MSP Business School

In this episode we discuss our the various sales approaches in use at MSP’s and MSSP’s today.  These include owner-led, inside/outside sales team, and hybrid sales models.  Robb discusses the realistic expectations for bringing on your first sales person and what support a new MSP Sales Rep will require. We then discuss how to transition from a word of mouth and refer sales organization and move into a true prospecting led sales engine.  Robb dives into how one of the biggest things that OSR Manage teaches owners making their first sales hire is patience. We also identify one of the easiest things to fix in your sales team, improving follow up and staying in touch and driving sales through a pleasantly persistent approach to sales. MSP’s also need to understand and develop sales metrics.  If you don’t have a measurable plan your sales hire will fail.  Develop your process before making that first hire. We close the meeting with how to interview and hire those resources and tactics to weed out the ‘big talkers’ and identify the producers.

We have hit the peak of the COVID crisis and our conversation focuses on what MSP’s can do to prepare to head back to work in the “New Normal”.   Brian speaks of the importance of the VCIO role as small to mid-sized businesses get back to work.  VCIO’s can help with helping the SMB’s catalog WFH lessons learned and gaps they may have experienced in deploying a WFH workforce.  More importantly, helping our clients build a new strategy as the restrictions on this crisis starts to relax. We start to look at the cyber security issues experienced during the crisis.  These include the impact of layoffs of remote workforce, Zoombombing, and staff security awareness.  We then start mapping out solutions to these common issues. Robb discusses how too many Account Managers and vCIO’s only look at the past and the present and not enough are helping shape the technology plan for the future.   Tim sparks a discussion about how all team members need to step up and help contribute wherever necessary to keep the machine moving as we move into the ‘new normal’.  Robb touches upon how many MSP’s he is speaking with are reviewing their SOP’s as they have changed as a result of work from home. He is also seeing those that embrace security will be leading the way in the ‘new normal’.  Brian shares that security awareness programs and employee monitoring will be key needs.

The Dean's discuss the global condition of MSP sales teams during the COVID-19 crisis. Are they laying off staff? If not, what tasks are sales team taking as companies assess post-COVID damage. We discuss what steps sales managers can take to keep their sales team engaged during this slow period and ready to execute when life returns to the "new normal". Robb speaks about some of the tactics he is seeing MSP's use during this crisis.  He notes that is is a great time to both show empathy and gather business intelligence from your clients and it is helping build a stronger relationship. We discuss how many MSP's are not taking steps to accelerate sales when the crisis is over and too many are choosing sales people as the resources to cut to reduce payroll. This also will create a buyers market for many MSP's post-crisis. A surprising trend is by shifting the conversation to empathy with our clients, sales rep time on call is increasing as their clients are more open to discuss their current situation freely. Brian talks about if there is any selling going on right now and the answer is yes.  MSP's are seeing increases in technologies supporting WFH and Cybersecurity.  Robb discusses some interesting approach models to drive stalled projects and make their employees happy.

In this episode we discuss our experiences in filing for the economic stimulus packages.  We also talk about how to manage our remote teams as we work from home.  We highlight tools that can be used and some of the interesting things we need to adapt to in WFH.  Finally, we talk about how to keep your sales teams motivated and engaged as we work through this period of crisis.  Tim discusses about teaching his team to lead with empathy.  He has found this approach is opening doors and allowing the sales team to log discovery calls that may convert to sales when the country reopens.   We close with a discussion of how to engage with your existing clients and build better relationships through learning lessons learned and how to help our teams sharpen their skills during this period of downtime.    Note: This was recorded prior to the exhaustion of funds and program reopening.