Your MSP business needs sales. The best services in the world are not going to make a company successful if you have no one buying those services. That fact is why marketing and sales are such critical aspects of any business. Money, time, and effort are all poured into these tasks because they need to be done. However, there could be some leaks in your processes that leave sales opportunities untouched. Some of the most prominent places your company could be missing are the situations your service technicians find themselves in on a regular basis.
The Potential Sale at the Technician Level
When dealing with technicians and sales, you need to realize that their primary goal isn’t sales. They need to be fast, efficient, and direct, not exactly traits of your typical sales representative. However, they are placed in certain roles and situations that make for significant sales possibilities.
Trust is a huge part of sales, and a good technician is well regarded. They have a trusted relationship with your clients and the advice they offer is better received. In these situations, the lack of sales persona is a great benefit for them. The recommendations that a technician supply are received in a practical light.
A technician can also provide a more detailed reason behind their recommendations. With their knowledge of the services available and the client’s current architecture, technicians can sell real value. They are also in regular communication with your clients. These discussions and conversations give them plenty of low-pressure chances to make a pitch. Your MSP business has a chance with every call to upsell and increase your revenue.
Making the Sale
There are several reasons that a service technician may be missing out on a sales opportunity.
- Don’t see the importance – Your technical staff may not know how important selling is to your business. Be sure to highlight through training the value in a few sales attempts.
- They aren’t good at selling – Selling is partly talent and partly skill. While many technicians aren’t sales inclined, some tips of the trade can go a long way in improving their skills.
- They don’t want to – Technicians need to see the benefit to them for selling. Often, the time it takes to sell actually hurts their key performance indicators. The longer call times reflect poorly on their abilities and they might not get any recognition for their work. By adjusting performance metrics, you provide the motivation to your technicians to sell.
Training Effectively
Training can be done in several ways, including formal training and mentorship from your sales staff. When trying to choose the best method of training your technicians in sales, you need to look at three factors. Your goals from training, the personalities of your technical staff, and your company size all play a role in how effective certain training is for your business.
Your desired outcomes may be that technical staff knows when to recommend an upgrade is services. This skill is easy to teach and is very dependent on your own company structure. However, if your goal is to have technicians who know the technical skills, formal training is worthwhile. Both of these are extremely dependent on your technicians’ natural ability to sell.
With larger businesses, the sales talent you already have are likely a great resource, and you may not need more guidance. For some MSPs, there aren’t any great role models, and so, outside training is required.
Conclusion
With a little bit of time and care, your MSP business can start capitalizing on missed sales opportunities. These chances are readily available to your service technicians. Help them be more successful in growing your business through the proper training and mentorship.
