You’re Costing Yourself $78 on Every $1 You Make by Ignoring Managed AV Services

I’ve got a deal for all those AV integrators who are still resisting the switch to or addition of a managed services model: I’ll stop writing about why it’s important when you can tell me why you’re throwing away $78 per year on every dollar you’re making.

I’m certainly not someone who’s well-versed in high finance by any means, but I do understand this, as explained by Ben Jackson and West McDonald of Tigerpaw Software during the 2019 Total Tech Summit in Fort Worth, Texas, this week:

If you sign one new customer per month to a $1 monthly service contract, that’s an additional $78 per year in your pocket every year on every dollar you make.

For those who don’t believe me, I’ll explain it more completely: you sign customer A to a $1 monthly service contract in January, then add customer B for another $1 monthly service deal in February. That’s $2 for February. Add a third customer in March and it’s $3 for that month, and so on.

Still not convinced? I’ll make it even simpler for you: 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12=78.

Managed Services Boosts Your Bottom Line

Many of you might have been burned by the rule of 78 when attempting to pay off a loan, since the practice is often used to frontload the interest you pay to the bank and discourage you from paying off your debt early. But trust me: this is something you’ll want to consider as soon as possible.

I’m guessing, once you do get around to launching your managed services arm—one of these days—you’ll be charging a lot more than $1 per month for whatever service you’re providing on top of your AV integration expertise. Imagine the possibilities with all of that additional revenue.

Yeah, I know it’s not easy. The panelists who joined me to talk about their managed services offerings at Total Tech Summit all agreed on that point, from a fledgling operation to a well-established version. The conversation with your customer and with your sales staff isn’t easy, but it’s necessary.

Unless, of course, you don’t like making more money.

If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!