Welcome to week four of our series on pitching multiple “Decision Makers” in order to win more managed services business.

Today I first want to address a comment that one of our readers sent to me privately.

“I was looking at the business model of your existing clients.  Only one appears to be an MSP, and he is more focused on break-fix (on demand) services.  I would classify your clients as Project Houses, VAR’s and (discrete) Service Providers.”

A great observation.  We work with IT firms that are pure play MSP, but we also work with firms who are looking to move towards a different business model.  The reality of the industry is this:  most companies will not be able to drop their legacy clients before they build their managed services practices.  Many companies are going to continue to offer a hybrid solution to hold more market share.  Some will make the move to pure play managed, and will thrive there.  We work with everyone in the space.  We have helped companies sign their very first managed contract, and we have worked with 10 MM dollar MSPs that don’t do any project work at all.  So, I suppose a better title for this series might have been “cold calling to win more business for your ITSP”.  But it’s too late now, we’re using this one.

Our reader did make one more very excellent point that I would like to share:

“Our ideal prospects are open to our IT Operations model – they need a trusted partner – someone to lead the way, not just a service vendor.”

I couldn’t agree with you more!  And to be fair, the reader that made this comment runs a very successful 6MM MSP in the US.  They have the luxury of being as selective as they would like to be.  We believe that the  MSP business model is the path to long-term success.  However, we don’t believe in turning down business that doesn’t quite fit in that wheelhouse today.  You can convert break/fix and project work into happy, long term, profitable MSP customers.  Building an MSP practice isn’t going to happen overnight.

Very few companies started as MSPs, they progressed to MSPs.  So whether your IT business is 20/80 break fix/MSP or 80/20 project/MSP we can help you win more of whatever type of business you’re looking for.   Our goal is to identify an opportunity.  Your job is to sell them on how you do things there.  We wouldn’t pitch break/fix solutions for a client that didn’t offer them.

Now, on to pitching the HR department.

Personally, I love to pitch HR.  First, they actually answer their phones.  Second, they aren’t as saturated as other positions in the company.  Meaning, they get fewer sales calls.

One of the best ways to prospect for new MSP business is to watch the Help Wanted ads in your city.  When an ad is posted, add that company to your prospecting list and schedule a call for about five days later.  Remember, someone has just made the decision that they are going to hire for this position.  They have invested in an ad, so they’ve spent some money.  They haven’t invested in a recruiting firm yet, which means they are still very optimistic they are going to find the person they want. Calling in too soon will lower your chances of getting the opportunity to present your services.  A few days in, they will have had a chance to review the resumes that have come in so far.  If they aren’t pleased with the results, this will be a great time to pitch.

“It’s Dave calling from ABC IT in Atlanta. I noticed you recently ran an ad online looking for a POSITION TITLE.  Is someone leaving your organization, or are you adding to your team?”

Don’t share too much in that first sentence.  They may think you are a recruiting firm to begin with, and that’s okay.  If they ask if you are a recruiter, make sure you clearly state that you work with companies that are making changes to their IT teams and infrastructure.  You are not a staffing firm.

Your goal should be to learn a little more about their network, current team and plan for growth.

If someone is leaving:

“Before you make your next hire, I’d appreciate the opportunity to present our company as an alternative to making an in-house hire.  How many computers is your current team member supporting?”

The point of that sentence is to qualify, and to continue to ask questions that can’t be answered with a YES or NO.

If they are large enough to meet your desired desktop qualifier, suggest that a good interim solution – just in case they don’t find the appropriate person in time – would be a firm like yours.  When would be a good time for you to meet with them?  A network health assessment as one team member leaves and before the next one starts would give everyone a thorough understanding of what changes may need to be made and allow for effective succession planning!

If they are adding head count:

Find out more about the infrastructure and the size of their IT team.  If you are gunning for pure play managed, you likely don’t want to pitch HR, as they definitely do not have any authority to make decisions here.  Just find out what you want to know before moving on to pitch the CEO or CFO.  If you want project work, this is a great time to get championed in to the IT department through HR.

“Before you add a new team member, we would be interested in speaking with your IT Director about providing any support or services that may be lacking in the  interim while you go through the hiring process.”

In smaller firms, HR is likely the responsibility of another team member – it will be rare for a team of under 20 to have a designated HR person.  Most of the HR conversations will be held with larger companies.

So, can you pitch HR without a job post?

Yes.  And we like it.  Who is going to know first when a company is planning to make an IT hire?  HR.

This will not quickly win business, but if you begin developing a relationship with HR personnel at the companies where you want to be winning business, you may very well get a phone call before that ad goes up.   This is a relationship you need to maintain.  Birthday cards.  Quarterly emails.  Christmas cards.

If you don’t like the “farming” approach to cold calling, and you want to aim for an appointment on every dial, HR can be used as a launch pad to the position you do want to reach.  Ask them to help you find the best person to speak with about your services.  HR will know who is responsible for – and who makes the actual purchase decisions for – any service or product in the company.   Ask to be transferred – an internally  transferred call gets answered far more often than an external callfrom an unknown number.

One other approach to try – are you offering a cloud-based solution that would add value to the HR process?  You can win a company over one application at a time.

As always, you can sign up for our newsletter here.  Thanks for reading, and Happy Selling!