3 Secrets of a Digital Strategy First Sales Approach

The old tactic of enticing prospects with mundane issues like cloud migration doesn’t get us in the door anymore. A strategy-first approach always yields more conversion, higher prices and easier service delivery.

Today’s MSPs are familiar with a predictable sales pattern: when they get in front of the prospect, they find out there aren’t any problems to fix right now, they’re happy enough with their current provider, and even if you do get to the point of an assessment, it often bears no fruit. Then you’re left with a slow-drip marketing strategy, hoping they remember you when something explodes.

Let’s consider the ‘strategy-first’ approach to break this cycle. This is not "IT strategy" or "Cybersecurity Strategy" or "Cloud Strategy", because nobody is really into those things.

We need to use a ‘digital strategy’. This will give your prospects a roadmap on "how to leverage digital technologies to boost sales, marketing, retention, product development and so on." That’s what engages progressive business owners.

Secret # 1 - Have a high value door opener that is business focused, NOT technology focused

Nevermind the tech talk and get their attention with their priorities. Your door opener must target executives with a business narrative, and appeal to only the main executives, not the typical tech crowd. It should make them feel like they’ll come out as the hero and allow them to be better business executives. It must not relegate you to "another MSP" or suggest that you are going after their MSP.

Our advisors use a service called a “Digital Maturity Review”. It gives business executives a complete overview of how their goals and capabilities match their current digital maturity. It's also an evergreen door opener, converting better leads faster, optimizing your sales efforts.

Secret # 2 - Provide a way to deliver a Digital Maturity review that shows them clearly how prepared they are to leverage digital strategies to grow their business

The Digital Maturity Assessment process is designed to help organizations of all sizes and in every industry understand where they stand on the digital maturity continuum. Based on a customized benchmarking analysis, our assessment provides an objective view into how prepared your organization is for leveraging digital strategies to grow their business by highlighting strengths, exposing areas that need improvement, and identifying key recommendations needed for successful implementation.

Secret # 3 - Have a simple way to develop a Digital Strategy that focuses on how technology can help them grow their business

A digital strategy is a business plan that outlines how to use technology and the internet to grow your company. It can be executed through social media, website design or search engine optimization (SEO), among other things. The key that you as their business partner will provide is understanding what will work best for their particular industry and customers. Your reports and attention to their business goals are unique among your competition. This will keep you front-of-mind whenever they think about investing in improvements to their system.

Create a simple way to develop this digital strategy for them. It will focus on business first. How can they leverage technology to grow their business? And that's the business you're in, so by developing the strategy, it's going to further draw on your technology services.

On a bumper sticker

With the strategy-first sales approach, you're going to have more opportunities with more clients. Your business will grow much faster when you differentiate your tactics from the typical IT crowd.