An MSP or VAR? Are You Going Into 2018 With The Right Team?,,,,,,,,,

With the Christmas hiatus nearly upon us I’m sure the thoughts of many business owners are turning to the challenges of 2018; and many I’m sure will be asking themselves the following questions;

•  How are we going to achieve the growth aspirations I have for my business?
•  Have I got the right team in place to deliver these growth aspirations?
•  Are We Ready For The Challenges Of 2018?

In all probability the answer to all these questions will be governed by whether or not you feel you can achieve the level of growth required from organic growth and professional account management practices; and let’s not forget the importance that good account managers play in growing your business, by maximising the opportunity that all your current customers present.

However, as most of you are probably finding, as a model for continual growth, this can only get you so far and eventually you have to look at new business development to deliver the on-going growth required for your business; and unfortunately this presents you all with many challenges.

Those of you who read my previous posts; An MSP or VAR?,,,, Are You Aware Of The Scale Of The New Business Development Challenge? and MSP’S and VAR’s, Just Where Is Your Immediate Skills Shortage? will be in no doubt as to the challenges facing you in preparing your business to achieve the aspirations for growth that you may have, because invariably the aspirations can only be met by going out and getting more business; selling more of your products and more of your services, and this a totally different landscape to the organic growth landscape.

For those who missed the posts above, let me bring clarity to the challenge that this represents. Going out and targeting new businesses is a process that involves approaching a lot of businesses who, at that moment, have no business to give you, they don’t know you, haven’t heard of your company, who already have IT infrastructure in place and an existing service provider, and convincing them to overcome their natural lethargy to change and spend their hard earned money with you, in order to replace or update something they already have!

To make matters worse, and I promise you this is true, to top it all, the people you are approaching have absolutely no interest in their IT infrastructure, as long as it is working and enabling them to run their business. They have no desire to invest their money in their IT infrastructure, it is a cost of business investment that they try to avoid at all costs and unless it is necessary!

However, as daunting as that process sounds, it can be achieved, but unfortunately it requires a totally differ skill-set to account management. Those of your who read my post; MSP’s and VAR’s; Account Management Is One Thing, New Sales Success Is Another, will now have an understanding of just how different this skill-set is, and unfortunately it is a skill-set you probably don’t understand, because you haven’t had to employ these professionals in the past.

And it is no coincidence that now, just as the IT Sector as a whole realises that these are the skills that are going to be required in order to survive and grow businesses, the new business development professionals choosing to come over to the IT Sector have the fastest rate of salary increase in the channel! Why? Well proven and successful new business development professionals are a very rare breed, they are already employed elsewhere and being handsomely rewarded for success, and like any commodity in high demand but scarce supply, prices are rising.

Thus my question in the title to this post; if you feel you have a good team, but not everyone required to deliver your objectives, it is a little like going out as a football team with no goalkeeper; regardless of how well everyone else does their job, you are going to lose, not because the 10 other players are not good at what they do, but because there is a very important member of the team missing.

So if, like many MSP’s and VAR’s, you are in this situation, just what is the answer? Well you either get involved in the very expensive race to acquire the individuals required or you look for an alternative solution, should you baulk at the prohibitive financial nature of acquiring them.

But all is not lost because luckily help is available to the owners of MSP’s and VAR’s looking for the answers to the challenges that growing sales pipelines and delivering sustained growth present. My fellow directors and I have over 40 years combined experience in growing businesses, including growing an MSP from £900k to £3.5 Million turnover during the last recession, and as such, can deliver sales, operational, business development and marketing experience that is IT sector specific, straight to your door.

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 highly targeted sales, marketing and business development campaigns for MSP’s and VAR’s, building bespoke product offerings including public Wi-Fi services, secure cloud based hosted desktops and traditional IT infrastructure services, for companies looking to expand into the Pharmaceuticals, Law, Independent Schools, Recruitment, Accountancy and Financial Services sectors, to name just a few.

In many cases we build and run the campaigns from the ground floor up, operating as outsourced sales and business development resource partners, or alternatively just build the highly targeted and effective marketing campaigns required to feed your sales operation and to drive growth to your business.

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 post 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 myself or my colleague Jane Gatfield on 0118 947 1010, or email us at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk or janeg@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk

For more information about our services please visit www.virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk

To read more posts covering all aspects of sales, marketing and business development for MSP’s and VAR’s, please visit our blog; http://it-business-growth-strategies.blogspot.co.uk/

DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER
This post forms a small portion of a white paper I have written covering The Art of The Approach, a specific sales based white paper written for the IT Sector. To request a copy please email me directly at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk

An MSP or VAR?,,,, Are You Aware Of The Scale Of The New Business Development Challenge?

Well for those of you who read my previous post; MSP’S and VAR’s, Just Where Is Your Immediate Skills Shortage? thank you for your responses and for opening the debate on this subject, it has certainly been robust and as per the requests, I am following up on that post to further expand on just why I state that your immediate skills requirement is likely to be for new Sales and Business Development Professionals, and nothing else!

So let me justify this statement, and I do understand why this needs justifying, and that it may not be a popular read, but I caution; one of the best pieces of advice I received in my business career was this; “Always Listen To The Person Delivering The Bad News Because It Is The Most Important News Of All!”

So let’s begin by looking at how the market, in general, has evolved for MSP’s and VAR’s. The most prevalent and common business story and growth model for MSP’s and VAR’s over the last 10 to 20 years appears to be something along these lines, as it was for us.

You set up your own MSP or VAR because you had customers who you could take with you from your last position and continue to service, which gave you immediate income sources. You have then grown over this time due to 3 major factors; Organic Growth from your existing customer base, referrals which came your way, (mainly because other potential customers were unhappy with their existing IT arrangements), and growth from a desire and need from business to embrace all things IT and infrastructure, what we affectionately call “The First Purchase Market.”

But now the industry is hitting the buffers and this growth model has slowed to a snail’s pace at best/disappeared at worst. So why has this happened? Well the main contributors are the combination of improving network reliability, the culling process eliminating the “Cowboy” IT providers and the worst thing of all, for any market, customer apathy towards what we have for sale.

And for those of you in any doubt of how big a hurdle all this represents, let me put you into the mind-set of your average target customer. They are a busy owner/senior director just like you, and like you, every day they come into work to face the challenges that running a business entails and they will of course, just like every other established business, have an existing IT system and service provision!

Now this is an important point that goes right to the heart of the challenges you face when targeting new businesses in order to obtain their business. If the immediate new supply market has now been fulfilled, (and it has), your business model now is in effect; “Overcoming apathy to change and the removal of existing suppliers of IT infrastructure and servicing provision!”

Now this is not an uncommon challenge in other markets, in fact all the B2B sales channels involve this process; your journey to new business involves approaching your target markets via the decision makers and convincing them that they should change their current IT provider over to you, a business that they don’t know! And to clarify how skilled a process that can be, remember this; the person you are approaching may not be entirely satisfied with their current IT supplier, in the same way as you and I are probably not that happy with our bank.

And I am not happy with my bank, I have been with them for over 20 years and probably should have changed banks every year during that time, so why don’t I? The answer, apathy! I just can’t be bothered because my perception is that it will be a lot of hassle to end up exactly where I am already, only at another bank, and this is the mind-set of everyone you are likely to approach, in regard to their IT arrangements!

And overcoming all this is a highly skilled process and the professionals with the ability to overcome all these hurdles are very scarce, thus my statement that your immediate skills requirement is very likely to be for new business development professionals.

For sure the ability to deliver complex IT infrastructure is of paramount importance, but without selling new IT systems and infrastructure in the first place, you have nothing to deliver, and the industry is now, in general, capable of delivering what will be required over the next 5 – 10 years; because in past you have always worried, quite understandably, about your ability to deliver and support complex IT systems and infrastructure, to the point that you lay awake at night wondering how you would deliver on the IT contracts you were signing.

So quite rightly you chased the professionals with the technical skills required to be able to deliver and support the systems you were selling, and these people are, of course, still vital to your business. But here’s the catch; every MSP and VAR we are working with, probably just like your business, has enough technical resource now, in fact they are probably over supplied, because the rate at which their business is selling and delivering new systems has ground to halt.

Thus my point that the immediate skills shortage within your business is likely to have changed, from technical resource to new business development resource. It will be no coincidence that the salaries being paid to genuinely capable and proven new business development professionals are the fastest growing in the sector; because without an effective strategy to build and deliver the new business development campaigns required for growth, many MSP’s and VAR’s will effectively be treading water at best/going under at worst.

So just where are these professionals? Well they are a rare breed, possessing a very different skills-set to the account managers your already employ, who again are vital in growing existing accounts, but this can only get you so far! As discussed in my post, MSP’s and VAR’s; Account Management Is One Thing, New sales Success Is Another, [insert the following link behind this text; http://it-business-growth-strategies.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/msps-and-vars-account-management-is-one.html ] the ability to target new customers and obtain their business is a very different skill to account management, and in all likelihood these professionals are already employed and handsomely rewarded for their skill sets, because right now they are the “King Makers”.

 But all is not lost because luckily help is available to the owners of MSP’s and VAR’s looking for the answers to the challenges that growing sales pipelines and delivering sustained growth present. My fellow directors and I have over 40 years combined experience in growing businesses, including growing an MSP from £900k to £3.5 Million turnover during the last recession, and as such, can deliver sales, operational, business development and marketing experience that is IT sector specific, straight to your door.

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 highly targeted sales, marketing and business development campaigns for MSP’s and VAR’s, building bespoke product offerings including public Wi-Fi services, secure cloud based hosted desktops and traditional IT infrastructure services, for companies looking to expand into the Pharmaceuticals, Law, Independent Schools, Recruitment, Accountancy and Financial sectors, to name just a few.

In many cases we build and run the campaigns from the ground floor up, operating as outsourced sales and business development resource partners, or alternatively just build the highly targeted and effective marketing campaigns required to feed your sales operation and to drive growth to your business.

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 post 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 myself or my colleague Jane Gatfield on 0118 947 1010, or email us at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk or janeg@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk

For more information about our services please visit www.virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk To read more posts covering all aspects of sales, marketing and business development for MSP’s and VAR’s, please visit our blog; to http://it-business-growth-strategies.blogspot.co.uk/

DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER
This post forms a small portion of a white paper I have written covering The Art of The Approach, a specific sales based white paper written for the IT Sector. To request a copy please email me directly at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk

MSP’s and VAR’s; I’m Sorry,,,, Good Service Is Not a Marketable USP!

Now let me qualify this statement and say that it is not that good levels of service aren’t important, just that they are not something you can ever think of as a marketable USP, or something to lead with on your customer literature; and let me tell you why and shine some light on the folly of thinking that it is.

At the moment we are working with many of you, building “Value Propositions” to define marketable USPs and then taking your product or services offering to targeted vertical markets, but for those of you who we are not working with, I promise you will never see leading with good service, as a strategy from us.

All of us in the industry know that getting network infrastructure to be 100% reliable, when building on foundations built by others, is impossible, thus our 24-7-365 support packages for customers, but trumpeting that we will always be there to support the network that a customer has just paid handsomely for, is quite frankly not what our customers expect and thus it does not resonate with them.

Let me tell you why; it is linked to perception and how the world is changing, and basically it is all down to customer expectation. To draw an analogy, let’s draw a comparison between ourselves and the car manufacturers; look out of the window at the car you are driving, it is highly complex piece of engineering that you paid a lot of money for, it is capable of going at least 12,000 – 15,000 miles between visits to the dealership for servicing and at no point did the manufacturer concerned advertise with leading statements that “It Will Start Every Morning” or “Look At Us, We’re Giving You A 3 Year Warranty!”

As the owner you expect that it will start every morning, in fact you would be very disappointed if it didn’t, and if it didn’t you would not want to be hearing all about the complexities of the internal combustion engine, you would expect it to be fixed! And PDQ!

This is the world we now live in and your customers are exactly the same, they do not want to know about problems, they have paid you handsomely to deliver and they expect things to work! Their car, their smart phone and a host of other technological devices will not be letting them down, so they don’t expect their IT to be letting them down either; and if it does, they will EXPECT it to be put right; thus the fact that it will be put right, is nothing to shout about in their eyes, it will be expected.

Thus the folly of expecting to lead with “Good Customer Service” or “Excellent Response Times”, it is just isn’t something that will come as a surprise. It would be akin to advertising that your chicken sandwich has chicken in it!

Like a lot of people reading this post, you may be looking at the challenging market conditions, (which will only get more challenging), wondering just how you start the highly specialised process of targeting new markets and acquiring new business, (which will invariably necessitate you removing an existing supplier), and key to this will be building value with your target audience in what you have to offer, which must be far better than they already have, otherwise why should they bother?

Part of the answer to this process is identifying target verticals where you have a marketable USP, something of value to your chosen target audience! So just how do you do this? Well this ability to target and obtain new business is a skill in short supply, as explored in my recent post; MSP’S and VAR’s,,,,,, Just Where Is Your Immediate Skills Shortage?

Luckily help is available to the owners of MSP’s and VAR’s looking for the answers to the challenges that growing sales pipelines and delivering sustained growth present. My fellow directors and I have over 40 years combined experience in growing businesses, including growing an MSP from £900k to £3.5 Million turnover during the last recession, and as such, can deliver sales, operational, business development and marketing experience that is IT sector specific, straight to your door.

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 highly targeted sales, marketing and business development campaigns for MSP’s and VAR’s, building bespoke product offerings including public Wi-Fi services, secure cloud based hosted desktops and traditional IT infrastructure services, for companies looking expand into the Pharmaceuticals, Law, Independent Schools, Recruitment, Accountancy and Financial Services sectors, to name just a few.

In many cases we build and run the campaigns from the ground floor up, operating as outsourced sales and business development resource partners, or alternatively just build the highly targeted and effective marketing campaigns required to feed your sales operation and to drive growth to your business.

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 post 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 myself or my colleague Jane Gatfield on 0118 947 1010, or email us at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk or janeg@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk

For more information about our services please visit www.virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk

To read more posts covering all aspects of sales, marketing and business development for MSP’s and VAR’s, please visit our blog; to http://it-business-growth-strategies.blogspot.co.uk/

DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER
This post forms a small portion of a white paper I have written covering The Art of The Approach, a specific sales based white paper written for the IT Sector. To request a copy please email me directly at andrewb@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk