Stop Using Emergency Sales Management Techniques in MSP Marketing!

These tactics are ones that create these large sales goals with specific quotas and then wait until the set deadline arrives to review the failure or success of the MSP salesman. At this point, there isn’t much that can be done about the failure besides firing the salesperson, or making the decision to provide more time for the individual to reach the established goal. Neither of these options will actually help to guide the person so they can reach the goal, and granting more time or eliminating the person are both quite costly, resulting in additional recruiting costs.

Is it Time for a Proactive Preventative Sales Management Approach?

Rather than playing the “wait and see” game, a company can invest in a proactive preventative sales management approach. This means they are frequently measuring a number of factors -- such as leads, touch points, sales, etc. -- and then providing or suggesting the necessary coaching. Rather than measuring a salesperson on closed sales, measure their effectiveness by the number of proposals and appointments that are made/received.

If your salespeople were checked up on a biweekly basis to review the number of proposals and appointments they have set, then you will be able to determine if their MSP marketing efforts are effective, or if problems are present. If problems are there, then there is still time to find a solution.

For example, if the salesperson has had very few appointments in the past few weeks, then a bit of digging can be done to determine what is wrong and how the issue can be fixed. The fact is, if a salesperson doesn’t have appointments, there is no way he is going to make any sales. Some things to consider include if the salesperson is making any cold calls and where leads are (or are not) coming from -- networking, organic marketing, pay-per-click, etc.

Heading Off a Large Disaster

If you can figure out what is going wrong, you can easily head off a disastrous situation. Some things to look for include:

• The salesperson is having issues converting calls into actual, booked appointments.
• The marketing team is not attending the networking meetings around town.
• Closing techniques of the salesperson are sub-par, resulting to lost sales.

When you discover what the issue is, you will be able to find a solution and help the individual achieve the sales necessary to reach the established goal.

This technique will also work if you discover the marketing plan being used is working and the salesperson is setting IT appointments, but the efforts are not turning into actual proposal opportunities. This indicates that the salesperson is having issues converting the meetings into the audit phase of the sales cycle. If this is the issue, then you need to go with the sales rep for appointments to determine what they are doing wrong. When a pattern is discovered, a solution will be made and new closing strategies established.

The Bottom Line

Don't wait until a sales quota deadline passes to determine how effective your sales techniques are. At this point, the only option is to take emergency actions. Taking a proactive MSP marketing approach earlier in the sales process will help determine if problems are present and help the salesperson find solutions to meet the established quota. With these efforts, you will be able to redirect sales campaigns that are not performing well and ensure everyone on the team meets the set goals.

About the Author

David has 16 years of experience in MSP marketing for the IT industry, including his current position as Marketing Director at

MSP SEO Factory. He also speaks at IT marketing trade shows, is a sales trainer for major IT companies, and is a published author with an upcoming book titled 'Stratospheric Marketing Secrets for Generating Sales Leads'