MSP Sales: How to Hire the Best, Fire the Rest
| Date | Available On Demand |
The conversation started at CompTIA Breakaway in August. There, CharTec CEO Alex Rogers approached me about the sorry state of sales leadership in the MSP market. “What is it going to take for MSPs to hire and motivate the right sales team members and fire the rest?” Rogers asked me. My reply: Instead of discussing this one-on-one, why don’t you offer your guidance during our Channel Expert Hour webcast? Rogers embraced the idea and is set to give MSPs sales advice and take your questions during our November 1 webcast. So what will we cover? Here are some clues.
Also joining us will be Chris Wiser, CEO of TechSquadIT — a company that has aligned its sales team to drive profitable growth. Wiser and Rogers will discuss:
- The Interview Process — how to ask the right questions to find the right candidates?
- Red Flags — how to know the candidate is not a fit.
- Compensation Guidance — models that keep sales team members motivated.
- Measuring Success — a 90-day road map to ensure your new hire either succeeds or exits.
- Cutting Them Loose — when and how to say goodbye.
Rogers tends to be a colorful guy. Strongly opinionated and outspoken. I wonder: Will you agree with his advice? Or will you push back and offer alternative perspectives? Either way you should look forward to a lively conversation that includes plenty of attendee questions — and views from Rogers and Wiser.
Sales isn’t a one-time fix. You need a plan.
One thing is for certain, Alex can sell as good as anyone! Any webcast with Alex and Chris is certainly worth attending!
Dan: I wonder if I will get a word in on this one? 😉
Strong personalities with lots of knowledge to share.
-jp
I agree Joe. Sales truly is not a ‘one time fix’, its more about creating amp; nurturing a culture of proper planning and execution.
As an IT Managed Services provider in Dubai, UAE, i can attest to the lack of sales talent for this sector.
To be fair, managed services tends to be a harder sell with closures typically taking months.
Its key that the sales team establishes and maintains the client’s trust from day one of the engagement.
Small business clients tend to be very cost to value conscious and it is difficult for sales to be able to give a physical form to an intangible product offering such as managed services.
I look forward to this webcast. Hopefully, we shall all learn something beneficial.
Regards
Mohammed,
Thanks for your note. Please keep me posted on your business. I’d welcome the opportunity to hear about the trends you’re seeing in Dubai.
Also, I promise: The webcast will be packed with sales/HR guidance for MSPs. We reviewed the content yesterday (Oct. 25) and we’re ready for a great discussion on Nov. 1.
-jp
Selling managed services is like any other sales. Dont kid yourself. If you think you will have a long sales cycle, you will! We have found that if the client has enough problems, (ie pains) he/she will move as quickly as anyone buying anything else.
HOW you are selling has as much to do with the struggling of your sales people as the the sales people themselves.
I look forward to athe webcast.
Mark,
Thanks for your note and readership. I respectfully disagree that “selling managed services is like any other sales.”
In the case of managed services, you’re often selling a service that the end-customer doesn’t see. So you have to show and display the value in was that go far beyond features/functions.
I’m looking forward to the webcast, too. Alex Rogers always comes aren’t with several colorful comments even before the conversation starts.
-jp
Sales is sales, no matter where you are. It’s all about defining your value, selecting your target customers, creating a compelling and differentiated value prop, executing on lead gen that creates a quantity of quality leads, putting prospects through a closed loop self-qualifying sales process and attaining a reasonable close rate. But, no one wants to hear this. Why? It takes a lot of hard work, time, great content and sales mgt disciple/expertise that very few have. Too many want “quick fixes”. Sorry, that doesn’t exist.
Todd
Todd,
Points well taken. Thanks for jumping in. The other big challenge: Most MSPs are “reselling” third-party services. That’s fine and healthy. But I think the best MSPs also have some of their own intellectual property to sell. Once you have your own IP, you can aggressively position it and defend it.
It’s far more difficult to stake out a unique market position if you’re selling the same third-party services as the VAR or MSP down the road…
-jp
Joe,
Exactly correct. That’s why we preach “differentiated value prop”. The more it’s “your value prop/IP” the higher $ you’ll get and you will be exponentially stickier. There is no IP in reselling.