"Preparation is the foundation for any level of achievement" - Billy Cox 

Each and every day we prepare for the day ahead. We wake up, shower, get dressed, have a coffee and breakfast, get in the car and drive to work. Sometimes you have to get gas in your car or stop along the way.  But, generally speaking, you know ahead of time so you are prepared to make those stops.

As MSPs we train and prepare to support our client’s technology and infrastructures. What happens when something blows up and you’re not prepared to deal with the situation? For example, a server goes down and your server tech is on another service call, out sick or on vacation. What would you do? Are you prepared to handle those situations?  If you don’t have anyone to help you out with the server problem it’s as if your business is sitting alone in the middle of the ocean on a life raft that is slowly losing air and sinking. This is what happens when you aren’t prepared to deal with such emergencies.

Now, let’s look at the same scenario but this time you had your server tech document the troubleshooting steps in your PSA ahead of time, you arranged for a backup server contractor or you contracted with a firm like Third Tier to help you out. You made a game plan and you are prepared. The best part of this scenario is that your client will not know the difference, they will keep on running and because they never experience service interruptions you will have achieved their loyalty...forever!

Being prepared in the business of IT is very important these days. By establishing processes in your service delivery to overcome these sorts of obstacles is extremely important.  But, what about sales side? There is a process to selling isn’t there? Of course there is!

The sales process beings with the first meeting, phone call, post card...the first communication. How you communicate to the prospect in the first 30-seconds sets the tone if they are going to do business with you.

As always, there is a story behind this one. A partner that I coach just hired a new sales person to sell to health care providers. We were talking about how they weren’t getting anywhere as a result of the phone calls. I asked, “What is the sales person saying to the prospect?” The sales person was asking questions like, what are you doing for IT services? Have you heard about Electronic Health Records are you looking to move in that direction? I said, “Well, there is your problem.” I told him that they weren’t asking the right questions or showing a benefit to their company. Of course they are trying to get you off the phone quicker than they can say no thanks. I gave them a quick lesson in how to speak friendly to the new prospect, low and behold; they got meetings with new prospects.

I always tell people be prepared with what you are going to say before you say it. If you are going to be successful at selling, delivering IT services or pretty much anything in life, BE PREPARED.

All the best in success,

Stu