By: Jorge Olivieri, NinjaOne
With the growing cost associated with doing business, margins are too thin to keep racing to the bottom. Many firms live at 10–20 percent hardware margin—barely covering the lights and payroll—while the benchmark NSCA urges is closer to 30 percent so you can clear overhead and invest in growth.
Imagine a renewal meeting. Your client says,
“We like you, but someone came in cheaper.” That’s the trap. When you lead with value and prove it over time, price stops being the headline. It becomes a detail in a bigger story about outcomes, reliability, and trust.
You don’t have to live in survival mode. This article can serve as a two-part playbook on how to position your business as a premium provider for new accounts and then how to keep and grow the customers you already have—without cutting price.
Part I — Win New Accounts Without Discounting
1) Sell Solutions, Not Line Items
A regional integrator kept losing bids. Their proposals were spreadsheets containing numbers, quantities, and labor. Prospects circled the cheapest line and went elsewhere. Then the team changed the first page of every proposal to “Pain & Outcomes.” What is the business risk? What breaks today? What will be better 90 days after the account goes live? Once buyers saw reduced liability, fewer outages, and time saved, the conversation shifted from “How much is that camera?” to “How fast can we get this result?”
Principle Point: Lead with business impact, not parts.
2) Specialize to Differentiate
Generalists look interchangeable. Specialists don’t. Pick one or two verticals—healthcare, education, multi-site retail—and learn their language, rules, and rhythms. A client once said, “You understood our accreditation audit better than our IT vendor.”
That single sentence justified premium pricing.
Principle Point: Niche expertise beats generalist price.
3) Build Multiple Recurring Revenue Streams
Project backlogs spike. Services plateau. Move from install-and-exit to managed partner. Offer proactive maintenance, firmware and patching, cloud video, analytics, and AI-assisted alerts.
Principle Point: Predictable value earns predictable revenue.
4) Package and Bundle for Simplicity
Apples-to-apples invites price wars. Bundles make comparisons harder and decisions easier. Present “Good/Better/Best” packages that combine gear, software, and service under one monthly price. Map the upgrade path at the sale—so expansion feels planned, not pitched, six months later.
Principle Point: One decision, one price, fewer doubts.
Part II — Keep and Grow the Customers You Have
5) Elevate the Client Experience
A facilities director once shared with me that he was leaving his vendor because “they only call when they want a PO.” Don’t be that vendor. Be the partner who checks in before things break. Set a cadence of touching base with your customers—kickoff → 30-day health check → quarterly reviews. Name a human owner or manager of the account from the client side (TAM/CSM). Build loyalty that price can’t touch.
Principle Point: A concierge experience makes you worth more.
6) Retain and Grow Existing Accounts
The easiest revenue to lose is the revenue you already have. Retention is a process, not a scramble at the time of renewal. Prove value before they ask. Show uptime, incidents prevented, service response, and total cost avoided. Make the cost of switching visible—risk, retraining, re-onboarding, and soft costs they don’t see. Research is clear: acquiring a new customer can cost many times more than keeping one, and a small lift in retention can swing profits dramatically.
Principle Point: Keep the base, grow the base.
7) Become the Trusted Advisor
The strongest way to avoid price battles is to be in the room before the RFP exists. Host short briefings for your vertical. Share a two-page roadmap that helps the client phase upgrades over 12–24 months. Bring ideas that reduce risk or save time. When you’re the one shaping the plan, you’re the one they want to keep—at a fair margin.
Principle Point: If you write the story, you’re not a line item in it.
Closing
Competing on price is a race you don’t need to run. Lead with outcomes, develop specialized services, and build with strategic follow-ups. By bundling with intent, you can deliver a concierge experience that will ultimately help retain and grow your customer base. Do just one of these in the next 90 days, and you’ll feel the shift—from being the lowest bidder to being the partner they can’t replace.
About the Author:
Jorge Olivieri is a bilingual strategic-sales leader with 20 years of experience boosting revenue for security and SaaS innovators. After a decade as an entrepreneur and various roles at Alarm.com, he’s now part of the LATAM team at NinjaOne, blending market insight with hands-on tech fluency to forge enduring client success.
Read how LOUD Security leads industry evolution
Visit NinjaOne
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How can integrators move away from discount-based selling?
By emphasizing measurable business outcomes, improved uptime, and tailored solutions rather than price.
2. What’s the most effective way to retain existing clients?
Maintain regular, proactive communication and continually demonstrate ROI through service metrics.
3. How can bundling improve profitability?
Bundles simplify decisions and reduce price comparisons, positioning you as a complete solution provider.
4. What industries benefit most from specialization?
Verticals like healthcare, education, and multi-site retail often reward in-depth, specialized expertise.
5. Why is recurring revenue important for integrators?
It stabilizes income, supports predictable forecasting, and strengthens long-term client relationships.