MSPs and VARs: Verticalising and The Cyber Attack!

Now that the dust is settling after the recent cyber-attack, I wanted to send the next post on the subject of verticalised markets and why MSP’s and VAR’s should be verticalising; in fact the cyber-attack itself is the best example of why both ourselves and our customers target verticalised markets, so let me explain.

Those of you following the posts or my business development blog will be aware as to where I am on our journey of discussing the benefits of targeting vertical markets, and you know that this is not meant to be the next post on this subject. However, it is an example of how events take over sometimes and as a business you have to react, because you only get one opportunity to leverage the gravitas you have built up in certain market sectors and be the first one in through the door with the news, good or bad.

Now I apologise if this sounds like an overly aggressive and/or cynical approach, but we are in a competitive market and our job is to target markets where our customers have a “Value Proposition” then to leverage the gravitas built up on their behalf by our campaigns. But as with all things, we must not be being seen to be taking advantage of events, only portray that we are the experts in the field and have the solutions to the pressing problems and concerns that our target customers have.

Think of our presentation of both ourselves and our customers’ businesses as like presenting you and ourselves to target audiences as a swan. On the surface everything is serene and graceful, not aggressive in any way, this is how we present both your business and ours to target audiences, but underneath the surface, it is a flurry of action to keep things moving. This is us and our role, rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard and dirty work required to get both our business and yours to where it needs to go; please let’s not pretend that this process and the competition we are going to face will be all sweetness and light, because it won’t.

So why am I discussing the cyber-attack? Well imagine you are a customer of ours and that we have built you a “Value Proposition” and identified target markets where your product or services offering has real value. Let’s say for example that we had identified for you that as your product offering is highly secure, protects against the forthcoming onerous GDPR legislation and all the legislation around the protection of data and where it’s stored, we could target markets for you where the reputational and financial penalties for noncompliance will be at their highest.

We would all agree that this would probably be a lot of markets, anything from the Law, Legal Services, Banking, Financial Services, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Independent Schools, Recruitment or the State Schools sectors; so we would have built you a content and direct marketing campaign for some of these sectors.

These campaigns are designed and built by us to target the top tier professionals within these target markets, the decision makers. We will be speaking directly to these decision makers within your target markets, sending them content based messages to build gravitas for your business. We will do this by linking directly the benefits of your product or services offering to the challenges they face, in their business, by speaking their language, not yours.

We do this because we appreciate that your target audience are only concerned about how what you are offering solves the biggest problems, or takes full advantage of the opportunities, that they have. In fact they are no different to you, reading my messages. You will only pick up the phone or send me an email, once I have gained your interest, convinced you that I have the solution to your business development needs and then earned your trust.

This takes time, I have not got you reading my messages overnight; there has been a respectful process built up over time on a “Peer to Peer” basis, because you are the target audience for my business. You are the decision maker in your business as I am in mine; I know I have the solution to your business development requirements, but I didn’t send you messages on that basis straight away, I built engagement over time by discussing issues that were pertinent and in your language, not mine.

Now imagine you were one of our customers for whom we have built gravitas in the markets listed above. Imagine we have portrayed you as the industry expert by speaking knowledgably about the issues affecting their sector and how your product or services offering is the answer to security and data protection concerns. Then imagine the cyber-attack occurs and the panic that it causes in your target markets, genuine concerns because your target audience are experts in what they do, not in what you do.

In finishing, I ask you to think about this, in regard to the above scenario. Imagine that I am a partner at a law firm who has been receiving your content messages regarding the concerns I have and how your product or services offering is the answer to all my problems. Then the cyber-attack hits; who do you think I am going to call?

As builders of bespoke sales, marketing and business development campaigns for VAR’s and MSP’s we have built, delivered and run many highly targeted and effective campaigns for VARs and MSPs in a number of verticals including the Legal, Pharmaceuticals, Recruitment, Independent Schools, Accountancy and Financial Services sectors, to name just a few; as well as identifying and targeting new routes to market for the producers of “Game Changing” software packages.

The last 2 weeks have shown the benefits to our clients of our approach and how they have been able to take advantage of current events. The recent cyber-attack and the fear and uncertainty this has led to with professionals most at risk from such attacks, has left our customers who have product and services offerings that mitigate such threats and the dangers thereof, perfectly placed to take advantage of the gravitas we have built for them in the verticals most at risk.

If you would like to explore how we can build and deliver campaigns in vertical markets for your business, in order to help you to achieve the growth aspirations you have for your business, please do not hesitate to contact me, either at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk or on my mobile; 07769 990719, when it will be a pleasure to hear from you.

Why Should MSP’s and VAR’s Be Verticalising?,,,,,,,,

In my last post, Is Verticalising the key to success for MSP’s and VAR’s? I promised I would write this post with some of the pertinent answers to the question above. Well one of the reasons you should be “Verticalising” is proven by the very fact that you are reading this message. Why? Well in this case you have been a target customer of a “Verticalised” sales, marketing and business development approach yourself.

Now before you shut this message down, just think about this statement for one moment, because my business is no different to yours and I have the same challenges.  I am one of the founders of Virtuoso Consultancy and as a company we build, deliver and run bespoke and highly effective sales, marketing and business development campaigns for IT companies and the producers of software packages.

We have “Verticalised” our marketing messages for our professional services offering on the basis that we know that what we deliver can offer the solution to the current sales, marketing and business development challenges being experienced by MSP’s and VAR’s and we have delivered our message subtlety, and in most cases over a period of up to 6 Months, to our target audience, of which you are one!

If you look back over the messages we have sent you, both content messages and direct messages, you will notice that we have always spoken about the pressing operational issues being experienced by companies like yours and let you know that we can deliver the solution to these business and operational challenges; if you hadn’t believed that you would have “Unsubscribed” and you certainly wouldn’t find yourself reading this message.

And another thing, I have gained your attention and your interest because I’m playing to the 3 most powerful purchasing “Drivers” in the B2B sales channel. I know that this is important because like me you are running a business, you are very busy and you haven’t got the time to read messages that don’t grab your attention. I know that, on-going, I will gain your interest and then your trust, if I show you that what we offer can either;

·        Make you more money.

·        Save you money.

·        Help you to sleep better at night, by overcoming the fear of punitive legislation.

Like all our customers you are a successful business professional, you are good at what you do and eventually you will have a commercial requirement for what we are very good at. Which in essence is getting your “Value Proposition” over to your target audience and generating new opportunities for your company to do business.

If you feel that you can’t do this yourselves because the skills do not exist in your business to deliver what is required, you will look to reach out and acquire those skills and at that moment?,,,,,,,, well who has earnt your trust and convinced you over the last 3 to 6 months that they can deliver these skills to your business?,,,,, Has the penny dropped yet?

And your business is no different! If you have a ground breaking or market leading product or services offering, you mustn’t be the world’s best kept secret. To be successful in selling what you have to offer you must identify the problems it solves, and in what verticals. Then you must look to target the decision makers in your target businesses with messages that will engage with them over time, because another inconvenient truth is that 95% of the people you are likely to target will have no business to give you at that moment, so they need to receive your messages until they do.

Sounds daunting, I know, but it can be done; if you are still reading this message, just let that fact sink in! Because Virtuoso Consultancy can achieve the same for your business. If you want to grow your business via building sustainable, effective and highly profitable sales pipelines, in vertical markets, then Virtuoso Consultancy can deliver this for you.

Working on a flexible basis around the needs of your business and supplying the skills and expertise required in order to succeed on your behalf, we have already constructed and delivered successful growth models for IT businesses operating in the Independent Schools, Pharmaceuticals, Legal, Recruitment, Accountancy and Financial Services sectors, to name just a few. We have existing, highly effective and proven business sales marketing and business development campaign modules ready for your business,  that have already been utilised to sell  many different product or services offerings.

My fellow directors and I have over 40 years combined experience in growing businesses and can deliver sales, operational, business development and marketing experience that is IT sector specific, straight to your door.

We know how to build these models, they are “Current” and continually evolving, we know how to target and speak to the decision makers in your target markets and most importantly, we know how to grow your business and make you money!

If this has resonated with you and you would like to explore how we can help you achieve your growth aspirations, then please do not hesitate to contact me on 0118 947 1010, or at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk

Is Verticalising the key to success for MSP’s and VAR’s?,,,,,,,

In our opinion the short answer to this question would be Yes! But as with all challenges in business the answer to this question is not quite as simple as that and it raises many questions. The first for many will be “What does Verticalising mean?” The second question may be “Why is it so important to target vertical markets?” and the third question will invariably be ”How do we go about Verticalising ?”

So let’s look at the first two questions, the “What” and the “Why.” Well these are two very big questions, probably each worthy of a blog post in themselves, but in interests of brevity, let me explain the importance of fully understanding the answers to these two questions. To do this I ask you to look at your business from the perspective of your customers, not your own.

Many of you reading this post will own or be running very successful businesses, you will have produced excellent products and services, built very capable infrastructure and systems or built bespoke solutions on behalf of customers. During this period you will have enjoyed organic growth and not had to give much thought to generating opportunities to do business or getting your “Message” out there; somehow, the phone in the sales department just always kept ringing, but now?,,,,,

So what’s changed? Well the market has changed beyond all recognition over the last 5 years and the choices for customers are many and varied. Technology and the legislation required to regulate for these advances in technology are delivering seismic change to the sector, and if it’s bewildering for us, just think how it feels for your potential customers?

They are being bombarded with onerous legislation and challenges in their business/market sector and we have to think very strategically and carefully about how we approach them with our message, or what we call our “Value Proposition”. Someone very wise in the sales arena gave me a piece of advice many years ago and I’ve never forgotten it; “If you are selling solutions to someone else’s problems, you will always have a business!”

This is the key; to approach someone and to expect to take a large sum of money from them today, you are going to have to gain their interest and earn their trust. They are going to have to believe that you are the specialist within their sector and know the solutions to the challenges they face on a day to day basis. Once they believe that you have solution to their immediate problems, they will engage with you.

This is why we must verticalise; the problems faced by the decision makers we may want to target differ wildly. On top of this the decision makers at businesses within different markets differ wildly; the Bursar at an independent school, the compliance director at a financial services company, the practice manager at law company, the owner of a pharmaceuticals company or the operations director at a recruitment agency, all face different challenges and the broad brush message regarding IT will just not resonate and be successful anymore.

Like your market, their landscape is evolving at a bewildering pace and to be successful you must target them with messages that will resonate, having first ensured that they will be seen by the decision makers, and this leads us nicely on to question number 3!

This is where Virtuoso Consultancy come in; if you want to grow your business via building sustainable, effective and highly profitable sales pipelines, in vertical markets, then Virtuoso Consultancy can deliver this for you.

Working on a flexible basis around the needs of your business and supplying the skills and expertise required in order to succeed on your behalf, we have already constructed and delivered successful growth models for IT businesses operating in the Independent Schools, Pharmaceuticals, Legal, Recruitment, Accountancy and Financial Services sectors, to name just a few. We have existing, highly effective and proven business sales, marketing and business development campaign modules ready for your business, that have already been utilised to sell many different product or services offerings.

My fellow directors and I have over 40 years combined experience in growing businesses and can deliver sales, operational, business development and marketing experience that is IT sector specific, straight to your door. We know how to build these models, they are “Current” and continually evolving, we know how to target and speak to the decision makers in your target markets and most importantly, we know how to grow your business and make you money!

If this has resonated with you and you would like to explore how we can help you achieve your growth aspirations, then please do not hesitate to contact me on 0118 947 1010, or at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk