How to Sell Managed Backup Services

As IT providers adopt new managed services and make adjustments to their existing offerings, they may face challenges in communicating their value to the right audience. Lead generation is important for every Managed Service Provider, but these prospects only result in sales when the right message, positioning, and sales processes are put into action. 

There are a hundred different ways to bring new leads to your salespeople and we’ll look at some of them in upcoming blog posts. But today we will limit the scope of this article to building within your organization process that is guaranteed to close new business for local and cloud backup customers.

Identifying Your Client

Do you currently work with anyone who says they want services? If so you’ve probably experienced a lot of wasted time in the sales process. If the deal even closes at all, you may find yourself with some customers who are difficult to work with. By clearly defining who YOU want to work with, your marketing becomes more efficient. The result is less swimming upstream and more long-lasting customer relationships. There’s no need to take a wild guess at your demographic.

• What types of customers are naturally attracted to you?
• Do they fall within a certain niche or industry?
• What are the customer's pains, goals, and requirements?
• Most importantly, how do they make buying decisions?

Refining Your Message

With a better understanding of your ideal client’s goals, your marketing message and even your services are more easily tailored to match. Salespeople should understand exactly what your service proposition is and be able to deliver it cleanly in a condensed elevator pitch. In addition to this, the customer may need to be educated on the benefit of Backup as a Service (BaaS and BDR) over a traditional self-implemented backup solution. Focus on the cost of downtime and uptime value more than technical details initially. You are not just selling a technology service, but supporting their continued operation and profitability. The sense of security you can provide them may be your greatest asset. Prospects will also want to know what sets you apart from other MSPs.

Broadcasting Your Message

How many contacts with a prospect does it take to close a sale? It could take 8 or more, depending on the scenario. The key to an eventual payoff is your messaging consistency. Is an automatic follow-up plan in place that puts your usefulness to their business on display?

You could be looking at dozens of touches over months, or even years if they are under contract with another MSP. Your ongoing marketing campaign should be delivering:

• Regular emails (at least monthly)
• Helpful videos
• Invitations to your events
• Proof of your success (case studies, etc).
• Regular calls to check in on their satisfaction
• Offer a backup analysis, checkup, or security consultation

You should be able to estimate when their contract expires to position your marketing message and actions to meet that timing appropriately.

Establishing Trust

We recently covered this topic in greater detail in a recent blog post as to how you can build a trusting relationship with new sales prospects. Your best leads will come as referrals from existing customers for whom you’ve performed outstanding service. This is due to the preference that organizations place on existing beneficial relationships. Whenever possible, build networks within your niches, communities, and focused industries in which your customers are focused, and become a valued resource for them.

Closing The Sale

Before diving deep into the technical side, there should be a mutual understanding between you and the customer that the need for managed backup exists in the first place. The customer should know their hourly cost of downtime, and how long their business can survive without access to data. When there is agreement on a need, the remaining questions become more logistical. Will it meet their technical, budgetary, and support needs? Make it easy for this new customer to say ‘yes’. Offer simple pricing that matches how your customers do business, as well as straightforward vendor contracts. Clearly outlining what each party in the relationship is responsible for, sets the expectations that will facilitate a healthy long-lasting relationship.

They say that the devil is in the details and when it comes to closing new business with managed backup services, the devil is the consistency of your marketing. Continually reinforce your message of managed backup expertise to a targeted audience. Position yourself as a valued security resource at an opportune time, and the result can only be an increase in new business. We're here with you to support our managed backup technology every step of the way. Speak with a NovaBACKUP MSP data protection expert today.

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