Are you a Bum or a Closer? PART 2
Here’s what you’ll learn today:
Sleazy salespeople…and Service Delivery?
3 Benefits to Categories
Opportunity Form Templates, f/k/a Speed Codes
Incoming email processing
Work with Workflow Rules
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).
1 – It’s all about the leads. Glengarry leads are the ones every salesperson wants – those top prospects. In the movie, the characters were willing to beg, bribe, and even steal to get those leads. So, you need a good MSP Marketing and referral system. But we’re not going to talk about marketing today.
2 – A-B-C. Always be closing. This directive is hammered on the movie characters over and over…and over. Always look for opportunities to make that deal. So the MSP team needs to always be on the lookout for opportunities – this includes the TECHS and the receptionist.
If Bob, the Client, wonders if a laptop dock might improve productivity, your team should be listening and offering to help. (Note: we do not mean sleazy, unethical methods here). Every old Linksys 4-port hub under a desk is an opportunity, and every work-from-home person complaining about the pain of something to the Receptionist/Service Coordinator/Janitor/Wiring Tech is an opportunity that just needs to be acted upon.
Keep paying attention, Techs – many MSPs pay commission on everything you sell. But we’re not going to talk today about how you can craft your sales pitch.
300+ words in, I bet you are wondering what the heck we ARE going to talk about? Didn’t I promise you that 2023 was the year of articles showing you a blueprint to growth with immediately actionable things you can implement and have done THIS year?
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
Opportunity Form Templates (Speed Codes):
Form Templates are great for:
Creating tickets, tasks, time entries, and opportunities
Updating tickets, tasks, time entries, and opportunities
I find it best to create a new Form Template when I realize I have created the same or similar ticket, task, time entry, or Opportunity some time in recent memory.
The minute I realize that I have recently created one, I stop and create a Form Template instead and then use the Form Template to create the ticket, task, time entry, and Opportunity. In the time it takes to create something from scratch, you can create the Form Template, and then going forward, you save loads of time using the Form Template (they will always be speed codes to me.)
A note about using a speed code to update an existing ticket, task, time entry, and Opportunity, the Speed Code will overwrite any field that it has data for, but if the Speed Code field is empty, the Speed Code will not erase the field in the ticket, task, time entry, or Opportunity.
Hopefully, you took note that Speed Codes/Form Templates are awesome for EVERY position in the MSP and not just the Sales Pro.
For Sales, I would create a Speed Code for each swim lane (small, project lite, project, and New Managed Service Client). Then copy the Speed Code for specific opportunities that surface during the normal work week. For example:
One for a Single PC and one for multiple PCs
One for a New Client Employee and one for a small Off365 migration
One for a New Azure environment and one for a Network Upgrade
One for a small Managed Service Client, one for a medium size Managed Service Client, and one for a large Managed Service Client
Remember that a specific Speed Codes must be created for every Opportunity that needs to be created regularly; these are created as needed. Creating a whole library, hoping you will need them someday, is not the best use of your time.
For example, here at Advanced Global, we have an opportunity speed code..err Form Template for everything in our rate card, including the Free No-Obligation PSA Configuration Evaluation.
Incoming Email Processing:
Unfortunately, the Incoming Email Processing is not connected to the CRM module, but it does work great for creating Service Delivery Tickets. For example:
When a Network Assessment is needed.
When a Scope of Work is needed to be created or ready for final review.
When an opportunity closes, and you need the Team to prepare for deployment.
Workflow Rules:
When it comes to PSAutomation, the knee-jerk reaction is to think of Workflow Rules (WFRs). Unlike on the Service Delivery side of the house, where Workflow Rules offer tons of flexibility, on the Sales side, there only seems to be one – send an Email Notification to the Service Delivery Team asking for Sales Engineering support.
The concept here is to ask the Sales personnel to change one field in the Opportunity, and the change will trigger Workflow Rules to make other changes and send emails.
Note: when we talk about sending emails, we are not talking about to people. We all get too many emails, so we naturally set up Outlook rules to move the emails from Autotask to a folder, never to be seen again, or to just delete them. A much better way of notifying people is thru the Dashboard Widgets rather than sending an email.
The best use of WFRs for the Sales process is to send an email to the Support@yourmsp.com which uses Incoming Email Processing to create a Service Request (Ticket) for Service Delivery.
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.