Managed Services - Becoming a Vendor
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The document outlines strategies for managed service providers (MSPs) to transition from merely reselling products to creating their own service offerings. Key areas include developing a strong brand, productizing services, and establishing a robust sales and marketing infrastructure to succeed in a competitive landscape. It emphasizes the importance of continuous improvement and leveraging expertise for sustained growth and customer satisfaction.
Managed Services - Becoming a Vendor
- 1. Managed Services Becoming a Vendor Lane Smith Ken Vanderweel 2012
- 2. Introductions Ken Vanderweel Lane Smith Sr. Director, Business Coach Global Service Providers 4-Profit Inc. CA Nimsoft 2
- 3. About CA Nimsoft First to Unified Monitoring First to Full Featured SaaS First to Usage Monitoring First to Datacenter Power First to Vblock Monitoring First to Unified IT Management GROWTH MOMENTUM: NIMSOFT SINCE ACQUISITION 3
- 4. Bridging the Gap between Business and IT PROBLEM CHANGE SERVICE DESK CONFIGURATION INCIDENT KNOWLEDGE SERVICE CATALOG AND REQUEST SERVICE LEVEL MESSAGE BUS MESSAGE BUS APPLICATION VIRTUALIZATION MONITOR USER EXPERIENCE STORAGE CLOUD DCIM DATABASE SERVER NETWORK 4
- 5. CA Nimsoft MSP Center of Excellence Areas of Focus: • Service Catalog • Team of individuals focused solely on the • Pricing and Packaging Business Enablement of our Service Provider partners • Contracting • Focused in supporting the growth of our service • Onboarding provider partners by delivering advisory and • Service Level Agreements enablement services to sustain momentum and success • Service Offering Launch • Core Principles of the COE: • Marketing Collateral ₋ We succeed only when you succeed • Sales Enablement & Training ₋ How you define success is unique • Demonstrating Value ₋ Simple doesn’t mean basic • Avoiding Commoditization 5
- 6. About 4-Profit Helping Solution Providers find their chosen destination on purpose Market Focus Guiding and inspiring business leaders to reach their "chosen" business destination Types of Services • Business Assessments Offered • Business Coaching for Owners and Managers • Strategic Planning & CEO Development • Candidate Recruitment & Hiring Strategies • Business, Sales, Operations and Marketing Peer Groups • Workshop Training and Speaking Engagements 6
- 7. Nature of your Business Today Your Vendor Brands are Your Brand 7
- 8. Nature of your Business Today Vendor You – The IT Reseller Creates product Resell vendors’ product – installs & supports Creates value proposition Follows vendors’ lead Creates brand awareness Follows vendors’ lead Creates and invests in marketing programs Markets vendors product typically as part of MDF or other vendor paid funds Generates leads Takes leads from vendors Help close deals from leads Closes deals – heavily relies on vendor for support Provides reseller with product training, technical Attends vendor training, certifies technicians, escalation, collateral, pricing guidelines, provides installation and support services certification, etc. 8
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- 10. Microsoft Office 365 35+ Case Studies most with video testimonials 9 dedicated product detail pages all with videos & detailed info Many, many online product demos Cost calculator Plan decision tools 10
- 11. Microsoft Training Technical Sales • Deployment guides • Self Paced training guide • Performance and tuning guides • Proposal templates • How to videos • Sizing tools…. • Virtual labs 11
- 12. Your ‘Service’ is your Product Be like a vendor and bring your service (aka product) to market Relax, IT is Done. Our Services Get Started Now! IT IT Experienced. Reliable. Our People Tips for Managing IT 12
- 13. The Typical MSP NOT Thinking like a Vendor 1 Marketing Slick 1 proposal/agreement/SLA No training No case studies No testimonial No pricing tools No experts No lead generation activities = No Sales Success 13
- 14. Time To Put Your Vendor Hat On 14
- 15. Nature of your Business Tomorrow You Lead With Your Brand 15
- 16. Nature of your Business Tomorrow You – The Service Provider Vendor Creates service offering(s)/product Products support your service offering(s) Creates value proposition Products are a piece of your value proposition Creates brand awareness Creates their brand awareness Creates and invests in marketing programs May provide marketing support for your service offerings Generates leads May still provide leads though as your secondary source Close deals from leads May provide support in closing deals Provides your team with product training, sales May provide supporting training and training, technical escalation, collateral, pricing documentation guidelines, etc. 16
- 17. How Do You Become a Vendor? Develop an MSP Task team to launch YOUR productized service Develop your service offering Productize your service HOW? Build your brand Generate interest/leads Continuously improve 17
- 18. Developing Your MSP Task Force You Sales Service Marketing Finance Operation • Individuals that have a solid understanding of your market as well as your skill sets • Sales reps that are always open for new solutions • Engineers with a solid understanding of managed / cloud services along with a sales skillset • People that can build the processes you will need to succeed • Individuals who have proven training skills (leverage for future training and development) 18
- 19. MSP Task Force– What do they do? Develop & productize initial service offering • Build the processes needed to deliver your service offering • Perform the initial sales efforts • Evangelize the product internally and externally. Support the service offering moving forward • Help sales teams with customer engagements • Understanding customers’ needs and ensuring that your offerings continue to meet them 19
- 20. Developing Your Service Offering Know Your Product / Service and the Value to Your Customers Your Service ! Value to Your Customer Stabilize Monitor 24 x 7 Increased Productivity Assess & Secure & Manage Support & Profitability Clear definition of your services should be in your Service Catalog 20
- 21. Developing Your Service Offering PRODUCTIZE YOUR SERVICE • Develop supporting sales & technical documentation • Develop supporting processes from sales, through legal, delivery, billing and account management 21
- 22. Developing Your Service Offering Develop a new service/product checklist to ensure all components of service offering are created Check out our upcoming webinar on “Developing your 1st Service Offering” GENERAL INFO NEW PRODUCT COMMENTS Organizational chart update/requirements 6 First round has been completed will need to re-evaluate a later date Practice business plan/goals identified 7 Business plan is at vision stage will need to put budgetary numbers in place SALES & MARKETING Unique value proposition 5 Market opportunity 10 Vertical market opportunity 10 Foundation will bring a vertical of non-profits in Elevator pitch 7 Need to get more details to see if the current rep has a specific recurring serve Sales compensation plan 3 Documented sales process 1 Sales training process 1 Sales team trained on on product 1 1st call script 3 Pre-sales/customer network assesment 3 Sales proposal 2 Sales presentation 2 Jason is working on this one now Marketing collateral 7 Need to review 22
- 23. “Productizing” Categories General Business Plan, Org Chart, etc. Info Sales & Sales Processes, collateral, proposals, etc. Marketing Finance & Service agreements, billing processes, licensing, etc.. Legal Technology Ensure technology is scalable, fault tolerant, .. Service Core support process, customer satisfaction, employee training, Processes Pilot Test offering viability, create case studies, refine processes.. Program 23
- 24. New Product/Service Checklist GENERAL INFO NEW PRODUCT COMMENTS Organizational chart update/requirements Practice business plan/goals identified SALES & MARKETING Unique value proposition Market opportunity Vertical market opportunity Elevator pitch Sales compensation plan Checklist Categories include: General Info Sales & Marketing Finance & Legal Technology Service Processes Pilot Program 24
- 25. New Product/Service Checklist GENERAL INFO NEW PRODUCT COMMENTS Organizational chart update/requirements 6 First round has been completed will need to re-evaluate a later date Practice business plan/goals identified 7 Business plan is at vision stage will need to put budgetary numbers in place SALES & MARKETING Unique value proposition 5 Market opportunity 10 Vertical market opportunity 10 Foundation will bring a vertical of non-profits in Elevator pitch 7 Need to get more details to see if the current rep has a specific recurring serve Sales compensation plan 3 Documented sales process 1 Sales training process 1 Sales team trained on on product 1 Use the following guidelines when completing the “New Product” column: “10” Benchmark – Best effort with current resources and capital “7” Average – Working well but could use some improvement “5” Weak – Likely to be increasingly detrimental without change “3” Poor – Highly detrimental to this business area “1” Deficit – Risky/barrier to success “N/A” – Does not apply to this product/service 25
- 26. Create Your Project Plan OWNER ASSOCIATES TASK (highlight strategic in yellow) COMPLETE TARGET STATUS Sales & Marketing Tasks Jerry Define Sales Process Q3 Not Started Jerry Develop Sales Proposal Q3 In Progress Finance & Legal Tasks Beth New contract billing process Q1 Not Started Beth Contract change process Q2 Not Started Beth Contract termination process Q3 Not Started Technology Deployment Team Ensure scalable Q1 Completed Deployment Team Ensure high availability Q1 Not Started Deployment Team Ensure licensing can be tracked and is legal Q1 Not Started Service Offering / Delivery John Change Management Process Q2 Not Started Fred Patch & Configuration Management Process Q3 Not Started Beth Ensure licensing can be tracked and is legal Q2 Not Started Jeremy Review and Analysis Process Q3 Not Started Jeremy Quarterly Review Process Q3 Not Started 26
- 27. Update Checklist and Keep Moving On GENERAL INFO NEW PRODUCT COMMENTS Organizational chart update/requirements 6 First round has been completed will need to re-evaluate a later date Practice business plan/goals identified 7 Business plan is at vision stage will need to put budgetary numbers in place SALES & MARKETING Unique value proposition 5 Market opportunity 10 Vertical market opportunity 10 Foundation will bring a vertical of non-profits in Elevator pitch 7 Need to document and make sure everyone Sales compensation plan 8 Need to get more details to see if the current rep has a specific recurring serve Documented sales process 7 Sales training process 7 Sales team trained on product 6 1st Call Script 5 27
- 28. A MSP Thinking like a Vendor Expert Team • To support your sales efforts Full marketing initiative • Generating leads Detailed sales process • All supporting collateral ready • Sales training program Customer case studies and testimonials Detailed process for selling, delivering and support your service offering = Sales Success 28
- 29. Developing Your Sales Leads You are now marketing YOUR Product / Service NOT your vendors’ • Create a marketing plan for your new product/service • Develop your own lead generation strategy View our upcoming webinars on: • “Creating a Marketing Plan” • “Selling Managed Services” 29
- 30. What’s Next You won’t get everything right the 1st time Leverage your experts to expand your sales force • Sales training • Technical training • Process improvements Focus on continuous • Customer Satisfaction improvements improvements 30
- 31. Webcast Series • Building your MSP – Self Assessment - developing your plan • Building your MSP – Creating and developing your offering • Why do your customers need managed services? • Building your MSP – Pricing and packaging your offering • Why you need to get in the game or be left out • Building your MSP – Developing your service delivery engine • The managed service model, explained • Growing your MSP – Developing a marketing plan • The 5 fallacies of doomed MSPs • Growing your MSP – Developing a sales strategy • Growing your MSP – Creating a scalable MSP practice 31
- 32. Where Can I Get More Information? CA Nimsoft 4-Profit www.nimsoft.com/mspzone www.4-profit.com Socialize with CA Nimsoft! Socialize with 4-Profit! @nimsoft @4profitWay facebook.com/Nimsoft linkedin.com/company/4-profit linkedin.com/company/Nimsoft/ slideshare.net/NimsoftMonitoring youtube.com/user/Nimsoft 32
- 33. Thank You Contact Us Email: lane@4-profit.com Email: ken.vanderweel@ca.com