How to sell online and cloud backup services against cheaper competition?

How do you sell backup services against cheaper competition?

WholesaleBackup Resellers ask us this question all the time, and it’s a valid concern with tons of cheap products out there for all to see.

Here’s the approach we take when offering backup service so feel free to include these concepts into your own sales and marketing practices.

Focus on service and support when you offer backup service

1. Focus on support and service

Quite simply this is the most important idea you can adapt and master when thinking about how to sell backup against cheap commodity backup products. Your customer needs to believe that they will receive a level of personal support and service from your team that the other guys cannot match, period.

If a customer wonders why they should pay more for your backup service just ask these questions:

Do they want to exchange email over several days with someone overseas to get help, or would they prefer to call you and get live assistance?
Can a cheap commodity product like Mozy/Carbonite restore customer data locally from their host server and drive it over to a customer ASAP like you can?
Does your client want to take responsibility for monitoring and managing their own nightly offsite backups, or would they prefer a professional like you is watching over their data security?
Does your customer want the hassle of having to reach out to their backup provider every time there is a problem, or would they prefer a pro-active support team that notifies them if issues arise that needs to be resolved?

Your ability to provide personal service is the #1 differentiator against low cost and high risk backups, so emphasize it over and over. It cannot be overstated how important this is, especially to business owners.

Support sells so use it to your advantage.

focus on feature gaps when you offer backup service

2. Focus on feature gaps

This is probably obvious, but there are many professional backup software features you will be able to provide as a WholesaleBackup Reseller that the cheap competition cannot. For example:

Use Google or Amazon Cloud Storage

We offer you the ability to leverage low cost cloud storage backups using Google Cloud Storage or Amazon Cloud Storage take your pick.

Backup Management Dashboard and Console

Easily manage all aspects of your brands and backups with a feature rich web based Backup Management Console.

BMR (Bare Metal Restore) & Windows Disk Imaging

Providing you with the ability to offer a native Windows Disk Imaging and Bare Metal Restore solution from you branded backup client.

Windows Server Backups

You have the ability to fully backup and restore Windows servers on command.

Microsoft SQL & Exchange Backups

You get the ability to effectively and efficiently backup Microsoft SQL and Exchange servers, which is one the most sought after requirements in a backup solution that we get asked about.

Encrypt, Compress and De-Duplication

You get the ability to encrypt, compress and de-duplciate files, which provides data security, reduces your bandwidth traffic uage and effeciently cleans up any duplicated files before moving them.

HIPAA Compliant (Patient Files)

You get the ability to offer peace of mind to your clients who work under the HIPAA guidelines, by protecting sensitive data while offering the flexibility to move and transport the information.

PCI Compliant (Credit Cards)

We allow you to offer them the ability to backup PCI compliant files and data like credit card numbers using AES-256 Encryption.

Seeding for Large Backups

Seeded backups for large data sets – Server-side restores for large data.

Differential, Incremental & Full

Automated nightly Differential Backup, files are compared, ecrypted and stored in blocks.

Two Free Local Storage Vaults

You also get free local backups and two Local Storage Vaults.

Retention & Versioning

Not to mention you also get built-in Data Retention and Versioning settings that are fully customizable to match your clients business requirements.

The list goes on but the basic premise here is to make sure the customer understands any cheap service under consideration is likely not close in quality, robustness, or compliance as your WholesaleBackup solution.

End-users often don’t realize they aren’t comparing apples to apples, so it’s critical you help educate them.

focus on quality and risk when selling backup service

3. Focus on quality and risk

At the end of the day online backup solutions are about reducing risk. Risk of losing vital business data, risk of getting files corrupted, risk of going out of business altogether due to a catastrophic failure. If a customer is going to spend the least amount possible then they will get the very least amount of protection. This is a basic truth.

Provide a Free Trial

So set up your customers with a free trial of your branded service, backup their mission-critical data, and then show them how easy it is to restore it. Walk them through how you will eliminate the human point-of-failure, and demonstrate how spending a few dollars extra each month can safeguard their business.

Be Persistent

You won’t win over every customer using these tips, especially if they are determined to spend the absolute least amount possible, and to be honest some folks need to learn the hard way first. But you will win some, and those will be the clients who value a high quality solution with personal support.

It can be competitive out there, so feel free to contact us anytime if you want to discuss selling strategies.

We’re always happy to provide guidance to our resellers based on our 10 years of selling online backup service.

Questions? Get In Touch, we are happy to help.