Cold Calls – Fuel for the Sales Engine

sluby@mymspsn.com — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 06:07:00 GMT

Let’s face it; we’d all rather crawl naked through a field of broken glass and lemon juice than make cold calls. But the fact of the matter is you can’t sell without contacts. If you are serious about getting new customers you are going to have to make those contacts some how. The fastest and most cost effective way to do it is to make some cold calls. If you took an hour a day and made just 15-20 calls in that hour everyday, you could very soon be landing one new customer a week, or more.

I have posted a Selling guide that goes into cold calls in great detail, as well as a guide for hiring and compensating a cold caller. I’m anxious to hear any ideas or thoughts on this topic. Wow, did I just open myself up there ;)

To me, selling is work like any other (sometimes unskilled) profession. Ditch diggers have to dig and sales people have to make those calls. Do you have to be obnoxious or clever? No, you simply have to lift rocks to see if there is anything underneath. “Do you have a need? No? OK good bye. Do you have a need? Yes? Let’s meet.” Very simple, no real sales message other than, “We do x. Are you interested in seeing if what we have can help you?” If they say no, then put them back in the list and call again in 6 months. Things change. As for the 1 in 20 or so that will say yes, schedule a meeting and take your shot.

It’s not brain surgery, but it sure as heck isn’t fun either. Yes, it can be awkward, sometimes or even abusive sometimes. I’ve learned that if you stick with the golden rule, it usually is fairly pleasant. I treat people the way I like to be called on. I’m quick to the point, and unassuming. By unassuming I mean that I don’t know what they need or even if what I have is right for them. I leave that decision up to them. I say in two sentences what I do and ask them if they are interested in meeting to find out if what they are doing and what we have to offer is a fit. If someone says they’re busy I get off the phone. If they say they don’t need it, I get off the phone. I’ll try back in 6 months and 99 times out of 100 they won’t even remember I called before.

In dealing with small businesses, making the calls yourself is a huge advantage. A business owner will stop to talk to another business owner much more readily than they will to speak with a salesperson or telemarketer. Many times that extra 10-15 seconds you get with them is the difference between getting an appointment and getting a dial tone. If you just can’t bring yourself to do it, then hire someone to do it for you.

2007 = The Year of the MSP

sluby@mymspsn.com — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 01:39:00 GMT

Consolidation and commoditization of the MSP market is definitely going to happen. There are so many vars that are building NOCs and so many who have spent tens of thousands of dollars on MSP tools and infrastructure. There is so much money that has been sunk into managed services this year. The dirty little secret is that there are not very many who are actually making money in managed services – yet.

I got an email from an MSP today who told me he had $50,000 of revenues this year attributed to Managed Services. I think that's wonderful, but he never responded when I asked him if he was profitable.

I have met face to face with hundreds of MSPs this year alone. I hear over and over how much money has been spent on MSP software and infrastructure. It's become a joke around our office, "My NOC is bigger than yours."

I have always maintained, that the tools you buy do NOT make you an MSP. You MUST have your processes fanatically efficient in all aspects of your business in order to really be profitable in Managed Services. And, you can be a profitable MSP without spending tens of thousands of dollars on monitoring software, infrastructure etc.

2007 will be an interesting year. As fun as 2006 has been for me, I am so looking forward to 2007 where SMB MSPs will begin to realize very good margins on our Managed Services offerings. NOCs are being built at an alarming rate right now. The number of NOCs being built will soon outnumber the need/demand and they will begin to consolidate to have any hope for profitability, and MSPs with begin to merge just like their VAR brothers have been. The NOCs left over will serve up MSP services to our clients at an alarming discount compared to what we now charge.

We will certainly need to differentiate ourselves from the low end, cheap, managed services NOCs and continue to focus as we always have on clients who see value in paying for quality services.

You could say that 2006 was the “Year of the MSP Vendor.” Vendors made a lot of money this year and sold a lot of MSP software and services. 2007 will be the “Year of the MSP” where we earn back what we spent and actually make a profit on this whole crazy model and begin to understand that process excellence is what make us MSPs and NOT the tools we buy.

SMB MSP Sales Process

Cold Calls – Fuel for the Sales Engine

2007 = The Year of the MSP