This is our fifth week discussing how and why you should pitch different position titles to win managed services business. I have built this strategy using the “Givers Gain” philosophy.
Here’s the pitch:
“It’s Joe calling from ABC IT in Atlanta. My client base includes companies that have between 20-200 employees, and that are technology dependent – like professional services firms. I wanted to chat with you about potentially exchanging referrals. Is now a good time?”
That also makes an excellent voicemail message, minus the question at the end.
The catch, of course, is that you’ll need to be invested in this process and prepared to participate.
Building a strong referral network will be imperative to growing your MSP. You can also try this approach at the President level if you are a business owner yourself.
Spend an hour a day trying to grow your referral network. This a great way to network without leaving your office. Once you’ve identified a good fit, set up a meeting, learn more about each other, and commit to finding each other leads. If you are both cold calling companies every day, you are bound to come across companies that will need services other than the one you’re selling, and it doesn’t take much to ask an extra question or two to see if you can help them. I find using a question like “What would really help your company right now?” can open up that conversation. Some companies will be facing staffing challenges, if you can learn more about the open roles within an organization you may be able to position some of your new referral partners for success.
Once you have earned the respect and trust of a company in your network, and have been regularly sending them leads, it is perfectly acceptable to ask for their business as well.
Short and sweet post. Thanks for reading, and Happy Selling!
If you would like to read a longer article on building a referral network, please head over to Talkin Cloud’s Idea Xchange – my column there this week expands on this pitch idea!