3 Steps to Managed Services Selling

… leadership and culture. Firms must have the right leadership in place to guide the transition to managed services in a coordinated, well-considered way. One of leadership’s most important roles is to create a new culture of service and embed a “Day 2 Support” mindset into the fabric of the company.

As part of the evolution of skill sets, the importance of the sales team cannot be underestimated. Typically, sales reps who are currently selling “boxes” or maintenance and reactive troubleshooting-type services find selling managed services very difficult. It’s not simply a matter of selling a different product; it’s a different type of sale to a different type of buyer and requires a far different skill set.

There are typically seven aspects to helping channel partners re-tool in this new world:

1. Build an external view of the market. Thoroughly understand end-customer values, what they want and need, and how they make purchasing decisions.
2. Prioritize end-customer segments. Segment end-markets and identify high-value segments. We look at pace of adoption and receptiveness to SaaS/XaaS. This results in a clear view of revenue opportunity and urgency to reach.
3. Identify your solution set. Pinpoint the optimal set of managed services – proactive UC monitoring, XaaS, BC/DR support services – that best fit new end-customer values.
4. Understand capability gaps. Know what is required to sell and market the suite of solutions. Do gap analysis of capabilities to deliver vs. what is in place. Identify missing capabilities and implement them.
5. Integrate any current managed services. Bring your offerings all together under one strong leader who can drive expansion.
6. Revamp the sales model. Adapt to the changed perspective of customers, the different decision-making dynamics and the more managed services-type of offerings.
7. Develop GTM strategy. Target high-value customer segments, delivering the optimal set of solutions in collaboration with vendors. We take an active role in the implementation to ensure results.

The challenges faced by channel partners today may be opportunities in disguise. To be sure, the evolving managed-services landscape has some landmines to avoid, but as is often the case, the key to success lies in adapting to new models instead of resisting them and a firm understanding of what customers want today instead of last year — and then understanding how to give it to them.

Michael Smith is senior managing director at Blue Ridge Partners. He has significant experience working with key players in the technology value chain, and helps VARs understand the implications of a changing world and drive profitable revenue growth in light of vendor priorities and concerns.

Kevin Mulloy is a principal at Blue Ridge Partners. His 30+ year career has focused on innovation and technology management issues for a wide range of high-tech and industrial clients. Throughout his career, he has led Managed Services and corporate development projects, and has been responsible for several strategic OEM and channel partner initiatives.