How you organise support depends on your sales model. As a reseller you only handle the sales and 2LRN4 does the rest. With a managed service you handle the sales and the service delivery, including first-line support. With white-label you also handle your own marketing and advice. At every level, 2LRN4 remains your second line for genuine platform or technical issues.
Discuss with 2LRN4 which support model suits the way you sell awareness.
View the partner pageSupport follows your sales model
One of the first questions partners ask is who handles support. The answer is not "you" or "us", but depends on how you sell. The more awareness becomes your service under your brand, the more tasks shift to you: from sales only, to the service delivery as well, to ultimately the marketing and the advice too. So you do not need to build a full organisation from day one; you build it at the pace at which you grow. If you would first like to know which models exist, read how to become a security awareness reseller.
| Model | What you do | What 2LRN4 does |
|---|---|---|
| Reseller | Sales only | Everything else: platform, content, support and service delivery |
| Managed service | Sales and service delivery, including first-line support | Platform, content and the second line |
| White-label | Sales, marketing, advice and service delivery, including support | Platform, central content and the second line |
Reseller: you sell, 2LRN4 does the rest
In the reseller model you limit yourself to the sales. You add awareness to your offering and resell licences, while 2LRN4 provides the platform, onboards the customer, handles the support and maintains the content. So you do not need your own support process, and that makes this model ideal to start with: you can offer awareness without building a service delivery around it. The downside is that you have less grip on the customer experience and sit on a lower margin, because someone else handles the contact and the service.
Managed service: sales plus service delivery
With a managed service you take on the service delivery alongside the sales, and that includes first-line support. You are the point of contact for the customer: you guide the implementation, hold the conversations about progress and reporting, and handle the day-to-day questions yourself. For genuine platform or technical questions you fall back on 2LRN4 as the second line. This is the model in which you build your own first line, fitting the fact that you now deliver a service and not just licences. In return you get a higher margin and a stronger customer relationship.
White-label: sales, marketing, advice and support
White-label is the most complete model. Alongside the sales and the full service delivery, including first-line support, you also handle your own marketing and advice. After all, the customer only sees your brand, so you are the party that takes awareness to market and stands alongside the customer as an adviser. That is exactly why the highest margin goes with this, and why it requires you to truly master the platform and the subject matter. You are not on your own: the 2LRN4 support knowledge base helps you with first-line questions, and 2LRN4 remains your second line. You can read how to prepare for this in the pitfalls of white-label.
When do you build your own support?
The biggest step lies between reseller and managed service: that is the moment when first-line support becomes yours. The growth usually happens naturally. Many partners start as a reseller, where 2LRN4 does everything beyond the sales, and only build their own first line once they move towards managed service or white-label. A good rule of thumb is to expand your support once the volume justifies it, around the growth at which awareness becomes a fixed, recurring service for you. Start small with documentation and a few standard answers, and expand as your customer base grows. That way you never invest too early, but you never fall behind the facts either.
The common thread
Support is not a separate decision you make in isolation, but a direct consequence of your sales model. As a reseller you only sell and 2LRN4 does the rest. With a managed service the service delivery with first-line support is added. And with white-label you add your own marketing and advice on top of that. That line runs parallel to your margin and your brand: the more it is yours, the more tasks become yours. And at every level, 2LRN4 remains your second line for the moments when you genuinely cannot work it out.
Related on partnership
How to become a security awareness reseller · How to avoid the pitfalls of white-label · 2LRN4 partner programme
FAQ
What do you do yourself per sales model?
As a reseller you only handle the sales and 2LRN4 does the rest. With a managed service you handle the sales and the service delivery, including first-line support. With white-label you also handle your own marketing and advice. The tasks increase as awareness becomes more your own service under your brand.
Do I need my own helpdesk as a reseller?
No. As a reseller you limit yourself to the sales and 2LRN4 handles the support and service delivery. That lets you offer awareness without your own support process, and makes this model ideal to start with.
Who handles first-line support with managed service and white-label?
With both models you handle the first-line support, because you deliver the service under your guidance or brand. 2LRN4 is your second line for genuine platform or technical issues, and the support knowledge base helps you with common first-line questions.
When do you build your own first line?
As soon as you move from reseller to managed service or white-label, because that is where first-line support becomes yours. Start small with documentation and standard answers and expand as your customer base grows, so that you never invest too early but never fall behind either.