MSP sales growth techniques and tactics

For an MSP to grow, sales are imperative. Unfortunately, many MSPs struggle with finding leads and closing deals as they are focused on delivering IT services. Often, MSPs lack funds to hire a sales team, leaving the burden of new sales to team members who are not skilled salespeople.

Here are some simple yet effective sales growth techniques and tactics that an MSP can leverage.

Get the Team Involved in Sales

While it’s true that sales are a different world for an IT specialist, it’s worth looking at the staff inside of the MSP to encourage involvement. Many people think they’re not good salespeople, because they don’t consider what salesmanship involves. The truth is that every person is a salesperson to some capacity. After all, when we are familiar with products we use and support, it’s easy to explain why we use them and what the benefits are. It’s word-of-mouth marketing based on our experience, and this is a form of effective salesmanship.

In the end, many team members are unaware of their own ability to advocate for your business services. One way to draw it out is to bring the team together for sales training, identify who would excel in promoting your business and create opportunities for them, and even consider offering incentives for their efforts.

To Make Good Sales, It’s Key to Earn Trust

With sales, trust is everything. To earn trust from people, it’s important to be flexible, creative, and people focused. Because of this, those who are in sales not only need to trust the service the MSP delivers, but also the full sales process. Trusting in themselves, the customer, and the tools that they are using will bring the customer to trust the company and the services they offer.

Don’t Be Afraid to Play the Long Game to Retain Customers

An MSP shouldn’t neglect existing customers; it’s low hanging fruit. Make a point of checking in on existing customers and seeking opportunities to upsell. Likewise, an MSP can periodically check in with potential customers whom they’ve been chatting with. Even if a sale isn’t made, building a rapport is bridge building. During following up, be okay with not having all the solutions; the point of contact is a reminder and demonstration that you’re available and engaged with your customers.

Have an Optimize a Sales Funnel

Sales funnels are a systemic process where a customer goes through a sequence of events that results in a sale. Understanding and establishing that process important for all your team. Additionally, it’s important to keep refining the process over time. After all, MSPs continue to evolve, and new services are introduced. Successful MSPs are always learning new ways to turn potential customers into existing customers.

How to optimize a sales funnel really comes down to asking, “what if…?” scenarios. Preparing an MSP for the worst while hoping for the best is a good policy to have. Adopting that mindset can result in asking questions like “what needs to happen in order to keep the business operational?” Or “what services can be introduced to retain customers?”

Those kinds of questions prompt actions and analyzing data. Consider historical patterns or what has been done in the past.

Have A Tracking System

KPIs or Key Performance Indicators are very helpful for MSPs in several ways. Often, these are tracked to see how effective a help desk is, but they can also be used for an MSP overall. The idea with KPIs is to remind staff that growth doesn’t always come from revenue. When problems arise and a particular KPI can’t be reached, that it can be adjusted to something that can be controlled. For example, how much time is spent on existing customers or what kind of services are being offered.

Tracking systems can help through valuable feedback whether targets are being met or not. And if they’re not, then it provides an opportunity to adjust.

Bringing In Sales Professionals

To get an MSP thinking like a sales rep, creativity needs to be fostered. For an MSP, this can ultimately mean bringing in some sale professionals to fill in the gap and further develop a willingness to give value to each customer interaction.