#1 Sales Automation - Dashboards? - Are you a Bum or Closer? (Part 3)
Here’s what you will learn today:
#1 Best Sales Automation is…
Don’t forget the follow-up!
Step into the Sales Opportunity Pipeline
Projects and block hours nearing completion
Your turn: Here’s what to do next
If you’ve never seen the 1992 Al Pacino/Jack Lemmon/Alec Baldwin movie “Glengarry Glen Ross” and you’ve ever thought about selling something, then you have to watch it. Tonight. And if you’re not in Sales, then just watch it anyway and laugh at the salespeople. It’s that good. (It’s also loaded with profanity, so be warned).
Remember the third essential thing to keeping the lights on and the Techs doing something besides building $800 Lego Millennium Falcons at their desk (TRUE story):
Automation.
Yes, Automation.
According to Carpedia (and us), the best way to grow the business with new Clients is to make sure your MSP has a well-defined lead gen process and those oh so important leads you’ve paid so much in blood, tears, sweat, and cash for (the Glengarry Leads) are managed in your sales funnel system.
Now the burning question I know you’re asking: how do you manage your sales functions while keeping your Team integrated and not buying yet ANOTHER tool to manage?
Easy! Why Autotask, of course! And that is why Techs, Sales Professionals, and Owners should still be reading, as both Service Delivery AND Sales Opportunities can be managed and automated VERY well in the Autotask software and in much the same way.
Our Team at Advanced Global just happens to have an awesome Sales Dashboard and Opportunity “done with you” training and implementation available that will automate your sales pipeline using Autotask.
But before I cash your check (Always Be Closing, you know), how about I just give it all away for free? Roll up your sleeves, and let’s get to work.
If you’ve read my articles before, you know when it comes to “How to Automate the PSAutomation.” Autotask gives us a whole section of the Admin module to communicate what we are talking about:
Form Templates (Speed Codes)
Incoming Email Processing
Workflow Rules
And we would like to add two more – Categories and Widgets.
As we approach this phase of the Sales Dashboard and Opportunity training, Think Automation. For the Sales process, there are seven significant automation tools:
Part 1
a. Sales Process
b. Opportunity Categories
Part 2
c. Opportunity Form Templates
d. Incoming Email Processing
e. CRM Workflow Rules
Part 3
f. Sales Dashboard and Widgets
g. Scheduled Autotask Sales Live Reports
h. Sales Assessment Tool
You can implement Sales Dashboard and Opportunity in two ways:
1) Across the board, starting with Stage Review and then proceeding with each item in the list
2) On the fly as needed during the normal course of business
Sales Dashboard Widgets
Having done months of research for this article, I can tell you the #1 best Sales automation, bar none, is creating a Sales Dashboard. Autotask Sales dashboards are designed to provide full visibility as to where every relationship and opportunity is in your Sales process. It is a powerful tool for managing the Sales process, making informed decisions, and knowing when to take action to improve your sales performance.
Once the sales process, swim lanes, opportunity categories and some other items are set up to everyone’s agreeance – widgets and dashboards can be built specifically for management of the sales piece of your organization.
In our coaching we suggest making a dashboard that reflects widgets that showcase the actual sales process for each type of opportunity. This means you have widgets that showcase opportunities in their various stages. We also include “last touched” metrics so a sales manager can review aging opportunities (just as you would review and follow up on aging tickets).
The widgets and dashboards can provide a single view of all opportunities across all categories and their current stage. This is a powerful piece of information that can be used to provide resource allocation planning, sales forecasting, business planning and of course, accountability for your sales people.
When it comes to the Best-in-Class Sales Dashboard, there are three groups of widgets:
1) Current, Past, and Lost New Client Opportunities
2) Sales Opportunity Pipeline
3) Projects and Block Hours nearing completion
Current, Past, and Lost New Client Follow-Ups
Having a set of widgets for Current Clients, Past Clients, and Lost New Client Opportunities sorted by an Account level UDF “Last Reach Out Date” is a must.
This way, the Salesperson can track the last time they communicated with the Client/Prospect on a relationship level, listening for new sales opportunities. The reach-out is less about pitching some sort of Opportunity and more about reminding the contact that the Salesperson exists and that if they need something, we are here to help.
The concept depends heavily on the fact that, in order to hear of new sales opportunities, you need to be in communication with the contact.
Sales Opportunity Pipeline
This is a series of widgets moving from Introduction to right before the Opportunity is Won or Not Ready to Buy (we never lose), sorted by the projected close date. We do not need a widget for every Stage in the Sales Pipeline, but we need more, a set of responsibilities for every set of responsibilities. For example:
1) Intro Call, Qualification, and Budget Review are all owned by the Salesperson
2) Network Assessment, Scope of Work, and Final Review are owned by Sales Engineering
3) Build of Materials are owned by Procurement
4) Clarifications, Draft Proposal, and Presenting to the Client are owned by the Salesperson
The beauty of having the Sales Pipeline laid out in this fashion is that the opportunities needing attention can be identified quickly in a single glance.
Projects and Block Hours Nearing Completion
The last set is to assist with a lack of communication pain-point between Service Delivery and Sales. So many times, a project is completed, or a block of hours are depleted, and new sales opportunities go unnoticed until the Salesperson overhears a conversation at the water cooler or in the break room.
Final Thoughts:
What if your Service Delivery Team was in sync with Sales, and opportunities were identified and passed on through Autotask? You don’t need as many Glengarry Leads when you are selling to existing Clients. (nor when you are managing the external leads well).
The best part is by identifying these Opportunities. You are making money while helping the Client have a better, more efficient business (you know, the stuff you promised them you’d do when they signed on the dotted line?)
This process looks a little different for every MSP, but it involves training in Autotask, how to identify these opportunities, not be sleazy, and work together as a unified Team for the common good of the Client (and your wallets).
Your turn! What to do next…
That was a lot, I know. But MSPs don’t grow their sales 3-5x in a year from a pamphlet. And you won’t grow if you don’t act. The first thing I want Sales Pros to do is to forward this to your Owners. Owners and Techs forward to your Sales Pros. Then call a meeting for Monday and get to work leveraging the PSAutomation in Autotask to “Grow Your MSP in ’23!”
Back to the Movie:
Seriously, don’t be like the bums in the movie – get your MSPs Sales Process rocking with the whole Team on board. You don’t have to have the Glengarry leads to be a success (they help), but you do need a plan, a process, and perhaps someone who already knows the way.
And hey, if you get stuck, know that we’re always here for you. We have a sleazy, Alec Baldwin-type character awaiting your call (just kidding). Seriously, if my team can be of help, reach out to info@AGMSPCoaching.com anytime.
The elephant in the room:
How do we know what we know? Because we are not philosophers! We are hands-on "How To" coaches that everyday guide MSPs on how to thrive by:
1) Fully leveraging the Autotask software
2) Providing the "Best in Class" Standard Operating Procedures
3) Leveraging Autotask Live Reports holding everyone accountable
We are Thinkers and Doers with 49+ years of working for MSPs, bringing real Bottom-Line Improvements, change, profitability, and Best in Class performance.
Here are a few bullet points to let anyone interested know who we are and what we do:
1) We Are – the Autotask Global Service Delivery Authority
2) We Help – MSPs thrive
3) We Solve – Service Delivery issues, inefficiencies, and challenges by making sure that:
a. MSPs know what they don't know
b. Techs know what to work on next
c. Someone is managing all open tickets and driving them to completion
d. The Client has a great client experience
e. Real-Time Time Entry is a cultural habit
f. Projects are completed On-Time and On-Budget
g. Profit is maximized
h. Autotask is being fully leveraged
i. The staffing levels are correct, and the workload is balanced
j. The historical data that is in the Autotask software is accessible to benchmark, track & USE effectively
k. The Service Delivery operations can scale
l. The Company can grow
4) Our Tools:
a. Autotask "Best in Class" standard build
b. Our MSP robust Service Delivery SOP library
c. Advanced Live Reports
d. Expertise in providing a transformational experience
Note: We are not philosophers; we are doers with 49+ years of Service Delivery experience, bringing real Service Delivery Improvement change, profitability, and Best in Class performance.
We start by offering a FREE No-Obligation PSA Configuration Evaluation.
To your success.