MSPs: Sell Cloud Services like a Pro

Let’s get one thing straight: selling is hard. Regardless of whether you are a high-tech managed service provider (MSP) offering cloud-based file sharing services or making baked goods, you are going to face plenty of competition and resistance when you open shop.

However, despite the aura of impossibility surrounding selling, some people just get it. It doesn’t matter what they have to offer, every time they step into the market, they come back with positive results.

Good sales pros understand that certain “something,” and while each has his own take on it, the underlying tactics they use are more or less the same. Let’s take a look at what sets them apart from the humdrum of the sales world and how you can use their expertise to sell your cloud-based file sharing service.

The good, the bad, and the ugly… sellers

To most sellers, selling is a numbers game. They believe the more prospects they call/reach, the better their chances of selling are. While there is some truth to the fact that the law of averages is involved in selling, the best sellers only use it as an afterthought. Good sellers are great at “personal selling,” which means instead of treating the person at the end of the phone as just another prospect, they focus on building a relationship with them and earning their trust.

Napoleon Hill’s 1937 classic, “Think and Grow Rich,” had a great suggestion for salesmen: “the more you try to sell, the less you sell – and the more you give away without expecting reward, the more you achieve.” In golf terms, this is about as hard as keeping your eyes from wandering to the green when you are making your swing, and keeping it firmly at the ball until your club connects; it just seems wrong!

However, it actually makes perfect sense if you dig deep. Consider your conundrum – you are trying to sell a product, yet no one likes being sold to. Does that ring any bells? The only way to sell is therefore by focusing on your prospect’s requirements, not yours.

Start by explaining the basics of cloud computing

Cloud computing has only recently gained popularity, so there are many decision makers out there that do not know what to make of it. If your clients and prospects are not even familiar with the most fundamental terminology, then explaining how your cloud-based file sharing services can benefit them will become harder.

Use the simplest possible definition, something as succinct as “cloud computing is essentially using the internet to deliver hardware and software as a service which would otherwise require costly equipment to be purchased and used in your office” will actually suffice to get your client’s attention. Keep technical jargon away from your marketing material. 

Draw parallels to make it easy for your prospects to understand

Good sellers always use analogies to explain what they are selling – always! The oldest, most applicable analogy you can use is that cloud computing is like being plugged into the power grid, instead of producing your own power; you only draw and pay for what you need. Here are ten analogies that you can use in your marketing efforts.

Become an authority in your prospect’s eyes

Nobody is going to take you seriously if you do not come across as a person that knows their trade inside and out. But, the catch here isn’t that you need to know what cloud computing is all about (that should be a given), it’s that you need to be an authority on how it helps your clients succeed at what they are doing. This is the part where you need to understand your client and the environment.

Becoming personable with clients opens up an avenue to gaining quality information on what business solutions they require. You can also use tools such as blogs, whitepapers, articles, and press releases to give your prospects helpful tips and insights into how they can improve their services by going for the cloud.