An MSP or VAR? Are You Going Into 2019 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 2019; 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 2019? 

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 our 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 different skill-set to account management. Those of your who read my post; MSP’s and VAR’s; Account Management Is Not Selling, 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.

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.

And luckily all is not lost because 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; because in response to these problems, Virtuoso Consultancy has launched a Virtual Sales Director service, specifically for MSP’s and VAR’s.

What does a Virtual Sales Director do?

• Set business development strategy in conjunction with business owner
• Define and implement the marketing strategy needed to support the business development strategy
• Manage an effective lead generation strategy
• Carry out first stage sales meetings or conference calls where required
• Put together sales proposals where required
• Deliver sales pitches where required
• Deliver events where required
• Manage sales staff (in-house or outsourced) where required
• Advise on and implement best practice sales and marketing processes

How Does Virtuoso’s Virtual Sales Director Service solve the problem?

Based on a number of days per week or days per month, Virtual Sales Director is an affordable alternative to employing a sales director, which gives MSPs and VARs access to a wide range of skills and experience.

Virtual Sales Director allows MSP owners to focus on service delivery, safe in the knowledge that an experienced pair of hands is running sales, business development and marketing.

My fellow directors and I have over 40 years combined experience in growing businesses, which included co-owning and running an MSP for 10 years during which time I grew the business from £900k to £3.5 million. As such we can deliver MSP-specific sales, business development and marketing strategy knowledge and experience straight to your door.

More Information

If you would like to find out more about our Virtual Sales Director service, please contact Jane Gatfield on 01189 471010 or by email at janeg@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk.

MSPs and VARs: The Dangers of Over-Reliance on an Organic Growth Strategy

Most MSPs and IT companies that I speak to have successfully grown their business over the years through organic growth means - referrals, word-of-mouth, existing customers moving to a new company etc.

There’s no doubt that this type of growth is highly successful – the fact that you have been referred means your potential customer already feels as if they know you, has some level of trust in you and is generally in the zone where they are looking to buy – all of which already puts them typically 70%-80% of the way along the buying journey.

However, organic growth happens when it happens, it’s not under your control. And there are times when organic growth just isn’t enough. When, for example, you’ve just taken on a large investment in terms of staffing or infrastructure costs and need a sharp increase in recurring revenue to cover it, or when you are looking to sell your business and need to be able to demonstrate a strong pipeline of new business sales. It’s also only natural that, with the best service in the world, you will lose the odd customer over time – they go bust, they get taken over, whatever it may be that means you lose them. And it only takes this to happen at 1 or 2 key accounts for your business to become very vulnerable. 

New business development is an entirely different skillset to account management, (a subject I discussed in much more depth in this blog), and one that takes significant amounts of dedicated time combined with strong sales and marketing skills, as well as technical skills. For new business, you have to start the journey at 0% - finding prospective new customers, letting them get to know you, get to like you and get to trust you, and then to be in a position where there is a compelling reason for them to change their IT service provider to your company. In today’s competitive market-place none of this happens quickly or easily and it’s therefore little wonder that IT sales directors at MSPs now command salaries of £150k plus. And indeed attracting such an individual can be impossible, as there is such a shortage of suitably experienced candidates, which in itself has driven a 60% salary rise this year. It is not surprising then that many time-poor, overstretched MSP owners give up on new business development and take the dangerous route of relying entirely on organic growth.

A New Solution for MSPs and VARs

However, there is now another option, as in response to these problems Virtuoso Consultancy has launched a Virtual Sales Director service, specifically for MSP’s and VAR’s.

What does a Virtual Sales Director do?

• Set business development strategy in conjunction with business owner
• Define and implement the marketing strategy needed to support the business development strategy
• Manage an effective lead generation strategy
• Carry out first stage sales meetings or conference calls where required
• Put together sales proposals where required
• Deliver sales pitches where required
• Deliver events where required
• Manage sales staff (in-house or outsourced) where required
• Advise on and implement best practice sales and marketing processes

How Does Virtuoso’s Virtual Sales Director Service solve the problem? 

Based on a number of days per week or days per month, Virtual Sales Director is an affordable alternative to employing a sales director, which gives MSPs and VARs access to a wide range of skills and experience. Virtual Sales Director allows MSP owners to focus on service delivery, safe in the knowledge that an experienced pair of hands is running sales, business development and marketing.

My fellow directors and I have over 40 years combined experience in growing businesses, which included co-owning and running an MSP for 10 years during which time I grew the business from £900k to £3.5 million. As such we can deliver MSP-specific sales, business development and marketing strategy knowledge and experience straight to your door.

More Information

If you would like to find out more about our Virtual Sales Director service, please contact Jane Gatfield on 01189 471010 or by email at janeg@virtuosoconsultancy.co.uk