Best Practices For Solution Provider Business Development Module 1: Building A Managed Services Demand Generation Engine

1. Best Practices For Solution Provider Business DevelopmentModule 1:Building A Managed Services Demand Generation Engine Partner Education Series

2. Introduction: Partner Education Series Module 1:Building A Managed Services Demand Generation Engine • A realistic, repeatable process for targeting customers, developing compelling content, and connecting with decision makers to initiate qualified opportunities • Part 1 of an ongoing channel partner enablement program from DATTO & Morris Management Partners Demand Generation Engine Getting More First Meetings Maximizing Sales Productivity

3. How Do You Sell Your Services? • Have You Heard About Our Services? Market Leading NEW OFFERING (R)EVOLUTION MANAGED!! Efficiency PARADIGM AWARDS!! Cross Platform Brilliant!!!

4. Reality Check • Are Your Services Great? • YES … • Why Doesn’t Everyone Buy Them? • Competitive Offerings • Existing Commitments • Marketing Messages & Noise • Sales Coverage & Execution • Etc.

5. The Basics Of Market Evolution • There’s a logic inside the dynamics of commercial markets that governs the adoption of “bleeding edge” innovation every time … in every market. Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase ‘N’ INNOVATION ADOPTION GROWTH SCALE MANAGED SERVICES MARKET DATA STORAGE MARKET FIND A CHALLENGE FIND A PARTNER FIND A CUSTOMER FIND A LOT OF CUSTOMERS CLOUD SOLUTIONS MARKET PROVE THE SOLUTION PROVE THE MODEL SELL THE VALUE SELL THE VOLUME DATA SECURITY MARKET TECHNICANS WIN MANAGERS WIN SALES REPS WIN BUSINESSES WIN

6. Basic Demand Gen Principles • Active vs. Reactive • You can’t afford to wait for customers to start shopping. The core principle is “creating” demand. That doesn’t mean creating the need … it means causing the customer to feel a sense of urgency toward buying your solution. • Competition from Every Angle • Beyond other MSP companies, your customer could be distracted / prevented from taking action by a number of forces: other resellers … internal IT resources … other customer financial priorities … the status quo. • Essential Agreement • Your fundamental goal is to cause the customer to agree with the following idea: YOUR SOLUTION THEIR GOAL Spending money on this new communications tool will help me achieve my most important, immediate goal … whether that is serving my customer, making my job easier, advancing my career, impressing my boss, solving a technical problem, saving money, etc.

7. Building A Demand Gen Machine Effective demand generation isn’t merely a random connection of activities … but a systematic process that leads to a predictable pipeline of qualified opportunities. Who Is Your Customer? What Value Can You Offer Them? Identify a relevant set of customers and learn what they want to pay for How Will You Engage Them? Persuade the customer to take action that will lead them to a valuable change Initiate a conversation with a real decision maker who can decide to take the next step

8. Demand Generation Best Practices • There is no single tactic or activity that will “generate revenue.” It’s the product of ongoing promotions & communications … organized in the form of CAMPAIGNS CONTACTS RESPONSES LEADS OPPORTUNITIES PIPELINE REVENUE

9. Demand Generation Best Practices We asked your peers what they do that works. Learn from their success!

10. Demand Generation Challenges • Who Decides to Buy Your Solution? • The User … Communication tools are directly attached to existing skills and daily work activities • Business Buyer … Communication & productivity tools have broad impact on business processes • Financial Buyer … Cost of the solution is only a minor consideration in total ownership • Who Do You Talk To? • Key Messages … • Database Information … • Marketing Tactics … • When Do You Engage Each Decision Maker? Decision Maker Access Entrenched Competitors Switching Costs Upgrade Challenges Market Competitor Noise

11. Demand Generation Challenges • Marketing in a Mature Product Segment vs. Emerging Segment • Upgrade vs. Switch … Most customers already have communications tool and have heard many offers • New Customers … If a customer doesn’t have any communications tool, they’re probably very small • User Skills … Information workers are highly trained in their skills, but not necessarily focused on tools • Relative vs. Absolute Advantage • Meaningful Functions … • New Release Cycles … • Frame of Reference … • Who Else is Talking to Your Target Audience? Decision Maker Access Entrenched Competitors Switching Costs Upgrade Challenges Market Competitor Noise

12. Demand Generation Challenges • The Real Cost of Buying Managed IT Services • Technical Skills Re-Training … Cost to change IT resources and functions • Services Migration … Even if it’s better, buying / changing services can be very expensive in the short term • Other Business Process ... From sales to service to purchasing to operations to internal collaboration, etc. • How Long to Value? • Time to Adopt … • Cost to Train … • Direct Services Cost … • What is the Real Business Value of Your Services? Decision Maker Access Entrenched Competitors Switching Costs Upgrade Challenges Market Competitor Noise

13. Demand Generation Challenges • New Services Can Be Beyond Customers’ Current Resources • Business Processes … Many businesses follow defined, proscribed methods to do their jobs • Operating Limitations … The services may have valuable capabilities that a customer isn’t able to use • Value Chain Relationships … Suppliers and customers are often dependent on IT systems / services compatibility • Satisfaction vs. Utilization • Features Used … • Features Wanted … • Functional Effectiveness … • How Do Your Customers Use Systems & Tools You Support w/ Services? Decision Maker Access Entrenched Competitors Switching Costs Upgrade Challenges Market Competitor Noise

14. Demand Generation Challenges • You’re Not the Only One Marketing to Your Customers • Quotas vs. Reality … Every competitor wants to grow, just like you want to grow … faster than the market grows • Market Share Goals … When the number of new customers is limited, growth means take-away wins • Product Release Schedules … Many players + many offerings = lots of marketing schedules & activities • Competitor Marketing Tactics • Service / Assessment Test Drive … • Rebate or Incentive … • Value-Added Promotions … • How Will You Cut Through All the Marketing Noise? Decision Maker Access Entrenched Competitors Switching Costs Upgrade Challenges Market Competitor Noise

15. Question 1: Who Is Your Customer? • An effective customer profile is not just a few common factors (company size, job title, phone number), but a carefully cultivated picture of exactly who is most likely to buy from you … and why they would say yes. • Customer Segment / Vertical / Category – You can’t be an expert in every customer … so focus & specialize • Decision Maker Structure / Players – Companies have unique buying processes … and people want what they want • Specific Business Objectives / Metrics – Their goal is not to buy your stuff … but to achieve a countable business result • Key Competitors / Reference Sets – You don’t have to be the best in the world … just better than what the customer knows • Customer-Specific Business Case – Generic promises of value don’t make people move … relevant numbers do

16. Developing A Customer Profile

17. Question 2: What Do They Want? • Contrary to many seller’s beliefs, what your customer wants is not your services, but their own business benefits. Don’t push the service … promise the outcome they value. Increase My Revenues … Decrease My Costs … Accelerate My Productivity … Improve My Advantage … Manage My Risks …

18. Proven MSP Value Messages Access To Experts Business Process Mgmt. Predictable IT Costs Proactive Improvement • Customers have many systems but few resources … who can’t be experts in everything; but you can • A central resource that covers systems management, incident response, performance improvement, reporting, etc. • Standardization of IT services allows better integration & performance for all systems that support a single business process • Elimination of downtime / faster resolution yields higher productivity for business users • Maintain performance and reliability without massive highs & lows in IT service costs • Consistent service fees eliminate variable staff costs: new hires, training, sick time, high-value skills, motivation, loaded costs … • Plan ahead for important systems maintenance, seasonal projects, preventive projects, etc. • Learn from issues, trends, causes and address the underlying problems before they happen

19. Building A Compelling Business Case Beyond “Soft Benefits” … Can You Calculate the VALUE? • Incremental Value – Investment Costs = RETURN • Revenue = More wins + Higher rates • Costs = Products + Services + Processes + People How Much? • Time to Realize Return = PAYBACK • Cash Flow Payback = Time to First Revenue Impact • Profit Payback = Time to Total Investment Return How Soon? • Likelihood of Achieving Payback = CONFIDENCE • Risk vs. Reputation vs. Trust vs. Reward • Testimonials + Methodology + Guarantee / Warranty How Certain?

20. Question 3: Which Tactics Work? Stage 1: PROMOTE Generating Initial Responses Stage 2: QUALIFY Establishing Qualified Leads Stage 3: ENGAGE Engaging Qualified Opportunities Stage 4: SELL Winning The Deal Stage 5: RETAIN Retaining The Customer • SEO • Social Media • Online / Web • Direct Mail • Telemarketing • Referrals • Advertising (Niche) • Public Relations • Referrals • Online / Web • Assessment • Sales Interview • Telesales • Seminars/Events • White Paper, etc. • Seminars/Events • Case Studies • Sales Engage • Solution Config. • Collateral • Web Advertising • Testimonials • Lead Nurture • Demos / Trials • Incentives • References • Website • Proposal / Presentations • Acct. Mgmt. • QBR Meetings • Cust. Portal • Email Mktg. • Newsletter • Incentives/Rewards

21. How Many Leads Do You Need? • Do “Backwards Math” to determine your lead generation requirements … tied directly to your revenue goals # OF TOUCHES # OF RESPONSES # OF LEADS # OF SALES REVENUE GOAL RESPONSE RATE (%) QUALIFIED RATE (%) CONVERSION RATE (%) AVERAGE DEAL SIZE ($) • Targeting • Messaging • Call To Action • Repetition • Solution Match • Profile Match • Participation • Authority • Engagement • Proof Case • Sales Cycle • Negotiation • Customer Size • Contract Term • Service Pkg. • Avg. Price Point

22. Managing The Lead Handoff Process • More than 70% of all sales leads generated by marketing departments in the IT channel are not followed up on by sales departments – ever • The #1 reason given for not following up on leads: The leads were cold / not qualified • Even if your leads are highly qualified and truly urgent, leads are meaningless if your “team” isn’t prepared to “catch” them • In most cases, companies don’t actually need huge marketing budgets to grow … they just need the sales team to follow through on the money they already plan to spend* Creating Demand Capturing Demand Marketing Team Generates a Lead Sales Team Converts Lead to Revenue

23. Plan Your Marketing Campaign

24. How Will You Know If It Worked? • Budget Metrics • Cost of Marketing Elements + Activities (Lists, Research, Design, Printing / Production, Delivery, Incentives, etc.) • Revenue Structure (Typical Deal Size, Deal Timing, Mix of Revenue) • Incremental Progress (Pipeline, Probability, etc.) • Activity Metrics • Customer Participation • Customer Response • Sales Engagement • Sales Process Advancement • Ultimate Calculation • Incremental Revenue - Total Cost of Campaign = R.O.M.I.

25. Action Items + Next Steps

26. For More Information … Ryan Morris Principal Consultant Morris Management Partners, Inc. rmorris@morrismp.com (C) 303-618-9370