As companies up their efforts to attract top salespeople, it may feel as if you should jump at the chance to snag any promising prospect at the drop of a hat. But the truth is fit within your company culture can be just as important as skills and resume. For this reason, it’s always imperative to build consensus within your organization that the hire will be a good one. This is why “meet the team” interviews have become a popular segment in the recruiting process. But how do you make sure it’s an effective one? Here we’ll outline four steps to ensure you get the most out of yours.  

Understand the Purpose of the Meet the Team Interview

Although technically an interview, it’s essential to understand the specific aim of a “meet the team.” When you schedule one, most likely, you’ve already assessed that the candidate could do the job well if hired. Ideally, they will have passed a screening call, sales/personality assessment, and an initial onsite interview with either the owner or someone in a leadership position. Therefore, this segment should not be a chance for every person in the organization to take turns grilling the candidate about their abilities and experience. Instead, it is to evaluate the candidate’s fit within the company and see if their values and demeanor align with those of the people they will be working for and with. It is also an opportunity for both sides to build rapport and excitement about working together. Hopefully, if a “meet the team” is done correctly and the candidate is a good fit, everyone can clearly envision them in the role and invest in the idea of making their time at the company a success.

Communicate with the Team

To ensure this is the case, you’ll have to ensure the entire team understands this and their role in the process. Recruiters must communicate to the group what the tone of the meeting should be and encourage them to prep questions that assess cultural fit or anecdotes that will help the candidate get a sense of the workplace they will be joining. This is not to say the interview will be completely informal. Team members should also be provided with the usual key information, such as the candidate’s resume, job description, and other professionally relevant information. Be sure to also share why you feel the candidate is a strong fit for the role. But overall, the focus should be on creating a comfortable and engaging environment where candidates can express their personality and everyone can envision them as part of the company.

Choose the Interview Format 

There are a few factors to consider when deciding the format for a “Meet the Team.” The style you choose should represent the current level of the sales department and the company’s culture. 

Personnel: If your organization is at the Sales Foundation and Development level, you might choose to have the candidate sit with everyone in the company. For the Sales growth level and beyond, have them sit with the department heads.

Interview Format: The two interview formats recruiters can choose from are: 

• Lunch/happy hour format – This format aims to have the candidate meet the team casually to see how they interact from a cultural perspective. Specifically, with the happy hour format, you will be looking to see how the candidate handles themselves after a few drinks. Recruiters should ensure that each team member has ample time to introduce themselves, explain their role within the company, and get to know the candidate. 

• Rotating individuals/group format – The aim of this format is to make sure everyone on the team is comfortable around the candidate and that they can handle high-pressure situations. It should be designed to mimic a setting they might have with potential sales prospects.

Evaluate the Candidate

After the meeting, sit down with team members to hear their thoughts, either individually or in a group setting. Have them evaluate the candidate’s interpersonal skills, how they handled the group setting, and how they deal with high-pressure situations. Remember that salespeople often work on an island where they must be self-motivated and self-sufficient. If everyone agrees that the candidate is a good fit, the next step should be the offer letter stage. If there are concerns, recruiters should have another conversation with the candidate to give them a chance to address them. Then make your final decision. Regardless of the outcome, be sure to also allow for feedback from both the team and the candidate on the interview so you can fine-tune to develop the most effective process going forward.

If you need more help developing a robust sales recruiting process, consider getting expert help. As a 100% MSP-focused sales service, OSR Manage can help fine-tune your recruiting process to attract the talent you need, no matter your vertical or niche.

The recruiting landscape is constantly evolving. And with the turmoil of the last few years spurring constant whiplash-inducing changes, deciphering where things are heading can seem futile. But a few trends have emerged that must be addressed by recruiting professionals looking to keep up with the competition. Here, we’ll explore recruiting trends that have taken center stage in 2023.

TECH-SAVVY GEN-Z ENTERING THE WORKFORCE

The push to become a more technology-driven company isn’t just a tagline to sell more tech solutions. The next generation of the workforce is demanding it. 

As the first truly digital-native generation, Gen Z has grown up with technology, which means they have high expectations for its use in the workplace. If they walk into their new office and find outdated systems and an antiquated workflow, they will quickly look to move on. This means that companies must invest in the latest tools and advancements to attract and retain top talent.

But this shift doesn’t end with buying a few fancy tech gadgets. Gen Z’s familiarity with all things online means you’ll have to meet them where they spend their time. To develop a robust talent pipeline, you must create strong branding that showcases your values and appeal through social media and online content. These mediums are crucial if you want to make yourself familiar and relevant to the newest wave of young talent and be on their radar when they start weighing where they want to work.

The bottom line is this: If your company doesn’t feel up to date, the next generation of professionals won’t want to work for you. 

TRANSFORMATION OF RECRUITERS INTO BUSINESS-LEADERS

Due to recruiting becoming more competitive and strategic, recruiting professionals are also starting to have more say in top-level decisions such as branding, how to address skill gaps, and what the work environment should look or feel like.

But with great power comes great responsibility! This shift means recruiters must rise to the occasion and be able to offer more than just another opinion. They must become proficient in data analysis and interpretation. They need to be able to identify hiring trends. They should understand recruiting patterns and speak the language of the professionals they hire. Recruiters who can provide truly valuable insights into these matters will help bridge the gap between HR and other departments and be able to take full advantage of this newly granted seat at the decision-making table. 

If you constantly find yourself chasing recruiting trends rather than getting in front of them, consider getting expert help. As a 100% MSP-focused sales service, OSR Manage can help fine-tune your recruiting process to attract the talent you need, no matter your vertical or niche.

Every business owner understands the value of top-notch talent. After all, one wrong hire can result in a considerable amount of wasted time and resources. While finding quality candidates is always going to be a challenge, experienced managers know that recruiting is a complex process that requires foresight and planning. Here, we’ll discuss three of the toughest parts of the recruitment process — along with some strategies on how to conquer them:

DEVELOPING AN EFFICIENT RECRUITMENT PROCESS 

When you need to fill a role, you need to fill it ASAP. Combine this sprint to the finish line with the fact that recruiting involves many moving parts and requires a significant investment of time and resources, and the process can end up seeming like a chaotic rush job. So, how do you streamline and stand out? 

Solution: Utilize Technology

Fortunately for recruiters, there’s an influx of new technology specifically explicitly built to streamline and improve their work efficiency. For example, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can automate repetitive tasks, such as screening resumes, scheduling interviews, and sending follow-up emails. This, in turn, should free up time for better candidate evaluation and engagement. Tools that provide data-driven insight into the hiring process can leverage predictive analytics to eliminate human biases, identify the exact personality traits that predict success in a particular role, and even develop predictive models that can be used to determine the most suitable candidates. By utilizing all this available technology, recruiters can make the process infinitely more manageable.  Not every organization is large enough to need such a robust solution.  Utilizing Indeed and/or Zip Recruiter will allow you to achieve similar functionality.

CREATING A TALENT PIPELINE

If you recognize the value of top talent, then guess what? So does your competition. The truth is top salespeople are often in high demand and will most likely choose from multiple job offers. If you want to hire the best of the best as quickly as you can, the recruitment process shouldn’t just start the day you put up a job listing. You need to develop a proactive approach to attracting top-level talent and creating interest in your company so that when your job listing goes up, qualified candidates are immediately flooding your inbox. 

Solution: Create a Strong Employer Brand

To set yourself apart, you’ll need to promote the qualities that make your company an attractive place to work so top-level talent is aware of your company long before they decide to apply. Using any and every platform available; you should be showcasing your organizational values, culture, and unique selling points. Employee testimonials and content that gives insight into your unique work environment can be powerful tools for developing a pipeline of highly qualified candidates who are familiar with your company and eager to join your team. 

BRIDGING THE SKILLS GAP

Many companies need help to fill specialized roles that are highly technical or require years of relevant experience. This is exacerbated by rapid technological advancements that have caused the skills necessary for some positions to shift and evolve almost overnight. So, to ensure you don’t end up chasing skilled workers, you’ll need to change focus and invest in developing a skilled workforce. 

Solution: Practice Skill Based Hiring and Invest in Employee Training

When hiring for these types of roles, you should start by putting aside some of your standard hiring practices. Skills-based hiring, which focuses on skill-based assessments and portfolios over degrees or experience, can provide outstanding results. If your needs always outpace supply, you should be investing more time and energy into employee training and developing programs. For certain niche skills, not every star employee will come gift-wrapped with a strong resume. In this situation, developing in-house mentoring programs or partnering with educational programs to create customized training materials can help you build the skilled workforce with the required expertise you require. 

If the recruiting process still feels overwhelming, consider getting some expert help. As a 100% MSP-focused sales service, OSR Manage can help fine-tune your recruiting process to attract the talent you need, no matter your vertical or niche. Contact us today.

If you’re an MSP owner, you know that you can help other people’s businesses. You understand, inherently, that your services and products have value. If they didn’t, then why would your company exist? Unfortunately, if you can’t explicitly and succinctly explain what makes your services valuable potential customers aren’t likely to give you a chance to help them. This is where a strong value proposition comes into play, providing you with a tool to make the most compelling case possible for why a customer should care about your MSP and choose to work with you. 

WHAT IS A VALUE PROPOSITION?

A value proposition, also known as a Sales Value Proposition (SVP), is a statement that defines how your products or services benefit customers and why it is better than all the other options available to them.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

A value proposition homes in on the unique features and benefits only you can provide and describes precisely how you can solve customers’ problems and improve their lives. It is a crucial centerpiece in the sales process that helps you and your team to persuade potential customers to purchase your products or services.

HOW TO CREATE A VALUE PROPOSITION

To create a value proposition that fits your specific business, you’ll need to:

Identify your target market

Who, exactly, are your target customers? What are their pain points? It’s time to drill down and find out. Surface-level answers won’t cut it. Supplement what you know from experience with research and data. Create buyer personas and identify a detailed profile so you know exactly what they are looking for in an MSP.

Define your Unique Selling Points.

Once you understand your target market, you can identify your business’s unique selling points (USPs). USPs are features or benefits that set you apart from your competition in the eyes of your target customer. These could include:

• Expertise: Your MSP has the foremost experts in the business with a combined level of experience that allows them to resolve issues faster than other companies.
• Security: Your MSP has a stand-out record in cybersecurity and understands the threat landscape better than other companies.
• Scalability: Your MSP offers a broader array of customizable packages and services than other MSPs, allowing customers to quickly scale up and down to match their current business level.
• Industry-Specific Focus: Your MSP caters to a specific vertical and therefore has more knowledge and solutions to help companies in this field.

These are just examples, so think about your business and identify the singular way you can benefit your target customers more than other MSPs on the market.

Get clear and concise.

Remember that you’ll need your salespeople to be able to quickly relay this statement to decision-makers who probably only have a few moments to spare. It’ll also appear on your website and in your marketing materials, places where attention will wane quickly if you don’t get to the point. Combine your research on customer pain points, and the needs of your target market, and your USPs to create a brief description of your business that can be communicated and understood in the shortest amount of time possible.

Test and refine.

Share your statement with your team and potential customers to see if it resonates. You should be willing to receive feedback that might improve your value proposition until you’ve optimized it. You are defining your value in the marketplace here, so keep going until you’ve got it right!

If this process still seems daunting, consider getting some expert help. As a 100% MSP focused sales training service, OSR Manage is uniquely equipped to help you figure out how to highlight all the ways you can stand out from your competition. Contact us today.

You never know when an opportunity will present itself. If a potential client is ready and willing to listen, they expect you to share everything they need to know about your company in whatever time they have available. And as time is money for any business leader, that amount will likely be short. A vital business asset, a thirty-second elevator pitch is the ultimate tool for capitalizing on these tiny (yet massive) opportunities. Here we’ll explore how you can develop your own.

WHAT IS AN ELEVATOR PITCH?

An elevator pitch is a brief and persuasive description of all the wonderful things your company does, why it’s important, and how it can help the person you are talking to – sandwiched into a thirty-second soundbite. The term comes from the hypothetical situation of being asked to persuade someone to want to know more about your business in the time it takes to ride an elevator with them.

HOW TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE ELEVATOR PITCH

If summarizing your entire business in thirty seconds seems daunting, try focusing on these details to get moving in the right direction.

A. Start with the problem – Although you may be chomping at the bit to talk about how much experience you have and all the extraordinary technical tools at your disposal, there’s only one thing any business leader is focused on at any given moment – the problems keeping them from reaching their goals. Typically these will be related to one of three things; time, money, or peace of mind. So you want to pique their interest by offering to solve a current problem they are likely to be dealing with.

Ex: “Is IT tying up valuable resources you could use to grow your business?”

B. Provide the solution – If you’ve “struck a nerve” by identifying a pain point that your potential client is struggling with, it’s time to let them know you have the cure. 

Ex: “We oversee your company’s entire IT infrastructure freeing up time and money that could go towards improving your bottom line.”

B. Give an example – Many companies can say they’ll fix your problem but are they doing it day in and day out? Showing social proof will strengthen your case immensely and inspire confidence that you can do what you say you can.

Ex: “We recently started working with a company that doubled their marketing department staff with the money we saved them from outsourcing their IT.”

C. Showcase your Unique Selling Point (USP) – One of the main reasons pitches fail is that they are very general. A million companies could claim to provide the solution to the problem we came up with above. A USP is the key feature that sets you apart from your competition. The reason why only you can truly help. If you can, try to boil this down to one key word or phrase. Then try to incorporate this word as often as possible throughout your pitch. Whether it’s expertise, the latest technology, or excellent customer service, master this part of your pitch, and you’ll surely have your potential customer’s attention.

Ex: “Our experts have extensive CTO experience, so we’re not just fixing computers; we can provide guidance and goal-based planning based on years of experience, so your IT is developing alongside your needs.”

D. End with a Call-To-Action (CTA) – Finally,you don’t want to just pitch and walk away. Instead, you’ll need to end by asking for what you want. Before your time is up, try to secure a future point of contact or meeting to ensure you can answer questions, follow up, and expand on your initial conversation.

Ex: “Would you have 15 minutes at some point this week to talk to our team of experts so we can share specifics on how we could help you leverage technology to achieve your goals more quickly?”

Once you’ve ironed out the details, have your entire sales team practice making this information second nature, adaptable to various scenarios, and conversational.

Still need some help? For more insight, contact OSR Manage today, so we can help you make your sales messaging sharp, straightforward, and concise.

If you’re an MSP leader, you know that generating leads and closing deals can be challenging. Managed Service Provider salespeople have a lot of products and services to keep track of. And for each of these, they need to be able to list the product or service’s key features as well as talk in-depth about what separates these from what their competition is offering. This is where sales development battlecards are key. Whether you are training up your first sales rep or transitioning from an owner-lead sales department, battlecards help organize this information and streamline your company pitch and sales messaging. Here, we’ll take a closer look at why battlecards are so essential for MSPs.

WHAT IS A BATTLECARD?

A battlecard is a one-page document that sales reps can use to quickly reference key information about a product or service. When meeting with potential prospects, time is of the essence. Sales reps can’t afford to waste time flipping through pages of notes or searching for information on their laptop. With battlecards, all the information they need is right at their fingertips. And because they’re easy to update, battlecards ensure that sales reps always have the most up-to-date marketing information about your products and services. Essentially, they deliver a clear-cut guide for every salesperson in your company to understand the company as well as explain it. 

HOW TO BUILD AN EFFECTIVE BATTLECARD

Trying to figure out where to start? Here’s a quick overview of what should be included in your MSP battlecards:

A. Build Your Value Proposition

A value proposition is a broad statement that communicates the benefit of a product or service to a customer. It describes how the product or service solves a problem or meets a need and why it is a better choice than other options. A value proposition must be clear, well-thought out, and easy to understand. To create one, you should: 

1. Define the problems you solve.

2. Define your solutions.

3. Create a customer feedback group to define your best values.

Value propositions are designed to be shared externally with investors or customers.

B. Build Your Positioning Statement

A positioning statement defines and communicates the core values of your company. It impacts all aspects of your branding and determines how your market will see you. It influences everything your business presents and shares about your product and brand with your target audience. A positioning statement should also use competitive analysis to determine how you differentiate your business from competitors. However, as opposed to a value proposition, a positioning statement is more concise, focused on the key benefits and differentiators of your brand, product, or service, and is typically used internally.

C. Build a 30-second (or less) Elevator Pitch

Your elevator pitch should explain your mission, showcase your passion for your industry, and spark interest in your company. Some key thoughts to consider:

1. Keep it short, simple, and free from overly technical jargon.

2. Make it compelling.

3. Write for the broadest audience possible.

4. End with a call to action.

5. Be sure all your employees understand the elements within and can relate them quickly and easily.

D. Identify 3 Key Features and Benefits

Next, build a table featuring three key service features and the benefits they deliver. Possible areas to highlight include:

1. Security

2. Business Continuity

3. Communication

4. vCIO/Strategy

5. Infrastructure

6. Connectivity/Productivity

7. Collaboration

8. Regulation/Certification

E. Highlight Social Proof

Lastly, you’ll want to conclude each key topic with a quick reference to a vertical that you have assisted in this area. This allows salespeople to quickly relay examples of how your products or services have benefitted customer just like your prospect. Benefits to previous customers that should be highlighted could include the following:

1. Increased productivity 
2. Revenue growth
3. Expansion
4. Cost avoidance benefits

If you’re not using battlecards in your sales development process, you’re likely to be at a disadvantage compared to your competitors who are doing so. If you need detailed guidance specific to your business about how to build any of these elements or simply need assistance developing a more effective sales team, contact us, and we’ll be happy to help ASAP.

Generating marketing qualified leads (MQLs) can be a tough nut to crack for many MSPs. After all, MQLs are potential customers identified as having a higher likelihood of becoming paying customers based on their expressed interest in your company. As MSPs grow and referrals start to slow, they need to find ways to attract MQLs and begin to employ a wider array of marketing strategies. So, in 2021, OSR Manage used this moment to our advantage and decided to track all the marketing-generated leads utilized by our clients to get the inside scoop on what was most effective. 

Analysis

We compared how many monthly appointments were generated by our clients’ internal digital marketing teams, their outsourced digital marketing services, and direct mail marketing programs. Direct mail marketing by itself failed to generate very many appointments. But if you were hoping this means running digital marketing campaigns is a quick fix, think again.

Out of 427,415 calls made in 2021, supporting BDR telemarketing calls with an internal or outsourced digital marketing campaign barely impacted the calls-to-appointment ratio.

Why? Most MSPs that we spoke to went straight from building their website directly into marketing cadences without a clear plan in place. This common mistake has helped oversaturate the market with bland campaigns that lack defined Unique Selling Points (USP) and cohesive strategies between sales and marketing. 

However, we start to see some positive data when MSPs integrate a direct mail strategy, BDR calls, strong management, and accountability; this combination begins to produce more substantial results. 

So far, in 2022 BDRs by themselves averaged just one appointment for every 337 calls, and each appointment took an average of 6.7 attempts to get. Worse still, we know from experience that this role experiences a high employee turnover rate, with nine months being the average tenure.

But when coupled with a direct mail marketing strategy, the number of calls needed to get an appointment started to drop dramatically, down to 1 appointment per every 164 calls.

Conclusion

Why did this work?

• The direct mail approach helps business cut through the white noise generated by the millions of generic digital marketing and cold call campaigns.

• Salespeople experienced a warmer introductory call and felt more comfortable when asking if the prospect got their mail as a starting point.

The data is clear; with everyone rushing headfirst into digital marketing without a clear strategy, direct mail campaigns coupled with BDR sales calls can help companies stand out in an oversaturated market and attract more MQLs.  

In part one of our two-part series on the benefits of adding an account manager (AM), we discussed how AMs improve long-term customer retention by getting to know clients more thoroughly and providing a post-sale point of contact for any follow-up questions, concerns, or upgrades. But depending on your business’s scale and your customer’s needs, two types of account managers may be needed: a Technical Account Manager (TAM) and a Client Account Manager (CAM). 

Here, we’ll examine these two types of account managers and the specific way that each one of them fits into your organizational structure.

CAM vs. TAM. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES?

Most companies structure account management by differentiating between two types of account managers; The Client Account Manager (CAM) and the Technical Account Manager (TAM). Depending on the structure of the organization, a Client Account Manager may also be referred to as a Client or Customer Success Manager (CSM) and a Technical Account Manager could be referred to as a Virtual Chief Information Officer (VCIO).

Though these terms may denote a slight shift in responsibilities, these roles are typically defined as follows:

Client Account Manager or Client Success Manager (CAM/CSM)– A CAM/CSM takes on most of the responsibilities we mentioned in part one of our articles. They are concerned with macro-level customer satisfaction efforts, matching services with long-term customer goals, and developing healthy relationships with business leaders. They proactively seek opportunities for upselling, subscription renewals, and future partnerships. The CAM/CSM should have a comprehensive understanding of the client’s business as a whole and handle the people and marketing side of the customer equation.

Technical Account Manager (TAM) or Virtual Chief Information Officer (VCIO) – A TAM/VCIO focuses their efforts on micro-level operational customer satisfaction efforts, such as making sure clients are maximizing the benefits of the services they purchase and offering technological road mapping to forecast industry-specific technological trends and plan accordingly. They are proactive in offering recommendations based on data and research and seek to make sure the client will be consistently satisfied with their investment. TAMs or VCIOs are more technical and should have an in-depth understanding of the intricate details of their client’s day-to-day operations.

WHO NEEDS TWO TYPES OF ACCOUNT MANAGERS?

Customer satisfaction and retention may require two separate skill sets depending on the type of business you run, the scale of the companies you are selling to, and the number of accounts you are attempting to service. 

To figure out if you might need two separate account managers, examine the following factors:

• Type of services you offer – Companies that offer services that are easy to utilize and implement might be okay with just one account manager. If your services require a good amount of guidance or troubleshooting, your account manager might be stretched thin in attempting to meet your client’s daily needs and ensure they are satisfied with their products or services.
• The type of customers you service – If your customers are super familiar with the services you offer and don’t need much long-term guidance, you might only need one account manager. If you sell to customers that are much less knowledgeable about the products and services you offer than you are, you may need two.
• The scale of your business – If your business is large and you are servicing a myriad of clients simultaneously, your account manager may find it challenging to stay up to speed with every aspect of your clients businesses.
• The scale of your customers’ business – Servicing more prominent companies who are implementing several services at once or on a large scale could also stretch your account manager’s resources thin, requiring you to add another. 

Ultimately, whether you need one or both types of account managers will come down to how your specific organization is structured and the type and amount of attention your clients require. If you have specific questions about how to assess the amount and types of account managers you might need, feel free to reach out to OSR Manage today, and we’ll be happy to assist you in determining the proper structure.

Many business leaders assume that if they have top-of-the-line products or services and a sales team that knows how to pitch them, long-term success is a foregone conclusion. But the truth is, due to endless competition and unpredictable variables, business relationships are notoriously fickle. If your customers feel even slightly ignored or underwhelmed, they won’t hesitate to take their business elsewhere. To avoid this, you must be able to develop trust, connection, and communication with your clients even after they’ve made a purchase or signed a contract. And this is where account managers can provide immense value for your company by fostering long-term relationships that allow you to retain business and scale your success. 

In part one of this two-part article, we’ll detail exactly what an account manager does and the specific tasks they execute that make them crucial to the sustained success of your business.

WHAT IS AN ACCOUNT MANAGER?

Account managers (AM) take over where your hunter sales team leaves off. Unlike hunters, who focus on net new business, an AM is focused on long term customer retention as well as opportunities to expand the amount of business you do with them. They do so by doing a deep dive into all the intricate details of how a client’s business works so you can keep them happy, anticipate their needs, and offer specific products and services that help your customers achieve their long-term goals. In short, they focus on developing the customer relationship post-sale by acting as a trusted consultant who fields any questions, complaints, and suggestions the client may have and tailor future sales pitches to their needs.

WHAT DOES AN ACCOUNT MANAGER DO? 

To foster good business relationships and find opportunities to expand current partnerships, account managers utilize a variety of processes and techniques that go beyond just listening closely and being pleasant. Here are a few of the main tasks that an AM will handle when hired:

• Managing client and company communication – Beyond understanding the minute details and long-term goals of your clients, an account manager can also create a necessary buffer between your clients and the employees at your company. For example, a good AM will effectively communicate to your client why certain products or services might benefit them in a way that someone with less knowledge about their business might be unable to. Or they might be able to field customer complaints and communicate them to your team in an unemotional and straightforward way, so no one reacts defensively. Essentially, an AM can allow both sides to speak bluntly and then transfer these messages back and forth from the client to the company in a way that allows for problems to be ironed out without conflict and solutions to be offered from a trusted voice.

• Quarterly Business Reviews (QBR) – A quarterly check-in with your existing clients, a QBR is a great way to show off the results of your partnership, examine ROI, and realign the products and solutions offered to your customer’s current and long-term goals. To be effective, the AM must make sure QBRs remain focused and strategic, with the purpose of gaining insight into your customer’s level of satisfaction and how to offer tailored solutions and services that will deliver value and create even more trust.

• White Space Analysis – AMs should also use available sales data to conduct a White Space Analysis. This process allows you to uncover opportunities for upselling or cross-selling by examining the current market and highlighting potential areas where consumers might be willing to spend money your business isn’t currently capitalizing on. This process can supplement QBRs by spotting your customers’ unspoken or unmet needs that wouldn’t otherwise be identified and offering them creative ways to expand or improve their businesses they might not have otherwise been aware of. 

If you’re not leveraging these tactics or processes for the benefit of your company, you may be missing out on potential business. Or, if you are but don’t have an account manager, hiring an AM to take over these responsibilities can free you up to re-focus on the bigger picture. Either way, having an account manager will boost your ability to retain clients and identify new business opportunities. 

Stay tuned for part two of this two-part article, where we’ll dive into the different types of account managers you might need, or if you have immediate questions about how to identify, hire, and train a great account manager, contact OSR Manage today.

When a potential customer asks you to talk about your business, your first inclination may be to sell them all the great technologies and services you offer. But the best way to separate yourself from the pack isn’t to talk up some impressive array of powerful tools; it’s to share how you’ve helped customers in similar situations achieve better outcomes. Because if you’ve truly benefitted your customers, they have a convincing story to tell about how you’ve helped others achieve success. So, stop selling features and benefits and take the following steps to start using your customer’s story to tell your own.

COUNT YOUR WINS

To tell a good story, you need to know it by heart. So, well ahead of any meeting or sales call, you should catalog relevant examples of times when you’ve helped a business reach a positive outcome. Categorize them by vertical, business size, types of challenges overcome, types of goals achieved, or any details that you may be able to relate to a potential customer’s current situation. Also, make sure you’re having this conversation with your existing customers, so you’re aware of all the positive results your solutions have helped create.

START WITH A HOOK

Once a conversation turns to what you do and how you can help, using the words “typically” or “usually” is a great place to start. These words establish that you regularly help business leaders in similar situations and allow you to enter the conversation from a place of expertise. Emotionally, they will enable the prospect to see that their pain points are not unique and build confidence that you may be able to help since you’ve solved problems like these before. 

For example, “Typically, businesses in your current position have told us that after implementing our services, their staff was more knowledgeable about cyber threats, which helped them detect and avoid several malware attack attempts.”

GET SPECIFIC

To effectively recall your success stories and relate them to your potential customer, use the following questions to dive into the specifics. Make sure to include each of these details in your success stories. 

• What problem did you solve for your customer?  

Provide details about how you solved the problem.    

• What was the impact of the problem before you fixed it?  

Relate pain points you know your customer is currently experiencing to the pain points your customers had before they hired you. 

• Who was most impacted?  

Consider the person sitting across from you. How did your solutions help make life easier for someone in their role?  

• How are the solutions you offer leading to better outcomes for your customers?  

Highlight the benefits of working with you specifically. 

Keep in mind that although business owners must think big, playing to grand ambitions isn’t wise when relaying outcomes. People are much more likely to respond to fixing something that’s broken than they are to react positively to some imaginary optimistic scenario. So, when highlighting results, think more in terms of risk mitigated and dollars saved and employ phrases such as “more efficient,” “costs less,” and “more effective.”

TELL YOUR STORY

Use these specifics to construct a concise story such as this one:

“A local business we worked with similar to yours had outdated IT infrastructure that wasn’t keeping up with their ability to grow. So, they used our help to right-size their computing power which allowed them to add employees and expand with the confidence that their technology could keep up with their growth plans.” 

Unlike unengaging technical jargon that attempts to sell high-tech solutions, tangible customer success stories like the one above are empathetic, relevant, provide social proof, and are easy to pivot from if the conversation takes a different direction. 

If you feel like you could use more guidance on how to tell your story or want to learn more effective sales techniques like the one above, contact OSR Manage today.