I failed three times to hire sales reps at my MSP.
At the time, I had a couple million dollars in revenue. I was moving fast. I had commitments on the road, in my community, and to my family. Sales, while vitally important to an MSP’s health, was a “task.” Like professional services, continuity and security, and even the help desk, it needed to leave my daily calendar for us to grow.
Ian Richardson
These days, I have conversations that remind me of my story. MSP leaders will hire someone in a sales role or outsource to a third-party provider. The effort will fail, resources will be expended, and ROI is dubious at best. It’s an example of nonfunctional sales paired with a lack of leadership.
How can you avoid this cyclical outcome of sales team investment with lack of return?
About five years ago, I met a friend who clued me in on a key revelation: Sales professionals need process, training, and coaching. They don’t walk in and magically fix problems. The reason why so many MSPs fail at hiring in sales was a lack of onboarding.
Onboarding is Routine for MSPs
Onboarding is “business as usual” for MSPs. Each time an MSP lands a customer, they run through an onboarding process. They deploy the stack, document their network and workflows, and train users on how to interact with their service.
New technologies and integrations also are onboarded routinely. MSPs scope out those technologies, create processes to install and support them, and roll them out. The biggest lesson in this is that onboarding goes best when you follow a plan.
Onboarding Plans
Whether for a new customer or a project for a new technology, planning helps immensely.
A good onboard plan includes:
- What are we doing?
- Who is involved?
- Who does what?
- When do they do it?
- How do they do it?
- Who is impacted by it?
- How will we communicate it?
- What does “good” look like for it?
- What happens when something goes wrong?
The plan helps smooth the experience for everyone involved in the process.
Next Up
Another thing MSPs routinely do successfully is onboard new engineers or technicians into the organization. Onboarding helps with people, alongside customers and technologies.
To prepare to onboard your first sales rep, first review the systems and processes used to onboard technical talent. What modules stay the same regardless of role? What will you need to develop internally before adding a new role? Once you identify the gaps, consider your own knowledge base and build your own learning path. You can’t transmit something you don’t have.
Ian Richardson is a partner at Fox & Crow Group. He is a nationally recognized leader in managed services. If you’re struggling to set up sales engines, contact him and his partner Carrie Richardson. For more great insights, check out Fox & Crow Group’s author page here.
Image: iStock
