msp marketing | February 23, 2012
How To Be A Super MSP Salesman That Makes Millions!
Have you ever been in a sales situation when you needed to dump your alternative identity and transition into a Super Salesman to close a deal but you had lost your special sales powers?
In other words you ran into a phone booth to make a quick change but when you ripped open your shirt there was no “S” on your chest!
Take heart this is fairly common as most MSP’s will readily admit they aren’t super salespeople. However we discussed in our last article how the concept of managed services itself could be like kryptonite!
Here are some tips to recharge your IT marketing powers and get you leaping over tall buildings in a single bound and going faster than a speeding bullet! Read the rest here »
Every managed services provider that starts their business dreams of becoming a millionaire! However something bizarre seems to happen along the way that kills that dream for the average computer consultant.
When most computer business owners first open their doors they don’t often think about the many potential marketing hurdles that might block their path to success.
Computer consultants that want to grow their businesses through it services marketing face a serious barrier to achieving that goal. The problem is that the vast majority of the companies in the market have in-house IT departments.
I think the grandiose goal of many computer business owners is to grow their business to amazing heights so they can push their competitors out of business and establish a near monopoly that spreads all over the country! Well maybe they don’t all want to get that big, but at least they want to grow through IT marketing so they can make a few million in reoccurring revenue. Then they can step away from the company and let someone else managed the tedious day-to-day activities and finally enjoy what life has to offer. The problem is that most of the average computer consultants probably feel they are a million miles away from ever achieving either one of those goals. The question is what is the final piece of the puzzle that can get these guy’s IT services marketing back on the track to achieve their Dreams? 
In the Greek legends the Titans ruled supreme until Cronus became fearful he would lose power and started making some bad decisions, namely eating his children. It was foretold through a muse that one of his children would seize power from him and the rest of the Titans. Perhaps this became a self fulfilling prophecy but either way Zeus lead the Olympians into battle and defeated the Titans, banishing them to Tartarus. The message here is that if you’re on Top then you have to be very careful because there is always someone gunning for your position from behind. In the case of the data backup world the current Titan is under attack from the new Olympians on the block, Axcient!
We have probably all seen some movie or TV show where there is either a tent revival flim flam man or a traveling snake oil sales man that puts on a hoax by having a grifter pretend they were cured by either the healing or the elixir. Perhaps the grifter dramatically stands up out of their wheel chair or releases their crutches and exclaims, “I Can Walk!“ When other people watching the show see how this person was miraculously healed then they start forking over their money to the matchstick men.
I have been watching what the disaster recovery industry has been offering in the market place for over 10 years. I have seen how the industry has evolved from the early days when computer consultants would fasten together their own data backup solutions with duct tape and bailing wire to the point when the first products were offered by IT Vendors through the channel. For much of this history there has been relatively little technology advancement as many vendors would simply ‘borrow’ their core technology and the only enhancements they would make was to their sales and marketing. However, this is all about to change as a new disaster recovery juggernaut has entered the fray and has awakened this sleepy industry from it’s doldrums. Axcient has literally built a better mouse trap and outdone their competitors at every level but how can this impact your IT marketing? 
I once heard a famous magician explain to someone that was pestering him for his secrets that if did reveal the secrets to his prestidigitation then they would no longer be amazing. In fact in the very instant the information would be conveyed suddenly the formerly enraptured audience would consider the tricks very common place and believe they could have figured it out on their own. Recently I was questioned by a computer consultant that wanted to get some of the secrets we use in our process of telemarketing and sales training. However, the same is true with the secrets to IT services marketing as with Magic! Even the most brilliant technique that is used to get past gatekeepers, once revealed, would suddenly be perceived as mundane and ordinary. 
It was once a wartime strategy to stealthily poison your enemies water supply at it’s source and thereby defeat your adversaries without having to fire a shot. Later this term was used for another type of battle that was fought with words instead of weapons and that was debating. You could proverbial poison the well of ideas of your opponent by making false claims or ad hominem attacks about them and turning everybody away from their beliefs. This is exactly what has happened to the concept of using outsourced telemarketing to help grow a computer business. Some IT companies have tried telemarketing and failed so they are spreading vitriolic poison around the industry. The real issue to consider is if the isolated experiences of these people should cause every other technology firm to rule out using telemarketing for IT marketing. Another question that’s worth considering is what might be the root cause of those failures that have caused so much consternation?
