Articles
Every IT Sales Prospect Has A Potential To Say ‘Yes’!
“On this list there might only be one prospect that will say YES!” This is what one of my telemarketers told me when I was questioning why he hadn’t set very many IT sales leads that day. I thought about his statement for a few minutes about and realized that what he was actually saying is that he thought that every one he called was already either not interested or was just waiting for him to call to say they were ready for a computer consultant to come up and give them a proposal for managed services.
As I was considering how I could respond in such a way so that I wouldn’t criticize him but be able to get him to realize that life is in ‘flux’ and that nothing is predetermined, especially in the IT lead generation game. I realized that it wasn’t just my technology telemarketing agent that saw the glass half empty but that probably many of the computer services sales reps out there see the marketing leads we give them in the exact same way, that they don’t have any influence on the outcome of their sales calls. [Read more »]
It’s Alive! Finally, the Perfect IT Call Center Team!
I feel like a mad scientist whose creation has just come alive after ages of preparation and tireless effort! Like Dr. Frankenstein, when the electric bolts shot through his creation, bringing it to life! I have been telemarketing for managed services for over 10 years, but only in the last 5 years have I been able to expand and recruit a suitable team of telesales reps.
Just as we have said to anyone trying to bring IT telemarketing in-house, there is a huge learning curve! However, I’ve paid my dues and we now have the perfect IT lead generation machine and “It’s Alive!”
The Birth
I will tell you about the struggles that I faced, as well as how I faced these obstacles and overcame them. The first problem is staffing; finding talented and skilled people. [Read more »]
Don’t Miss Any Chance To Build Rapport With Technology Sales Prospects
Often when an IT salesman enters a prospect’s office and is getting ready to begin a marketing presentation, it’s typical that the computer consultant tends to be so focused on what they are going to say in their presentation that they often miss golden opportunities to build rapport.
I know all to well about this problem because I recently blew the perfect chance to build rapport with a prospect. When I entered the prospect’s headquarters, I was first greeted by a friendly and playful dog. While I was petting this dog, my thoughts were racing about whether or not I had parked in a tow away zone and my presentation about sales leads
Once I had verified from the computer business owner that in fact my car wasn’t in any danger, then my basic sales voice spoke to me, “Any business owner that keeps his dog at the office must care an awfully lot about his pet!” When I realized this I instantly asked what the dog’s name was. [Read more »]
Never Ask Your IT Sales Prospects To Do What You Should Do!
Losing momentum in the technology sales process is the number one ‘deal killer’! While there are a number of ways that a computer business might lose momentum, the most common way is to provide your prospect with a list of items you need from them to develop a proposal.
Why is this a problem? Once you leave that meeting, just after you gave them a list of what you need for a proposal, the list simply gets stacked up on their mile-high pile of tasks yet to be performed.
Now the ball is in their court!
[Read more »]
We Now Offer Limited Technology Sales Training With Our Lead Generation Program!
Over the last 10 years I have realized that we’ve been setting appointments by using great techniques at a 10,000 feet level, but most of the computer consultants have only been able to sell with techniques at a low 1,000 feet level. So there has been a huge gap between the type of appointments we can set and what the sales people were able pitch.
Why? The only sales that most IT firms are closing are with prospects that have obvious needs. The marketing gap that we’re discussing has to do with the ability to persuade a firm that’s lukewarm in their overall happiness with their current IT support, a firm without obvious needs. Most IT providers are only trained to sell to companies based on finding out what their ‘needs’ are, so if they don’t have obvious needs, then these calls end up at a dead end. [Read more »]
Should A Computer Business Bring Telemarketing In-House?
Outsourcing telemarketing for your computer business can be expensive and like most other things in this economy, the costs are constantly going up. Many IT companies cringe when they hear the price to contract with a outsourcing partner that has the true expertise to deliver the ROI from a marketing campaign.
Often we hear a business owner say glibly, “We will just do it in-house!” Others ask, “What is the difference between doing telemarketing in-house or outsourcing it?” This is really a great question to consider and one that we will address here. The main reason we see this cavalier attitude about starting a telemarketing department is because many IT services providers have already built a successful business by hiring a good group of technology workers, and assume that bringing telemarketing in-house will be just as easy.
[Read more »]
Follow up, Follow up, Follow up!
It’s often said in the sales industry that a ‘no’ gets you closer to a ‘yes’, but what about a maybe? Well if you’re doing follow up for the computer business industry, then getting a ‘maybe’ is a double benefit.
This is because you didn’t get a no and your still have gotten one prospect off your sales radar and can focus your marketing on another IT prospect. However, the worst thing that can happen is that you never get a yes, no or even a maybe! This commonly happens with marketing with in the IT services industry.
Computer consultants are so busy trying to keep on top of their current customers and the new sales leads coming in that following up with hard to reach prospects after their first appointment becomes very difficult for most technology professionals. However, not following up on a prospect after your first appointment is the one biggest factor that destroys most companies’ chances of getting their ROI from any marketing investment. [Read more »]
What To Look For In An IT Call Center
If you’re considering contracting an IT call center for lead generation, then you’re probably starting to realize that all of their proposals are turning into a blur, looking the same. Or on the other hand the proposals might be so different from other types (pay for performance, pay by the hour) that you can’t make heads or tails of them.
Let’s go over a few basic points that can guide a computer business in a search for a good marketing team. Some of the things we suggest looking for are as follows: Are they using offshore callers? How well do they understand the managed services market? How persuasive are they on the phone? You might be surprised that there wasn’t consideration given to technical issues like recording calls, contact management programs etc… why? [Read more »]
It’s Official: Managed Services Has Saturated the Market!
All markets have life cycles, especially with technology. As technology increases the life cycle for the latest and greatest innovations becomes shorter and shorter. Note the i-Pod: 4 generations, in a little under a few years.
This same principal applies to the IT services marketing space. In around 10 years, managed IT services has gone from an obscure idea that was rejected by most computer consultants to something that has been embraced by a majority of the market for computer repair.
In the last 10 years we have seen the reason for setting an appointment with a decision maker go from wanting to learn about managed services transform into largely just taking competitive bids. It’s much like the insurance industry, where all the insurance companies all pretty much all offering the same product, but one might have a little more coverage here or a little lower price there.
This means that the marketing message for the computer business that has been offering managed services has become saturated. So the burning question is, what is the way forward from here? [Read more »]
The Last Mile For Marketing IT!
Image that your running a marathon and your coming to the very last mile of your journey, when you realize that all your trainers and coaches, who had been with you through your entire effort from the very beginning, start to drop away and leave you hanging to run the last mile by your self. If you’re a computer business owner and can visualize your marketing process like the marathon race we just alluded to, then I am sure you wouldn’t want all your advisory and coaches abandoning you as you near the sales goal you have been working toward, by using their services and training. [Read more »]
Heed The Warning Call For Technology Sales!
“There is no way we’re going to change our model and switch to a flat fee!” This is what I last heard from a computer business in Dallas over 8 year ago, after I had warned them the marketing direction was transitioning to managed services. I had thrown down the gauntlet and said I was going to stop providing any technology sales leads for them if they didn’t change. I loved these guys at this firm and had learned a lot from them, but I was not going to flinch from my belief that I should only work with the best companies that offered the best value in the market.
Why would I mention this old battle about the flat fee model, since for the most part it’s been decided that managed services has won the battle and it’s taken over most IT consultants model. It’s because I found myself in the office of the exact same firm I had provided IT Sales Leads for over 8 year ago. They had been forced to offer managed services since the market went that way! Instead of listening to me and being an ‘early adopter’ they instead waited as other computer services firm offering the flat fee ate out of their market share. [Read more »]
MSP Telemarketing Announces Guaranteed Sales Program!
“Guarantee Sales! No way would we ever make any promises that we could guarantee sales…. you would have to be crazy to guarantee sales for it services marketing.” This was the response I got recently from an MSP Vendor, when I asked them if they made any guarantees that their clients would make sales by taking their sales advice.
If you’re a computer consultant and have tried telemarketing then you probably didn’t even get most of your appointments that were promised not to mention any Sales. So many computer business owners have been burned by telemarketing firms. Even though our firm has been able to get sales for many of our clients, this poison well has made getting ‘drinking water’ to grow our business difficult to say the least. So we have carefully engineered our new Guaranteed Sales program to combat this negative view of telemarketing. [Read more »]
MSP Telemarketing Is Proud To Sponsor CompTIA Breakaway 2010
MSP Telemarketing is Proud to announce sponsorship of the CompTIA Breakaway 2010 Channel Event. We ran into some of the CompTIA employees at the MSPU Boot camp in Dallas, TX. After reviewing what CompTIA offers their members and the breakdown of who attends their Breakaway meetings, we couldn’t resist attending and sponsoring this event.
According to their stats 38% of the attendees will be the President, Owner or Partner of their firm. So if you’re a vendor or are trying to get some good networking opportunities, then this will be a great event . Also if you’re looking to get info on the latest IT services offerings then keep in mind that most of the Top IT vendors will be there. [Read more »]
Which Sales Coaching Plan Should MSP’s Choose For Marketing IT Services
Many computer business owners who had discussed their marketing plans with me in the past, have always gotten around to asking me which of the several sales marketing and sales coaching plans they should sign up with. As you probably know there are several out there from the www.TechnologyMarketingToolKit.com with Robin Robins, MSPU’s website for sales training or TruMethods sales coaching by Gary Pica. These are just a few of the Top ones but there are even more out there that can make choosing very difficult.
I will begin answering this question by telling a story about a computer consultant I recently had this conversation with. It started out with him telling me how he had used every one of the services that MSPU offers; but that he started to wonder if all the money he was spending was worth it. He seemed to be convincing himself to cancel his services with MSPU. I really had nothing to say and was trying to listen and learn a thing or two. [Read more »]
A Choice Between IT ‘Top of Mind sales Leads’ and ‘Latent Needs’ Prospects is a Straw Man Argument
Recently I was on a conference call with a computer business owner discussing his marketing plans and going over our technology telemarketing plans. After explaining the difference between prospects that have ‘Top of Mind’ needs versus prospects that have ‘Latent’ needs, he told me that this was basic information and he called it Sales Leads 101. I was confused because most computer consultants that do marketing don’t understand the difference. They normally expect the telemarketing team to find ‘Top of Mind’ it sales leads but they should be getting ‘Top of Mind’ leads through it lead generation by sending out post cards, email marketing, SEO marketing, referrals etc… Then he hit me with a bomb, he said he could get a telemarketing firm for just $600 a month to get him 22 leads. [Read more »]
MSPs, Use A Mantra And Visualization On IT Sales Leads!
Motivational Books and Tapes have mostly become a cliche or worse are paid lip services by sales people. Rarely do we see best practice motivational techniques really penetrating IT telemarketing or computer services marketing. Something that is even more difficult is trying to convince someone who is totally foreign to these concepts and to even try them out to see if they work or not.
This is where I began telling my story about my son’s recent baseball game. He had a great hit in his first game, but since then he had not hit the ball and had only gotten points by getting walked. As we were driving to his last game we realized he had missed his last practice and it seemed things were all against him getting better results in this game.
The connection between my son’s game and visualization and a mantra are that this is the moment where I felt I might be able to introduce the concepts to my son and try to help him get better results. [Read more »]
Learning How A Bottle Of Wine Was Sold Can Transform Marketing For IT
If you read our last blog, then I want to make sure you know we are not drinking beer and wine at work…. However, I had a lightning bolt hit me out of the sky when I was at a Italian restaurant a few months ago.
This restaurant had some powerful marketing strategies at work that I want to share with the computer business marketing firms out there. The first strategy this restaurant used was arousing our curiosity!
What Does Beer Have To Do With IT Services Marketing?
You might not think beer has a lot to do with marketing IT services, although I am sure you’re more than anxious to see a connection so we can all go grab a cold one!
The idea for this blog started when I was paying our office rent, which is held by Gambrinus, the former distributors of Corona and still the bottlers and distributors of Shiner Bock. My contact was explaining how Gambrinus got Shiner Bock to begin with and how they were able to take it from a humble brewer to huge marketing success. [Read more »]
MSP Marketing Event In San Francisco
MSP Telemarketing will host an event in May for computer business owners in the San Francisco, CA area. John Black with MSP Telemarketing will be addressing the group on Telemarketing Strategies that can help computer consultants get more success from telemarketing by avoiding the common mistakes that many IT firms make.
[Read more »]
MSP Marketing Event In Phoenix
MSP Telemarketing will host a FREE Event in April for computer business owners in the Phoenix, AZ area. John Black with MSP Telemarketing will be addressing the group on Telemarketing Strategies that can help computer consultants get more success from telemarketing by avoiding the common mistakes that many IT firms make.
[Read more »]
Questions About Marketing CharTec For Your Computer Business?
Recently several of our computer consultants clients have question the benefit of HAAS with CharTec after adding up the cost of the financing. Below are my thoughts about why HAAS is critical to your marketing success as a computer business owner
How much will the average person pay for a car or home after the financing is added to the cost?
If every one cringed about the financing cost then our society’s spending would shrink and so would the economy. Like in Mexico where pretty much every one pays for homes and cars with cash and really only rich people buy anything.
Perhaps there could be an argument that that might be a better arrangement, it would also mean there would be less millionaires because there would be less cash blowing around for entrepreneurs to grab.
[Read more »]
MSP Telemarketing To Webcast With MSPU Tue Mar 9 5pm – 6pm (CST)
We are pround to announce that MSP Telemarketing’s Director, John Black, will be joining MSPU Kate Hunt in an up coming webinar. We will be addressing the subject “Setting Expectation for Telemarketing”. The webinar will take place March 9th from 5PM to 6PM. If you have an interested in takeing part in this webinar then get the full details at the MSPU Website. [Read more »]
FREE IT marketing Event for Computer Business In Houston March 26th
MSP Telemarketing is proud to host a FREE Event in March for computer business owners in Houston, TX. The key speaker will be Brian Freistat from CharTec who will be talking about the new and exciting services offering called HAAS or Hardware as a service. John Black with MSP Telemarketing will be addressing the group on Telemarketing Strategies that can help computer consultants get more success from telemarketing by avoiding some pitfall that most IT services marketing firms make. [Read more »]
New Client Landed With Our Technology Sales Leads
Just the other day we called to follow up on one of our new computer business owners who had recently signed up for our IT lead generation program. We had just started their marketing campaign and I was checking on how the first two appointment’s had gone.
Amazingly the owner of the technology firm Revolution Group out of Columbus, Ohio responded that he had a 100% close ratio as of his first appointment. He stated that the first prospect hadn’t signed up for managed services yet but they want to do that soon. However, they had already started using him to do work on their IT equipment to allow him to gain their trust.
[Read more »]
MSP Telemarketing Interviews Gary Pica About IT Services Marketing!
We are excited to announce on short notice that MSP Telemarketing will be interviewing Gary Pica of TruMethods Today at 2:00 Central or 3:00 Eastern. Gary Pica is a Marketing Guru that that tailors his message just for MSP! Computer Business owners that have not heard of Gary should listen in to our interview. Even if your a computer consultant that has heard of Gary then you still might glen some good FREE information from this interview that can help your IT sales leads right away.
Gary was a General Manager for MindSHIFT and then he left to start his own managed services firm call Dynamic Digital Services which was so successful that MindSHIFT bought him out.
[Read more »]
What Do Our IT Sales Leads Look Like?
A lot of computer business owners who have contacted our marketing firm about generation of sales lead or leads for their IT services offerings have been curious about how they get the leads, what the leads look like and what information is included in the sales leads.
I wanted to take this opportunity to show exactly what one of our sales leads looks like and go over the information you will be getting and show how to translate it.
First our technology sales leads are simply emailed to the contact or multiple contacts that our clients indicate to us. The first item that will catch your eye is the subject like in our emails. They are always clearly marked as “A new Apt from MSP Telemarketing”. The second item in the subject line is then name of the firm the appointment was set with and the third and most important thing is the date and time of the marketing meeting that was set on your behalf.
[Read more »]
Don’t Stop Marketing Your IT Services!
Once again we have to report a computer business that has suspended their marketing campaign temporarily with terrible side effects. One of our reps went into our suspended clients list looking for call backs and he found an IT sales lead that had said if we called them the month prior they would be willing to compare managed services with the break-fix service they had in place. When the rep called them back they indicated that they had just signed a managed services agreement with a competitor.
The sad part is that the campaign had been on hold since the month prior and this is why the prospect wasn’t called back. The client missed a golden IT sales opportunity because they had delayed signing back up again. You just never know when or where technology sales are going to come from!
[Read more »]
Why Would IT Consultants WANT To Pay More For Lead Generation?
In our last Blog we went over the numbers and showed why a computer business could afford to pay more for marketing calls to generate more IT appointments. However, the big Question is why in the world would they want to pay more for it services marketing if they didn’t have to?
We were recently approached by a computer consultant who was using another telemarketing firm that was generating leads for a lower cost than what msp telemarketing was proposing. My question to this technology services provider was, “ if you already getting sales leads from the other firm at a lower cost, then why would you be contacting us?”
MSPs Can Pay More For Computer Services Marketing Leads
“We can’t afford you” this is the most common objection we hear from computer business owners about spending money on an it call center. As we have discussed before, many decide telemarketing is not an option for them or try a lower priced or cheaper solution. Many times they get what they pay for, which is no results at all. Some times a few come back to us; but most end in the telemarketing graveyard.
We believe that many computer consultants are looking at IT Lead Generation cost upside down!
The first thing we want to point out in regards to an IT consultant judging their marketing budget is not to be short sighted. The reality is that most of our clients and probably the entire industry is that you will retain most of your msp clients for a long time. One client told us that they had a 99% retention of their msp clients they got from our telemarketing efforts. [Read more »]
Offer Free Help Desk Trial To Boost Computer Business Marketing
Do you have a Trojan horse for selling IT?
Many thousands of years ago Odysseus is said in myths to have devised the stratagem that helped the Greeks defeat the Trojans after 10 years of war. As legend has it, the Greek Heroes waited inside a Wooden Horse left on the beach. The Trojans were deceived into taking this Decoy inside their impregnable walls. Once inside the walls the Heroes were able to open the cities gates and allow the Greek army inside Troy.
In your computer business marketing battle for more managed services clients, are you Marshalling all of your resources and marketing wisdom, like you might if you were fighting a real war? Or do you have a Trojan Horse in your arsenals that you can plant inside the gates of your computer services prospects?
A few years ago one of our clients was not having success closing some of the prospect that that we had lined up through our IT telemarketing. Many of them had gone through the whole proposal process but they hadn’t been able close any of them. We proposed something like a Trojan Horse for our computer services marketing client. [Read more »]
Always Bring Something To The Party When Marketing Computer Services
When you show up to most technology sales leads meetings that were generated by IT telemarketing, then you are already up against a competitor that has a huge advantage.
The computer consultants that is already taking care of your prospect’s technology is entrenched . You have a sliver of a chance to unseat them. One marketing computer services client that we have, calls their IT sales meetings ’wedge’ marketing meetings. The goal is to wedge yourself in and continue to widen the gap in your competitors weakness in the eyes of your prospect [Read more »]
How Happy Are Technology Telemarketing Leads On A Scale Between 1 and 10?
Are people either happy or mad? Are things either black or white, or are there shades of grey. Well, we are not going to start considering philosophy in our blogs but some understanding of human psyche might help while marketing computer services.
Understanding the psyche of your prospects is always a good idea, but it is especially important when you’re utilizing IT sales leads or Technology Telemarketing leads. This is because the reasoning behind why prospects have set IT sales leads becomes more when scrutinized when you have a telemarketer pushing to get an appointment set up. [Read more »]
Following Up On IT Sales Leads Is A Must!
The first thing that most computer consultants drop the ball on in their marketing efforts is following up on their IT Sales Leads.
Why this is, I am not 100% sure about but it’s probably a mix of several things. If the salesman is also the Owner of the Computer Business then it easy to see how following up on technology sales leads could get lost in all of their other responsibilities. If the salesman is a real salesman, then it might be the fact that many salesman are weak in details like following up on marketing calls in the first place or it could be that both the owner or the salesman might be hesitant about following up calls on prospect because they aren’t sure how to do it or if they really should follow up at all. [Read more »]
Closing Technology Sales Leads Requires Team Work
While I was relating the success that some of our computer services clients have had with our technology sales leads , I received an unusual comment. “The results that you’re giving me sound anecdotal”, was the comment that a computer consultant hit me with.
After thinking about it for a minute I realized that he meant that not every client we represented was having the same results. I replied that if every client that we worked with had the same successful marketing results, then it would mean that ‘we’ would have all the keys to making the sales, no matter what the computer consultants’ model or sales process was like. That would mean that just dealing with MSP Telemarketing for IT telemarketing would be the magic bullet that could guarantee success. [Read more »]
Don’t Fight Over Low Hanging ‘Fruit’ For IT Lead Generation
If you’re a computer services marketing firm then stop fighting over ‘low hanging fruit’! What do we mean by ‘low hanging fruit’?
We are talking about the sales opportunities that come easier to technology firms trying to sell managed services through IT lead generation, which we have referred to as ‘broken’ leads in past blogs.
Broken leads are companies that have reached the boiling point or threshold of pain, when they actually start talking to their friends about their pain points and thereby you might end up getting a referral.Or they might finally respond to one of your post cards that they have been throwing away in the File 13 for months and now it catches their eye, since it’s top of mind. Also, they could actually go online and start searching for computer consultants and click on your pay per click ad or organic search listing.
These are the exact same opportunities that every other computer business is trying to ‘pick’. There aren’t that many of these types of technology sales leads out there in the first place because most businesses are willing to put up with lots of pain or feel that it’s better to deal with the Devil you know than the Devil you don’t know.
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MSP Telemarketing Featured in Robin Robins IT Recommends
We are very excited to be a partner with Robin Robins and now we are pleased to announce that MSP Telemarketing will be featured in Robin Robins Recommends November Newsletter. It will be featuring our IT telemarketing services.
Our focus is on helping computer consultants get more IT sales leads and we offer our services on a pay for performance basis! We are also helping promote Robins Boot Camps with our telemarketing services.
Technology Marketing Tool Kit is a marketing organization that works with computer services marketing firms to help them improve their business. The focus is on sales and marketing but Robin’s Tool Kit is really a total Blueprint to everything a computer consultant might need from pricing help, vendor selection, hiring advice and sales advice. It also contains information on sending out winning emails and newsletter.
In terms of marketing computer services, most VAR say that get their money back after just implementing 1 or 2 of her marketing suggestions. So they is what many might call and ‘no brainer’ when it comes to spending your marketing dollars.
If you would like to get some information about upcoming events or more details about her Tool Kit them give us a call and we would be happy to point computer consultants in the right direction.
Check out our other partners: CharTec, Kaseya, Synergy and eFolder
MSP Gets First Sale From IT Telemarketing
MSP Telemarketing is pleased to announce that Binatech, a computer services marketing 
firm from Buffalo, NY, has closed their first sale from our IT telemarketing campaign conducted on their behalf.
Mike Haworth the President of Binatech has given us a testimonial on our home page of this website if you want to hear the entire statement, but here is a synopsis:
“Within only 3 weeks we’ve had about 7 appointments booked so far, and so far the quality of the appointments is very good… we closed one of these accounts for an MSP contract for about 2500 per month!” - Mike Haworth, President. [Read more »]
MSP Marketing For IT, Partners With CharTec!
MSP Telemarketing, which offers marketing for IT companies, is proud to announce that we have partnered with CharTec, a division of ARRC Technologies.
We first became aware of CharTec at an MSPU Boot Camp in Santa Ana, CA several months ago. There we heard Chartec’s Alex Rogers speak about their HaaS (Hardware as a Service) program. The passion that Alex has about HaaS and the managed services industry as a whole was infectious. [Read more »]
MSP Telemarketing Partners with Robin Robins In Marketing Computer Services
MSP Telemarketing is pleased to announce that we have partnered with Robin Robins in 
sponsoring their Technology Marketing Tool Kit boot camps. We have been watching Robin’s success in marketing computer services over the years and they are now the nation’s premier computer services marketing organization!
Robin primarily helps computer business operators through their Managed Services Marketing Tool Kit. This marketing tool represent one of the best investments that a computer consultant could make in their business no matter what stage of growth they are in. [Read more »]
Announcing New Blog Talk Radio Show For Computer Services Marketing
MSP Telemarketing is proud to announce our first Blog Talk Radio show. We will be talking 
about issues that are relevant to computer services marketing firms. Our first guest on our very first Radio Show will be Frank Gurnee the Vice President of VAR Channel Sales for CharTec.
Of Course we will be talking about IT lead generation, IT telemarketing and technology telemarketing but well will be focusing on discussing Hardware as a Services or HaaS with CharTec. This is a new model for marketing for IT that is taking off and CharTec is the leader in this industry. [Read more »]
Package Kaseya tools and your IT Telemarketing Will Take Off!
If you are an IT computer consultants marketing professional, listen. I would like to challenge you to package everything you would like to do. Simply take A la carte services menu and observe as to how you can package them. The reasons abound.
Maybe it’s just to fit your service teams skill sets or what the clients ask for or even geographically related package. Whatever it may be, on most occasions, you can sell more whenever you package it nicely. Leverage your current computer services with technology platforms and people and fill them with value for simple and easy delivery. Never fluff it up. If you have utilized a managed services platform, chances are high that you have packaged fewer levels for customers to select from. But have you built in the features that people would pay for? To take it a step ahead, think whether you have identified any of the vertical markets that you are strong in or packaged certain things just for them? [Read more »]
Beneficial Side Effects Of Using Technology Telemarketing.
We recently got a call from one of our computer services clients about our 
marketing campaign. He was updating us on the progress that one of our IT sales leads had made. He had gotten his third meeting set up for the assessment and was informing us that he felt very confident that he was going to make the sale. That was when he hit us with even better news!
[Read more »]
A New Marketing Direction For IT Sales Leads.
The common logic of managed services providers has taken the industry
further into the direction of marketing more unlimited services for IT sales. While this is a good idea, there may be another strategy that most have missed out on and at the same time is what has caused many computer services marketing firms to lose technology sales without knowing why. This new direction flies in the face of the common wisdom and that is why I think for the few that latch on to this new marketing strategy, they will be at the front line of innovation in MSP marketing. This new concept can also boast your IT lead generation with a new telemarketing message that will drive more leads. [Read more »]
Affinity Marketing Can Speed Up IT Lead Generation & Time To Close Sales
The Million Dollar question that most computer services marketing
providers are asking themselves is: “How can I get more IT sales leads and close more MSP deals faster.” Well let’’s answer that question by looking to a great success in a different industry.
MBNA America had a meteoric rise to success in the credit card business during the 90’s, due to Affinity Marketing! I know because I was on their telemarketing team when they became so successful. [Read more »]
Pausing Your Computer Services Marketing Could Cost You Sales!
Imagine that you have kick started your IT lead generation campaign, but you don’t believe you have gotten off to a Great start. You have received a few good leads that look promising, but haven’t bagged any sales. Your first instinct is to pull back on the IT telemarketing until the sales convert from the existing leads.
This could be a costly mistake!
Recently one of our existing IT clients started their marketing program back after stopping their telemarketing campaign. We started technology telemarketing on the prospect that had indicated we should call them back. One lead was past the date that we were supposed to call them, but this was in the time period when the telemarketing had been on ‘hold’.
While we were attempting to contact the IT manager, who wanted us to call him back to propose the BDR solution, we discovered that he had quit and left the company. We immediately started trying to reach the Owner to try to pitch them on considering outsourcing instead of hiring another IT person in-house.
Don’t run your telemarketing campaigns like a Yo-Yo, stopping and starting, up and down and on and off. [Read more »]
Where Can MSP Telemarketing Call for IT Consultants?
It’s interesting that on many of the sales inquiries, we get from computer services provides, we are asked if the fact that we are in Colorado and they are in Kalamazoo would be a problem. Our IT telemarketing program can be done any where in the United States and Canada right now and we are expanding to other countries next year.
This raises another question which we are not always asked, but what effect does calling from a long distance number have on your technology telemarketing efforts? Well in some areas calling from a long distance number has little effect. However, other areas it could be the death knell of IT lead generation because the gatekeeper will automatic think that a long distance number is probably a telemarketing call and screen it a lot harder. We have solved this problem, when it pops up, by arranging to have our outbound callers to project the right area code they are calling on caller ID. [Read more »]
IT Telemarketing Should Be Targeting Outsourcing
With the recession in full swing and no recovery in sight, it’s time for computer services providers to start targeting outsourcing the full time in-house IT, technology worker. This is normally the Holy Grail and seen by most computer consultants as a untouchable marketing target. Telemarketing should lead the way in this effort!
Why is the the perfect time to target the In-house IT workers? Normally many executives view have internal technology support as non negotiable. The reasoning is that response time for network downtime is crucial and then that there staff need ‘hand holding’ so they need someone on-site to physically hold their hands on a range of technology issues. With budgets being cut many executives are starting to rethink this or at least are softening on the idea of cutting in this area. [Read more »]
A Must Read For Computer Services Marketing
There are only so many books that come along that really have a powerful impact in the computer services marketing world and last the ages. THINK AND GROW RICH is one of those books. It’s not just another Cheering booking telling you, “You can do it”. Rather Napoleon Hill gives specific direction taken from some of the most successful people of our times.
What is so intriguing is that this book delves into the subconscious mind and discusses how you can achieve a mindset for success. The understanding that you need to truly have a burning desire for something before you can achieve it, is one of the main points a have personally used from this book. What is really exciting is that this book goes into detail about Napoleon’s theories on how to influence your subconscious mind, on your quest for Riches.
This book also helps you realize that you have to protect your positive mental attitude from the negative thoughts and influences of other ‘doubters’.
I highly recommend this book for computers services marketingbecause it can help you achieve the mental attitude you need to be successful. It is also extremely helpful for IT telemarketing and technology telemarketing. I have personally used many of the principals outlined in this book to achieve unheard of success in setting appointments.
Recently Alex Rogers from CharTec mentioned THINK AND GROW RICH in his presentation at an MSPU boot camp. He said that this book was one of the tools that helped him go from being a computer geek at a computer store to owning a successful managed servicesfirm and now launching his Hardware as a Service division to take on DELL!
Don’t waste one more second, run out to your local or online book seller and grab a copy and start ‘Thinking’ your way to success.
Don’t Let Your IT Lead Generation End In The Graveyard
It’s been two months since you paid a telemarketing company to start generating IT leads for your computer services marketing campaign. You haven’t heard anything from them and not one appointment has been sent your way! Now you realize that you find your self in the IT telemarketing “Graveyard”.
Most managed services providers that have tried outsourcing IT lead generation have been burned and ended up in what we like to call the telemarketing graveyard. In most cases they have never gotten even one lead or appointment with a decision maker. [Read more »]
Effective Questions for Computer Services Marketing
Asking questions is one of the most effective ways to prospect for new computer services clients. In your IT telemarketing efforts, you should be training your salesmen or appointment setters to ask the prospects the right questions at the right time. What are the right computer consultants marketing questions?
The first Question that technology telemarketing should ask a decision maker is: “Could I have a moment of you time?” By asking this question you are complimenting your prospect by inferring that they are important because you know they are busy. Asking this question will go against the instincts of most salespeople and marketers but if you follow this advice you will find that most decision makers will agree to give you an initial 30 seconds. Furthermore, by asking this question you will have gotten your prospects attention and can be confident that they will be listening to you elevator pitch. [Read more »]
Should IT Firms Confirm Their Technology Telemarketing Appointments?
“Just cancel our IT appointment!” - If you’re calling to confirm your appointments the day of your technology marketing meeting, then you’re probably hearing those word more often. When this happens the first thought that comes to your mind is that telemarketing must have set a bogus lead.
This could be false cause, let’s consider if we should confirm managed services leads or not and if so when. Should we jump to the conclusion that because you called to confirm an appointment the day of the meeting or the day before and the prospect cancels your meeting, that telemarketing set up a bad lead? [Read more »]
“Swim With The Sharks” Is A Must Read for Computer Consultants Marketing!
We absolutely recommend Harvey Mackay, “SWIM WITH THE SHARKS WITH OUT BEING EATEN ALIVE”. It’s been a number of years since I had read this book; but Gary Beechum [MSPU] mentioned some points about how long a computer consultants should continue marketing on their prospects, that reminded me of Harvey Mackay’s book. [Read more »]
Protect Your Attitude When IT Telemarketing.
Attitude is everything or at least extremely important in all forms of marketing but when it comes to IT telemarketing it is critical. Outbound telemarketing for computer consultants is very demanding and there are many pit falls that, if you’re not mentally prepared for, could lead to failure for you IT lead generation.
[Read more »]
DISC Can Help Your Technology Telemarketing Recruiting
What is DISC and more importantly how can it benefit computer consultants in their quest to promote the new managed service model in the market place? First DISC stands for:
We at MSP Telemarketing were aware of DISC assessments; but had forgotten about them until MSPU mentioned them again at one of their recent boot camps.
[Read more »]
Should NLP Be Utilized for IT Telemarketing?
Should Neuro-linguistic programming be used for IT Telemarketing? What is Neuro-linguistic programming? It is a technique that was meant to take the style of top Psychiatrists, as in what they say and how they would say to influence their patients. The theory also claims that by observing eye movements, tones that you can gain insight in the subconscious.
What does NLP even have to do with technology telemarketing? Well, it’s important to know that by the 80’s many of the scientific tenants that NLP claimed, were rejected by psychotherapy. The reason we are addressing this subject in our blog is because NLP moved from psychotherapy universe into the business world where it has since gained some ground and has also influenced some technology telemarketing and IT lead generation. [Read more »]
Offer Print Managed Services And Get ROI From IT Telemarketing
The following is a Dramatization:
From research, I learned that twenty four percent of business related knowledge maintained by firms existed in paper files and 60 percent of computer consultant’s time was spent on handling paper records, constituting 40 percent of labor expenses.
[Read more »]
MSP’s Add E Folder For Better Computer Consultants Marketing.
Data Backup
The founder of a small IPO said, data preservation was crucial for his business. Their system had accumulated a large database of prospects and clients, records (customer, work related information), transactions, inventory control and warehouse over the years. Any sort of system crash and they would have had it. [Read more »]
Telemarketing Can Boast When You Utilize Synergy’s Technology Help Desk!
In today’s ever-changing and complex high tech environments, Synergy delivers complete technology solutions “synergistic-ally”. It includes diverse areas such as help desk, infrastructure management and on-site support.
In the present scenario, computer consultants require relationships with a whole host of IT solutions providers, each offering their own area of functionality in a specialized area. [Read more »]
Kaseya Improves Computer Consultants Processes and Marketing!
As an IT automation framework, Kaseya permits IT computer services consultants to proactively maintain, manage and monitor distributed technology infrastructures efficiently, easily and remotely with a single integrated web related platform.
By offering computer consultants an integrated and complete view of environments from the centralized web related management console, the IT automation framework of Kaseya streamlines a scalable and consistent process of managed services. [Read more »]
MSPU Boot Camp Can Revamp your Computer Consultant Marketing!
We just got back from the Managed Services Provider University Boot Camp in Santa Ana, CA and we at MSP Telemarketing were blown away by all the benefits that it offers computer consultants that are looking to perfect their sales and marketing. On top of the excellent sales training, the boot camp attendees also had the opportunity to meet new and exciting vendors [like Char Tec ] that can help them improve their model and become more competitive in the managed services space and create more ’sticky’ clients!
[Read more »]
What Is The Expiration Date on Computer Services Marketing Lead?
When should a computer services firm stop marketing to a lead that was generated thought telemarketing. At a recent MSPU boot camp Gary Beechum said that you never stop marketing to those opportunities. We at MSP Telemarketing agree 100% with that sentiment.
Really there is no expiration date on your managed services leads. [Read more »]
Technology Telemarketing Often Misses The Target!
Many computer consultants miss their marketing target because they are aiming at the wrong target! Specifically we are talking about technology telemarketing. Managed services providers mainly at first blush believe they should be trying to reach prospects that are already having serious pain. We will discuss why this might be a mistake.
[Read more »]
New HaaS Offering can boost IT telemarketing success for MSPs!
Hardware always plays the ‘missing piece’ role when it comes to the puzzle of managed service. Not anymore! the new HaaS (Hardware as a Service) program from Char Tec will help with the transition of your computer consultant marketing efforts to the next part of the annuity related profitability as a provider of managed services.
[Read more »]
The ‘Swiss Army Knife’ Automation Tool for Computer Consultants Marketing!
When it comes to computer consultants solutions, ConnectWise professional service automation offers more benefits than traditional ERP Systems, but with a price that you won’t cringe from. These solutions are specifically designed for human resource intensive; project based and service oriented entities. The PSA (Professional Service Automation) software offered by ConnectWise supports nearly all processes in an IT solutions firm (including marketing and sales tracking), available either as hosted or premise based solution. [Read more »]
New IT Data Backup gives VAR’s An Edge In Lead Generation
From my experience of data loss and recovery, irrespective of whether it is a system failure, catastrophic disaster or virus, data is always at high risk. Cornerstone has finally offered a better option to the BDR backup system. This offering will give computer consultants a better shot at reaching more prospects though their marketing. Bottom line, Cornerstone’s technology is a hardware solutions that can backup both Windows Servers and Linux Servers!
[Read more »]
Computer Consultant Add Value With New CCTV App for Iphone!
If you’re a computer consultant that is new to the iRa C3 offered by Snap Security, well, it is a remote surveillance control and viewing system that puts the power of direct camera pan-tilt-zoom control and multiple live video feeds at your palms on iPod touch and iPhone. If you’re a computer services consultant that is interested in adding to your marketing offer, then visit this link for more information www.lextechlabs.com
[Read more »]
How Lead Generation and IT Consultant’s Pricing Are Connected!
Right now there are two competing concepts for pricing managed services. Value based pricing and commodity based pricing. Both can be good models, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish and what types of resources are available to your technology firm.
The main question we are going to ask is: How does IT lead generation factor into your decision of which pricing model you want to use for your computer consultants marketing?
[Read more »]
MSP Telemarketing To Discuss Lead Generation In Upcoming IT Bootcamp
MSP Telemarketing will be participating in the upcoming MSPU Boot Camp this month, August 14th, at the Santa Ana, CA Doubletree hotel. We’ll be discussing IT lead generation strategies, and anyone from your IT staff is welcome to attend for FREE.
Visit the MSPU Boot Camp page for more details and to register. See you there!
Handing Off Technology Telemarketing Appointments!
The process of handing off a technology telemarketing appointment to a computer consultant needs to be smooth and harmonious. Many times if the message that the telemarketer leads with on the phone is not pick up by the salesman on the first marketing call; then IT lead generation might not get the ROI your were counting on.
In most cases the managed services salesman wants to begin his presentation by addressing the client’s problems and pains points. However, this is usually not what the telemarketer discussed with the prospect. When the telemarketer talks about one thing and the salesman talks about another, this can cause confusion in the prospect’s mind and lead them to the impression that your computer consultants marketing effort is disjointed. [Read more »]
How To Build A Vertical Market For Computer Services Marketing.
We have discussed why it is so important to have a vertical market to target when you marketing your computer consultant business.
Of Course, if you’re fortune enough to already have a vertical market, then you can stop reading now. However, most managed services providers don’t have at least three clients in the same industry.
Your first step, in building a vertical marketing, would be to look at your existing client base and see which industries you would like to have more clients in. [Read more »]
Why Technology Companies Should Try Vertical Telemarketing!
If you ask most computer consultant marketing people what the sales cycle is on a typical managed services opportunity; they would probably say that it can range between three to six months. This would be the correct answer, according to most IT industry standards.
However, what if we told you that a managed services firm closed a sale, with a signed contract and check in hand ,with in two weeks? The clock on this time frame started from the first technology telemarketing appointment to the final meeting, when the salesman received the contract. Furthermore, the prospect had been completely happy with their technology consultant right up until the first meeting with our client took place.
What does a vertical market have to do with this scenario? [Read more »]
SPECIAL: Reduced Setup Fees For IT Telemarketing Services!
MSP Telemarketing is always preaching to computer consultants that they need to be more flexible in their marketing and terms. Some managed services providers have stiff setup fees and even require large investments in additional technology before they will take on a new client. Also, they often require long term commitments from their clients as well.
Therefore, we have taken our own advice and now have lowered our setup fee to get a telemarketing campaign going from $1500 to only $900.00 and we have lowered the min number of leads that you must prepay from 10 in advance to only 5 in advance. [Read more »]
More Salesman For More Technology Sales Leads!
It is legend that IBM used to literally take every one in their computer consulting firm to marketing meetings. Of course in the beginning this IT firm was not that large; but they wanted to put on an impression of being a much larger technology firm.
So how many people should you take on your sales calls to managed services prospects? [Read more »]
Don’t Let Learning Curves Cost Computer Consultants Marketing Sales!
The 300 pound Elephant in the room on every marketing call you make to pitch managed services is, the learning curve.
Every company that you meet with already has something in place to handle their technology. Whether they have another computer consultant in place or not.
As we have stated, every company usually has a very high threshold for pain when it comes to dealing with problems that arises from their vendors especially IT Providers. [Read more »]
A Top MSP100 Lands New Managed Services Client!
We just received word from one of the Top Managed Services Providers on MSP Mentor’s Top 100 list that they had closed their first SALE from a lead that was generated from MSP Telemarketing ’s marketing campaign. [Read more »]
Computer Services Marketing Nets Managed Services Sale!
We are happy to report that Andrew D’Arata from Cenetric called us a few days ago to report some good news from their first engagement with MSP Telemarketing.
Andy reported that Cenetric had just SIGNED the first managed services client from our telemarketing campaign, for around $1500 per month! He also mentioned that there were still 3 or 4 decent prospect that he had the potential of closing. [Read more »]
Got Documentation For Your IT Marketing Services
Computer Consultant Marketing Tips
Here we go with some more helpful tips on improving your managed services marketing presentation. The goal is to penetrate the shield prospects often put up during the sales meeting, that this is just informational and they’re really not going to change anything.
You want to get them actively thinking about how much better your service really will be. One area you can exploit, which is a common area of weakness, is the LACK of documentation on most computer networks.
[Read more »]
Top Ten Customer Concerns When Choosing An IT Provider
The Top MSP Customer Concerns
There are thousands of Top Ten List on the internet but this is the first MSP customer centric top ten list that focuses on the 10 things that managed services marketing prospects are most concerned with when evaluating which computer consultant they should choose or switch to.
[Read more »]
Acronis As A Backup Solution
When you’re marketing your managed services concept you can’t just focus on the presentation. You need to focus on the deliverables / business model as well.
Managed services marketing providers who want to remain state-of-the-art in their data back up offerings should add software from Acronis to their software ‘toolbox’. [Read more »]
The Right Impression Helps When Marketing For IT
“The Devil is in the details.” This should be the mantra for any computer consultants, selling managed servcies, who wants to stand out from the marketing chatter and seriously grow their business. This mean they will be constantly evaluating every aspect of their IT marketing services and looking for ways to improve.
This brings us to our choice of clothing. The clothes do make the man, and people do make judgments about us, good and bad, based on how we dress. Perhaps you don’t give much thought to how you dress, or maybe you have and need to consider it again. [Read more »]
Computer Services Marketing Presentation Tips
There is no question that the competition for managed services marketing is heating up, as more break-fix consultants enter the managed service marketing space and new MSP’s start up. Now more then ever, Managed Services Providers need to stand out from the crowd and differentiate themselves. One area you can think about improving is your presentation. [Read more »]
You Must ‘Court’ Your IT Telemarketing Prospect!
It’s been said that a good salesman has sex magnetism. I believe it was in, “Think and Grow Rich”. The point we want to address here, that can benefit your computer services marketing sales presentation, is that you should think about client acquisition more like courting a woman.
When you have the woman of your dreams in your sights, you go all out to beat out any other suitors. [Read more »]
Don’t Make A Costly Mistake With Print Advertising for Technology Sales Leads!
In a recent call with a prospect, that was interested our IT Telemarketing and IT lead generation services, I was asked if we would be sending out post cards. I was surprised by this question, but have since realized that some of our competitors are offering this service. So the question for this blog is, should post cards be used in concert with an out bound phone marketing campaign? [Read more »]
MSPU Is A Must For Computer Services Marketing!
Whether you have just opened up shop as a new computer consultant and are looking to begin marketing managed services or have an established managed services offering in place, we can all use more help in the single most difficult area of our business, sales and marketing.
Managed Services Provider University is a solid marketing professional that has the experience to help you stream line your sales process, no matter what stage of development your currently at. [Read more »]
“Love and Hate Technology Telemarketing.”
So you’re thinking of technology telemarketing for your managed services offerings as part of your overall marketing effort; but you personally hate to get telemarketing calls and avoid telemarketers like the plague. You might be asking yourself if you would be doing something hypocritical, or you might be thinking that since you don’t personally respond to telemarketing offers that it just might not be an effective marketing strategy. [Read more »]
How To Make An MSP Proposal
So you just finished your polished managed services presentation in line with your marketing blueprint. Now your prospect has inquired about your pricing and asked for a proposal.
That should be music to the average computer consultant’s ears, but for many consultants it’s just the beginning of a long and protracted battle with the prospect to get the information needed for the proposal. Which raises the question, When is the best time to present a proposal to the client and how do you go about getting the information?
[Read more »]
Who Is The Right Person To Meet When Marketing IT Services!
“Who is the right person to set a face-to-face meeting with for a managed services proposal?”
When it comes to telemarketing Managed Services, then the first thing that would qualify a telemarketing appointment would be that it was set with the right person. That begs the question, “Who is the right person to meet with at a company?”
The answers is, it depends on the company, the industry and their policies. Generally you don’t want to meet with Office Managers but if your appointment is with a Law Firm or a Medical Clinic then usually those are the ones that really do have the power to review their IT consultant relationships. [Read more »]
Use Visualization to Sell Managed Services!
Or, don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle!
Many computer consultants are trained to sell managed services through a cost analysis, aka ‘the steak’. Many times this is a good approach but consider adding a new technique to your sales ‘bag of tricks’.
Why not also sell the ’sizzle’ of the steak and the aroma, and make the prospect’s mouth start to salivate. If you can get your prospect to begin to visualize the benefits of managed services then you are much closer to selling them on your computer consultant marketing contract. [Read more »]
Stop chasing downtime!
Imagine you’re in the middle of a sales call presenting your managed services offering and as you begin going through your ROI calculator you suddenly hit a brick wall.
You’re trying to track down their down time and the cost to maintain their network; but you can’t turn up anything except minimal cost!
“Ever felt like you were playing a ’shell game’ and your prospect is hiding their true Information Technology support cost?”
[Read more »]
Specialization Applies to IT Telemarketing
The Father of modern day economic thought, Adam Smith, would be rolling over in his grave if he knew that many MSP’s were using sales people to also make telemarketing calls.
Adam Smith aided the Industrial revolution by calling for ’specialization’ along with other ground breaking economic theories. The general theory was that instead of having one employee work on different aspect of a product [or marketing] development cycle that there would be an increase in productivity if different worker specialized in each phase of a product creation. Thereby each worker could ‘master’ their specific discipline and the whole process would gain increased efficiencies.
Today while many computer consultants preach to their clients about ‘core competencies’ many fail to realize that this idea can also be applied to the marketing process.
[Read more »]
Marketing Presentation Tips
Imagine you’re just sitting down in front of a prospect at your prearranged appointment, and you hear those dreaded words, “We’re happy with our current consultant.”
It’s happened before and it’s likely going to happen again, but as we have addressed in previous blogs; it’s not always a bad thing when you’re prepared for it. Keep the following points in mind:
Using Incentives To Set Technology Sales Leads.
Should you use incentives when attempting to set technology telemarketing appointments?
Common logic and many computer services marketing consultants would say that offering an incentive to a telephone prospect would water down the lead or incite people who have no real interest in managed services into an appointment just to get that incentive and in the process totally waste the sales reps time.
[Read more »]
Does Telemarketing Work for Computer Services Marketing Providers?
If you took a survey of Managed Services Providers and ask the question, “Does Telemarketing Work?” You would get mixed results. Some have used telemarketing to fuel their startup and have had great success with it; however, most would report dismal results from their past telemarketing efforts.
Logically if telemarketing has worked for some IT consultants then it should theoretically work for everyone. Since thats not happening let’s briefly evaluate what has lead to the success and see where others can improve.
[Read more »]
