Special offerings for certain product lines?

I just talked to a vendor who routinely provides 24×7 support (since its products tend to be used in mission-critical applications that mandate support around the clock) but is getting push-back from the customers of a particular product, who don’t perceive it as mission critical and hence balk at paying large amounts to support it. If the portfolio of support offerings included an 8×5 choice, at a more palatable price, that would be the end of the story: present both the 8×5 and the 24×7 offerings and let the customer decide what is best. But what if the portfolio does not include a cheaper, shorter-hours program?

1. Evaluate whether the request is simply a financial negotiation tactic. Is the customer asking for business-hours support because s/he does not need 24×7, or is s/he asking because 24×7 support is too expensive? If the concern is purely financial take a look at pricing rather than discovering down the line that the customer needs and expects you to have staff on hand around the clock.

2. Consider the magnitude of the requirement. Are we talking about one isolated customer or about many similar customers who don’t want 24×7 support? If the former, negotiate with the customer (and you may decide on how flexible you’d like to be); if the latter, it’s time to review your support portfolio.

3. Study the pros and cons of adding a cheaper support offering. A customer who terminates support is a customer who pays nothing into your coffers. That may be fine if the customer is too small or too cheap to matter, but if you have an entire group of customers in that situation it’s probably wise to define an offering they need and can afford, in this case a business-day support program. If you decide to do that remember to enforce the restrictions. It would be silly to deliver gold-plated service at a discount.

4. Decide whether to make the new service available with other product lines.  Presumably customers who use mission-critical products will want mission-critical support, which requires 24×7. But you may also find that some customers decide to scale down on their support commitments, which will impact your revenue line. One possibility is to routinely recommend 24×7 support but have the 8×5 offering as a back-pocket offer to be used if needed. Don’t be afraid to have different offerings for different product lines as long as they match customer requirements. (And streamline them as much as possible so you don’t drive the sales reps and the customers crazy.)