lessons from the trenches selling and marketing best practices terry hedden
DESCRIPTION
Would you like to grow your managed IT services business revenue over 35,000% in 6 years? If so, this session is for you! A 12 year veteran that leveraged bootstrap marketing to build his Managed IT service business shares his ‘secret sauce’ to building his business to help you grow yours. This session focuses on practical, cost-effective, high impact marketing programs and sales strategies designed to quickly identify and CLOSE a steady stream of Managed IT and Cloud clients. His program is applicable to firms of all sizes looking to grow cloud and managed services-oriented recurring revenue.TRANSCRIPT
Lessons from the Trenches:Managed Services Sales & Marketing Best Practices
GFI Max ConferenceSeptember 8, 2014
Terry HeddenCEO of Marketopia
& Cloud Guru
Don’t Get a Hand Cramp….. Contact me for the
Presentation!
•Clarifying Sales vs Marketing•Key Components of a Successful
Campaign•Role of Frequency & Repetition•Understanding Campaign Components•Developing Your Sales Team• Following a Process That Instills Trust• Improving Your Sales Message
Agenda
• Too Often Firms Rely on Sales to Do Marketing….
Implement Marketing Best Practices
• Website
• SEO & SEM
• Social Media
• Newsletters and E-mail
• Demand Generation Events
• Direct Mail
• PR
Components of a Successful Campaign
• One event, one time is a waste of money!
• 10% Lead Close Ratio Requires 10 leads for each close!
• Repeated messages thru multiple mediums multiply results of each alone.
• Consistent Marketing is key to long-term results. • The Big Boys don’t start and stop marketing for a
good reason!
• Diligence & Commitment are the Keys to Success
• Everything, Every Month, Ever Better
Which and When?
SEO & SEM
• Post regularly, but don’t overdo it
• Timing is key• Different audiences view posts
at different times
• Have variety• If your only message is about
the services you offer, people will quickly become bored
• Measure ROI on Your Time
Social Media
• Make sure that the message you are sending is something people want to hear, not just what you want to say
• Have a catchy subject line• This is your audience’s first impression
• The subject line must convince them to continue reading – No different than a newspaper headline
• Branding – You need to make it very obvious who is sending the message• The “sent from” section of the e-mail
• The graphics and logos within the message
Newsletters & Email Blasts
• Have variety in your events. People will not come to the same event repeatedly. Location, Topic, etc.• Conference Speaking Engagements
• Webinars
• Lunch and Learns
• Chamber of Commerce sessions
• Use Co-Marketing Where You Can…
• Appointment Setting
Demand Generation Events
• Email vs Direct Mail – Which Works Best for You?
•Direct Mail has worked for decades!
•Postcards often float
…where they need to go
• Letters can be ‘personal’ & get read
• FedEx & Priority Mail Get Noticed
Direct Mail
•Develop relationships with the local business journals, Newspapers, Networking Organizations, Chambers• Major events, (Mergers, Executive Hires, New
Practice Areas) should be announced through Press Releases
• Use social media to reinforce the message with links to the Press release
• Article Subject Matter Expert
Public Relations
The Hard Part of Marketing
• Focus on Net New Clients
• Complex, enterprise type requirements
• IT focused sales
• Lower cost, higher volume based opportunities
• Focused on initial qualifications
• Critical in hybrid model to understand complex deals must be field based
• Responsible for securing recurring revenue streams
• Can be separate individual or part of sales team responsibility
Developing Your Sales Team
• Provides Deep Expertise on Managed/Cloud Technologies
• Skilled in Identifying Issues with Current IT Solution
• Expertise in Establishing Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt when Justified
• Technical Compliment to the Sales Executive
Developing Your Sales Team
Selling to Business Owners
New Comp Plans
Pre-packaged offerings
Consultative Approach
True Cost of IT Support
Cost of Downtime
Revised Sales Process
Cross sell & Up sell
Focus on Prevention
Customer Education
Web centric buyers ?
Understanding The Value of Managed Services
Implementation
Sales Executive Solution Engineer Acct Manager
Solution Presentation
Sales Executive Solution Engineer
Proposal Development
Sales Executive Solution Engineer
Technology Survey
Sales Executive Solution Engineer
Business Survey
Sales Executive
Following a Process That Instills Trust
What we
Know
What Others
Perceive
What We Do
What We Say
What We
Think
Knowledge = Confidence = Sales
Improving Your Sales Message
• Retail, healthcare, education,
hospitality, etc.
– Products
– Competitors
– Challenges
– Strategic positions within
the industry
– Industry terminology
(churn, rework, etc.)
• Knowledge of the operations
of an organization
– Financial
• Cost of an Employee
• Revenue vs. profit
• Annual report
– Workflow through
departments
– Understands the business
value of IT
Vertical Knowledge Business Acumen
Are you the Trusted Advisor to your customers?
Improving Your Sales Message
• A strong proposal improves confidence and conveys professionalism and capability.
• Quotes
• Used for ‘Quick and Dirty’ Conveyance of Item and Price
• Best for Low Margin Sales
• Proposals
• Remind them why they should choose your business
• Convey Solution Description….in English
• Convey Project Tasks…Show You Know What to Do
• Present Solution Components & Issues They Address
• Dress to Impress
Not All Communication is VerbalImproving Your Sales Message
Terry [email protected]
(727) 742-4464
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This photo is for placement only
Drop me an email or LinkedIn message for the slides or to attend a free Cloud Marketing Plan Best Practice Seminar in September!
For More Information…