Expect a lot more backup and disaster recovery BDR coverage in the weeks ahead as managed services providers MSPs prepare for tornado season, which begins in March. Case in point: BDR and intelligent business continuity IBC vendor Datto Inc. recently tapped into the experience of one of its partners to provide guidance for everyone on […]
Read MoreYearly Archives: 2013
HubSpot just released “The Marketers Guide to Salesforce”filled with insights to help marketers more effectively use Salesforce. And we are happy to report, it was written by marketers.
As champions of sales and marketing integration since our inception in 2001, we understand aligning marketing and sales efforts has never been more important.
In fact, a 2010 study by the Aberdeen Group found that companies with strong alignment between sales and marketing achieved 20% annual revenue growth, compared to a 4% decline in annual revenues for companies with poor alignment.
To that end, we recommend HubSpot’s guide as another terrific resource to offer the marketing perspective on a very popular sales tool.
Great tips include:
- Send only sales ready leads to Salesforce. Why? Your sales team doesn’t have to wade through hundreds of leads to find the ones they should be working.
- Use explicit and implicit data to determine when leads are ready to pass to sales. But make sure that sales and marketing agree on the criteria before implementing it within Salesforce.
- Use data your sales team enters in Salesforce to better inform marketing communications. Sales conversations will reveal information that will improve segmentation, lead scoring and personalized content.
There is much more in this 49-page guide, we recommend you download your own copy today. And read through to the end, where Hubspot provides a handy glossary called, “Salesforce Terminology in Plain English.”
We’ve posted an update to our RBackup software! You can download it now. The upgrade is available to all Partners who have active Maintenance Subscriptions. Download the upgrade from our website at by visiting the Software Upgrades Page. V11.7.8 contains a number of fixes needed for the most recent Windows updates and applications, as well […]
Read MoreRob and Guru have been working on a little side project that we think you might find useful. It’s a command script that you can run from RBackup using the pre- and post-backup batch files. It performs an automated full image backup through NTBackup or WBAdmin, depending on the operating system.
Read MoreAnd so it begins. Winter Storm Nemo (when did we start naming winter storms?) has already made its way to Long Island, but its presence, so far, is nothing worth writing home about. via Nemo Blizzard: Getting Your Customers Ready for Outages | MSPmentor.
Read MoreRemote Backup Systems, the founders of the online backup industry and developers of the white-labeled RBackup Online Backup software activated its Emergency Backup Hot Site for use by its Partners in the path of the severe winter storm approaching the Northeastern United States. Remote Backup Systems has offered this business-saving service to their clients […]
Read MoreWill Winter Storm Nemo be a blizzard or a Nor’easter that buries New York and New England in two feet of snow? It’s far too early to say — weather forecasts and predictions are all over the map. But either way, managed services providers (MSPs) have ample time to test business continuity plans with customers […]
Read MoreWith the uncertainty of the economy looming over the world, more and more enterprises from non-IT domain will look at MSPs to outsource their IT management work, so that they can concentrate on the tough task of saving and propelling their core business while MSPs take care of their IT. via 5 Ways MSPs Can […]
Read MoreThese days it is tougher than ever to get results by making cold calls. That’s because you’re more likely to be leaving a voicemail rather than talking to a live person. via Sales Leads: Getting Customers to Return Your Cold Calls | MSPmentor.
Read MoreCustomer referrals are some of the most valuable sales leads your MSP will ever come across. Referrals are a cost effective way to grow your managed services business. via The Importance of Customer Referrals: A Free Way to Market Your MSP | MSPmentor.
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It may not be making headlines, but there is a perfect storm brewing in 21st century sales. The conditions? Internet-savvy prospects, complex and evolving customer needs, and increasing vendor competitiveness. Combine these factors with a slow-recovering economy and the forecast could be disaster for many organizations.
Yet even with these changing conditions, the eye in the storm – where the bulk of your value is still communicated – has stayed the same. It is conversation. “Despite all automation entering the market, from smartphones to the Internet, the sales message is ultimately delivered in the sales meeting,” Forrester reports.
Yet even with these changing conditions, the eye in the storm – where the bulk of your value is still communicated – has stayed the same. It is conversation. “Despite all automation entering the market, from smartphones to the Internet, the sales message is ultimately delivered in the sales meeting,” Forrester reports.
Getting your prospects off of Google and into the conference room, however, is not easy. Because there is no magic sales model that works for everyone, Forrester took a closer look and discovered new scenarios for sales success. In their recent white paper “Defining the 21st Century Salesperson,” they reveal the four archetypes of salespeople:
- The Expeditor is the salesperson who sells fewer products and has customers who are limited by both budget and functionality. Forrester says, “This kind of salesperson must understand the value of the product or service and repeat a well-scripted message, tweaking it based on the situation of each buyer.”
- The Specialist handles the consultative sell and requires a significant depth of product understanding. Customers in this scenario are usually department heads so salespeople, “… need to know all the right questions to ask and information to provide to help the customer set the right parameters…” says Forrester.
- The Consolidator partners with their customer to quickly align many different needs with their multiple offerings. Forrester says, “This kind of sales is analytics driven, based on volume metrics, same-store sales and techniques, store placement, and similar analytics…” Helping customers control costs is key to success.
- The Conductor must have “… the ability to understand their client’s business in depth and design essentially a fully custom, unique product or service to meet that customer’s business needs” says Forrester. Their buyers are typically senior managers or cross-functional teams solving core business problems. The salesperson’s focus here is on value-add.
To avert disaster, sales leaders need to carefully consider the above archetypes and identify what roles will best serve their sales process. Helping with this evaluation, Forrester breaks down the emerging sales optimization practices and the value contributions to the customer for each type of seller.
It is time to ask yourself: What kind of seller are you? What type will best serve your organization? We recommend you check out “Defining the 21st Century Salesperson” for more insight.
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