Best Practices for Selling the Parasol Service
This month we launched a monthly web series called Parasol Connections to offer tips and tricks and stay connected to our dealers during these socially distanced times. Our inaugural episode was a great success, with so many dealers tuning in! Here are a few tips shared by Henry, Greg, and Brandon around selling the Parasol service and using the resources we provide.
Promote it on your website
Your website is where customers find and learn more about you. Parasol offers free, easy-to-use templates for dealers to use. It’s a great way to not only let clients know about the service you offer and the different levels of service they can choose. The templates include an eCommerce plug-in so that upon learning about the amazing service and all that it covers, they can choose a plan and sign-up right from the website. It really sells itself with little effort on your part.
Learn more about the templates here.
Set expectations
Another reason to have your plan options on your website and to talk about them to clients is to set expectations for how and when you provide support. Communicating upfront with clients alleviates the feeling that you have to answer the phone.
“Presenting the options – even if the client doesn’t want to commit helps everyone understand what the rules of the road are. If they aren’t on a plan, they won’t be texting and calling after hours. They now know when the support is available to them. They then understand and know the process and aren’t blindsided by a long wait time or a fee to come out for service,” says Greg.
For existing clients, this won’t be as easy. You’ll need to re-set expectations slowly. But still, by doing so you will get so much of your time back!
Use our email template
Another GREAT resource Henry brought up during the episode was that Parasol offers a free, easy-to-use email template. His team at Livewire took the template, linked it to their free website landing page, and sent it out to their list of clients.
“We literally sat back and watched the sign-ups happen,” said Henry.
Not only does this help you sell the service, but it’s also another way to set expectations. Now you have this service, here’s how the plans work and how you can sign-up to take advantage of the service.
Present the service options often
Not some of the time. Everytime. Whether the client is small or large, all of your clients are going to need support. The three different options to choose from are designed to meet any client’s needs.
“Even for basic networks, it’s really important for them to be on a plan. They can just text if they’re having an issue and we can reboot a WAP to get it back online,” explains Brandon.
“Now, you’re getting the problem resolved in a matter of minutes instead of a matter of days. No need to disturb your integrators during the day or at night.”
Incorporate the service into your contracts and proposals
Another trick shared by Brandon is offering the service for free for the first year to clients who have big contracts. Including the service in the networking side of the proposal and giving them one year free is an easy way to show how necessary 24/7 support really is.
Leverage reports
We are working with several dealers to create reports that show solve rate, downtime, saved downtime, etc. so that when a client is up for renewal, you can show them how beneficial the service is. We can generate reports for any of your clients, all you have to do is ask!
Work with your builders
We have a dealer who has been working with a builder to include Parasol with every new build. What a GREAT way to get the Parasol service in more homes and offices as a best practice and standard!
“Greg and Ted and I got on the call with the builder to tell him all about the service and he thought it was fantastic. Now it’s just another tool that that builder has when they’re selling homes vs the other builders in the area where they can say any of our homes include this 24/7 support in the first year.” – Brandon
Embrace the standardization
We’ve created checklists and resources to ensure standardization across the board. Whether your client opts into the service or not, using our best practices just makes you more efficient.
“We’ve in essence created the first worldwide standardization within OvrC. Our dealers are following the checklists we’ve built so it’s consistent across the board. It’s being set-up the same in Australia as it is in the UK, Canada, and every state in the U.S. By making sure the systems look the same, we are creating efficiencies. You don’t have to go through the weeds to get to the problem,” says Greg.
What a lot of our dealers are doing now is using our best practices and checklists to do every job the same. Even if clients don’t want the service – or want to think about it – it’s beneficial to you to follow the standard. If all of the systems are set-up the same, you’re creating your own company standard, which is going to be more efficient for your integrators anyway. Also, when your client who wasn’t sure they wanted the service changes their mind, you can just turn the account on and be ready to go in an instant.
Get onboard with AllCall
AllCall is Parasol’s newest service where a live person can answer calls during or after hours. Adding AllCall is a huge time saver for dealers and that benefit extends to offering great service to your clients. When a call comes in, you want that customer to be able to talk about the problem while it’s fresh in their mind. Our customer service agents can take the call in the moment, do some basic troubleshooting if need be, and/or take the information you need so you don’t have to worry about answering the phone. What that means is that the folks who are calling who don’t have the Parasol service can at least talk to someone in the moment and you can have your time back.
These are just some of the great things that were shared during Episode 1 of Parasol Connections! You can watch the full show below.