As an MSP, having a streamlined and efficient sales workflow is crucial. It ensures that potential leads are nurtured and converted, and guarantees existing clients receive consistent, high-quality service. In this article, we'll break down what an optimised MSP sales workflow looks like and why it's essential to growth and success.
The Big Picture: Marketing, Sales, Delivery and Retention
Before we talk specifically about “sales” workflows, let's look at the overall process from marketing to sales to delivery and retention.
You will have probably seen the classic marketing and sales funnel, but most funnel models don’t consider recurring revenue business models. This is because the funnel model was designed from the seller’s perspective, not the buyer’s.
The below helps to simplify but also expand on the classic funnel model.
Awareness
“Arrg! I have big issues!”
Through your marketing efforts, you leverage multiple channels to raise awareness and attract prospects with problems your services can solve.
Education
“Aha! There are solutions available!”
Prospects are educated on how your sales portfolio solves their problems. Sales reps will become increasingly involved in starting the sales cycle towards a commercial proposal.
Selection
“Hey! This company can help me!”
Your proposal describes the context, challenges, outcomes and how you will help them get from A to B and includes a list of solutions built from a combination of hardware, software, services and labour.
Onboard
“Yes! Delivered on time, as promised and within budget.”
After a proposal is won, items must be routed to a ticket, project or contract to start the delivery and billing workflow. Hardware and software must also be procured.
Impact
“Great! The impact has been achieved!”
Customers will expect you to report on insights and tickets, assets, contacts and invoices under management for the duration of the customer's lifecycle to show your impact.
Grow
“Nice! What else can we do together?”
If you do it right, customers stay and grow their spend with you over time through up-sell, cross-sell and contract renewals.
As we begin to discuss a streamlined MSP sales workflow, we start at the “Selection” stage, where there is an active sales conversion between your MSP and a potential customer.
The Importance of a Streamlined MSP Sales Workflow:
Automation:
According to a study by Salesforce, sales teams spend around 25% of their time on administrative tasks, such as quote building and manual data entry. Sales teams need more time for selling and less time spent on admin. Sales teams need tools to automate mundane and repetitive tasks. This not only saves time but also reduces the risk of human error. By automating processes, sales teams can focus on more strategic activities, such as building relationships and enhancing customer experiences.
Centralised System:
MSPs need less tools, not more. Having a centralised system for all sales activities that integrates seamlessly with your PSA/CRM is crucial. Sales leaders can standardise a product and service portfolio and template-based proposals to gain more control over what sales teams can sell.
Faster Lead-to-Customer Conversion:
A well-structured sales workflow minimises bottlenecks and ensures that leads are nurtured in a timely manner. With clear steps and processes, MSPs can swiftly move potential clients through the sales funnel, leading to quicker conversions. This boosts revenue and positions the MSP as proactive and efficient in the eyes of potential clients.
Improved Customer Experience:
A streamlined workflow isn't just about speed; it's also about precision and clarity. When processes are clear and well-defined, there's less room for error or miscommunication. This ensures that clients receive consistent and accurate information at every touchpoint, enhancing their overall experience and trust in your MSP.
Enhanced Team Productivity:
For the internal teams, a streamlined sales workflow means less guesswork and more action. When everyone knows their role and the steps to follow, they can focus on executing their tasks to the best of their ability. This improves team morale and leads to better resource allocation, ensuring that every team member is working efficiently and effectively.
The Importance of a Productised MSP Sales Portfolio:
A sales workflow is most efficient with a standardised portfolio of products and services. Here’s why:
Efficiency and Scalability:
Standardising your sales portfolio streamlines internal processes and allows for easier scaling. This speeds up client onboarding and frees up your team for other value-added tasks.
Revenue Predictability:
Productised services often come with recurring revenue models, providing financial predictability. Customers also appreciate the clarity and control they get from a standardised set of offerings.
Quality Assurance and Team Training:
A standardised portfolio ensures consistent quality across all services. It also simplifies the training process for your sales and technical teams, reducing errors and misunderstandings.
Sales and Marketing Synergy:
A well-defined portfolio shortens the sales cycle and makes marketing more targeted and effective. It allows your sales team to focus on value over features and enables more straightforward, optimised marketing campaigns.
Competitive Edge:
Standardisation sets you apart in the market and enhances your brand reputation. It also allows for a more customer-focused approach, giving clients exactly what they need with options to customise within a set framework.
We now understand the importance of a streamlined workflow and a productised sales portfolio, but what does that process look like? What tools do you need to create an optimised MSP sales workflow?
Creating an Optimised MSP Sales Workflow with Salesbuildr:
This process includes the steps taken post-marketing and sales qualification when there is an active opportunity with a new potential customer.
Step 1: Create a Customer
Enter customer details in your PSA/CRM system:
To effectively manage your sales process, you need a sales tool that provides a structured overview of everything you sell, updated by Autotask/Dynamics 365 and connected distributors. Enter customer details into your PSA/CRM when there is an active sales conversation with a new potential customer. Salesbuildr’s seamless integration with Autotask/Dynamics 365 removes unnecessary admin duplicating data entry across both systems.
Step 2: Create an Opportunity
Create an opportunity in Salesbuildr:
As you are creating a sales opportunity, you want to be working from Salesbuildr. As changes and updates are made to opportunities in Salesbuildr, Autotask/Dynamics 365 is automatically updated in real-time.
Step 3: Creating a Quote
Distributor/Supplier Marketplace:
Search across your distributors, import products and receive automated updates. Rest assured that quotes are always competitive and up-to-date. The products from suppliers can be added to your sales portfolio.
Sales Portfolio:
This is a structured overview of everything you sell, updated by Autotask/Dynamics 365 and connected suppliers. A standardised sales portfolio offers control over what is being sold, ensuring consistency and alignment across sales and services teams.
Template Library:
Salesbuildr’s template-based quoting function allows teams to easily configure great-looking proposals with standardised widgets for proposals, contracts, solutions, about us sections, case studies, terms and more. The Template Library ensures that quotes are visually appealing and error-free and significantly reduces administrative time traditionally spent on manual quote creation.
Business Rules:
Salesbuildr allows managers to apply rules for for pricing, opportunities, quote settings, approvals and notifications.
Step 4: Sending the Quote
Send the quote via email templates:
Once you are happy with the contents of your proposal, it’s time to send it to your customer. Salesbuildr makes this quick and easy by utilising email templates. The customer receives the email, and can easily sign off the quote using e-signature in minimal clicks.
Step 5: Winning the Quote
Proposal Workflow:
Once the quote has been approved, Salesbuildr and Autotask/Dynamics 365, are automatically updated, allowing the opportunity to move to the next stage.
Step 6: Onboarding the Client
Procure and Onboard:
From here, convert the quote to a ticket, project or contract in Autotask or Dynamics 365 that includes the items you have sold. This allows teams to focus on the next stages of onboarding and procurement of applicable items.
Step 7: Expansion and Growth
Customer Storefront:
Provide a frictionless purchasing experience for your customers. Complete with your MSP’s branding, the storefront enables your customers to place self-service orders for standardised products and services.
MSP Sales Workflow Salesbuildr Roadmap:
But that’s not all. We want to continually build and further optimise the MSP sales workflow.
Here’s a breakdown of additional Salesbuildr features to be released in the coming months.
Template Marketplace:
Download best practice templates and pages from a public repository that can be easily added into your quotes, or tweaked to better suit your value proposition.
Purchase orders:
Send electronic purchase orders to distributors automatically, speeding up the procurement process.
Whitespace:
Enables sales teams and leaders to check contracts and whitespace analysis for upsell of top priority services.
Getting Started
An optimised sales workflow can be the difference between a thriving business and one struggling to keep up. MSPs can ensure they're always one step ahead by understanding each step of the process and leveraging the right tools and strategies.
Salesbuildr is leading the way in MSP sales solutions, having helped many MSPs worldwide better manage what they sell, who they sell to, and how they sell.
To understand how your Salesbuildr can help you take control of your MSP sales workflow, book a demo or start your unlimited free trial today.
