New Educational Resource From CompTIA Offers Strategies For Building Managed Services Sales Teams

A new educational resource to help managed services providers (MSPs) address one of their biggest business challenges was released recently by CompTIA, the information technology (IT) industry association.

The CompTIA Quick Start Guide to Managing a Managed Services Sales Organization informs readers of the major tasks involved in building a successful sales organization. The free guide includes insights into best practices employed by some of the most successful companies in the managed services market.

“Managed services represent a monumental shift in the IT services industry, providing an opportunity for higher margins and stable monthly income through recurring service revenue,” said Kelly Ricker, senior vice president, events and education, CompTIA. “But the shift from transactional product sales to selling service contracts is a challenge for many companies.”

Case in point: An August 2014 CompTIA survey of 350 IT companies found that 34 percent of channel firms expected to undertake major changes to their sales and marketing approaches in the coming year. Another 45 percent anticipated at least minor changes in the sales and marketing practices. The impetus: The shift away from product-based reselling to greater reliance on recurring services revenue.

“Our new Quick Start Guide – based on the expertise of some of best performers in the MSP market – identifies the steps companies should take to build a high-performing sales team,” Ricker said.

The guide identifies seven areas that companies must address to build and maintain a strong sales team:

• Targeting the right market.
• Creating a sales process that differentiates the business.
• Choosing the right sales team.
• Grounding the sales team in a strong managed services knowledge base.
• Motivating the sales team with the right compensation system.
• Employing technology to make sales and service more efficient.
• Enabling sales through professional aligned sales collateral and robust marketing.

The CompTIA Quick Start Guide to Managing a Managed Services Organization is available simply by visiting http://www.comptia.org/insight-tools. The publication is the latest example of CompTIA’s commitment to provide the IT industry with no-cost access to a wide selection of web-based content to help companies and individuals make more informed decisions.

CompTIA is the voice of the world’s IT industry. For more information, visit CompTIA online (http://www.comptia.org/).