Robin Robin’s Managed IT Services Sales Training

I just found out about an absolutely BRILLIANT campaign from Nina Hershberger (owner of Mega Bucks Marketing http://www.wallet-mailer.com) that you have to know about. Apparently Burger King restaurants in Chicago and Orlando are dropping an estimated 5,000 real wallets with real money and gift certificates to their stores inside. What's really cool is the message on the inside flap when someone opens it up:

This is a great idea for not only PR, but also for getting attention. I'm definitely going to use this the next time I'm at a networking event, business expo or trade show, and would recommend anyone selling managed services or IT services do the same. Just walk around and drop them on the floor, in the bathroom, etc. Multiple web sites and bloggers (like me) are writing about this particular campaign, giving it even more legs. Here's some more pics of what's inside:

I have a very simple – yet incredibly powerful – strategy that will help you not only close more large managed services contracts or IT projects, but also eliminate bad debt and slow payers.

You ready for it? Here it is…

NEVER quote a client on the full price of a project; always give the price in monthly payments. This is particularly important when selling upgrades, installations, and other large projects to startups or companies who are desperately watching their cash-flow, or that need to invest in a large hardware refresh.

Of course, this is not a new strategy. Almost every company that sells high-ticket items such as cars, homes, timeshares, furniture, etc. know to quote the payment and NOT the end price to the client to avoid sticker shock. Plus, it’s much easier to justify the value of a $500 a month payment than a $6,000 annual contract.

I’ve been training my clients to do this for years because IT WORKS; and now that most companies are concerned about cash-flow, this is an even more important selling strategy.

Here’s another benefit for you…

When you work with a finance or leasing company, YOU get paid the full amount up front, and THEY take on the responsibility of collecting the debt. Many of my clients use Microsoft Financing (https://www.microsoftfinancing.com), but I’d love to hear from you on what companies you are using – the good, the bad and the ugly!

And if you like this tip (and want to know MORE about what’s working right now to close more IT sales) I would suggest you register for my 9-Step Marketing Secret Seminar:

For the full details: www.sellmoresolutions.com

You’ll get to see real-life examples, case studies and campaigns from other IT business owners that are driving sales and growing despite this tough economy.

As of today (January 21st) we only have 18 spots left for San Diego and 23 for D.C.

I recently read a quote from General Norman Schwarzkopf that goes, “Shined shoes save lives.” What he meant was the habit of being lazy, sloppy and undisciplined about the tiny, seemingly unimportant things ends up creeping into the bigger more important things. The General was referring to the battlefield, but in business (and particularly in marketing) this statement is every bit as true – especially now when opportunities are getting thinner and sales getting harder to come by.

There is a LOT of mediocrity in selling and marketing practices for IT companies. During good economic times, companies that are sloppy, unorganized and inept at it can still eke by - but when opportunities dry up, these folks are the first to die off.  That’s because they have no process or “formula” for generating new opportunities, fueling referrals, or closing sales. Once sales slow down, they’re stuck trying to find a quick fix – a magic bullet – to turn things around. LOL.

So if you are one of those businesses that has been horribly neglectful about your marketing in the past and desperately needs to fill the sales funnel, what do you do? Where do you start?

Square one is to document the systems and processes you have (er, should have) in place right now. After all, you cannot improve and manage what you don’t measure. On a basic level for any IT service business, you should have documented processes and plans for:

#1. Asking for, following up on and closing referrals.  After all, referrals are the #1 source of new clients; NOT having a documented system in place to maximize them is sheer stupidity. Start here. (Note: A big part of fueling referrals is having a referral reward system in place. Make sure you are not neglecting to truly thank people for sending you referrals).

#2. Following up on unconverted leads. When you get a “no” from someone, or run into a sales ‘stall,’ what do you do? Do you give up, throw the paperwork away and never contact the prospect again unless it’s entirely by accident 6 to 12 months later? Do you try to negotiate a better deal? More favorable terms? How many times do you follow up? What do you say? One client I consulted with years ago had a database FULL of old, unconverted leads. When I suggested they do an aggressive reactivation campaign, they argued against it saying that the sales people had already followed up and marked them as “worthless.” Fortunately they caved in to my persistence because one campaign resulted in 34% of these old leads buying. Fix your follow-up by adding more steps, more aggressive bonuses, and documenting and measuring the process.

#3. Increasing the number of leads you convert to sales. When you get a new lead or referral, what do you do? How do you follow up? WHEN do you follow up? In 1 hour? 1 day? 1 week? What do you say to get the appointment? When you get the appointment, what is the process to close the sale? Do you even HAVE a process? One of the cheapest ways to increase sales (and profits) is to increase the closing percentage of the opportunities you already have. If your closing percentage is already at 100%, chances are you aren’t generating many new leads and are basically securing the low-hanging fruit…which brings me to another point…

#4. Generating new opportunities (keeping the funnel full). This is one that stumps most people; if I held a gun to your head, how many ways could you think of to generate new leads? Probably dozens. I have a list of 84 ways to generate more sales and profits in an IT business in a short period of time; but the BIG question is, how many have you actually implemented? Can you name at least 5 to 7 things you’ve done over the last quarter to fuel sales? If you’ve done one or two (or none at all), why didn’t you get more done? And I don’t buy the “I’m too busy” excuse. You have to be smarter than that. If sales are down, you should be LESS busy than before. Besides, I don’t believe that 100% of your days are booked solid with projects and action items that are important and necessary. If you were managing your time and efforts that well, you probably wouldn’t be in a financial crunch right now.

Bottom line, these tough economic times call for even tougher strategy. If you own a business, it’s your butt on the line. That being the case, you need to be very aggressive in holding yourself and every process, strategy and employee accountable for results. There is no time for procrastination. Now more than ever you need to get a grip on marketing your business and do everything within your power to learn ‘best practices’ for getting more sales in the door.

The good news is that success leaves clues; you don’t need to stumble around in the dark wasting time and money trying to figure it out on your own.

If you are an IT business owner, I would urge you to register for one of my half-day seminars titled, “The 9-Step Marketing Secret That Will Flood Your Business With All The Sales and High-Paying Clients You Want…EVEN In A Down Economy.”

For the full details: www.sellmoresolutions.com

The first 47 to register will receive a special bonus report on 25 easy and inexpensive ways to market your business in a recession, which includes real-life examples and campaigns from other IT business owners that are driving sales and growing despite the financial crisis everyone else seems to be suffering from.

Supplies and seating are limited.

I recently conducted a survey to my clients asking them what the BEST sources of new clients were in all of 2008. Obviously, some things won't surprise you, such as referrals being #1 on the list; however, some will shake you up and cause you to rethink your marketing strategy for 2009. Here's the list starting with the #1 most effective way down to the least effective (#7):

1. Referrals

2. Direct mail

3. Yellow Pages

4. Partnering with vendors

5. BNI, LeTip and other networking groups

6. Google Adwords

7. Monthly client newsletters

What were the LEAST effective? Radio ads, newspapers and natural search engine optimization. HOWEVER, I do believe the reason that these are so low on the list is due to the fact that not many people use these methods effectively, if at all.

What surprised me the most was Yellow Pages being #3…but when I thought about it some more, it makes perfect sense. Here's why…

The people who are looking in the Yellow Pages for a "computer consultant" are 1) obviously in desperate need of immediate help and 2) don't know who to call. Therefore, they have the makings of an easy sale.

So should you add Yellow Pages ads to your 2009 marketing plan? I say it can't hurt PROVIDED you are already doing a GREAT job at fueling (and rewarding!) your clients for referrals, maximizing the revenue and profitability of the clients you DO have, and exhausting your efforts in finding and developing strong joint venture partnerships (which are nothing more than referrals on steroids). I would also tell you to hold off on Yellow Pages advertising if you are not willing to learn how to write a great direct response ad AND insert unique tracking URLs and phone numbers into the ad so you can truly MEASURE the return on your investment.

If you need more help in this area, I have a few dozen audio CDs on how to created highly-effective Yellow Pages ads. If you want one AND provided you are a VAR, MSP or IT consulting business, contact my office by e-mailing Dawn at dawn@technologymarketingtoolkit.com and include your FULL name, company and mailing address. We'll give them out on a first come-first served basis to IT business owners ONLY…but once they're gone, they're gone!

With 2009 right around the corner, I'm certain many of you will be setting your goals and New Year's resolutions. Problem is, many people still haven't been able to achieve the goals they set LAST New Year's Day, so the same items are showing up again.

If that's you, read on…

There are a lot of factors that contribute to whether or not you reach your goals, but one critical element is what Earl Nightingale spoke about in his famous message, "The Strangest Secret."

After reading the book 'Think and Grow Rich,' Earl Nightingale realized the words Hill wrote, “We become what we think about most, "was the same truth repeated over and over again in the New Testament, in the lessons from Buddha, in the writings of Lao Tse, to the works of Emerson. Why don't people change or realize their goals? Because they set them once on New Year's Day and then NEVER check in to see how they are doing…until the NEXT New Year. They aren't clear on what they want, and end up drifting like a boat tossed by the waves…no direction, no purpose and no clarity on where they are going.

And because they aren't crystal clear on what they DO want, they end up constantly focusing on what they DON'T want: the lack of sales, problems in their business, the down economy, customers cancelling their services, etc., etc. When I conduct my seminars and I ask the attendees, "What is your vision or strategic objective for your business?" The audience stares blankly back at me like a forest full of owls. And if they DO have some idea, it's usually verbalized in very vague, non-specific terms. When I ask how many of you have WRITTEN goals that you check in on DAILY, even more blank stares.

Yet, knowing what you want and focusing on it is a success principle that has been passed down through the ages in every self-help and success book ever written. It's so simple, yet no one does it.

That's why Earl titled his message, "The Strangest Secret." It's the irony of it all - that the "secret" of getting what we want is no “secret” after all…and how “strange” it is that we don’t all know about it - or use it!

So my recommendation?

Write down your top goals on an index card and look at them EVERY MORNING. I have mine written on a dry erase board in my office so I can look at them CONSTANTLY. Then, when you start every day ask yourself, "What am I going to do TODAY to move me towards achieving those goals?"

Simple…yes. But if you won't do something as simple as this to achieve your top goals, how can you ever hope to achieve great things in 2009?

Okay, so it's not a marketing strategy to get more managed services clients, but what the heck…it IS the holidays so I thought I would share with everyone our little holiday party here at "Robin Central"…

The first picture is Dawn showing off her Christmas ornament that plays music…lovely!

The next is Nicole with a calming, aromatherapy candle…with all the stress in taking, fulfilling and managing the all of the orders around here, we thought she could use it!

Then there's Jenny with her jagermeister…after I run her ragged with a list of "to-do's" that would exhaust a Jack Russell on a caffeine high, the girl needs a nip!

And speaking of Jack Russell's that's me with my gift…Jenny, Dawn and Nicole chipped in to get a local artist create oil paintings of the office dogs Ozzy and Zoey. Totally COOL!

Then there's Brian…many people don't know that Brian is our "token" male around the office here. You can see Brian is in a holiday kind of mood with his elf hat!

Last but not least are the office dogs, Ozzy and Zoey themselves decked out in their best holiday gear (it took a lot of treats to get them to sit still for the camera). Ozzy is the all white, short-haired Jack and Zoey is the fur ball.

We all had a lot of fun opening presents and eating cupcakes, but then it was right back to work taking care of all the wonderful friends we get the privilege to have as clients :)

So whatever holiday you celebrate, we hope ya have a good one!

Merry Christmas,

Team Robin

While many of the MSPs out there are suffering in this down economy, a handful of my clients are looking at this with excited anticipation for closing more business. Let me explain…

In a "down" economy, businesses desperately look for ways to cut costs. Stupidly, marketing is one of the first things cut…but so is IT. That's because most business owners look at IT as a "necessary evil" of running a business. So if you think about it, managed services is something that can SAVE businesses with 'bloated' IT departments a TON of money. For one, outsourcing IT support to a managed services provider is MUCH cheaper than hiring a junior IT manager to do it all for you. That's a cost savings that anyone who can add and subtract can figure out. Plus, it can free up an IT manager to work on more strategic projects so the company doesn't need to increase staff. Or it can replace a junior network administrator or IT person saving the company thousands of dollars and often providing better support (sorry folks, I know it's Christmas and I don't wish that on anyone, but looking for ways to improve operations while saving money is a constant in any business).

If you're a managed services provider struggling to generate new sales, take a look at the way you are promoting yourself. What's the key message you are delivering? What is your value proposition? What is the net-net-net benefits of your services? If your answer is "24-7" monitoring, you're completely missing the boat. The fact everyone is cutting back is an excellent time to talk about how you can help them do just that! I would suggest you drastically change your message to how you can save businesses money - but in very clear and specific terms. Saying "we'll save you a lot of money" is vague and is said by every other vendor out there. Talk SPECIFICS, then back that up with testimonials, case studies and guarantees.

And of course, if you want to see exactly how to do this, join me at one of my upcoming 1/2 day workshops: http://budurl.com/marketingseminar

I received a great question from an MSP after he watched the video on my blog of how one client generated a 31% increase in sales in under two months selling managed services. His question/comment was: I think this is great, but what to do when 75% of your base refuses to sign for a service contract? They look at their monthly break/fix costs and see that they are about 1/2 of a service contract and say "no thanks". Remote monitoring? "Nice to have, not a must have" is the response. Any ideas

Answering this question in a blog is tough...kinda like telling you how to build an airplane. There's a lot of variables and moving parts to this that affect the outcome such as your relationship with your clients, HOW well you presented the benefits of the service, what price point, how compelling your case was on why they should switch, what are they paying and getting now, etc., etc.

However, the fact that you got 25% to say 'yes' is a great step! I would build client success stories of people who HAVE signed and continue to promote them and your managed services offering to your unconverted clients via testimonials and case studies in your newsletter, website and blog. At least twice a year, go back to those unconverted clients with another offer...give special bonuses, pricing, etc. and a deadline to sign. If done correctly, you'll end up with a handful more jumping every time.

If you get to the point where you have reached critical mass (or close to it), you might consider forcing your clients to sign a managed services contract or find someone else to support their network. Many of my clients have done that and, while they've lost a few of their clients, the increase in profits from those who stay outweigh the loss.

Bottom line, you need to make your offer to them very compelling. They are only going to buy if they clearly understand and see what's in it for them, and the value for the money spent. If they aren't buying, they aren't understanding that, so work on your presentation to build more value. For example, what's the net value to me as a business owner for remote monitoring? What result is it going to produce? How is it going to help me save money, make money, be more profitable, etc., etc. Remote monitoring is a FEATURE of your managed services, not a benefit (that reveals you may be focusing on the features of your plan, not the value it will bring to your client). Go back to the drawing board and really figure out what the net RESULTS and BENEFITS are for your managed services, then sell it on those merits.