What Can You Actually Guarantee in a Managed Services Agreement?

I get this question quite frequently.  A solid guarantee is a tremendous way to increase your close ratio in any sales transaction.

Here are some ideas on how you can implement this in your managed services close:

1. Response time to issues or phone calls
2. Reducing downtime to X minutes per month or less
3. The client’s satisfaction with the service based on THEIR perception
4. No viruses or spyware, or you’ll remove & clean the virus at no charge to them
5. No data loss or crashes or you’ll incur all the fees and costs of restoring the network

And if you discover that a large percentage of the people you sell to abuse your guarantee, you either need to do a better job delivering your services or change the type of client you are selling to.

What do you guarantee in your managed services contracts?