Solid reseller sales strategies for non-sales people

CommerceCategory
3 min read
Peter Blau

Are you nervous every time you make a new business call?  Would you be the first on the pre-order list to buy a robo-salesman?  You’re not alone. Many other GoDaddy resellers also got started because they’re really good at technology and service, not because they are sales and marketing gurus.

So, what are some solid reseller sales strategies for non-sales people? We talked to Chris McLoughlin, co-owner and sales director of Accucom Consulting, Inc., a Westport, Connecticut-based IT services and application software firm that has been consistently growing for 25 years.

“The single biggest sales challenge we face is getting our proposals approved.”

Reseller sales strategies you can try

  1. Always have a scaled-down fallback to each proposal. Clients routinely ask for the costliest solutions, like putting all their business applications into the cloud. “The single biggest sales challenge we face is getting our proposals approved,” McLoughlin says. “Clients ask for the world, but they only want to pay for the moon.” McLoughlin bids on the full requested solution, as well as on a less-expensive alternative delivering only the highest-priority functionality.
  2. Tightly focus on your key vertical industry. McLoughlin’s firm, Accucom, traditionally served the financial, legal, and municipal markets but discovered that a subset of municipalities — public safety — was the fastest-growing and most profitable. As a result, they acquired two specialist software companies serving police, fire, and EMS departments. But you don’t have to acquire a company to focus on key industry verticals. Instead, create marketing campaigns — with content and product offerings—that relate to your target industry.
  3. Provide proven, industry-standard solutions. While there are always trendy new applications, McLoughlin emphasizes proven products. “Selling best practices isn’t just about emailing some useful articles, it’s also about using the most trusted providers: like Microsoft, Cisco, Citrix, VMware, Adobe, and GoDaddy,” McLoughlin says.
  4. Present at local events and promote referrals. In the time it takes to make a few cold calls, you could demo before a whole association, Chamber of Commerce, or Meetup group, potentially generating several opportunities. McLoughlin presents regularly at regional police groups and gets permission to email members before and after the event to maximize leads. Don’t forget referrals. It’s easy to ask your existing clients if they’ll refer friends and colleagues. When they do, it’s a far easier sale.
  5. Make every service visit a selling opportunity. McLoughlin and his team make a point of going beyond the requested service to identify potential upgrades and new products to improve customer productivity or security – and then come back with a quote.
  6. Manage by the numbers. Whether it’s online, phone, or in person, track how much each selling effort is costing you and what you get in return. Use your web analytics to see where people are browsing. Use applications like GoDaddy’s email marketing, and track your open and click-through rates. Then, improve those results by heavying-up on what’s working, and cutting out what’s not.

Have questions? Need help?  The GoDaddy reseller support team is here for you.

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