Stop Firefighting: How to Turn Customer Support & Managed Services into a Scalable Revenue Stream
"Our customer support services for our offerings are underperforming because they are always a fire drill. It's impossible to predict how to staff for it. When requests come in, we can't get the budget to proactively do things for our customers that we know will help them and prevent future support calls."
This is the reality for many B2B services firms. Support and managed services teams operate in an unpredictable, reactive model—delivering time-and-materials (T&M) engagements, answering sporadic customer requests, and constantly adjusting staffing to keep up. The result? Underfunded teams, inconsistent service, and a function that remains a cost center instead of a strategic revenue driver.
But there’s a better way.
By productizing customer support and managed services, firms can shift from reactive, unpredictable work to a structured, scalable revenue model—delivering higher-value services while improving financial predictability. I’ve led this shift firsthand at Social Solutions and helped multiple organizations—like a financial ERP implementation firm and a marketing analytics services company—successfully transition to this model.
Why the Old Model is Holding You Back
The traditional support and T&M model has three fundamental problems:
1️⃣ Unpredictability strains staffing and budgets. Demand fluctuates, making it difficult to staff efficiently, leading to either overinvestment or under-resourced teams.
2️⃣ One-off engagements limit customer retention. Without structured, ongoing engagement, customers only reach out when they have an issue—making it harder to drive long-term value and renewals.
3️⃣ Support is treated as a cost center, not a strategic asset. Customers see support as a necessary evil, rather than an essential service that drives business outcomes.
How to Productize Managed Services & Support
1. Define & Monetize the Ongoing Value
Customers don’t just want help when things break—they need ongoing optimization, guidance, and best practices to get the most from your services. The key is shifting from reactive support to a structured engagement model focused on continuous improvement.
For example, a financial ERP services firm transitioned from reactive troubleshooting to a proactive optimization service, where consultants regularly analyze and fine-tune customers' systems. This approach not only created a recurring revenue stream but also improved customer outcomes—leading to higher retention.
2. Package & Price for Predictability
A productized managed services model replaces unpredictable, ad-hoc requests with structured, tiered offerings that balance value, cost, and scalability. A typical model might include:
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- Standard: Regular check-ins + best practice recommendations
- Enhanced: Proactive optimization + dedicated consultant access
- Premium: White-glove service + hands-on execution
This approach creates predictable revenue and allows customers to choose the level of engagement that best fits their needs.
3. Overcome Common Fears of the Transition
Many companies hesitate to make this shift due to concerns like:
🔹 “If we move to a fixed-cost model, won’t some customers abuse it?”
Yes, some will try—but you can mitigate this by analyzing call-in patterns, setting clear SLAs, and offering tiered pricing based on expected usage.
🔹 “Won’t customers resist paying for something they previously got for free or on-demand?”
Customers are willing to pay for predictable, high-value service. The key is pricing based on the significant value delivered, not just access to support.
These fears are real, but they can be overcome with data-driven decision-making and clear customer education. As we emphasize in Fearless, growth often requires rethinking old assumptions and taking calculated risks to build a more scalable business.
The Future: Recurring Revenue & Higher Retention
The biggest benefit of this transformation? Moving from unpredictable, transactional support to a scalable, recurring revenue model.
By shifting customer support and managed services from a cost center to a structured, productized offering, companies can:
✅ Increase customer retention through continuous engagement
✅ Drive expansion revenue by demonstrating ongoing value
✅ Improve financial predictability with scalable, recurring revenue
If you're ready to stop firefighting and build a more predictable, profitable services model, let’s talk. We help organizations productize their services for scalable growth.