Many AV integrators have struggled when it comes to creating recurring revenue streams—and in helping their customers figure out a way to afford the AV technology they need to achieve their dreams. Enter GreatAmerica Financial Services and the AV AMP offering.
AV AMP is “a new financial bundling product that incorporates monthly service fees into invoices from systems integrators and contractors,” according to the company announcement. The program launched at NSCA’s Business and Leadership Conference in February and has about 50 members so far, says Lee Rozeboom, VP of strategic relationships at GreatAmerica Financial Services.
“We can help integrators take what they already do now and teach them to start selling differently,” he says. [related]
Through AV AMP, integrators are able to streamline their invoicing process and include monthly payment options into quotes for customers. The program helps integrators bundle hardware, software, service contracts and maintenance into one document and one offering for customers.
“Technology is bought and sold through monthly payments – and that now includes AV,” said NSCA executive director Chuck Wilson in a joint statement with GreatAmerica. “Financing is beneficial not just for integrators, but also for their customers. The GreatAmerica AV AMP program gives NSCA members a new way to help their customers access the latest AV technology while also benefitting from a profitable recurring revenue business model.”
GreatAmerica has traditionally worked with resellers of office technology such as copiers, printers, business communications and networking equipment. That includes experience in the unified communications and health care markets.
“We’ve seen the results As-A-Service models provide in other industries and we want integrators and their customers to share these benefits too,” said Wil Meggers, VP and GM of the GreatAmerica Unified Communications and IT Group, in the joint announcement. “We’re looking forward to learning more about the market and how to best serve integrators as they transition to AV AMP.”
Recurring Revenue Catching On
NSCA director of business resources Mike Abernathy is excited about the early interest in AV AMP and believes more NSCA members will get involved as they see their peers achieve success with the program.
UCC is perhaps the best example of how AV integrators can turn their models on their heads and make recurring revenue the primary option, says Abernathy.
“It’s never going to shift all the way to a managed services model, but our membership was saying they want to do something different,” he says. NSCA is hoping 10 percent of its members enroll in AV AMP within the next year to 18 months, but it’ll be “one member at a time,” says Abernathy.
The unified communications space is perhaps the best example of how AV integrators can turn their models on their heads and make recurring revenue the primary option, says Abernathy.
“They used to mostly sell hardware and sell a maintenance contract every once in a while [in UCC],” he says. “For the past 10 or 12 years, they’ve been using those maintenance contracts to turn it into a services or recurring revenue model.”
New Way of Thinking
Rozeboom says it’s important for integrators to set a goal of 20 to 30 percent recurring revenue, but “before we can get to 20 to 30 percent, we need to get to 5 percent.
“As with everything, you’re going to have skeptics and you’re going to have early adopters,” he says. “There are so many ways they need to change their businesses and this is just an additional thing they need to do. If there’s going to be full buy-in, it needs to go through the sales reps.”
Rozeboom suggests bringing in so-called subject matter experts who can work behind the sales reps and teach them how to sell services rather than selling boxes.
“It could take 90 days or it could take up to a year,” says Rozeboom. “Once that transition happens, though, it starts to go from there.”
GreatAmerica Financial Services will host a webinar that outlines the AV AMP program Aug. 2 at 1 p.m. ET. Click here to register or for more information.
