Packaging, positioning, and pricing post-sale services

In this session of Preflight Huddle, London Cohort Host, Anna Heaney, spoke to Catherine Cantwell, VP of Global Professional Services & Partnerships at Showpad.

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Catherine Cantwell leads Showpad’s Global Professional Services, Partnerships, and Support teams, overseeing the deployment and maintenance of Showpad in client environments. She also directs the Showpad Ecosystem, a global network of partners that enables customization and enhancement of Showpad. With a background in strategy consulting at PwC, Catherine has extensive experience in digital transformation programs. Her passion lies in leveraging technology and customer-led innovation for success.

The session focused on how companies can:

• Identify when it’s time to create post-sale service offerings
• Simplify service offerings for your customers
• Guide customers to the right services, and
• Ensure a frictionless service experience for customers

Here are the top takeaways from the session.

Optimal timing for packaging post-sale services

Identifying the right moment to package post-sale services is crucial for SaaS startups. Typically, the product team focuses on rapid development, often prioritizing product features over documentation. Meanwhile, the professional services team acts as a bridge, filling gaps in the software and ensuring a smooth customer experience.
As the product matures and becomes more stable, professional services can transition to offering higher-value, chargeable work. 
Two key indicators signal this shift:

• Product and documentation maturity: When professional services are no longer needed as a stopgap measure and the product is stable enough, this indicates readiness for higher-value work.
• Help center usage: Monitoring how often customers turn to the help center for deployment and troubleshooting can reveal whether they can self-deploy using the available documentation. High self-sufficiency suggests that professional services can move beyond basic deployments.

Key focus areas while building and transitioning to post-sale offerings

When transitioning to post-sale service offerings, focusing on a scalable framework and incorporating field feedback is crucial. Here are the key focus areas to consider as you do this:

1. Developing a scalable framework: A robust framework is essential for scaling services. This framework will help organize delivery, collateral, and presale activities, making it easier to introduce new service offerings as the company grows. It's important to outline how the services will be delivered, what collateral will be needed, and how the services will be marketed pre-sale.
2. Incorporating field feedback: Gathering information from customers about the challenges they face helps in understanding the areas where customers need the most support and informs the development of the service offerings.
3. Offering strategic support and process building: Before customers can digitize their processes through the platform, they need a clear strategy for their function. Offering services that help them establish these strategies is essential.
   Helping customers build out their processes ensures they are ready to use the technology effectively. This involves offering hands-on support to develop and refine these processes.

Simplifying service offerings for customer clarity

To streamline their service offerings and make them easier for customers to understand, Catherine recommends a structured approach to packaging and pricing. This approach involves breaking down services into smaller, manageable components, much like Lego bricks, and then reconfiguring them into customized bundles. 
Here are the key elements of this process:

A framework for service delivery

1. Component breakdown: Dissect services into their smallest units (e.g., one-hour or three-hour workshops).
2. Customizable bundles: Allow components to be reassembled in various configurations to meet specific customer needs.
3. Consistency and clarity: Ensure each component has standardized collateral and frameworks for clear communication and delivery.

Organized offerings

Position services as a comprehensive bundle rather than individual components. By offering services as part of a bundle, customers receive a clear view of the overall value rather than being overwhelmed by separate costs. This approach helps in making pricing discussions more straightforward and customer-friendly.
Name and brand the bundles to emphasize the overall value rather than the detailed parts.
This approach helps simplify the sales process and ensures customers perceive the complete value of the bundled services. Here are a few ways to bundle offerings: 

1. By customer segment: Tailor bundles based on the ideal customer profile (ICP) or core verticals.
2. By service type: Categorize services into advisory, technical, educational, etc.
3. By customer problems: Align services to address specific customer challenges.
4. By use cases: Group services based on common use cases.

An Agile approach to bundling:

Start by experimenting with marketing strategies to present bundles as comprehensive packages. This helps in showcasing the overall value of the service bundle. However, keep in mind that in the sales order, you may still need to list the individual components or stock-keeping units (SKUs). This will require your sales team to manage customer expectations by explaining that the marketing bundle might be detailed into specific parts in the order.

Only transition a bundle into a standalone SKU once it has proven to be popular and effective in the market. This strategy allows you to remain flexible and responsive to market feedback, ensuring that bundles are continually optimized based on actual demand and performance.

Offering customer education for enablement

Initially focusing on deployments, Showpad expanded its services to include custom end-user training, particularly for enterprise clients.  They also developed a standard end-user training academy for mid-market commercial clients.

Showpad also expanded into advisory services, which encompassed business, functional, and process-oriented support to ensure successful platform implementation. They included more complex technical services like custom integrations, applications, and extensions. The goal was to embed these service elements throughout every customer deployment.

Balancing commercial goals with customer experience and expectations

The key is to prioritize helping customers achieve their goals rather than merely expanding service sales. 
Provide maximum optionality and flexibility, ensuring that services genuinely add value to customers. For instance, offer clear tiers of service:

• Do-it-yourself: Allow customers to fully manage and deploy the software on their own using extensive help resources and an academy.
• Show-you-how: Provide guidance and training to empower customers to manage the platform effectively after initial setup.
• Do-it-for-you: Offer managed services to handle daily operations, especially for customers facing budget constraints or reduced headcount.

Position services as additional support rather than a necessity, making it clear that while customers can manage on their own, these services are designed to expedite their success and alleviate workload. This approach aligns commercial interests with customer needs, ensuring that services are genuinely beneficial rather than just a revenue stream.

Guiding customers to the right service level

While there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to this, there are key indicators to help determine the appropriate level of service, such as:

1. Admin engagement: During the presale cycle, assess whether the customer has a dedicated administrator for the platform. If a customer indicates a need for an admin but lacks a committed individual, it’s a sign that the platform might not receive the necessary attention. In such cases, the "do-it-for-you" service level is recommended to ensure proper management and maintenance.
2. Resource changes: Monitor changes in the customer’s admin team, such as layoffs, parental leaves, or sabbaticals. If a previously strong and engaged admin is no longer available, this can trigger a need for managed services to fill the gap.
3. Capability constraints: Recognize when customers face capability constraints, such as lacking in-house software developers. If the platform requires advanced technical support that the customer cannot provide internally, offering specialized services can bridge this gap.

Communicating the value of different approaches

To communicate the value of different service approaches, focus on differentiating between hands-on support and empowerment strategies:

1. Hands-on support: The value of hands-on support is straightforward. It offers direct administration of the platform at a significantly lower cost compared to hiring a full-time admin. This approach leverages the expertise of the service team to provide efficient and effective management, which can be particularly appealing to customers who need high-level expertise quickly and cost-effectively.
2. Empowerment and advisory: For companies focused on building internal capabilities, the value proposition lies in developing a competent in-house team. This approach emphasizes training and supporting the organization to become self-sufficient. It’s ideal for companies committed to investing in their internal functions who want to build long-term capabilities without ongoing reliance on external support.

Showpad has a team of solution definition managers to assist in complex deals. They convey the value of hands-on services as cost-effective and efficient, while advisory services help customers build internal capabilities. This dual approach caters to both companies ready to invest in internal functions and those preferring to outsource.

Overcoming common challenges in post-sale service offerings

Overcoming challenges in post-sale service offerings involves focusing on reducing friction and providing flexible, accessible support:

1. Minimize friction: Make accessing services as frictionless as possible. Ensure customers can easily request help and receive the appropriate resources without bureaucratic delays or cumbersome processes. By allowing customers to access any resource they need—whether it's education, technical support, or development—you enhance their confidence in getting timely and relevant assistance.
2. Provide flexible resource access: Implement a model where customers can access a variety of resources based on their needs, rather than being limited to specific types of support. This flexibility ensures they get the help they need without unnecessary complications or delays.
3. Consider a ‘time and material’ model: Use a time and material model to manage service requests. This approach simplifies tracking and prioritizing service usage, allowing for more efficient allocation of resources. It also encourages customers to prioritize their needs, reducing random or less critical requests and focusing on high-impact areas.

Best practices to ensure a frictionless experience across different service packages

• Segmentation and targeting: Larger customers with complex needs benefit from packages that offer broad resource access. In contrast, smaller organizations or those with less complex requirements may not need such extensive support. You can offer these customers a more streamlined package suited to their scale and challenges.

• Dedicated resources: Instead of a generic ticketing system, having a dedicated consultant provides a personal touch. Customers can reach out to someone who understands their specific needs, reducing the friction of navigating a ticketing system and improving overall satisfaction.

This personalized approach allows the consultant to offer tailored recommendations and proactive support. They can identify opportunities for optimization and provide insights based on their direct involvement with the customer.

Advice for PS professionals and leaders

1. Recognize that service and sales are not separate: As a PS professional, your role isn't just to deliver services but to also use them to differentiate your company and enhance the sales process. Understand how your service offerings can be leveraged to win deals and effectively position your organization in the market.
   
   
2. Embrace service-led growth: Adopt a service-led growth mindset, where service engagements contribute to product development. Focus on creating repeatable frameworks from your service work that can be scaled and integrated into your product. This approach enhances service delivery and adds value to your company's offerings.
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3. Manage services as separate P&L: Treat your services division as an independent business unit with its own profit and loss considerations. Think about your function being the business within the business.
   Focus on both revenue and cost management to optimize your services business. Understanding and managing these financial levers will guide strategic decisions and drive success in your service offerings.
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4. Implement customer surveys early: Consider introducing a mechanism for customer surveys right from the beginning. This helps in collecting comprehensive feedback from a wide range of customers, which is crucial for understanding their specific challenges and needs. 

It also accelerates the service development process and ensures that the solutions offered are closely aligned with actual customer demands. Additionally, it allows you to address issues on a larger scale, rather than reacting to organic feedback, which may only reflect a small portion of the customer base.

Do you have more insights on packaging and positioning post-sale services? We’d love for you to join our growing Preflight Community and share your knowledge with fellow members!

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