The Quintessential Truth about Selling

The Quintessential Truth about Selling

My dad always told me that selling was about building relationships and knowing how to be part of a team. I always thought that made sense. He was also fond of saying “all of our customers are a**holes, but at least they’re our a**holes”. I always thought that was funny. He always smiled when he said it. 

The simple, immutable truth is this; selling today is about two things – solving a business problem and solving a math problem. They are both solvable, and yet I know of very few MSPs who actually take the time to solve both. Let’s identify what I mean by each and walk through some simple steps to address each problem.

First, is the business problem. You have a product and/or a service to sell, and you have to be able to deliver on the promises attendant to that sale. The quality and viability of that product/service is the responsibility of the business owner.

Your solution needs to be relevant to the market you are serving. It needs to solve more problems than it causes. It needs to somehow add to the bottom line of your customers. You need to tell the customer how it will positively impact the bottom line. It needs to get at least marginally better over time. You need to be likable. You need to be absolutely trustworthy. So do your employees. The price needs to be both affordable and believable. Pretty much every day!

If that seems easy, you are delusional. It requires constant attention to detail. It requires the business owner to predict what is coming next and to know what technologies to avoid. Those who succeed here are way more than halfway to success. Congrats if that is you.

Secondly, math problem is easier, but it requires tools and commitment. With the right tools and the right amount of commitment, any MSP can master the “Sales Funnel”. Here is how…

First – figure out how many dollars you want to grow your business quarterly. Then, if you have a consistent enough revenue plan to translate that into seats per quarter, do that math ($10k per quarter equals 67 seats per quarter, which is between 3-5 new clients. Let’s call it 5 to be safe).

Second - if you want to land 5 new clients you probably need to market effectively to 200 potential clients assuming a 2.5% close ratio (Sales cycles matter as well, but we are going to ignore that aspect of funnel management for this blog). Suffice it to say, if you target roughly 200 suspects with an effective campaign that generates interest, you are likely to have conversations with 20 of them. You are likely to get to an action stage with 10 of them.

Third – The action stage may be an assessment, a walkthrough, a presentation of value, whatever you do. If you have done everything right up to this point, you will close 5 of these clients for every 200 you target.

The total cost of this campaign ranges, but you should be able to do all of this for somewhere around $5k. If you land what you were trying to land, you spent $5K on $10K per month worth of business for the next year, or $120K. Well worth the effort. 

One last important little nugget. Sales funnel management is not easy to do manually. There are lots of moving parts and people who need to work together to make it all successful. Documentation is a must, and communication with the prospects needs to be consistent, timely and valuable. Without the right tool, most of this effort is going to come apart at the seams.

If all of this seems like something you might want to try and tackle next quarter, check out https://zomentum.com. You might just find all the tools you need to make next quarter a very successful one.

SEO for MSPs PPC for MSPs
Definition Optimizing your website to rank organically in search engine results pages (SERPs) without paying for clicks. Paying for advertisements that appear at the top of SERPs, and you're charged each time someone clicks on your ad.
Cost Generally, lower cost as it's based on time and effort to optimize your website. Can be expensive, as you pay for every click on your ads, and costs can add up quickly.
Time to Results Takes time to see significant results, often several months to gain visibility in organic listings. Provides immediate results; your ads can start generating traffic and leads as soon as your campaign is live.
Sustainability Sustainable over the long term if you consistently maintain your SEO efforts. Reliant on a continuous budget; traffic stops when you stop paying for ads.
Click Quality Usually, it has higher click quality as users find organic results more trustworthy and relevant. Click quality can vary, and not all clicks may lead to conversions, potentially leading to a wasted budget.
Competition Competing with other websites for organic rankings, but the playing field can be more level. Competing with other businesses for ad placements can be fierce, and costs can rise in competitive markets.
Targeting Options Limited control over specific keywords that drive traffic; relies on keyword optimization. Precise control over keywords, demographics, and location targeting, allowing for more precise audience reach.
Performance Tracking Tracking and measuring results can be challenging, but tools like Google Analytics can help. Easily track and measure performance with detailed metrics and conversion tracking tools.
Long-term Strategy Builds a strong online presence and brand authority over time. Effective for short-term goals and promotions but doesn't contribute to long-term organic growth.
Click Costs No direct click costs; traffic is "free" once you've optimized your site. Direct click costs are associated with each visitor who clicks on your ad.
Advertisements vs. Organic Results Focuses on achieving high rankings in organic search results. Focuses on paid ads displayed above organic results.
Keyword Research Important for optimizing content and targeting relevant keywords. Crucial for selecting the right keywords and managing bidding strategies for ad campaigns.
The Quintessential Truth about Selling
The Quintessential Truth about Selling

The Quintessential Truth about Selling

Illustration of The Quintessential Truth about Selling

My dad always told me that selling was about building relationships and knowing how to be part of a team. I always thought that made sense. He was also fond of saying “all of our customers are a**holes, but at least they’re our a**holes”. I always thought that was funny. He always smiled when he said it. 

The simple, immutable truth is this; selling today is about two things – solving a business problem and solving a math problem. They are both solvable, and yet I know of very few MSPs who actually take the time to solve both. Let’s identify what I mean by each and walk through some simple steps to address each problem.

First, is the business problem. You have a product and/or a service to sell, and you have to be able to deliver on the promises attendant to that sale. The quality and viability of that product/service is the responsibility of the business owner.

Your solution needs to be relevant to the market you are serving. It needs to solve more problems than it causes. It needs to somehow add to the bottom line of your customers. You need to tell the customer how it will positively impact the bottom line. It needs to get at least marginally better over time. You need to be likable. You need to be absolutely trustworthy. So do your employees. The price needs to be both affordable and believable. Pretty much every day!

If that seems easy, you are delusional. It requires constant attention to detail. It requires the business owner to predict what is coming next and to know what technologies to avoid. Those who succeed here are way more than halfway to success. Congrats if that is you.

Secondly, math problem is easier, but it requires tools and commitment. With the right tools and the right amount of commitment, any MSP can master the “Sales Funnel”. Here is how…

First – figure out how many dollars you want to grow your business quarterly. Then, if you have a consistent enough revenue plan to translate that into seats per quarter, do that math ($10k per quarter equals 67 seats per quarter, which is between 3-5 new clients. Let’s call it 5 to be safe).

Second - if you want to land 5 new clients you probably need to market effectively to 200 potential clients assuming a 2.5% close ratio (Sales cycles matter as well, but we are going to ignore that aspect of funnel management for this blog). Suffice it to say, if you target roughly 200 suspects with an effective campaign that generates interest, you are likely to have conversations with 20 of them. You are likely to get to an action stage with 10 of them.

Third – The action stage may be an assessment, a walkthrough, a presentation of value, whatever you do. If you have done everything right up to this point, you will close 5 of these clients for every 200 you target.

The total cost of this campaign ranges, but you should be able to do all of this for somewhere around $5k. If you land what you were trying to land, you spent $5K on $10K per month worth of business for the next year, or $120K. Well worth the effort. 

One last important little nugget. Sales funnel management is not easy to do manually. There are lots of moving parts and people who need to work together to make it all successful. Documentation is a must, and communication with the prospects needs to be consistent, timely and valuable. Without the right tool, most of this effort is going to come apart at the seams.

If all of this seems like something you might want to try and tackle next quarter, check out https://zomentum.com. You might just find all the tools you need to make next quarter a very successful one.

The Quintessential Truth about Selling