{"id":23823,"date":"2021-09-17T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T16:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/?p=23823"},"modified":"2021-09-17T17:04:50","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T16:04:50","slug":"want-to-sell-more-managed-services-start-with-a-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/fr\/blog\/want-to-sell-more-managed-services-start-with-a-focus","title":{"rendered":"Want to sell more managed services? Start with a focus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine this: You\u2019re about to talk to a new prospect. You have your pitch prepared. It\u2019s your normal pitch deck, and it covers the full gamut of managed services\u2014you tackle every device, maintain everything, and highlight the value of your services. You have charts, facts, and figures, and you pump yourself up with your favorite music before entering the room.<\/p>\n

They politely listen to the pitch and decide they want some time to think about it. You feel like you did a great job, but a few days later, they say they\u2019ve chosen another provider.<\/p>\n

What happened?<\/p>\n

You\u2019re at a ten, when they may need you at a four.<\/p>\n

There could be a couple of problems with this approach.<\/p>\n

First, pitching fully managed services may potentially scare off some prospects; I\u2019m not saying this is always the case. Some people will want you to come in, take care of everything, so they don\u2019t have to think about IT\u2014they\u2019ll often even pay a premium for the convenience. You\u2019ll likely want to qualify your prospects up front to figure out if this pitch will work.<\/p>\n

With other prospects, they\u2019re not looking to buy everything immediately. Coming in with a full-fledged pitch to handle everything can overwhelm them. They may simply want someone to handle portions of their tech needs or small project work\u2014that\u2019s a good way to get started, as you don\u2019t want to scare them off.<\/p>\n

Second, you may not be speaking their language. Prospects have a need in their minds they want met\u2014it might be to reduce costs by going to the cloud or protecting their data from loss. If that\u2019s what they need, going all-in on managed services immediately is the wrong approach.<\/p>\n

OK. So, managed services are dead then, right?<\/p>\n

Wrong. It\u2019s just that often, you should have a fresh angle or niche before you start selling managed services.<\/p>\n

Your prospects likely aren\u2019t at conferences discussing managed services agreements. But they may be discussing their move to a new SaaS platform, or recent data privacy regulations affecting their industry. Since these conversations are already happening, you want your name coming up in them as much as possible. If you\u2019re already known for having this niche, you\u2019ll start gaining referrals to help you garner even more business.<\/p>\n

A specialty can set you apart. Instead of swimming in a sea of other managed services providers, you can start by talking about their cloud services problems. Once you get your foot in the door, you can then pitch more services. If you\u2019re already handling some of their security<\/span>, for example, it makes sense for you to start handling more of their IT. They trust you already, so expanding and strengthening that relationship can only benefit you.<\/p>\n

Here are a few things to consider<\/h2>\n