For retailers, catalogue size matters. Most e-commerce stores cannot stock enough products. They're always at risk of losing shoppers to competitor outlets with wider selections. Contrarily, the same cannot be said of telecommunications resellers. For such businesses, fewer products can actually reduce onboarding barriers and improve service experiences. Let’s see how!
A few weeks back, we spoke about customer training and enablement. Well, the size of your product selection can affect such aspects of your business. By limiting how your customers use and connect to the service, your business can:
Specialize: The fewer devices your tech team supports, the more responsive and capable they can be;
Standardize: Fewer devices on the system ensures predictable updating and feature integration.
Note that the brands you align with indicate what type of service you provide. If you pair with low-grade devices, then customers may interpret your solution as such. Therefore, more than just quantity should determine your product selection.
Most IP devices offer the same baseline features. However, top-of-the-line devices introduce elite feature sets. The products you choose for your solution should match your own system's functionality. Exceeding your solution's abilities results in waste and potential frustration. Should users explore the capabilities of their devices, they might realize the limitations of your service.
Interestingly, many customers prefer that their providers supply—or at least recommend—good devices. So lift the onus of selection from your customers by narrowing the product roster your business offers. Demonstrate how the devices you provide are the best options given your system’s particular specifications.
It is easier to maintain a stock for your customers when you can predict which devices they will use. Furthermore, you can bulk order from your distributor to ensure product availability and save money.
Essentially, the more products you offer, the greater your overhead and time-to-delivery. Although many distributors run excellent shipping programs, not having stock introduces minor delays. As well, keeping stock lets you preconfigure devices for customers.