The typical sales process is often described as a dance between the sales rep and the buyer, and you’ll get no objection from me. I find it to be an especially good analogy because it helps reps focus on building trust and providing a partnership instead of pushing for a signature. It also helps reps understand their role in leading the process without controlling it. When done well, it’s a repeatable dance that helps win contracts and makes both partners happy.
But if you’ve added managed IT services, you might have noticed that this process doesn’t work near as well as it does with managed print. I believe I understand why, and it’s probably not what you think.
The Biggest Problems Aren’t the Real Problem
When the subject of managed IT sales inevitably comes up, you’ll hear someone articulate some very real issues. While managed print services are relatively easy to explain, managed IT isn’t. There’s more: the financial and productivity savings are nearly impossible to quantify to a broad audience, it’s always hard to sell prevention and managed IT doesn’t always include the same set of services from provider to provider. Oh, I almost forgot—managed IT also tends to come with an expensive sticker price.
But these problems are actually fixable. Yes, you’ll have to invest more time training your sales staff, but we find that potential customers actually love it when a rep loops in one of our IT solutions engineers to field more advanced questions. We’re also happy to sit with customers and do the math on the value they can expect to get from us versus cost. We’ve also made sure our reps have simple brochures that make it easy to understand everything we’re providing and how each item benefits our clients in terms that match their goals. In essence, we understand that we’re selling something complicated, and we make sure those problems are ours, not the buyer’s.
But, like I said, those problems aren’t the real problem.
The Leap of Faith
A winning sales process involves a series of small, repeatable steps that sales reps and buyers take together. But when it comes to managed IT and other offers like it, the final step often requires buyers to take a leap that’s simply too intimidating, especially if they haven’t worked with a managed IT provider before.
Many managed IT buyers will need a solid stepping stone between no IT support and a locked-in service contract, and most providers aren’t giving them that. Sales reps are essentially tasked with leading a buyer step by step, only to leave them hanging at the end with a huge decision on their hands and not enough information to make the leap. That’s frustrating for buyers, but it’s also frustrating for sales reps! If they’ve done their job well, they’ve already invested quite a bit of their time. And for it all to come to a halt at this point in the process over and over again is extremely discouraging.
The Test of Strength
We’re not the only IT provider to offer technology assessments, but ours are different for a reason.
Most providers will offer theirs for free. However, the end product is basically a bunch of raw data that’s practically meaningless for most organizations that already know they have an IT skill gap. It’s not a good stepping stone, and I suspect it also makes an impression that most providers don’t know they’re making.
We offer comprehensive technology assessments and cybersecurity assessments, and while they’re not free, they allow us to actually partner with a client before they’re forced to make a big commitment with us. On paper, we’re assessing where their risks are and giving them our recommendations for where we think their dollars would go the furthest. But we’re very aware that many buyers are actually using these assessments to test us. And in so doing, they’re able to get answers they wouldn’t get any other way.
What’s it like to work with us? How good are we at minimizing risk? How do we talk about solving problems within a realistic budget? How will we help them meet their goals? Can we solve problems or find risks that are beyond the capabilities of their current provider?
If a buyer likes the answers they get, they have the information they need to make the last step—signing a managed IT contract—very easy.
Going Downmarket Without Losing Your Place
Imagine walking through a grocery store on a typical Sunday afternoon—one where you can sample a variety of products for free as you shop. A display at the counter catches your eye, so you’re happy to take a sample when it’s offered. You take a bite and are instantly disappointed. The employee behind the counter smiles and explains that what you sampled is just the free version. If you want the good-tasting version, you’ll need to buy a box. How many people do you think would buy it?
There’s a real risk when you offer services at lower price points. If you’ve read my previous articles, I think you already know where I’m going with this. Incidentally, this is exactly what I believe is happening when many providers offer their free “assessments.” Free offers are great, but only when your customers like what they receive.
To put it another way, a lower-priced, more accessible offer still has to make your customers happy. If it doesn’t, you’ve only succeeded in devaluing your brand.
Takeaways for Non-IT Providers
Even when managed IT isn’t part of a portfolio, we’ve seen success in our other offerings when we add more “stepping stone” services that offer value without making first-time buyers go all or nothing. It’s helped us steadily build our monthly recurring revenue in the past few years and led more clients over time to adopt larger, more profitable contracts with us. We get more stability, and our buyers have a better way to make us earn their trust over time.
As print volumes continue to decline, and as you consider adding additional products or services, don’t forget to build in smart ways for customers to vet you. If you design your offers well, there will be plenty of opportunities to show them just how responsive and agile a partner you can be.
