technicians might miss a step, causing confusion and leaving customers feeling uninformed.
Once you diagnose an issue, explain in simple terms what you’ll do to resolve it (rather than just jumping in keys flying).
Then once you’ve finished your session, you can explain the fix or resolution. One great way to do this when the client’s device may be unattended is to use remote support software, like Instant Housecall, that allows you to leave a visible “sticky note” on the customer’s computer. This neatly closes that communication circle.
Use a Remote Support Software That Makes Your Connections Easy
When you’re trying to explain and address an issue, the last thing you want is problematic remote connection software. Instant Housecall is a powerful yet easy-to-use remote support tool that makes your life easier so you can focus on your customer support.
Try Instant Housecall risk-free for 15 days and experience it for yourself!
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