Client Personas

Client Personas

• One of the key sales skills is to build many

different relationships in our accounts.
• Each different role or persona within a client
can possibly have budget for IT project or
they can be an influencer.
• C-level (CEO, CFO, COO, CIO)
• Each of these Chief roles are the primary
influencers of the company's overall
direction.
• These are the individuals with the most
power within an account and are some of the
most important relationships we can build.
Business Roles
Some of the other critical business roles within an organization
include the heads of: HR, Marketing, Sales, Facilities, Manufacturing,
Medical, etc.
Each of these will have their own challenges around the business
and technology. They can be solid influencers, but many of these
departments also have their own IT budget.
In SLED accounts you will have various other leadership roles
(Examples: Super Intendent, Dean, Lt. Gov)
 IT Roles
CIO
A good CIO helps drive the organizations revenue and
This is the overall executive head of IT. productivity through the use of technology,
while reducing their risk.

IT Director (IT Manager)

Many IT sellers spend a lot of time with these They manage the IT team to work on new initiatives,
individuals as they are responsible for the day-to-day ensure the IT environment is up and running, handle
management of the client’s IT environment. cyber security and communications.

Network Admin, LAN Admin, Communications Specialist, Security Officer, Security

Engineer, Help Desk Technician are all common roles that report up to the IT Director.
How We Make Money
How We Make Money
• Most manufacturer reps are paid a percentage of revenue.
• Most partner reps are paid a percentage of margin.
• For a manufacturer, the company is making profit from the sales of their
solutions after they remove all the costs to develop, market and sell those
solutions.
• A lot of this overhead is a trade secret, so the reps typically wouldn’t know what
the actual margin is.
• For a partner, they are actually buying the solutions from the manufacturer
and then marking the price of those solutions up (their margin) for sale to the
customer.
Partner Rep Example
• Cisco has a list price solution for $100K
• The partner buys this from Cisco at a 50% discount,
their cost is $50K
• The partner marks this up to $60K and sells it to their
customer
• The partner makes $10K in GP (Gross Profit).
• The partner seller receives a percentage of this GP
($10K) as their commission.
 • If a manufacturer rep has a $10M goal and their
commission is 1% of the revenue they would make
$100K in commission by hitting their goal.
• Their OTE (On Target Earnings) would include their
Manufacturer base salary plus this 1% ($100K) in commission.
• If a rep has a $1M list price deal and they provide the
Rep Example partner a 50% discount ($500k cost to the partner)
at 1% they are making $5,000.
• In this scenario for every 10% ($100k) in discount they
provide to the partner they are giving up $1,000 in
commission.
Intro to Prospecting
 • Sales prospecting is the process of identifying and
qualifying potential customers or prospects who have a
need for a product or service and may be interested in
making a purchase.
• It is a crucial step in the sales process, where sales
professionals or teams actively search for and evaluate
leads to determine their suitability as potential
What is customers.
Prospecting • Sales prospecting typically involves research, outreach,
and engagement efforts to initiate conversations and
build relationships with individuals or businesses who
are likely to benefit from the offered products or
services.
• The goal of sales prospecting is to create a pool of
qualified leads that can be further nurtured and
eventually converted into paying customers.
 • For many new sellers they won’t have existing
accounts to sell into, so they will need to
prospect for new accounts.
• Prospecting comes in many varieties:
• Cold Call

Prospecting •
•
Cold Email
Email Campaign

Basics •
•
Social Media
Events and Seminars
• Door to door
• Snail mail
• Voice mail
• Text messaging
• Networking groups
Prospecting

Prospecting is a skill that can be developed.

A best practice is to track your activity.

Most sellers fail at prospecting because their volume is too low, or they give up too soon.

You can get warm leads by leveraging your existing network.

Eco-system partners (like manufacturers) can also provide warm leads into accounts.
 The best prospectors have these traits:
• A researched list of target clients
• Data tracking of their attempts
• Volume tracking and volume goals
What Good • A set list of steps or cadence they take
• Highly leverage their network
Prospecting • Highly leverage their eco-system
• Prioritize it above other activities
Looks Like • Have a script, but don’t sound like they are
reading from it
• Master objection handlers
• Social Media masters
• Have set / net new meeting goals per week
Intro to IT Sales
 IT or Information Technology Sales refers to the process of
selling technology-related products and services to businesses
and individuals.

This can include:

What is • Hardware
• Software
• Networking Solutions

IT Sales • IT Consulting Services

IT sales professionals work to understand their

clients' needs and provide them with
appropriate technology solutions to meet those
needs.
 Why IT Sales
• Lucrative Earnings: IT sales can offer substantial earning potential, including commissions and bonuses
for successful sales professionals. The technology industry is known for its competitive compensation
packages.
• Constant Demand: Information technology is an integral part of businesses today, and the demand for IT
products and services remains steady. This means a stable job market for IT sales professionals.
• Diverse Product Portfolio: IT sales cover a wide range of products and services, from software and
hardware to cloud solutions and cybersecurity. This diversity can keep the job interesting and provide
opportunities for specialization.
• Problem-Solving: IT sales often involves understanding complex technological challenges and finding
solutions for clients. If you enjoy problem-solving and creative thinking, IT sales can be rewarding.
• Career Growth: IT sales can offer a clear path for career progression. Starting as a
sales representative, you can move up to roles like sales manager, account executive,
or sales director.
• Networking Opportunities: Building relationships with clients, colleagues, and partners is a fundamental
part of IT sales. This can lead to valuable networking opportunities that may benefit your career.
 Why IT Sales
• Learning and Innovation: The tech industry is dynamic and always evolving. In IT sales, you'll
continuously learn about new technologies and innovations, which can be intellectually
stimulating.
• Flexibility: Many IT sales roles offer flexibility in terms of work arrangements. You may have the
option to work remotely, which can improve work-life balance.
• Global Opportunities: IT is a global industry, so there are opportunities to work with clients and
companies worldwide. This can be appealing if you're interested in international business.
• Transferable Skills: The skills you develop in IT sales, such as communication, negotiation, and
market analysis, can be valuable in various other professions, providing you with versatile career
options.
• Positive Impact: By helping businesses find the right technology solutions, you can make a positive
impact on their efficiency and competitiveness.
• Personal Growth: IT sales can challenge you to develop your interpersonal skills, resilience, and
self-confidence, contributing to personal growth.
 • A manufacturer or vendor is the company
that creates the IT software or hardware
solutions.
• Some examples: Cisco, Microsoft, PAN,
Dell/EMC, VMWare, AWS, NetApp, Hpe
Manufacturers
• A partner or reseller is the company that
and Partners resells the manufacturer solutions to end
customers. Many partners add their own
value-added services to these solution.
• An example: A partner sells an HPe server to a
customer and they add their own professional
services to install this solution
Prospecting Meetings
 Prospecting Meetings

• It’s very common when doing cold outreach that your first meeting will actually just be more prospecting.
At this point, the potential client may not know much about your company or your offerings.
• Many of these first meetings can be as short as 15-minutes.
• A common prospecting strategy is to ask for a shorter amount of time when trying to setup meetings.
Think of this as more of a meet and greet versus a real meeting.
• Most of these meetings happen as a phone call or web conference.
• A prospecting meeting won’t follow the typical meeting sales flow like the 5 phases of a meeting
approach. Although there are some commonalities.
• Sometimes a prospecting meeting will happen during the initial cold call. This isn’t recommended until
you are comfortable enough to run this call yourself without any prep.
• If you have a client showing some interest and you can keep them talking, there are times when we can
flow into the initial intro meeting on the spot.
 • Given that you may only have 10 to 15 minutes,
it’s important you get to the point, but don’t skip
basic relationship building.
• Many of these initial calls will go well past the
allotted time if the client likes you and they are
showing interest.
Best Practices • Be prepared to leave a buffer of time between
these types of calls to allot for runover.
• If you have a potential client that wants to keep
talking, it’s best to do so.
• When possible, research before these initial
meetings.
 Research

1 2 3 4
Before a prospecting Understand their Find out what you Use your eco-system
meeting you need to organization (use can about them (use partners for any
spend considerable their website). social media). additional data.
time researching the
client.
 • 3 minutes in relationship building
• Ask about them, find commonalities.
• 5 minutes to ask them questions

Flowing a • About their role, their team, their environment, or their

challenges.
15-minute • Have your questions prepared ahead of time.
Meeting • Unlike a meeting with an existing client, we want to
quickly pivot to challenge type questions.
Example • Examples:
• What are some of the projects you have coming up?
• Where does your team spend their time?
• What are some of the challenges your facing?
• What are some of your goals?
• Any of these could be good questions that could open
an opportunity.
 • 5 minutes reviewing yourself, your company, and your
Flowing a offerings.
• If the client gave answers to your probing questions, then
15-minute as you are presenting you can reference back to this.
Meeting • 2 minutes closing.

Example • At this point you want to secure the next meeting. The
real meeting. Hopefully, you found at least one area you
can help them with.
• Always send the calendar invite while you are still on the
call with them.
• Ask for an hour (be willing to fall back to 30 min)
Sales Roles
 • Within IT Sales there are many different personas or types of
roles you will need to interact with.
• Sales representative
• Also known as: Sales Rep, AM (Account Manager),
or CE (Client Executive).
• This is typically the primary person responsible for selling
IT solutions into organizations (accounts).

Sales Roles • Sales manager

• Also known as: RM (Regional Manager) or Sales Director.
• Higher titles include: Sales Director, VP or SVP of Sales. This person
typically manages a team of sales reps.
• Pre-sales engineer
• Also known as: SE (Systems Engineer), Architect, or Sales Engineer.
• These individuals partner with sales reps to provide the technical
sale to the client.
 • BDR - Business Development Rep
• Also known as: SDR (Sales Development Rep) or Inside Sales.
• These individuals are typically responsible for prospecting and
setting up meetings.
• Sales Support
• Also known as: Inside Sales, Inside Sales Rep, Inside Rep,
or Inside Support
• These individuals are typically responsible for supporting a sales rep
Sales Roles or team of reps.
• There responsibilities can include: Creating customer quotes,
tracking customer orders, communicating tracking information to
clients, being a first support call, along with many other tasks.
• Product Specialist
• Also known as: Solution Specialist, Product Sales Specialist (PSS), or
Specialist.
• These are sales roles that typically provide sales overlay or deep
business support on specific solution sets.
Manufacturers
• While most manufacturers will sell through a reseller.
• Keep in mind the manufacturer has their own sales team as well.
• These sellers can certainly work directly with customers to: Identify opportunities,
position their solution and ultimately convince the customer to buy their solutions.
• For most accounts they will typically need to then work with resellers to provide the
actual quote to the customer. Because of this manufacturers often have a channel sales
role.
• Channel sellers are responsible for developing resellers.
• They are also called Channel Account Managers or Partner Account Managers.
 Most partners or resellers also have a lot of post-sales
engineering roles. These teams are responsible for the
configuration and implementation of the solutions the
manufacturers create.

Post-sales engineers (Architects, SEs) only get involved

after a sale is finalized. They are part of the partners
Partners operations team.

Many partners also offered managed services.

These are ongoing services where a client is typically
outsources part of the management of their
IT environment to the partner.
Why the Channel
 • In IT sales, "the channel" typically refers to the
sales channel or distribution channel.
• It represents the various intermediaries and
What is the entities involved in the process of selling
technology products and services from
Channel manufacturers or vendors to end customers.
• The IT sales channel can be a complex network
of businesses and partners that help bring IT
solutions to market.
The Channel Breakdown
• Resellers: These are businesses or individuals who purchase IT products and services from manufacturers or distributors
and then sell them to end customers. Resellers can include VARs (Value-Added Resellers), system integrators, and retailers.
• Distributors: Distributors are intermediaries that buy products from manufacturers in bulk and then sell them to resellers.
They often provide logistical and supply chain support, making it easier for resellers to access a wide range of products.
• OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers): OEMs produce components, equipment, or software that other companies
use as part of their own products. They may sell directly to manufacturers or through distributors.
• Channel Partners: These are companies or organizations that collaborate with vendors to sell their products or services.
Channel partners often have expertise in a specific technology niche and work closely with vendors to reach customers
effectively.
• Value-Added Distributors (VADs): VADs are distributors that offer additional value through services such as technical
support, training, and marketing assistance to resellers and end customers.
• System Integrators: System integrators specialize in combining various IT products and services to create comprehensive
solutions for clients. They often work with large enterprises to design, implement, and maintain complex IT systems.
• Managed Service Providers (MSPs): MSPs offer ongoing IT services, such as network management, cybersecurity, and
cloud computing, on a subscription basis. They can be considered part of the IT sales channel when they resell technology
solutions to businesses.
• Consultants: IT sales consultants provide expert advice to businesses looking to make technology-related purchasing
decisions. They can help clients select the right solutions and navigate the IT sales process.
Manufacturers and the Channel
While manufacturers have their own sales teams many sell through resellers, why is this?
• Market Reach: Resellers have established relationships with a wide range of customers in various industries. They can
access markets and customer segments that the manufacturer might not have direct access to. This enables the
manufacturer to reach a broader customer base without having to build an extensive sales and distribution network
themselves.
• Customer Expertise: Resellers often specialize in specific technology niches or industries. They have in-depth knowledge
of their customers' needs, preferences, and pain points. This expertise allows them to provide valuable guidance and
support to customers, helping them select the right products and solutions.
• Logistical Support: Resellers can handle various logistical aspects of the sales process, including inventory management,
order processing, and delivery. This relieves manufacturers of the burden of managing these operations and allows them
to focus on product development and innovation.
• Local Presence: Resellers may have a physical presence in different geographic regions. This is particularly valuable for
manufacturers looking to expand into global or regional markets without the need for establishing their own physical
offices or distribution centers.
• Customer Relationships: Resellers often have long-term relationships with their customers. This trust and familiarity can
make it easier to introduce new products from the manufacturer and promote upselling or cross-selling opportunities.
Manufacturers and the Channel
• Sales Expertise: Resellers have experienced sales teams that are skilled in selling IT products and services.
Manufacturers can benefit from the reseller's sales expertise, which can lead to more effective and efficient sales
processes.
• After-Sales Support: Resellers can provide customer support, maintenance, and service for the products they sell.
This can enhance the customer experience and reduce the manufacturer's post-sales support responsibilities.
• Reduced Costs: Leveraging resellers can be a cost-effective way for manufacturers to expand their market
presence. They don't have to invest as heavily in building a large direct sales force or a global distribution network.
• Focus on Core Competencies: By partnering with resellers, manufacturers can focus on their core competencies,
such as research and development, product innovation, and quality assurance, while leaving the sales and
distribution aspects to experts in those areas.
• Brand Exposure: Partnering with reputable resellers can increase the manufacturer's brand exposure and
credibility in the market. Resellers can help promote the manufacturer's products and build brand recognition.
Business Discovery
Phase 2 – Business Discovery
• In the business discovery phase of the meeting, you want to ask current state discovery
questions that involve the business.
• This phase will help you gain an understanding of:
• Their organization
• Their employees
• Their business focus areas
• Their goals or mission
• Their role and team
• Their facilities
• Their competitors
• Their financials
Business Discovery
• Every time we have a meeting with the client, we should be able to
prepare in advance and have a list of some business discovery
questions we can ask.
• The amount of time you spend in this phase will vary depending on
who you are meeting with and how much time you have.
• Example – If you are meeting with a line of business leader, outside
of IT, then you would spend more time in this phase than technical
discovery. While the reverse may be true if you are meeting with an
IT Director.
Business Research
• You should be always researching your
clients for the latest news and business
updates.
• Their website is usually a good resource.
• In the next slide we will review some
examples of business discovery questions.
However, if you prepare ahead of time,
you should know some of these answers.
• If prepared before the meeting, you can
confirm the information you found rather
than asking it.
Examples of Questions
• Give me an overview of your organization…
• What are some of the business priorities?
• Tell me about your role…
• Tell me about your team…
• How many employees do you have?
• How many locations do you have?
• Optionally – Where are they located?
• Who would you consider your major
competitor?
• Have you made any recent acquisitions?
Closing Phase
 In the closing phase of the meeting
your main goal is to secure a follow-
up meeting with the client to talk
about something new.
Phase 5 –
Closing Phase This could be your pre-sales team
educating the client on new
technologies or it could just be a
discussion about a possible
opportunity.
 In the closing phase we may need
to give a value statement of how
we can help the client.

We may also have to handle

Value possible objections that arise.

Pro tip: Never leave any meeting

without scheduling a follow-up
meeting on the spot.
Closing Phase Flow

At this point in the meeting, you’ve already qualified potential opportunities. If

you’ve asked the client a lot of questions about the potential opportunity, so
now you can take your value statement, pitch, or story to tie it back into what
the client had already told you.
 You mentioned that you aren’t too familiar
with SD-WAN, but you’re willing to look into it.
It’s not a fit for everyone, but a lot of our
clients have fully eliminated MPLS in favor of
multiple Internet connections with SD-WAN.
For some clients, it’s not just about cost
savings, but the ability to prioritize their most
Example important business applications and enhance
security, which are some other big factors to
consider.
Can we schedule a follow-up meeting so my
Pre-sales engineer can just give you a little bit
of education of what some of our other clients
are experiencing, some of the pros and cons,
and what’s out there on the market?
Discovery VS Opportunity
Types of Questions
• Understanding there are different types of questions we can
ask clients and when they should come in your meeting flow,
can make all the difference.
• A common sales fault that many make (even very experienced
sellers) is that they ask too many opportunity questions and
too few discovery questions.
• There are six distinct types of questions:
• Relationship questions
• Business discovery
• Technical discovery
• Opportunity
• Closing
• Scoping
Discovery VS
Opportunity Questions

• In Phase 2 and Phase 3 of a meeting we

should be asking business and technical
discovery questions.
• A discovery question is a “current state”
question.
• What does it look like today?
• Not what do you want it to look like in
the future.
• An opportunity question is:
• About the future, why, goal based,
outcome based, and qualifying.
Some Examples
• Tell me about your role … – Phase 2, Business Discovery
• What do you have in place for SD-WAN? – Phase 3,
Technical Discovery
• Have you considered adding SD-WAN? – Phase 4,
Opportunity
• What are your plans for migrating more to the cloud? –
Phase 4, Opportunity
• What made you decide to purchase __X__? – Phase 4,
Opportunity
• While the last example is current, it’s clearly a qualifying
type question.
Keep in mind, discovery questions are about the client’s
business and environment. While opportunity questions
are more about you and selling.
The Importance
of Discovery
• A common sales fault, most sellers don’t know
enough about their accounts. This is because we
spend too much time talking about the future
and existing opportunities.
• We spend too little time finding out, what does
it look like today.
• Be genuinely curious. GENUINELY
• How hard is it to sell a technology solution to a
client if you don’t even know if they already
have that technology. The answer, pretty darn
hard.
• You can’t sell something if you don’t know what
they already do for that.
• Be GENUINELY curious.
Five Meeting Phases
Meeting Flow
• The hallmark of a great sales is having great
meeting flow.
• If this is your first time or hundredth time meeting
with a customer, it is still critical we prepare ahead
of time for each meeting to maximize our
interactions.
• It is the salesperson’s job to manage the time in
the meeting and redirect the client. That way we
can properly incorporate each phase of the
meeting.
5 Phases of a Meeting
There are five distinct phases in every great meeting.
Phase 1 – Relationship Building and Introduction
Phase 2 – Business Discovery
Phase 3 – Technical Discovery
Phase 4 – Opportunity
Phase 5 – Closing
 • There is no set amount of time that needs to be spent in
each phase.
• There are many factors that will dictate how much time you

Phases should spend in each phase.

• Example 1:

of a
• If you are meeting with a line of business decision
maker, you’ll likely spend more time in
Phase 2 (Business Discovery) than
Phase 3 (Technical Discovery).

Meeting • Example 2:
• If you are meeting with an existing client
to discuss an active project, you will spend
more time in Phase 4 (Opportunity)
than any other phase.
Opportunity Phase
 • There are really two parts to the opportunity
phase.

Phase 4 – • First Part – You should address whatever the

immediate opportunity is. This is typically the

Opportunity whole reason for the meeting, especially if it’s a

follow-up meeting.
• Second Part – You want to bring up any potential
opportunities and qualify them.
Bring Up Potential Opportunities

• Through your business and technical discovery phases you will uncover
some “potential opportunities.” At this point you are essentially taking an
educated guess based on current state discovery as to what the
opportunities might be.
• Now we have to qualify them.
• It’s here where we want to ask who, what, where, when, why, and how
questions.
• It’s here where we want to ask about challenges and develop pain.
Our Goal
• Our real goal in the opportunity phase is to actually
disqualify what we think might be a potential
opportunity.
• Disqualifying is actually a positive thing, as it shrinks
our focus area and actually qualifies the opportunities
that are of interest.
• When you disqualify something that should be seen as
an accomplishment, so give yourself credit for
everything you disqualify.
Opportunity Triage
• Following Discovery, we want to triage the client’s opportunities. There are
several ways we can do this:
• We can identify which opportunity sounded most compelling to the client.
• We can identify them based on their business outcomes.
• We can even start the opportunity phase by asking the client what is most
pressing to them.
Relationship and Intro
Phase 1 –
Relationship Building and Intro
• Every meeting should start with basic relationship building and
then a brief introduction that sets up the purpose of the meeting.
• Depending how well you know the client the amount of time you
spend in this phase will vary, but we should always try to start the
call with some relationship building.
• Every good seller knows that relationships are the most important
part of sales.
Great
Relationships
 • In a new relationship, the client will likely answer
questions you ask them. If you find they aren’t reversing
the questions and asking about you then you can prompt
this.
• Great relationships take time.
• Take that time and be more casual.
• Go above and beyond.
Tips • The more you go above and beyond for your client,
the more they will want to work with you and the
better your relationship will become.
• Outside of work.
• Take them to lunch, dinner, a game or an event.
When you do this avoid work topics unless they bring
them up.
 Example
• You: Did you get out to golf this weekend?
• Client: No, had too much going on this weekend.
• You: What did you have going on?
• Client: Oh, kids sports were non-stop.
• You: Yeah, my son had a basketball game Saturday,
but Sunday I was able to squeeze in a round in the
morning.
Notice in the example the client never asked you a
question, but you told them what you did anyway. Over
time this is a physiological strategy that starts to prompt
someone to ask about you.
 • Do you know the names of their children? This isn’t something
you’d usually find out the first time you meet someone.
However, once you have a better relationship, you’ll start to
learn these things.
• Make note of these items and don’t forget them.
• Knowing the client’s birthday is one thing, but remembering
their kid’s birthdays is a whole other level of your relationship.

Additional
• Again, this comes over time, so be more casual.
• In-person is always better. Yet if you can’t be in-person, then
video is a good fall back.
Tips • Periodically you can send them things or do something nice.
• Match their personally. If you are super upbeat and they are not,
bring it down closer to their level.
• Read the room. Ask them questions about themselves, but don’t
annoy them.
• A layup question: So how did you get into IT?
• These types of questions also give us an opportunity to tell our
version of it.
• Avoid the weather and location, it’s super boring.
Technical Discovery
 • This phase is more of a high-level
landscape or inventory of the various
technical solutions the client has. It is
not meant to be a technical deep dive.
• A common fault is sales reps tend to
Phase 3 – skip this phase of the meeting
especially in follow-up meetings.
Technical Discovery Pre-sales SEs tend to go too deep, too
soon.
• Remember this phase is about gaining
“awareness” and you can’t sell
something to someone if you don’t
know what they have for the solution
already or if they have it.
 • It’s always best to start with a broad
question first.
• Example: Can you give me an overview of
Starting your network?
• That’s a broad question that will get the
Broad client talking.
• After they client answers your broad
question, you will need to then go back and
ask more specifics.
Example
• You: Can you give me an overview of your network?
• Client: Sure. We run Cisco in our network. We have our two main data centers,
one at our HQ and the other at our site in NY. Everything is connected over our
MPLS network. We have redundant Cisco cores at both data centers. Our six
branch sites are smaller, so we just have a router and a 48-port switch at each
of those sites.

At this point you ask a broad question, and the client answered it. Now you
would go in with more pointed questions.

• You: You mentioned you have redundant Cisco cores; what model switches are
you running? How long have you had those in place?
Examples of Technical Discovery Questions
• What do you have in the core of your network?
• What models are they?
How long have they been in place for?
• Do you have distribution layer switching?
• What do you have for access layer switching?
How long have you had those in place for?
• What types of Cisco routers do you have?
How long have they in place for and how many do you have?
A Brief History of
Information Technology
Introduction
The Invention of the Computer

The genesis of IT can be traced back to the

invention of the computer. Initially conceptualized
for computational purposes, early computers like
the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer) laid the groundwork for the digital
revolution. The transition from vacuum tubes to
transistors and subsequently to integrated circuits
marked significant technological leaps,
miniaturizing, and enhancing computing power.
The Era of the
Personal Computer

The introduction of personal

computers (PCs) in the 1970s,
exemplified by the Apple II and
the IBM PC, democratized
computing. PCs brought
computing power to individuals
and small businesses, fostering a
new era of personal productivity
and enterprise applications.
The Power
of Networking
Networking, initially confined within
organizations as Local Area Networks
(LANs), evolved with the creation of
Wide Area Networks (WANs) and the
global phenomenon known as the
Internet. The Internet, stemming from
the ARPANET project, revolutionized
information exchange and
connectivity, laying the foundation for
the digital economy.
 The Internet Protocol (IP), developed by Vint Cerf
and Bob Kahn in the 1970s, revolutionized digital
communication by enabling different computer
networks to interact. This was part of the TCP/IP
suite, a set of protocols that became the
IP (Internet foundation of the internet. IP addresses and
Protocol) routes data packets across diverse networks,
facilitating seamless connectivity. Its
implementation by ARPANET in 1983 marked the
birth of the modern Internet, leading to a new
era of global information exchange and digital
transformation.
 The integration of voice and data networks led
to the advent of VoIP technology, enabling
Voice over IP voice communications over the Internet. This
innovation drastically reduced the cost of
(VoIP) voice communication and integrated it with
digital services, transforming business
communication dynamics.
Virtualization Virtualization emerged as a groundbreaking
technology, allowing multiple virtual machines
to operate on a single physical hardware,
thereby optimizing resource utilization and
reducing costs. This technology is pivotal in
data centers, enabling scalability, flexibility, and
efficient management of IT resources.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing, perhaps the most significant evolution in recent IT
history, involves delivering computing services—including servers,
storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—
over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible
resources, and economies of scale. Businesses of all sizes are leveraging
cloud computing for its scalability, reliability, and cost-efficiency,
transforming their operations and service delivery models.
AI
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the realm of
the Internet and information technology has marked another
revolutionary leap. AI leverages complex algorithms and
machine learning techniques to mimic human cognitive
functions, analyzing vast amounts of data to identify patterns,
make decisions, and predict outcomes. This integration has led
to significant advancements in areas like data analytics,
automation, and personalized user experiences.
Business Outcomes
 Business Outcomes refer to the specific and
measurable results—or benefits—that an
organization aims to achieve through its
investment, initiatives, or the use of a product
Business or service. These outcomes are typically
Outcomes aligned with the organization's overall goals
and objectives, that can include factors such
Defined as increased revenue, reduced costs, reduced
risk, enhanced operational efficiency and
growth.
 Hard Cost Savings

Growth

The 5 Business Risk and Compliance

Outcomes
Revenue, Profit, and Funding

Efficiency and Productivity

 Why Business Outcomes

Positioning business outcomes, rather than just product or service features, is crucial for
IT salespeople for several reasons:
1. Customer-Centric Approach: Focusing on business outcomes shifts the conversation away from the technical
specifications of a product and towards what really matters to the customer – achieving their business objectives. It
demonstrates that the salesperson is genuinely interested in understanding the customer's unique challenges and
needs.
2. Value-Oriented Selling: When you emphasize business outcomes, you are highlighting the value that your product
or service can bring to the customer. This approach allows you to differentiate your offering by showcasing how it can
directly impact the customer's bottom line and help them succeed.
3. ROI Alignment: Business outcomes are closely tied to return on investment (ROI). By demonstrating how your
solution can deliver specific outcomes, you make it easier for the customer to calculate the financial benefits of their
investment, which is a critical factor in decision-making.
4. Solution Customization: Positioning business outcomes encourages salespeople to tailor their solutions to meet
the customer's unique requirements. This personalization enhances the likelihood of meeting or exceeding the
desired outcomes.
 Why Business Outcomes

Positioning business outcomes, rather than just product or service features, is crucial for
IT salespeople for several reasons:
5. Long-Term Relationship Building: Focusing on outcomes rather than just selling a product helps build long-term
customer relationships. Customers are more likely to remain loyal to a vendor that consistently delivers on its
promises of achieving specific business results.
6. Risk Mitigation: IT buyers are often concerned about the risks associated with technology investments. By
highlighting how your solution can address their business challenges and deliver desired outcomes, you help mitigate
their concerns and build trust.
7. Competitive Advantage: In a competitive marketplace, salespeople who can articulate and deliver on the promise
of achieving business outcomes are more likely to win deals. It sets you apart from salespeople who primarily focus on
features.
8. Alignment with Business Strategy: Organizations are more likely to invest in solutions that align with their
strategic goals. Positioning business outcomes demonstrates that your offering is not just a technical solution but a
strategic enabler for the customer.
 • Your customer uses their contact center to sell its
products.
• Today when a client wants to make a purchase,
they call their 800 number and speak with a sales
agent.

Example • The client is interested in adding omni-channel, so

clients can also make inquiries and purchases via
web chat.
• There are two outcomes in this example what are
they?
• Revenue
• Efficiency and Productivity
Collaboration
 Collaboration Solutions Defined
• Phone System: A phone system is a set of hardware and software that allows for voice communication
within an organization. It can include features like call routing, voicemail, and conferencing.
• PBX (Private Branch Exchange): A PBX is a private telephone network used within an organization. It allows
internal and external communication and can route calls within the organization, often including features
like call forwarding and extensions.
• Cloud-Based Phone System: A cloud-based phone system is a phone system hosted and managed in the
cloud. It offers the flexibility of traditional phone systems with the added benefit of cloud-based scalability
and remote management.
• Contact Center: A contact center is a centralized location or software solution for handling customer
interactions, which can include voice calls, email, chat, and more. It is often used for customer support and
sales.
• Quality Management: Quality management software is used to monitor and evaluate the quality of
customer interactions, often in a contact center. It helps organizations ensure that customer service meets
their standards.
 Collaboration Solutions Defined
• Workforce Management: Workforce management software helps organizations optimize the scheduling and
allocation of employees for tasks like customer support, ensuring efficient resource utilization.
• Omni-Channel: Omni-channel communication involves providing consistent and integrated customer
support across various channels such as phone, email, chat, and social media, ensuring a seamless customer
experience.
• Emergency Response: Emergency response solutions involve communication tools and procedures used
during critical situations to ensure the safety of employees and efficient handling of emergencies.
• Paging: Paging systems are used to broadcast messages to individuals or groups within an organization using
paging devices or speakers.
• Web Conference: Web conferencing solutions enable online meetings, presentations, and collaboration,
often including features like video conferencing, screen sharing, and chat.
• Traditional Video Conferencing: Traditional video conferencing solutions involve dedicated hardware and
software for video meetings and collaboration, often used in boardrooms and conference rooms.
 • Phone System
– Cisco (WebEx Calling), Avaya, Mitel, 8x8, Ring Central,
Vonage
• Contact Center
Vendors – Cisco, Avaya, Genesys, Five 9s
• Web Conference
– WebEx, Microsoft Teams, Zoom
• Video
– Polycom, Lifesize, Vidyo
Data Center
What’s a Data Center?
• A data center is the room that houses an
organizations network and data center technology.
• Data center technology (as an architecture) is the
actual infrastructure (like servers and storage) that
sit in this room.
 Data Center Solutions Defined
• Servers: Servers are powerful computers that store, process, and deliver data and applications to other devices, known
as clients, over a network. They are essential for hosting websites, running applications, and managing network
resources.
• Storage: Storage refers to the devices and technologies used to store digital data, such as files, documents, and media. It
can include hard drives, solid-state drives (SSDs), and network-attached storage (NAS) systems. A storage area network
(SAN) is an advanced storage solutions that typically uses the fiber channel storage language.
• Backup: Backup involves creating duplicate copies of data to protect against data loss or system failures. It ensures that
data can be restored in case of accidental deletion, hardware failures, or disasters.
• Data Center Switching: Data center switching involves the use of specialized network switches to connect and manage
the traffic within a data center. These switches facilitate communication between servers, storage, and other networking
components in a data center environment.
• Hypervisor: A hypervisor is software or firmware that enables the creation and management of virtual machines (VMs)
on a physical server. It allows multiple operating systems to run on the same hardware simultaneously, making efficient
use of resources.
 Data Center Solutions Defined
• VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure): VDI is a technology that enables the delivery of virtual desktops to end-users from a
centralized server or data center. It allows users to access their desktop environments and applications remotely,
providing flexibility and central management.
• APM (Application Performance Management): APM is a set of tools and practices used to monitor and optimize the
performance of software applications. It helps identify and resolve performance issues, ensuring applications run
efficiently.
• Data Center Management Software: Data center management software is a suite of tools used to monitor, manage, and
control various aspects of a data center's infrastructure, including servers, storage, networking, and power and cooling
systems.
• Public Cloud: Public cloud refers to cloud computing services offered by third-party providers on a shared infrastructure.
These services, like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, allow users to access and
use computing resources, such as virtual servers and storage, on a pay-as-you-go basis.
• HCI (Hyper-Converged Infrastructure): HCI is an integrated IT solution that combines compute, storage, and networking
resources into a single, scalable platform. It simplifies data center management and can be managed through a unified
interface, offering flexibility and efficiency.
 • Servers
– Dell, HPe, IBM, Cisco
• Storage
– NetApp, EMC, HPe/Nimble, Pure
• DC Switching
– Cisco, Arista, Juniper
• Backup
Vendors – Cohesity, Rubrik, Commvault, Veritas, Veeam
• Hypervisor
– VMware (vSphere), Microsoft (Hyper-V)
• VDI
– Citrix, Microsoft, VMware Horizon
• APM
– Cisco (AppDynamics), Dynatrace, Data Dog, New Relic
• Public Cloud (Hyperscalers IaaS)
– AWS, Azure, GCP
Servers
• Servers come in two form factors.
Rack and blade. The top picture is
a rack mount server. It has its own
network connectivity and power.
• Blade servers (the bottom pic) are
small form factor servers, that sit
inside a chassis with server slots.
They share the chassis’ network
connectivity and power.
Storage

This is a picture of a SAN. A

SAN is a complex network of
disks that use intelligent
software to store your data.
Enterprise Networking
 Enterprise Network Solutions Defined
1 - LAN (Local Area Network):
• Definition: A LAN is a network of interconnected computers and devices within a limited geographic area, such as an office or a building. It
allows for the efficient sharing of resources like files and printers.
2 - WAN (Wide Area Network):
• Definition: A WAN is a network that connects multiple LANs or geographically dispersed locations. It enables data transmission over longer
distances, often using public or private networks.
3 - Router:
• Definition: A router is a networking device that connects different networks, directing data traffic between them. It determines the most
efficient path for data to reach its destination.
4 - Switch:
• Definition: A switch is a networking device that connects devices within a local network. It forwards data to specific devices based on their
MAC (Media Access Control) addresses.
5 - Mobile Device Management (MDM):
• Definition: Mobile Device Management is a solution that allows organizations to securely manage and control mobile devices, such as
smartphones and tablets, used by employees. MDM software enables IT administrators to enforce policies, deploy applications, and protect
corporate data on these devices, ensuring compliance and security.
 Enterprise Network Solutions Defined
6 - Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity):
• Definition: Wi-Fi is a technology that enables wireless local area networking (WLAN), allowing electronic devices to connect to the internet or
a local network without the need for physical cables. Wi-Fi provides internet access and the ability to share data and resources within a
specific area, typically via radio waves.
7 - Core Switching:
• Definition: Core Switching refers to the networking infrastructure that operates at the core or center of a network. It is responsible for high-
speed, high-capacity data forwarding within the network. Core switches facilitate the rapid transmission of data between different segments
of the network, often using technologies like Ethernet or fiber optics. They typically do not perform complex tasks like access control and
routing but focus on efficient data transport.
8 - Distribution Layer Switching:
• Definition: Distribution Layer Switching is a layer within network architecture responsible for aggregating and routing data traffic from various
access layer switches to the core layer. It serves as an intermediate layer that applies policies, access control, and quality of service (QoS)
rules, directing traffic efficiently toward its destination. Distribution switches provide segmentation and control between different network
segments and are crucial for optimizing network performance and security.
 Enterprise Network Solutions Defined
9 - Access Layer Switching:
• Definition: Access Layer Switching is the first point of entry for devices into a network. These switches are located at the edge of the network
and provide connectivity for end-user devices such as computers, phones, and printers. Access layer switches facilitate device connections,
manage VLANs (Virtual LANs), and enforce security policies, ensuring that traffic from end-user devices is efficiently passed to distribution or
core switches for further routing and processing.
10 - SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network):
• Definition: SD-WAN is a technology that uses software to manage and optimize WAN connections, providing better performance, agility, and
cost-effectiveness for connecting remote sites.
11 - Carrier Services:
• Definition: Carrier services, in the context of wide area network connectivity, refer to the telecommunications services provided by a network
carrier or service provider. These services include the infrastructure and technologies that enable data and communication to flow across
wide geographic areas, such as regions, countries, or even globally.
Simple Network Diagram Example
 • Switching/Routing
– Cisco, HPe (Aruba), Juniper, Extreme, Huawei

Common • Wi-Fi
– Cisco and Meraki, Aruba, Ruckus, Juniper (Mist)

vendors • MDM – aka (UEM – Unified End Management)

– VMWare, Microsoft, Ivanti
• SD-WAN
– Cisco (Viptela), Zscaler, VMWare (Velocloud), Fortinet
This is an example of a core switch. This is
a chassis-based switch. It has slots, that line
cards insert into. The line cards contain
ports for both ethernet and fiber
connectivity.
This is an example of access
layer or edge switches. These
switches often have uplink
ports for fiber connectivity and
then access ports for ethernet
connectivity.
This is an example of a router. Your carrier services
connections will terminate into this device
providing a gateway between the LAN and WAN.
This is a wireless access point.
These wireless APs will connect
to a controller that is either on
premise or controlled from the
cloud.
Heat Mapping
Heat Map Defined
A heat map is a tool that provides sales reps and sales managers with a
quick snapshot of their accounts. It quickly shows adoption/penetration
by solution and architecture. It also highlights potential opportunities.
The most important part of a heat map is to help a seller grade their per
account awareness.

Awareness is one of the most common IT sales issues. We simply don’t

know enough of the technology and services being used in our accounts.
We can’t sell if we don’t know.
Heat Map • Green
– You’ve sold that technology to the customer
Colors • Yellow
– Potential Opportunity
• Red
– No Opportunity
• White
– I Don’t Know
Heat Map – Enterprise Network
Heat Map - Collaboration
Heat Map – Data Center
Heat Map - Security
Heat Map – Security
Heat Map – Security
Heat Map
Heat Map
 • You’ll have more pipeline if you simple grow
your awareness.
• Sales psychology: Only focusing on closing
deals can actually demotivate you and take
Gaining your focus off what actually drives
opportunity creation. Grade yourself on
Awareness these things:
• Did I gain enough awareness this week in my
meeting?
• Did I have enough meetings this week (activity
level)?
Heat Map Example – Start of Week Before the Sale Starts
Heat Map Example – End of Week After the Sale
 • Note the awareness didn’t increase for
existing client 3.
• What happened in that meeting that
Heat Map stopped new discovery?
• Is there anything we can try different
Notes next time?
• Note that overall, the awareness gains on
the other meetings are solid. Discovery
isn’t an issue for this rep.
 • Note the awareness didn’t increase for existing client 3.
• What happened in that meeting that stopped new discovery?
Heat Map Notes • Is there anything we can try different next time?
• Note that overall, the awareness gains on the other meetings are solid.
Discovery isn’t an issue for this rep.
 Note Client Notes Example
Discussion
• How do you keep your
notes?

• If you are keeping paper

notes currently, please stop.

• We are IT Sales Professionals

why are we not using
technology?
 • Start by listing all of your active buying accounts in the
heat map on the left column.
• Set an hour aside to go through and heat map your
accounts in detail.
• Now you have your starting baseline of awareness.
• Every day you should update your heat map to create a
Heat Map constant reminder to ask more current state discovery
questions in your meetings. This process typically takes
Best Practices less than one minute per day.
• Do it while it is fresh in your mind. You should always
have a good meeting wrap up time to review your
notes, action items and areas for improvement.
• Overtime your goal is simple: Get all of your accounts to
100% awareness. Awareness always comes before selling
or adoption.
Heat Mapping
Heat Map Defined
A heat map is a tool that provides sales reps and sales managers with a
quick snapshot of their accounts. It quickly shows adoption/penetration
by solution and architecture. It also highlights potential opportunities.
The most important part of a heat map is to help a seller grade their per
account awareness.

Awareness is one of the most common IT sales issues. We simply don’t

know enough of the technology and services being used in our accounts.
We can’t sell if we don’t know.
Heat Map • Green
– You’ve sold that technology to the customer
Colors • Yellow
– Potential Opportunity
• Red
– No Opportunity
• White
– I Don’t Know
Heat Map – Enterprise Network
Heat Map - Collaboration
Heat Map – Data Center
Heat Map - Security
Heat Map – Security
Heat Map – Security
Heat Map
Heat Map
 • You’ll have more pipeline if you simple grow
your awareness.
• Sales psychology: Only focusing on closing
deals can actually demotivate you and take
Gaining your focus off what actually drives
opportunity creation. Grade yourself on
Awareness these things:
• Did I gain enough awareness this week in my
meeting?
• Did I have enough meetings this week (activity
level)?
Heat Map Example – Start of Week Before the Sale Starts
Heat Map Example – End of Week After the Sale
 • Note the awareness didn’t increase for
existing client 3.
• What happened in that meeting that
Heat Map stopped new discovery?
• Is there anything we can try different
Notes next time?
• Note that overall, the awareness gains on
the other meetings are solid. Discovery
isn’t an issue for this rep.
 Note Client Notes Example
Discussion
• How do you keep your
notes?

• If you are keeping paper

notes currently, please stop.

• We are IT Sales Professionals

why are we not using
technology?
 • Start by listing all of your active buying accounts in the
heat map on the left column.
• Set an hour aside to go through and heat map your
accounts in detail.
• Now you have your starting baseline of awareness.
• Every day you should update your heat map to create a
Heat Map constant reminder to ask more current state discovery
questions in your meetings. This process typically takes
Best Practices less than one minute per day.
• Do it while it is fresh in your mind. You should always
have a good meeting wrap up time to review your
notes, action items and areas for improvement.
• Overtime your goal is simple: Get all of your accounts to
100% awareness. Awareness always comes before selling
or adoption.
Security
 Security Definitions
• Identity Access Management (IAM): IAM is a framework of policies, processes, and technologies that ensure that the right
individuals have the appropriate access to resources in an organization. It involves the management of user identities, roles,
and permissions.
• Firewall: A firewall is a network security device or software that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic
based on predetermined security rules. It establishes a barrier between a trusted internal network and untrusted external
networks, such as the internet.
• Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): An IPS is a security device or software application that monitors network and/or system
activities for malicious or unwanted behavior. It can take automatic action to block or prevent such activities.
• Network Analytics: Network analytics involves the analysis of network traffic and data to detect patterns, trends, and
anomalies. It helps in identifying potential security threats and optimizing network performance.
• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): MFA is a security process that requires users to provide multiple forms of identification
before granting access to a system or application. Typically, it involves something you know (password), something you have
(token), and something you are (biometric).
• Web Filter: A web filter is a security solution that restricts or allows access to websites based on predefined criteria. It helps
organizations control internet usage, block malicious sites, and enforce content policies.
 Security Definitions
• Email Protection: Email protection solutions include technologies and practices designed to secure email communication. This
may involve spam filters, antivirus scanning, encryption, and other measures to protect against email-based threats.
• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): SIEM is a comprehensive approach to security management that
combines security information management (SIM) and security event management (SEM). It provides real-time analysis of
security alerts generated by applications and network hardware.
• DNS Security: DNS security focuses on protecting the Domain Name System, which translates human-readable domain
names into IP addresses. DNS security solutions prevent DNS-based attacks and ensure the integrity and availability of the
DNS infrastructure.
• Virtual Private Network (VPN): A VPN is a technology that creates a secure and encrypted connection over a public network,
typically the internet. It allows users to access a private network securely, even when connecting from a remote or untrusted
location.
• Cloud Analytics: Cloud analytics refers to the use of analytics tools and techniques to analyze data that is stored in cloud
environments. It involves processing and analyzing large datasets within cloud platforms to derive insights and make informed
decisions.
• Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB): CASB is a security solution that sits between an organization's on-premises
infrastructure and a cloud provider's infrastructure. It helps organizations extend their security policies and practices to the
cloud, providing visibility and control over cloud applications.
 Security Definitions
• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): EDR is a cybersecurity solution that monitors and responds to advanced threats
on endpoints (computers, servers, mobile devices). It involves continuous monitoring of endpoint activities and the ability to
respond to and remediate security incidents.
• Network Access Control (NAC): NAC is a security solution that controls and manages access to a network based on the
device's security posture. It ensures that only compliant and authorized devices can connect to the network, helping to prevent
the spread of malware and enforce security policies.
• Antivirus (AV): Antivirus software is a type of cybersecurity solution designed to detect, prevent, and remove malicious
software (malware) from computer systems. It typically includes features such as real-time scanning, heuristic analysis, and
signature-based detection.
• Governance: Governance in the context of cybersecurity refers to the establishment and enforcement of policies, procedures,
and controls to ensure the effective and secure management of an organization's information technology resources. It
encompasses decision-making processes, risk management, and compliance with relevant regulations and standards.
• SIG (Standard Information Gathering): The SIG is a configurable solution enabling the scoping of diverse third-party risk
assessments using a comprehensive set of questions used to assess third-party or vendor risk.
 • Firewall/IPS:
— PAN, Checkpoint, Fortinet, Cisco
• Email:
— Proofpoint, Mimecast, Cisco, Barracuda
• SIEM:
Vendors — Splunk, LogRhythm, SolarWinds, AlienVault
• DNS:
— Cisco (Umbrella), Akamai, Cloudflare
• MFA:
— Okta, Ping, Cisco (DUO), RSA
• EDR:
— Microsoft Defender, Sophos, Crowdstrike, Cisco
The Four
IT Architectures
 Four IT Architectures

• You can also think of these four architectures as groupings of solutions that are
interconnected together.
• Another reason for understanding these four IT architectures is when dealing with
bigger accounts, the person that you're speaking with may only know one of these
architectures because that is the realm of IT that they play in.
• Important to be aware of your number.
How would you break down your number based on these architectures?
• Overtime, you want to try to have some what an equal spread of business within
your accounts across all four IT architectures.
 Four IT Architectures

ENTERPRISE COLLABORATION DATA CENTER SECURITY

NETWORKING & CLOUD
Enterprise Networking
Distribution
Core Access Layer
Layer Wireless
Switching Switching
Switching

Carrier
MDM Routing SD-WAN
Services
 Voice /
Contact Center Video
Phone Systems

Chat
Collaboration Conferencing
(IM/Persistent)
QM / WFM

Streaming Emergency
Digital Signage
Video Response
 Data Center
Servers Storage
Switching

HCI (Hyper-
Server
Public Cloud Converged
Virtualization
Infrastructure)

Data Center
Backup DCM VDI
and Cloud
M365 Automation CRM

APM
 Security

Email Web
Firewalls IPS VPN CAS-B
Filtering Filtering

DNS Endpoint
SIEM NAC MFA XDR
Security Protection

Network Cloud Security Door

Identity AV
Analytics Analytics Cameras Access
Advanced
Business Discovery
 Why
• In order to truly add-value and be a consultative seller it’s your job to connect the business
to the technology.
• Organizations of all sizes are trying to digitally transform.
• Digital transformation refers to the integration of digital technology into all areas of a
business, fundamentally changing how the business operates and delivers value to
customers. This transformation enables businesses to modernize their processes, improve
efficiency, and better meet customer expectations in a digital world.
• The truth is most organizations have not digitally transformed themselves and those that
have will always need to continue to improve. An organization that is more digitally
transformed than a competitor will likely out pace their competition.
• Technology really is the key to business growth.
 • We all know that researching our client’s business is
important, but what do we need to know.
• Use the list of business discovery questions in the next
slides to quiz yourself and update your own notes. Ask
yourself, do I really know this about my client?
• For what remains, you need to find out. Remember, the
Using Your second phase of every meeting should have some
business discovery. Prepare these questions in advance.
Research • The example business discovery cheat sheets in the next
slides are only examples. There are hundreds of other
possibilities.
• Remember depending on what you already know, who
you are meeting with, the type of organization and how
much time you have, will dictate which of these
questions you ask.
 • Tell me a little about your organization?
• How many employees do you have?
• How many locations do you have?

Example: • Where are they?

• Tell me about your role?

Business • Tell me about your team?

• How many people are on the team?
Discovery • What are their names and what are they in charge of?

Questions • What are your main products or services?

• Who are your target customers?
• What are your current revenue streams?
• How is your organization segmented?
• What is your company's value proposition?
 • What are your primary channels for acquiring customers?
• How do you currently market or promote your business?

Example: • How does your sales process currently work?

• What are your current sales and marketing strategies?
Business • Can you describe your company's growth over the past
year?
Discovery • What is your current market share?

Questions • Who are your main competitors?

• How do you differentiate from your competitors?
• What feedback do you get from your customers?
• What are your short-term and long-term business goals?
Advanced
Business Discovery
Part 2
 • What is your current staffing structure?
• How do you manage and train your staff?
Example: • What are your current operational inefficiencies?

Business
• How has your industry been changing in recent years?
• What regulatory or compliance issues do you face?

Discovery • What technology trends are impacting your industry?

• How do you handle customer service and support?
Questions • What is your customer retention rate?
• How do you measure success in your business?
• What processes do you have in place for quality control?
 • What are your inventory management practices?
• How do you handle logistics and distribution?
• What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you
Example: track?

Business
• What is your company culture like?
• How do you foster innovation within your company?

Discovery • What’s your approach to risk management?

• What is the main overhead in the business?
Questions • How do you plan and forecast for the future?
• What are your main environmental and sustainability
practices?
• How do you manage supplier and partner relationships?
 • How do you approach new product or service development?
• What kind of market research do you conduct?
• How do you stay informed about industry trends?
• Has your organization had any recent mergers or
Example: acquisitions?
• What are your strategies for crisis management?
Business • How do you incorporate customer feedback into your
business strategy?
Discovery • What are the biggest challenges your business is facing right
now?
Questions • How does your budgeting process work?
• How does your organization prefer to procure technology:
CAPEX, OPEX or leasing?
• Who is in charge of __X__? (Insert Line of Business: HR,
Market, Sales, etc.)
• How is your organization digitally transforming itself?
Connecting the Dots

As we ask business discovery questions, we need to start connecting the dots.

Always ask yourself these questions:
• Based on what I learned about their business, how does what we do help?
• Specifically what services and solutions come to mind
• What is something I learned that will help me in the future?
• What is an important note I need to make:
Example: They mentioned they only want to do OPEX projects. Obviously in the
future you wouldn’t want to lead with a quote that is for CAPEX.
• Avoid asking sales questions in this phase: It’s easy to accidentally slip into sales
questioning or problem solving too early.
Presenting the Value
• If you ask more business discovery questions, you will immediately
differentiate yourself from product focused sellers.
• When you present solutions back to the client, you will now be armed
with detailed information on their organization, so you can incorporate
this. Now you’ve really differentiated yourself.
• More importantly you are setting yourself apart as a consultative seller,
who adds value and is a trusted advisor.
Advanced
Collaboration Discovery
 Starting Questions

• Can you give me an overview

of your collaboration
environment?
• What do you have in place for
phone and collaboration
technology?
 Discovery Questions
Main solution questions: What do you do for IM and persistent chat?
What type of phone system do you have? How do you handle paging?
Is it on-prem or cloud? Do you have any solutions for streaming video?
How many users are on your system? Do you have an emergency response solution?
What type of contact center do you have? How does your system handle 911 calls?
How many agents do you have? Do you have digital signs?
What channels does your contact center handle?
(Web chat, Email, Social, Voice)
Follow up questions:
Do you have workforce management software?
Do you have quality management software? What model numbers are they?
Do you record your calls? How many do you have?
All of them or adhoc Where are they located?
Do you have any traditional video endpoints?
How long have they been in place for?
What do you for web conferencing?
What version are you running?
Advanced
Collaboration Discovery
Part 2
 Advanced Questions by Solution

Phone System Contact Center

• What types of PSTN connectivity do you have? • Do you have any automated reporting?
• Do you have any mobile integration? • What types of reports do you use?
• Do you have remote users of the phone system? • Do you leverage an automatic call back feature?
• What types of endpoints do you use (IP Phones)? • Do you do any outbound predictive dialing?
• Do you use ASR (automatic speech recognition) in
your IVR?
• Does your IVR auto-recognize the calling number?
• What types of applications do you integrate into
your contact center?
• What are your average holds times in queue?
• Do you use skills-based routing?
 Advanced Questions by Solution

Traditional Video Conferencing Voice conferencing

• What type of video bridge do you have? • Do you have any large-scale audio only
• On-prem or cloud? conferencing?
• Do you integrate your endpoints into your • Do you have any one-way audio
web conferencing environment? broadcasting?
• Do you have special acoustic built rooms
for video conferencing?
• Do you have overhead mic integration?
• What other integrations do you have in
those rooms?
 Advanced Questions by Solution

Paging Digital signage

• Do you have zone paging • Are they network connected?

setup? • Do you stream any video on
• Can you text through your them?
paging system?
• Can you send notifications to
other devices screens like IP
Phones?
Advanced Data
Center Discovery
 Starting Questions

• Can you give me an overview

of your data centers?
• Can you give me an overview
of your data center
infrastructure?
• Can you walk me through how
your data centers are setup?
 Discovery Questions
Main solution questions: What are your top 5 most critical applications?
What types of servers do you have? Do you have an application development team?
Are they rack or blade? Are you running M365?
What do you have for storage? What enterprise licensing level are you on?
What’s the capacity? What types of automation tools do you leverage?
What’s the utilization? What is your CRM?
What is your DC switch? What do you do for APM?
Do you have top of rack switching? How do you handle disaster recovery?
Do you leverage the public cloud for IaaS? Follow up questions:
Who is (are) your cloud provider(s)?
What model numbers are they?
What is your hypervisor?
Do you have a solution in place for HCI? How many do you have?
What is your backup solution? Where are they located?
What tools do you use for Data Center management? How long have they been in place for?
Do you have a VDI solution?
What version are you running?
Advanced Data
Center Discovery
Part 2
 Advanced Questions by Solution

Servers DC Switch Cloud

• What are the typical OS’s • Is it chassis based or fixed • What percentage of your
(Operating Systems) are configuration? environment has been
you running? • How much bandwidth do migrated to the cloud?
• How tools do you use to you push to your servers? • How do you connect to
manage your servers? • Are you running SDN? the cloud?
• Do you have any hybrid
workloads?
• What tools do you have
to manage cost
containment?
 Advanced Questions by Solution

Hypervisor HCI Backup

• How many VMs do you run per • Do you have compute outside • How frequently are you
host? of your HCI environment? performing backups?
• What applications do you have • How much compute do you • Where are your backups
that aren’t virtualized? have in your HCI environment? stored?
• How much storage do you have • Do you have an offsite
in your HCI solution? location you store your
• How does your HCI solution backups in?
connect to the network? • How do you test your backups?
• Do you have any hybrid cloud
workloads on your HCI
solution?
 Advanced Questions by Solution

VDI Disaster Recovery

• Do you push the full • What are your defined

desktop or just apps? Recovery Time Objectives
• Is it on-prem or in the (RTO) and Recovery Point
cloud? Objectives (RPO)?
• How do you test your DR?
Advanced Enterprise
Networking Discovery
 • You’ll want to start with a broad opening question,
before asking specific follow-ups.
• Remember we are only trying to get a basic inventory
of their network at this point. We can go a little deeper
when we feel comfortable and if it’s necessary.

Opening the • A good rule of thumb is to only ask questions until you
feel something is disqualified.
Conversation • Example:
You: Tell me about your access layer switches
Customer: Oh yeah, we just upgraded those last month,
we have the new __X__.
• Obviously if they just upgraded them, we probably don’t
need to go as deep.
• You can always get the extra details, when necessary.
• Remember we are always trying to compact the time in
our meetings.
 Starting Questions

• Can you describe your current

network infrastructure setup?
• Can you provide me with an
overview of your network?
• What do you have in your
route switch environment?
Discovery Questions
Main solution questions: Follow up questions:
What do you have in the Core of your network?
What model numbers are they?
What do you for distribution layer switching?
What type of access layer switches do you have? How many do you have?
What do you have for wireless? Where are they located?
Is it cloud based? How long have they been in place for?
How many APs do you have? What version are you running?
How do you handle mobile device management?
What routers do you have in place?
How many sites are on your network?
How do you connect them together?
Who are your carriers?
Do you work through a carrier services broker?
What do you do for Internet access?
What speeds are your connections?
Advanced Enterprise
Networking Discovery
Part 2
 Advanced Questions by Solution

Core Switching Distribution Layer Switching Access Layer Switching

• Are they chassis-based switches or • Are they used as repeaters, for • Are they all PoE?
fixed configuration? segmentation or consolidation? • How many watts per port?
• How many slots are in each • What speed do you push to your
chassis? endpoints?
• Sometimes obvious by the last • Are they stacked?
digit in the model number. • Are you running encrypted traffic
• What types of controllers are in on them?
the chassis?
• What types of line cards do you
have?
• What’s the throughput?
• Do you have any leafs (or fabric
extenders)?
• Are they managed separately?
 Advanced Questions by Solution

Wireless Mobile Device Management

• Do you have any outdoor APs? • How many devices are you
• Do you run any type of wireless IPS managing?
on these? • What types? What OS?
• Are they WiFi 5 or 6? • What types of policies do you
• What type of wireless encryption enforce on your mobile devices?
do you run?
• Do you use any features for protect
against interference?
 Advanced Questions by Solution

Network Management
Routers SD-WAN
and Monitoring
• What tools or systems are • Do you have redundant • What applications do you
you using for network routers at any site? give highest priority to?
management and • Are they setup in HSRP • What connections do you
monitoring? mode with redundant pool through your SD-WAN
• How do you currently track connections? solution?
and manage network
performance?
• How many network
management tools are in use,
and when were they
implemented?
Advanced
Security Discovery
 Starting Questions

• Can you give me an overview of

what you have in place for cyber
security?
• What vendors do you typically
leverage for security?
 Discovery Questions
Main solution questions: What type of NAC do you have?
What type of firewalls do you have? What do you use for MFA?
How do you handle IPS?
What solutions do you have for identity access? Follow up questions:
What do you use for VPN? What model numbers are they?
What do you have for email protection?
How many do you have?
What type of web filter do you have?
What solution do you have for network analytics? Where are they located?
What solution do you have for cloud analytics? How long have they been in place for?
What is your CAS-B? What version are you running?
How do you handle DNS Security?
What is your SIEM?
What type of EDR solution do you have?
What solution do you have for XDR?
Advanced
Security Discovery
Part 2
 Advanced Questions by Solution

Firewalls Web Filter

• Are any of your firewalls segmenting • What types of content do you block?
a DMZ? • Do you block sites based on
• What’s in your DMZ reputation?
• Are you running IPS on your firewall? • Do you throttle bandwidth to any
• How much throughput can your sites or streaming services?
firewalls handle?
• Are there other services running on
your firewalls?
 Advanced Questions by Solution

Network Analytics SIEM

• What types of devices • What types of devices are

does your solution include you ingesting data from?
in its baseline? • Who monitors your SIEM?
• Does your SIEM automate
attack correlation?
 Advanced Questions by Solution

EDR Immutable Backups

• Does your EDR solution also • Do you have immutable

have XDR capabilities? backups stored offset?
• What types of devices do you
run EDR on?
• What types of files and
applications do you exclude
from your EDR?
 Advanced Questions by Solution

NAC MFA

• What are some things you • What do you use as your

profile for on your devices? second authentication
• Do you use a segmented method?
approach to remediate • Is everything single sign on?
devices that are behind on • How do you handle
patch levels? password or token resets?
Asking Questions
The Importance of
Questions in Sales
• Great sales = Great questions
• It’s not just about asking your client
questions; the real skill is asking the right
questions at the right time.
• An over used sales tendency is to ask too
many opportunity-based questions, too soon.
• The right questions lead us to gain
awareness, identify more opportunities, and
better qualify our opportunities.
The Most Commonly asked IT
Sales Questions
This is a list of the questions that are asked the most, most
of these are overused and some of them immediately say
to the customer, “oh this is just another salesperson.”
• What keeps you up at night?
• What are you biggest pain points?
• What’s your security strategy?
• What are your challenges with that?
• How is that working for you or how do you like that?
 • The upcoming videos contain the Phase 3 technical
discovery questions by architecture.
• They don’t encompass every possible question, but these
will provide you with the ability to heatmap, gain
awareness and identify potential opportunities by
solution.

Advanced • If you only ever ask your client questions like, “what’s top
of mind for you” or “what are your biggest initiatives,”
Discovery you will only get the opportunities they are already
thinking or know about.
• This can be a very reactive way of selling and it’s limiting.
• These types of questions don’t go away, but for many
sellers they need to start incorporating Phase 3 into
every meeting, so they are continually gaining awareness
overtime.
Best Practices
• If you are new to technical discovery, or if it is a weak spot for you, there are few
best practices:
• Use a cheat sheet of discovery questions.
– These are included in the resources and next videos.
• Prepare your questions ahead of time.
• Be okay being uncomfortable.
– No one is expecting you to be the expert. Afterall, you are just gathering
information on their environment, so you can support them better.
• Share the information with your pre-sales team.
• Set expectations that its everyone’s job to gain awareness.
Doing Both

• At all times we need both creative and reactive selling.

• Reactive is good, but it’s not enough. Reminder reactive sales are:
• When the client tells you about their projects, initiatives, requests a quote.
• Creative is when you identify a gap, pain point, or solution that would drive an
outcome for the client. You get the client to agree to learn more about this topic.
This often means bringing in the appropriate resource.
Upcoming
• The next videos cover advanced discovery. You should work to memorize these
questions over time.
• At a minimum you should understand the basic questions for each architecture.
• Then incorporate the advanced ones as you gain comfort.
• As you go through the questions think:
• How many of these do I already know for my clients?
• What can I heatmap already?
• If you really think through your clients, you will likely find that you don’t know
many of these answers specifically.
• Make it your goal to always incorporate these.
 • You’ll understand your clients better.
• You’ll understand their environment better.
• You’ll have a differentiated conversation from
competitors.
• As you hear the answers, you will learn more about
business and technology naturally.

Benefits • You will be able to lead more of the conversation and

augment your pre-sales team.
• You will identify more gaps in their technology.
• You will identify aging solutions that are due for refresh.
• You will be able to gauge your client’s body language and
reaction as they explain their environment and solutions.
• Without asking a sales question, you will naturally
identify more opportunities that you can later qualify.
Maximizing
Your Growth
 • The age-old question:
What if you could make more money,
in less time?
• There is almost 100% certainty you can.
• Most experienced IT sellers:
Sales Growth • Hit a plateau at some point.
• Become overworked at some point.
• Have the same bad habits and sales mistakes
they had ten years ago… but they don’t always
know it.
• We are human – no one is perfect, so there is
always room for growth.
Observations
So Far …
 Even extremely successful senior sellers have flaws
in the basics.

Many of us never learned a true sales process.

Being
Brilliant at Many of us never really learned the basics of the technology.

the Basics Many of us have never had a formal sales strategy.

Many of us have never been through a

true consultative selling enablement like this.
Sales Plateaus
• A plateau in sales can mean many things:
• Career path plateau – You want to move up, but you’re stuck.
• Financial – You’re stuck at a certain earnings average.
• Example: You’re a partner rep stuck at $3M in GP for the past couple of years in a
row or a manufacturer rep hitting 110% of their plan for the past couple of years
but not able to get to the overachieving level that is around 130-140%.
• Time – You are always maxed out and your work life balance is out of whack.
• Slow growth – Your business is growing, but not as fast as you’d prefer.
• First recognize, that you are at a plateau. Write it out my plateau is __X__.
• Second, commit that you want to break through it.
Financial Plateaus
• Common reasons experienced sellers get stuck at a certain commission plateau:
• They are siloed into their large accounts.
• They get less than 80% of their clients IT budget.
• They have maxed out their time.
• They need to add more accounts.
• They are leveraging all of their resources properly.
 • Each video and section are designed to build upon
your previous knowledge.
• If at any point you are struggling to either get 100%
on the assessment quizzes or if there is content
(often technical) that you don’t have memorized
yet, then there is work to do.
• You may need to watch some of the videos many
Using times.

this Content • You will need to memorize things (hint: flash cards
help).
• To really make a topic conversational with a client
you first need to memorize, then practice, then
refine, then practice, then critique, then practice…
• You need to be dedicated to self-improvement.
• Even if you are very experienced, ensure you are
“brilliant at the basics” before you progress.
Sales Skills
and Improvement
Key IT Sales Skills
• Relationship Building • Time Management
• Product Knowledge • Positive Attitude
• Technical Discovery • Handling Failure
• Business Discovery • Business Knowledge
• Prospecting • Key Vertical Knowledge
• Negotiation • Opportunity Identification
• Financial Acumen • Opportunity Triage
• Work Ethic • Qualifying
• Business Strategy • Objection Handling
• Manufacturer Knowledge • Line of Business Selling
• Forecasting • Presentation Skills
• Business Outcomes Selling • Maximizing Resources
 Less than 1% of all partner sellers are over $10M in GP,
and there are many that are. This means it is
achievable.

What Holds What are the common things that hold most
experienced sellers back:
Us Back •
•
Lack of technical acumen
Time Management skills
• Meeting flow
• In account prospecting and line of business
• Targeted account prospecting
Technical Acumen

• If ever there was a topic so important and yet so resisted by IT sellers.

• The common excuses:
• I’m a relationship seller …
• That’s what I have my engineer for …
• I don’t like to get too technical …
• My value to my clients is the business side of things …
• My role is to be the quarter back …
Why Be More Technical

• It’s easier to connect their business problems to actual solutions.

• You can’t be consultative without it.
• You can’t fully be the trusted advisor without it.
• You’ll add more value to your clients.
• You’ll identify more opportunities.
• You will partner with your resources better; like your SEs.
• Your manufacturer and partner counterparts will want to work with you more.
• You will save a lot of time.
• Almost all the reps are where you want to be, are more technical.
How to Be More Technical
At a minimum you should have “shallow knowledge” across the IT landscape:
• I can describe this solution in three sentences, and it makes sense to me …
• I know the common business and technical problems it solves for …
• I know the common offerings in this area …
• I have a list of 4 discovery questions I can ask about this solution …
A common fault is many sellers only know about one to two areas/architectures,
so that’s what they sell the most of because that is what they are comfortable
talking about.
Activity Level
 • Activity level generally refers to how many
meetings a seller has per week.
• We should always track how my customer
and partner meetings we have per week.
The • A rule of thumb: 70% of your meetings
Importance should come from customers and 30%
should come from partners. This will vary
of Activity depending on your role and account base.
Level • You need a GOAL! A simple way to set your
goal: What is my average pipeline per
meeting (simple to find out) and how many
meetings do I need to hit my average
pipeline per week.
Setting Goals
• We want to set goals that are achievable 90% of the time and practical. These simple
goals like, I need 6 customer meetings per week, need to fill like a minimum and
should not be overly difficult to achieve.
• Goals need to setup us up for positivity not negativity, but they do require us to work
hard each week to hit our goal.
• If all we focused on what meetings per week and average pipeline, we would
overachieve without ever worrying about the yearly goal. Yearly goal is irrelevant it’s
all about hitting our weekly goals, the rest will take care of itself.
• You will almost never see a seller with 3x pipeline to goal that doesn’t overachieve.
 • The salesperson on the team with the most
meetings also has the highest yearly achievement.
• A newer seller can’t possibly hit the same number
of meetings because they won’t have built in

99% of accounts with follow-up meetings. So, our goals

need to be different.

the time… • The most we’ve seen… one of the top sellers in our
industry was averaging 25 customer meetings per
week.
• A meeting is defined as any customer interaction
that’s over 20 minutes. So sorry a 15-minute check-
in doesn’t count since it doesn’t provide the time
to leverage the 5 phases approach properly.
Hitting Your Meeting Goals
• Remember if you or one of your colleagues aren’t talking to your
customer, a competitor could be. It’s all about mindshare. The sales team
with the most time investment with the customer, is the most likely to
win their business.
• Always set follow-ups on the spot (this makes it easy).
• Prospect until you fill the rest.
Advanced
Closing Phase
How
• Once we have fully qualified an opportunity it’s time to move to Phase 5, the closing
phase.
• IMPORTANT: Our main goal is to get a follow-up meeting to talk about something new.
• Often this means having yet another follow-up to talk about an existing opportunity, but
also making time in that meeting to discuss a new opportunity.
• A simple way to grade every meeting:
Did I get my client to agree to talk about something new?
• If you think about it, this is the only way our pipeline can grow.
• If we have done everything else properly, we should never be fully reliant on our clients
to bring us opportunities.
• Yes, you can get by this way and be very successful, but you will never maximize your
potential.
Simple
• Sometimes if you have qualified properly, it can literally be as simple
as saying: Next time we meet to discuss __X__, let me bring one of
our experts to spend 20 minutes providing some education on __X__.
• Then asking how does your calendar look at this time or that time for
a follow-up?
• Never leave a meeting without scheduling the follow-up on the spot. Time
management and sales 101.
Value Prop

• When it doesn’t feel as simple, meaning you’ve qualified but still feel the client may be
on the fence, you may need to give a value prop.
• The best value statements are a combination of what the clients has told you and your
own resources value.
• It’s highly recommended with most new opportunities to take a soft approach. Saying
things like I don’t know if this will be a fit, but it’s worth exploring for a few minutes, can
be a way to soften an ask when the client is on the fence.
• You aren’t selling the solution; you are just selling time with them to explore or to
educate them.
 • Next time we meet, I’d like to bring John
along. He’s one of our cloud specialists. He
works with dozens of clients your size and
can go really deep into the pros and cons of
Example Cloud. I think it would be worth it for us to
carve out 20 minutes just to discuss.
Value Prop
Notice the value I’m really selling is John, it’s
not my company. We find that it is easier to
sell time with an individual, versus the overall
value of your company or offering.
 Prepare your value statements in advance when
possible. If your value is about one of your
peers, then make sure you can explain what’s

Resource special about them.

• Examples:

Value Tips • Certifications

• Years of experience
• Roles
• Knowledge
 At other times, it will make more sense to provide the
value statement for your offerings.
Imagine that you’ve just finished qualifying SD-WAN.
• Example:
Based on what you said, I think we should have a follow-up
meeting to further discuss SD-WAN. You mentioned it
Offerings would be nice if there was a way to save money on your
connectivity and improve your throughput at the same
Value Prop time. I understand the concerns around security, but I think
most experts would agree that the added benefit of having
all of your traffic encrypted will actually enhance your
security with SD-WAN.
Notice how we have incorporated what the customer
told us and then combined it with some of our own
knowledge around what makes SD-WAN special.
 • Unless this is a new client, they should
already know your company’s value prop.
This is typically done when we first meet
with a client as part of the relationship and
intro phase.

Company • When we set the intro to the meeting with

a new client, it’s here where we can take up
Value Prop to a minute to provide an overview of what
makes our organization unique and the
value we bring.
• However, at times we may need to go
deeper into this value in the closing phase.
This can happen when we are trying to get
the client to work with us on new
technology or offerings.
 It’s always best to have your stock elevator pitch ready on your
company, so you can use parts of it when necessary.
You’ll also want to have specific value props for your company that
Company focus on your key offerings.
Value • Some things to consider for your value statement:
• Only use the areas that really highlight your strengths
Statement • Example:
Tips - If you are a large organization with a lot of resources, highlight it.
- If you are small, then you’ll need to highlight why that’s better or
avoid it.
• Expertise and resources
• Certifications
• Partnerships
• Satisfied clients (references)
• Impact you make on business outcomes
• Your unique process
• Your speed
Advanced
Opportunity Phase
Why
Phase 4 of the meeting is all about opportunities. Let’s review the breakdown.
• The first half of the opportunity phase will be reserved for the current
opportunity the meeting is about.
• If your meeting has no set opportunity to discuss, then you can skip to the second
half and either bring up the potential opportunities you’ve identified or ask the
client about their priorities.
• We want to focus first on qualifying and disqualifying these opportunities.
Challenging
• Anyone can incorporate current state
business and technical discovery (Phase 2 and
3). All it takes is some basic memorization or a
cheat sheet.
• To do advanced things like tangential
discovery or making it conversational will
take practice.
• For many, Phase 4 requires even more skill
and practice since most of it can’t be
memorized or scripted.
 Listening in on hundreds of sales meetings with
experienced sellers there are some common pitfalls:
• Not enough questions.
• Pivoting to close, way too soon.
• Not thinking disqualify. Having happy ears.

Pitfalls • Not triaging the opportunities correctly and

bringing up less important items.
• Asking intrusive questions too soon, like budget.
• Pitching instead of listening.
• Not getting potential objections vocalized.
• Not pivoting to other opportunities when
appropriate.
 There are two approaches:
• Broad Approach
– Example: What are some of your upcoming
projects? Example: How would you rank
your current priorities?
Opening the • The broad approach only really works for newer
contacts. If it’s a client you’ve been working with
opportunity for a while you probably already know their
upcoming projects.
phase • Specific Approach
– The specific approach leads us directly to
qualifying and it leads to more creative
opportunities, since the client may not
already thinking about them.
Specific Opportunity Approach

As we learned before, it’s best to triage the opportunities first. Bring up what is most
compelling to the client first, not what do you want to sell the most.
• Example:
You mentioned your core switches are almost seven years old. What are your plans
for refreshing those?
• Example:
I noticed you don’t have anything in place for NAC, is that something you’ve thought
about?
Notice in both examples we are asking for their “opinion” of the opportunity first. This
can immediately help us gauge if this is a path we want to go down.
 As soon as you feel an opportunity is disqualified,
Pivoting you need to immediately pivot to the next most
compelling opportunity.
Example:
• You: I noticed your core switching is getting up
there in age, what are your plans for refreshing
that.
• Customer: Yeah, we actually just cut a PO for
those replacements.
• You: That’s great, what did you go with?
• Customer: The Arista 7512s.
• You: That’s solid. So, you mentioned that you
don’t have anything in place for NAC, can you
tell me a little more about that?
Notice that we immediately pivoted off the initial
opportunity, while keeping it conversational.
Example Opportunity Based Questioning
Let’s assume we identified the client doesn’t have an MFA solution. This is an example of
the possible questions we would need to ask to qualify this.
• I noticed you don’t have anything in place for MFA, is that something you’ve thought
about?
• Who on your team is responsible for MFA?
• What benefits do you think having MFA would provide?
• What are your concerns around implementing MFA?
• Which solutions have you researched so far?
• Which ones stick out to you as having the most offering?
• What did you like about them?
• What partners have you talked to about MFA?
Example Opportunity Based Questioning
• Have you seen any pricing for MFA?
• How do you typically make decisions like this?
• Or: Can you walk me through your typical decision-making process?
• Who would manage it if you did invest in an MFA solution?
• Have you considered just outsourcing it to an MSP?
• How do you currently handle user password issues? Do you outsource your help desk?
• Ideally when would you want to have an MFA implementation completed by?
• How would you handle end user training?
• Will adding MFA reduce your cyber security insurance?
• How do you get projects like this approved and budgeted for?
The Key Pillars of Qualifying
Vendors
– Understand what they already know about, prefer and have researched. What they like or are leaning to.

Resellers
– Understand the competitive landscape and where the client is in their outreach process. (If you are a partner then
registration will be critical.)
Benefits
– Features, Business Outcomes

Who
– Who is responsible for making the decision and who will manage it.

How
– How will it get installed and supported ongoing.

When
– Timeline (back into it)

Budget
 • Is this worth pursuing and is it worth
winning?
What is • Disqualifying is one of the most
Great important things we can do in sales.
• This process will narrow your time and
Qualifying? your focus.
• DISQUALIFY ALL OF YOUR OFFERINGS!
Meeting Prep
 Why Prepare for Meetings

While this seems obvious, many sellers can fall into bad habits as time goes on. Especially when they are
meeting with a client they know very well.

We should never let our guard down in this way. We always need to be over prepared. Our client’s time
is valuable, and we always need to be on point. It’s possible to come off as causal while still being
prepared.

Stop winging it, yes it has worked for you, but it is impossible you are maximizing your client
interactions.

Remember everything we do and say to a client matters.

 q Business discovery notes.
q Technical discovery notes and heat map.
q Identify what your ideal outcome for the meeting would be.
q Build out the phases of a meeting and allot time to each.
q This will keep your meeting on track.
q Know the questions for each phase in advance.
Meeting Prep q Review your notes on the purpose of the meeting and what
you have qualified already.
Checklist q Add forth phase qualifying questions, as necessary.
q Review any “yellows” you haven’t qualified yet, prioritize
them.
q Write out the questions you will ask.
q Do a prep call with any team members that will be joining
you.
q Place time slot holds (4 times recommended) for follow-up
meeting.
 q Review any previous purchase they made.
q Can CX be incorporated into the 4th phase.
q Sometimes better set in a “business review”
meeting.
q Review any active projects.
Meeting Prep q Do we need to check in on status.
Checklist q Work backward from your goal of the meeting.
q In-person, double check location, prepare to arrive
early.
q On video, test video and connectivity, double check
links and prepare to arrive early.
q Test out any document sharing.
The Simple Things Can Be Game Changers
Through individual sales coaching I’ve seen how something as simple
as helping someone prepare better for their meetings made a massive
difference.

Take note of your average pipeline per week. Could we increase that
average if we just prepped differently? Probably, because prepping
better will force you into maximizing your time and asking better
questions. It also helps frame up your real goal of the meeting and it
can’t just be to move the current opportunity forward, that’s easy.
Objection Handling
 • Objection handling will always take place in the
opportunity phase or the closing phase. By
asking the client about an opportunity or trying
to set a follow-up this will naturally generate any
objections they have.
When • Objections are very good! Worry more if you
don’t know what their objections are, because
then we have no chance of responding to them.
• If you are getting a client to vocalize their
objections, then you are on the right track.
The Four Steps to Objection Handling
• Step 1
– Truly empathize with their objection.
• Step 2
– Ask questions about their objection.
• Step 3
– Decide to pivot to a different opportunity or proceed to handle
their objection.
• Step 4
– Handle their objection by using the answers they provided in
Step 2 and combining it with a value statement to
counter the objection.
 Example
• You identified an opportunity to refresh outdated servers your client has. During the qualifying process (opportunity phase) they
state: We are going to keep those things for a few years, they still work fine, and we have support.
• Step 1 – You: Yeah, I get that, I wouldn’t replace them either if they were working well and it wasn’t going to benefit me to do so.
• Step 2 – You: What would eventually make you upgrade those?
• Client: Basically, once they either aren’t performing well, or we run out of support.
• You: What if you could prove a new solution could save you money?
• Client: I guess, but it always costs more to upgrade things.
• You: How do you typically analyze cost savings on things like compute.
• Client: When we get to that point, we typically do that comparison ourselves.
• Step 3 – You should be deciding now if you want to continue with this opportunity and handle the objection or if you would be
better served pivoting to something else.
• Step 4 – Handle. You: With servers, we can run a calculation to compare things like how much electricity, cooling, maintenance,
and licensing they are costing your ongoing and compare that to a trade-in and ongoing costs for new compute. Sometimes there
is a savings and sometimes there isn’t, but usually new compute means better consolidation. If it doesn’t take much of your time,
can we provide a free assessment?
 Key Points
Knowing when to pivot is a key skill. As you practice this you will start to get a better sense for
when an opportunity isn’t going to go anywhere or when an objection can’t be overcome.

Pushing too much… well it can be pushy. Don’t be too pushy, but do be aggressive,
authoritative, and presumptive.

Really empathize.

You want to make any objection handle feel more like this is worth exploring.

Try to ask at least three questions in step two before you attempt to handle the objection.
Pivoting Example
• Step 1 – You: Yeah, I get that, I wouldn’t replace them either if they were working well
and it wasn’t going to benefit me to do so.
• Step 2 – You: What would eventually make you upgrade those?
• Client: I can tell you we won’t upgrade these for at least three years. Dell came in and
went over pricing on new compute and there really wasn’t any benefit. It isn’t costing us
very much for maintenance on the existing servers and we have too many other
priorities.
• Pivot: This feels more like one we could opt to pivot away from.
• Example: That’s great that you at least went through the exercise. Talk to me a little bit
about your current backup solution. I noticed that you are still backing up on-prem only,
have you considered moving any of that to the cloud?
Time Management
Mastering Time

• No one runs at 100% efficiency. The reality is most salespeople are running at 25%
efficiency. The sales role can be one of the most demanding jobs on the planet. There
is almost no other role where a person could be pulled in so many directions or
completely fill an 80-hour work week with non-revenue generating activity.
• Imagine a seller that’s running at 25% efficiency, actively work to improve their time
management skills. If they were able to get to 50% efficiency it would as if they hired
a second seller to help them grow their business.
• But you are saying… yeah right, I’m always nonstop busy.
• Being busy all the time, isn’t the same as being efficient all the time.
 • Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
• First Things First
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Time • The Pomodoro Technique

• Time Management from the Inside Out
Management • 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

Books • The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying
Guilt-Free Play
• The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done
• Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
• Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day
• The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
• Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done
• The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
• Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
The Top Tips for IT sellers
• Never multi-task.
• Just 3 major priorities a day.
• Calendar everything you are doing it anyway.
• Build in breaks.
• Communications are killing you – time block.
• Shorten your calls.
• Break large tasks down.
• You have a reminder list, but not a to do list.
 • I’ll sum it up, they all agree, people can’t
multitask. We aren’t actually multi-tasking we
are constantly switching between tasks and
calling it multi-tasking.
• Studied have shown that “multi-tasking” takes
40% more time to do those same tasks. This is
Multi-tasking due to the mental “switching costs” incurred.
• Just imagine if you are constantly multi-tasking
and you stop completely that you can easily
gain an additional 10 hours of sales or family
time each week.
• This is one of the few habits that can be
relatively easy to break. There is a pretty simple
process for this.
Break Multi-tasking
• Identify what you are going to do for at least 15 minutes. This is called a time block.
• When you start the task, you can’t do anything else for those 15 minutes. Anything else,
that includes listening to audio of someone talking, watching something, checking your
phone, looking at inbound communication.
• Eventually you will want to calendar each of these time blocks. Example, I have a time
block for 30 minutes at 8am to handle my email.
• Start noticing when you are distracted during your time box. Bring your attention back.
• You will start catching yourself shifting tasks or being distracted.
• In roughly 8-weeks you’ll be much improved, and you will visibility notice the extra time
you have.
 Calendaring
• Calendaring your time is the basis for all good time
management. Without this everything else will fall apart.
• Example:
To stop trying to multi-task, we calendar 15 – 30 minute time
boxes.
9:00-9:30 work on presentation for XYZ company.
Take a 5 minute break, 9:30 – 10:00 review quotes for
ABC company.
• Tasks that will take at least 15 minute all need to be calendared.
This takes all of the guess work out of building the perfect week.
Calendaring Tasks
• It sounds like a lot of work to calendar your tasks,
but you’ll find in many ways it saves time and
replaces the need for the dreaded to do list.
• If you are doing the activity anyway why not just
calendar it.
• It makes it easy to go back and see how we are
using our time or calculate how long it is actually
taking us to do tasks.
 Steps to Calendaring
• Start with your current week. Take note of how you calendar now:
• Do you have any overlapping meetings?
• Do you have meetings that aren’t mandatory that won’t be the best use of your time?
• Do you have any of your tasks blocked off?
• Do you have holds for customer meetings you need to fill?
• Do you have enough customer and partner meetings this week?
• Do you have blocks for prospecting time to set meetings?
• Clean up the week.
• Decline any overlapping meetings and anything unnecessary.
• Count your customer meetings. Have enough? If not put holds for the slots you wish were filled for this week.
Going forward we will have these holds, but our goal will be to fill them. They can be moved as needed.
• It’s not a bad idea to try and take your meetings throughout the day at set times.
• Block off time to handle communications.
• 30 minutes, 3 times per day
• Block off 15 – 30 minute tasks, start with your three biggest priorities
• Now you’ll see what time if any is left. You decide what is going to fill that.
• Be sure to give yourself breaks.
 Steps to Calendaring
• Set recurring meetings. Are there tasks like communications that will be done at the same times each day.
• Optional: Some people like to color code their calendar.
• Move to the next week and set that one up as well. Make sure to add all your customer holds.
How far off are you from next week’s activity goal?
Calendar some prospecting time or appointment setting time.
• Now all you have to do to maintain this:
Set your calendar up for the following week at the end of the day Friday.
I like to look ahead two weeks, to remind myself about what I have upcoming in case I have to calendar
tasks for those meetings.
Time Management
Part 2
 • Ever cram a large project into the last minute?
You have a customer presentation tomorrow and you haven’t even
Break Large reviewed their quotes or started putting together a single slide.
Projects Down How long is that really going to take you?
• Two hours turns into eight – ever have this experience.
• We must look ahead on our calendar and start backing into our
projects. If you have something that is due in two weeks and you
estimate it will take you three hours to complete, that’s at least six
task blocks. Now double that because we almost always
underestimate.
• By breaking a project down into these smaller chunks, it makes each
chunk the accomplishment and the project the goal. This keeps us
motivated. It also ensures we manage our time better. Maybe you’ll
be surprised with how much you get done in a couple thirty-minute
chunks.
• Or maybe you’ll realize you grossly underestimated the time this is
going to take.
 Through coaching we have found the pace of IT sales doesn’t
lend itself well to complicated time management strategies. No
one can seem to stick to them. We’ve found people can stick to
the areas of focus in this training because it greatly simplifies
things, and you can tell it almost immediately works.

Three Major One thing that really seems to work is selecting just three
priorities for the day. This can’t be any scheduled meetings; it
Priorities has to be non-meeting time and task oriented. So, what are
your three big priorities for today? Are they calendared?
Today
When you do this, it really simplifies what to focus on. Sure, if
you complete the big 3, feel free to do more, but only ever write
down 3. Three tasks, which could be three thirty-minute blocks
is something we can be sure to accomplish and it’s easy to hold
ourselves accountable to it.
Shorten your calls and …

• Internal calls with peers should be brief when possible. A call should be a faster way
to communicate than chat or email, it’s why we call.
• Set your own parameters. Hey, I only have ten minutes.
• Come prepared to get to the point.
• This goes for all our interactions. Yes, there is a time and place for socializing, but
remember at the end of the day this is all sales time, free time, and family time we
are giving away.
Reminder List

First you are only writing down three big priorities and then immediately
calendaring them (or just calendar them if it’s clear what they should be).

You will still need a reminder list (don’t call it a to do list). Your ‘to dos’ need
to go on your calendar. We also have tasks that take less than fifteen
minutes. Just calendar a general time for tasks and hit your reminder list.
Communications
• Communications and the way we manage them is the single biggest area where most people lose
time.
• Don’t believe it spend some time on Google looking at the research behind this.
• If you check your email, chat and texts throughout the day, all day then you are without a doubt
not as efficient as possible.
• Communications need to be calendared.
• Of all the techniques we teach, this is the hardest for people to adopt. Because we are addicted
to our communications and devices. At every idol moment we are checking our communications.
• This means we are commonly reading parts of the communications many times over without
taking action.
• This often happens when we are supposed to be taking a 5 minute break.
 Common Objections
• But I check my email only when I have a minute and I get a lot done that way.
Counter: If you calendared properly and were giving yourself mental breaks, you wouldn’t have any
uncalendared time to check.
• What if my customer needs something.
Counter: When you are in a customer meeting are you checking your emails and responding to other
customers? Hopefully not. So, we know your customer can wait 2 – 3 hours before they get a response. If
it’s an emergency, they will probably call you or support.
• If you train your customer for you to respond every minute, then what happens the times you can’t.
Maybe they get frustrated by that. No one can keep up that pace, so don’t set yourself up for failure.
Communication Habit
Since we know we can’t multi-task, if you are letting communications distract you, we
know time is being wasted.

Set intervals throughout the day to handle your communications. Handle means to take
action.

Responses that take less than 5 minutes should get done now and then archive that email.
If it takes longer than 5 minutes, add it to your calendar as a task or to your reminder list
and then archive it.

The only things in your email inbox should be communications you haven’t checked. This
will immediately clear your mind and eliminate chaos.
Tracking for Success
 Why Tracking

• Sales professionals all over the world cringe at the thought of tracking more data. We agree
there is a fine line as to what to track and when it becomes more harmful than good. We must
remember everything takes time.
• With that said, depending on your role, you probably must track things as part of your job.
• Outside of that, there are some mandatory things every seller should be tracking. If you haven’t
tracked anything yet, start right now.
• Without some tracking data you will never know:
• If you are improving.
• What’s working and what isn’t.
• How your business is performing.
• Where to focus your attention.
 • Heat Map
• Awareness
• Inventory list
• Business list
Mandatory • Activity level
for • Pipeline
Maximum • Average per week
• Prospecting
Success • Volume
• Attempts
• DMs
• Close Ratio
 • Outside of the mandatory list there are many optional things that can be tracked. You
need to use your discretion on what you are tracking and if there is enough value to
warrant doing so.
• If you are a highly experienced seller, it’s critical that you identify your biggest sales
weakness and track your improvement in that area.
• If you are consistently over performing on the mandatory tracking list, you may also
want to incorporate a data point.
• Examples of optional tracking:
• Relationships, line of business
• Revenue and profit by architecture

Optional • GP % by deal
• By vendor
• Close ratio
• Services pipeline
• MS pipeline
• MS activity
• Upsell pipeline
• Cross sell pipeline
• Adoption
• Upsell
• Renewals
• Recurring revenue
• Sales cycle length
Think Like a Business Owner

• The more a seller thinks and acts like a successful business owner the better they
will perform.
• Successful business owners track lots of data and study what is working and
what is not. While you don’t want to take this to the extreme and over track,
you do need to track data, but more importantly track performance.
• Most sellers track data, but don’t really study their own performance
improvements.
• Successful business owners know volume, activity, efficiency and continually
improvement are keys to success.
 • You start tracking your average pipeline gained per week. This week
you gained $50K in new pipeline.
• The next three weeks you gain $40K, $10K, and $100K. Across those
4 weeks you gained $200K, your average in those 4 weeks is $50K.
• Pipeline to goal ratio – 3x is the standard for a reason.
• Break it down - $1M goal (always factor 44 working weeks in a year)
is $22,720K/week.
• The weeks you were below your goal:
• What could have I done better?
Example • Why is it so low?
• Not enough meetings or the quality of the meetings?
• Am I running them effectively and identifying new
opportunities?
• You decide to start better implementing the five phases of a meeting
and start asking Phase 3 questions early in your meetings. Your
pipeline average starts increasing. It should be obvious the
improvements you are making are working or not.
• This is the type of relentless focus that separates the top sellers.
Tracking Time

• When done correctly tracking and forecasting don’t need to take that long.
30-minutes a week should be the max.
• Schedule the tracking time.
• Example implementation:
• Following a meeting I always have a wrap up time. It’s usually 15-minutes to update my
heatmap, update my pipeline, review and schedule my action items, and share my
notes/heatmap. Doing it right after makes it easy and keeps it fresh in my mind.
• At the end of the week for 30-minutes, I update my CRM, review my pipeline, count my
number of meetings, and my new weekly pipeline. Most importantly I review my
performance and decide on what I need to do better going into the following week.
Additional Services
 • There are many ancillary offerings at both
the manufacturer and partner side you
should understand to gain a full perspective
on the industry.
• Some of these include:
Overview • AppDev services
• Cloud services – Assessment, Migration,
Optimization
• Private cloud
• Carrier Services
• Audio Visual
• Physical Security
 • Organizations of all sizes are increasingly
developing their own custom developed
applications.

AppDev
• Many organizations struggle with hiring
enough full-time programmers
(application developers).

Services • Many projects are a one-time project and

often it’s easier and cheaper to outsource
this.
• Some applications require more advanced
developers, and it can be more cost
efficient to just outsource these areas.
 • Public cloud is the fastest growing area of IT.
Companies like AWS, Microsoft (Azure) and Google
(GCP) continue to see massive year over year
growth.
• Partners can offer services to help support
organizations with cloud initiatives.

Cloud • Assessment services – typically a staring point,

which helps consult the client on what should go to

Services the cloud, what should stay on premise, what

cloud provider is best and what the ROI will be.
• Migration services – often includes the
architecture of the client’s cloud environment and
then moving their workloads to the cloud.
• Optimization services – can help the client reduce
their cloud costs by better optimizing their
workloads.
• Many clients no longer want to manager their
own data center buildings, so they can
outsource their data center to a partner.
• For organizations that have security concerns
around public cloud or if they want their own Private
Cloud
dedicated infrastructure private cloud can be a
great fit.
• Partners can house the client’s infrastructure in
their own facilities or sometimes have a resell
agreement with a private cloud provider.
Carrier Services
• Carrier Services is offered by partners and sometimes manufacturers.
• Carrier Services provides connectivity to the Internet, private WAN (MPLS) or PSTN
(Public Switched Telephone Network)
• Often partners work through a master agent and receive a percentage of the clients bill
monthly.
• When done well carrier services can be brokered on behalf of the client and can often
lead to cost savings.
• Other benefits include consolidated billing and a single point of support.
Audio Visual
• Many organizations require dedicated video conferencing
infrastructure and purpose-built meeting rooms.
• Partners can offer room remediation (noise cancellation (acoustics), in
celling microphones, audio and video mixing, HD cameras, screen
matrix etc.
• For organizations looking for as close to an in-person experience as
possible using an AV partner is recommended.
Physical Security

• PhySec has often been handled outside of IT with groups like facilities, but as
everything has moved to IP and IoT, it’s become more critical for IT to be
involved in these decisions.
• PhySec can include physical security cameras, motion sensors, heat sensors,
audio sensors, door access controls.
• The PhySec manufacturers are moving to more IoT and AI based solutions.
• Depending on the industry PhySec can now help drive business outcomes with
revenue in addition to risk reduction.
Advanced Managed
Service Selling
 • To maximize our approach to selling MS, we need
to start with a strategy.
• When we start thinking more like a business
owner, the more we realize the importance of
having a well-defined sales strategy.
• Most sellers have a broad approach when we add

Strategy in a specific approach we will:

• Identify more opportunities.
• Get our clients to talk about areas they may
not be as focused on.
• Remember we usually only get reactive
opportunities.
• What our clients already know they have a
need for or a challenge with.
 Start by stack ranking your accounts based on
your current knowledge and intuition for MS.
Building Your This will change over time as you continue to
MS Strategy learn more.
 MS Client Stack Rank
• Priority 1: They are open to the idea of outsourcing parts of their IT. They already outsource at
least one area to an MSP. This includes if the already use your organization for something
managed, but there is expansion room.
• Priority 2: They aren’t already outsourcing anything, but you feel they may be open to it.
• Priority 3: They aren’t outsourcing anything, and you feel they may be more closed off to the
idea.
• Priority 4: They’ve mentioned they aren’t open to outsourcing anything already.
• Unknown: You are unsure of their feelings with MS and unsure what they outsource already.
• Disqualified: You’ve disqualified them for now. They already have everything with other MSPs
that overlap with your offerings, and they are happy with those services. They may be under long
term contracts.
• They could also become disqualified if they have absolutely given you a hard no on MS, even
after trying to counter their objections.
Where to Start
• You should be focusing your
attention on gaining awareness
with the unknown clients, then
move them to a priority level or
disqualify them.
• You should also make a specific
plan of attack for your Priority 1
clients and take action.
 q Know the IT team and their capabilities in detail
q Know what they already use an MSP for
q Know IT leadership’s feelings on MS
q Know their technology footprint that overlaps with your
Gaining MS offerings
q Identify what the easiest MS offering to position first
Awareness with • Biggest technical skill gaps
the Unknown • Biggest time investments
• Biggest areas of solution gaps
q Understand their plans for hiring
q What would they focus on instead if they had more time?
 • Some IT leaders see managed services as a
threat. They may view MS as replacing the role
The Client of them and their team. They may see this as
sending a bad message to their leadership.
Psychology • Why do we have an IT team if we are

for MS outsourcing this anyway?

• It’s important to find out how what their
feelings are upfront.
The Reality of MS
• Most organizations should be taking advantage of MS.
• There is almost always something that IT is doing that would be cheaper to
outsource.
• This is why help desk is the most common outsourced IT because it’s a low value time
investment. Economies of scale via an MSP often creates an immediate ROI and allows
and IT team to focus their time on higher value tasks.
• There is often an expertise gap. The client doesn’t have the same level of
expertise in an area that an MSP would have. It would cost them more to hire
the right people, with the right expertise.
• This is why security is the fastest growing MS.
 Phase Two Discovery:

• What parts of IT do you outsource to an

MSP?
• Tell me more about your team, their roles,
their functions, and expertise.
Starting the
Conversation Phase Three Discovery:

• It’s helpful if you’ve already heat mapped

their full environment.
• Align your discovery to your offerings.
• Example: What tools do you use for
monitoring your network today?
 • Have you considered just outsourcing __X__?
• Example: Security Monitoring
• What would you outsource if you could?
• What are your concerns around outsourcing __X__?
Qualifying • How do you think outsourcing this could benefit you
and your team?
MS • If we freed your team up from __X__, what would
you rather they focus their time on?
• Have you ever done a cost analysis on MS
for __X__?
 MS FACTS
• FACT: Many clients are initially resistant to the idea of MS but can be swayed through proper
questioning and qualifying.
• FACT: If you aren’t talking to your clients about MS, someone else is.
• FACT: Losing MS business means being shut out of that portion of your account, so you lose
resell and pro service too.
• FACT: MS is in the top 3 of fastest growing areas of IT. Security and Cloud lead the charge today.
• FACT: MS is among the highest margin areas for resellers and is creates a “stickiness” that is
unmatched by any other offering.
• FACT: MS means being part of your client’s IT team, this makes it easier to break into other
silos, cross sell and upsell.
• FACT: MS is often better for the client (saves them time and money) and better for the partner
(recurring revenue, high profit, easier operational to allocate resources, and higher renewals).
Resistant Clients
• Why are they “really” resistant to MS?
• Have you talked to them about their SaaS apps?
How did moving to SaaS impact their time?
In a similar way, moving to MS just means freeing up time, like what SaaS did for them.
Afterall, they already do outsource the maintenance, management, patching etc. for
that SaaS based app.
• Would they be willing to revisit the topic at all?
Can we at least provide a cost analysis for them?
• Would the business really know or care or perceive them using MS as a negative?
We often have to challenge this thinking. Did someone specifically tell you that?
• Packaging MS as part of a quote. This is just how we typically sell this solution.
• This is often a way to get a foot in the door with MS. You don’t even need to call it “managed
service.” Maybe it’s just ongoing support. (They probably buy this in other aspects anyway.)
 LoB and Executives

• Taking a top-down approach to selling MS can be very effective. At a business level

leaders don’t care how the sausage is made they just want to accomplish X for their
business.
• Often this means they won’t care what the underlying technology is and how it gets
done, just as long as it gets done.
• When we gain this type of support it circumvents many of the pushback we may get
from IT.
• It’s important we don’t go around our existing IT relationships in favor of this
approach. In new accounts, if we start high or outside of IT, it eliminates this
concern. In existing accounts, we need to keep IT as part of this conversation.
 • A question we always ask our clients is, do you really lead
with MS?
• The reality is everyone wants to sell more MS, but it is never
lead with.
• Leading with means:

Leading • Making it a primary focus.

• Always quoting it first.

with MS • Example: Your customer is doing a network refresh. Just

quote MS as part of it upfront.
• It’s always easier to have a client remove something or
downgrade a quote, then upsell after we give pricing.
• Relentless qualifying/disqualifying of all your accounts.
• Maximizing your time and having a laser focus on priority
accounts.
 Value
• Be prepared with a solid value statement or presentation on your MS offerings:
• Tie in specifics about your client, their time, their team, and how this will help them
specifically.
• Include the time savings and ROI.
• Include the risk reduction for your client.
• Expand on what makes your offerings unique:
• Your engineering team
• Your references and recommendations from other clients
• Your response times and tools
Selling Managed
Security Services
What are managed security
services?
• This is the outsourcing of IT cyber security. It can include SOC (Security
Operations Center), patch management, firewall management, end-user
security awareness and security monitoring.
• Partners offering this are referred to as MSSPs (Managed Security Service
Providers). It is among the fastest growing areas of managed services and is
at the top for profitability.
• Security professional are high in-demand and typically carry a high salary
(overhead) to a business. This is why many organizations are choosing to
outsource these traditional IT functions.
• How do you currently support cyber security?
• Who on your team is responsible for security?
• What is your organizations security strategy?
• How do you handle ongoing security monitoring and
alerting?
• How do you handle end-user security awareness
Discovery
training? Questioning
• What do you do for security penetration testing?
• What parts of cyber security do you outsource?

* Recommend asking all discovery questions to

heatmap their current security tools
Opportunity Triage

Do they already outsource this? This creates a competitive scenario where

you may need to work through a disqualifying process to determine if this
is worth pursuing.

If they don’t outsource it already, you can start with asking if they have
considered it? This will give you their opinion on it first.

What tools do they use and maintain licensing for that could be replaced
by outsourcing?
 Where do you feel you could
improve with cyber security?

Opportunity Where could it save you

Questioning money to outsource parts of
Examples your cyber security?

Are you monitoring cyber

security 24/7 and have you
considered outsourcing this?
Managed Security Value
Can reduce an organizations costs. Hiring true cyber security experts and having the right
solutions is a large investment.
Can save organizations time by having their security monitoring or other functions
outsourced.
Offsets an organizations risk from trying to handle cyber security in house.

Offsets the cost of expensive solutions like SIEM that are challenging to maintain.

Provides access to a team of highly trained cyber security professionals.

Selling Managed
Help Desk
 • This is also known as end-user support.
• It’s about the outsourcing of support for end-users not
the IT department.
• For many IT teams, end-user support can create constant

What is interruptions taking their focus of more complex or

business focused tasks.

managed
• It’s often cheaper in the long run using economies of
scale to outsource this to a managed service provider.
• While the types of end-user issues can be infinite,
help desk? some of the most common are:
• Password issues
• File access
• Application issues
• Lack of knowledge around systems
or applications
• Device issues
 • How do you currently support end-user issues?
• What are the most common end-user issues you
encounter?
• What percentage of your team’s time do they
spend supporting end-user issues?
Discovery • Do you have end-user issues that you support
outside of typical work hours?
Questioning • Who on your team is responsible for supporting
end-user issues?
• How do end-users contact your team for
support?
• What is the general turn around time for
end-user support?
Opportunity Triage

Do they already outsource this? This creates a competitive scenario where

you may need to work through a disqualifying process to determine if this is
worth pursuing.

If they don’t outsource it already, you can start with asking if they have
considered it? This will give you their opinion on it first. Many clients don’t
really understand the value of outsourcing this common IT function.

Do they have a ticketing system they are already paying for? What else do
they use this for? These costs may go away if they outsource.
 Opportunity Questioning Examples

WHAT WOULD IF YOU WERE TO ADD UP THE ARE THERE TIMES WHEN
(INSERT END-USER TIME INVESTMENT TO YOUR TEAM IS SLOW TO
SUPPORT PERSONNEL SUPPORT YOUR END-USERS RESPOND TO END-USER
NAMES) DO WITH THEIR YEARLY, WHAT DO YOU THINK REQUESTS?
TIME IF THEY WEREN’T IT IS COSTING YOU?
SUPPORTING END-USERS?
Managed Help Desk Value
Generally, frees up expensive IT resources to focus on more complex or business focused tasks.

Can speed up the time to resolution for end-users

Takes the burden off your IT teams hands when dealing with end-users

Offsets the costs of expensive in-house ticketing systems

Provides support access to end-users to IT professionals who often solely focus and have a high skill at
end-user support, including interpersonal skills
Services
The Major Types of Services
Professional Service
– A one-time project. Typically includes installation, configuration, architecture, and integration of a
solution.
Managed Service
– Ongoing services (typically 1 or 3 years). This is commonly the outsourcing of IT functions.

CX (Customer Experience)
– Typically, ongoing services that focus on adoption of solutions, to drive client business outcomes and
renewals.
Maintenance
– Ongoing product support.

Staffing
– Recruiting and assistance with hiring.
 • Manufacturers commonly offer their own
maintenance services of varying levels of
support. Partners can sometimes resell these
services and even white label them.
• Partners would more commonly sell
professional services, but both manufacturers
Who and distributors can also offer these.
• Manufacturers, distributors, and partners can
sell CX services, but it’s more common for the
partner to do this as an add-on value.
• Staffing is almost solely done by partners and
specific staffing companies.
Professional Services Margin

• Your services margin, or GP, is the cost of the service to the client, minus the cost
of the engineering time.
Example:
• Let’s say you are charging your client $10K to install their new switches. It is
going to take two of your engineers a total of thirty hours to do the install. The
engineers cost your company $100/hour. Since there are two of them, it is
costing $200 for every hour of work they complete. That means it costs your
company $6000 to provide these services. The customer is paying you $10,000.
Therefore, your margin is $4000. That’s a 40% GPM.
Managed Services Margin

• MS is more difficult to figure out. You need to calculate the yearly cost for you to
have the staff and tools for the MS offering. Let’s say it costs your company $500K
for this per year.
• If they have five yearly customers paying $100K for this service, then they are just
breaking even. (Really losing money in this example when we factor in SG&A, net
profit.)
• If they have ten $100K yearly clients, then they are making $500K in GP.
 • There are varying levels of maintenance services.
1. Just replace this product in 2-weeks if it breaks.
2. Give me a support number for any questions and if
it breaks provide me a replacement within 2-hours.

Maintenance • A manufacturer will need to calculate their costs by

understanding how frequently products need to be
replaced, the cost of those products, the cost of the
Services logistics and the cost of the support personnel as well
as their volume in order to know their margin and
mark-up.
• Maintenance contracts can have extremely high
margins over 70% in some cases.
• A similar analogy can be made in the customer world
with warranties.
 • CX is unique in that when done correctly it actually can
drive a tremendous amount of sales and growth.
Consider that many partners charge for this service, and
it can potentially help them sell more. This makes it the
ultimate double dip.
• Think of it this way:
You sell a client a bunch of switches. The switches come
with software with many features. After the initial
CX Services installation, your CX person talks to the client about
adopting a feature for encrypted traffic. After all, it was
already included in the service. The partner now must
charge for the installation of the service, so they get
extra business by helping the client adopt something
they already bought.
• The margin here gets unique:
The partner needs to calculate all their ongoing costs for
the CX personnel and compare it to what they charge the
client for the services, but they also must factor in any
upsell where they make extra profit.
 • An example of staffing services in IT:
Staffing • A client of yours has an opening for a data
center admin. They hire you to provide staffing
services. Your recruiters find a candidate and
the client hires them. The client pays you 20%
of their first-year salary.
• The cost of the recruiters needs to be subtracted
from the cost of the sale to identify the GP.
• The benefit of staffing is that you get to put a good
contact in your account. Often, they become part
of that client’s IT team, but remain loyal to you…
after all, you helped them get their job.
 Critical
• Services are a critical part of IT sales. For partners they may be the most critical
thing they sell as it is what sets them apart. Any reseller can just sell a product,
but services require having specialized people.
• For manufacturers, selling maintenance and CX can be critical to their business.
Selling support for products benefits the manufacturer in multiple ways:
• It keeps the client happy when they have a problem.
• It commonly has very high profit margins.
• It helps them focus on adoption and renewals.
• Services are what makes a client sticky. Especially ongoing services.
AWS Overview
Overview
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services
and products, catering to a wide range of applications like computing power, storage
options, networking, databases, analytics, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT),
security, and much more.
• They are the current market leader in public cloud.
• Over $80B in Revenue
 • Computing:
• EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): Provides scalable virtual
private servers.
• Lambda: Allows running code without provisioning or
managing servers (serverless).
• Elastic Beanstalk: An easy-to-use service for deploying and
Major scaling web applications and services.
Offerings • Storage:
• S3 (Simple Storage Service): Offers scalable object storage.
• EBS (Elastic Block Store): Provides block-level storage
volumes for persistent data storage when used with EC2
instances.
• Glacier: A low-cost storage service for data archiving and
long-term backup.
 • Databases:
• RDS (Relational Database Service): Simplifies setup,
operation, and scaling of relational databases.
• DynamoDB: A fast and flexible NoSQL database service.
Major • Networking:
• VPC (Virtual Private Cloud): Offers a private, isolated
Offerings section of the AWS cloud to launch AWS resources.
• Route 53: A scalable and highly available Domain Name
System (DNS) web service.
• Content Delivery and CDN:
• CloudFront: A content delivery network (CDN) service.
 • Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence:
• SageMaker: Enables developers to build, train, and deploy
machine learning models.
• Lex: Service for building conversational interfaces into
applications using voice and text.
• Security and Identity:
Major • IAM (Identity and Access Management): Manages access
Offerings to AWS services and resources.
• KMS (Key Management Service): Easily create and control
encryption keys used to encrypt data.
• Analytics:
• Redshift: A fast, scalable data warehouse.
• Kinesis: Real-time data processing over large, distributed
data streams.
 • DevOps and Tools:
• CloudFormation: Provides a way to manage a collection of
related AWS resources.
• CodeDeploy, CodeBuild, CodePipeline: Services for
continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).
• Internet of Things (IoT):
Major • AWS IoT Core: A platform that enables connecting devices
to AWS Services and other devices.
Offerings • Mobile Services:
• Amplify: A set of tools and services for building secure,
scalable mobile and web applications.
• Application Integration:
• SNS (Simple Notification Service): A flexible, fully
managed pub/sub messaging and mobile notifications
service.
 Key Focus
• Cloud Computing and Scalability: AWS provides a broad set of cloud-based services including computing power,
storage options, and networking capabilities. The focus is on offering scalable and flexible resources that can be
adjusted based on the demand, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes.
• Security and Compliance: AWS places a strong emphasis on security and compliance. This includes providing robust
cybersecurity measures, compliance with various regulatory standards, and tools that enable customers to secure
their data and applications in the cloud.
• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence: AWS is heavily invested in the development of machine learning and AI
services, providing tools and platforms like Amazon SageMaker, Lex, and Polly. These services enable users to build,
train, and deploy machine learning models and integrate AI functionalities into their applications.
• Data Management and Analytics: Offering services for data storage, warehousing, and analytics is a key focus. AWS
provides solutions like Amazon S3 for storage, Redshift for data warehousing, and various analytics tools to help
businesses gather insights from their data.
• Migration and Modernization: AWS offers tools and services to assist businesses in migrating their existing
operations to the cloud. This includes support for modernizing applications to be cloud-native.
• EDP: AWS Enterprise Discount Program, is a discount program offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) for enterprise-
level customers. This program is designed to provide cost savings to organizations that make a significant commitment
to using AWS services over a certain period, typically one to three years.
Cisco Overview
Cisco Overview

• Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly referred to as Cisco, is a multinational

technology conglomerate headquartered in San Jose, California. Established in
1984 by Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner, two computer scientists from
Stanford University, Cisco specializes in networking, cybersecurity,
collaboration, and data center technology. The company played a pivotal role
in the development of the internet through its innovation in routing and
switching technology, which helped establish a robust framework for data
transfer across networks.
• Revenue is over $55B.
 Cisco’s offerings span all four of the major IT
architectures. There most embedded market share is
in route switch. Much of the Internet runs over Cisco.
• EN: Route, Switch, Wireless, SD-WAN, Network
Visibility
Major • Collaboration: Both on-prem and cloud-based
phone systems, contact center, and traditional video
Offerings conferencing
• Data Center: Servers, DC and cloud management
software, and APM.
• Security: FW, NAC, MFA, Email/Web, DNS, SIEM
(Splunk), Segmentation, Zero Trust, SSE and SASE,
and XDR
 Key Focus

• Cisco is truly one of the behemoths in the world of tech. It’s rare to find clients that don’t
have something Cisco.
• This makes it easier to engage with customers on a discussion around Cisco.
• When done correctly margins can be significant.
• Due to Cisco’s size, there can be a lot of complexity in partnering.
• Cisco has a massive portfolio of offerings, which makes it easy solving customers business
problems.
• Recurring revenue through Enterprise Agreements and SaaS applications is a key focus for
Cisco.
• Cyber security is a major focus for Cisco as they continue to acquire and invest in this space.
Data Bricks Overview
 Data Bricks Overview

• Databricks is a prominent company in the field of big data analytics and

artificial intelligence (AI), known for its unified data analytics platform.
Founded in 2013 by the original creators of Apache Spark, an open-source
distributed computing system, Databricks has its headquarters in San
Francisco, California.
• Revenue is over $1B.
Major Offerings

DATA BRICKS DATA MANAGEMENT DATA WAREHOUSING

– BRINGS AI TO DATA –
 Key Focus

• Data Bricks adds unique value in the market and solves one of the biggest issues clients
have. Data is everywhere, but data bricks can bring all your data together and then,
through the use of AI, it can provide you with new insights to drive business forward.
• Channel friendly approach with significant services attach and margin.
• Enables sellers to shift their conversation to the customers business and their data.
Dell EMC Overview
Overview
• Dell EMC, which is a part of Dell Technologies, is a significant
player in the IT infrastructure and data storage industry. The
company was formed in 2016 because of the merger between
Dell and EMC Corporation, creating one of the largest technology
conglomerates in the world.
• Over $102B in Revenue
 • Data Storage Solutions
Dell EMC is renowned for its extensive range of data storage
solutions, which includes all-flash storage, hybrid storage, network-
attached storage (NAS), and object storage.
• Servers and Networking
The company offers a variety of servers (including rack, tower, and
modular servers) and networking products for modern data
centers.
• Cloud Computing Solutions
Major Dell EMC provides solutions for hybrid cloud and private cloud
computing, along with cloud management tools.
Offerings • Data Protection
Offering products for backup, recovery, and replication to ensure
data integrity and availability.
• Virtualization
Partnering with VMware, a spin-off from Dell in Nov 2021, Dell
EMC provides virtualization solutions for servers, storage, and
networking.
• Converged and Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI)
Solutions that combine computing, storage, and networking into a
single system for simplified deployment and management.
 The company's strategy focuses on enabling
digital transformation for businesses,
supporting the shift to hybrid cloud
Key Focus environments, and promoting data-driven
decision-making with big data and analytics
solutions.
HPe Overview
 • Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPe) is a global,
edge-to-cloud Platform-as-a-Service
company built to transform businesses by
helping them connect, protect, analyze, and
act on all their data and applications. It
emerged as a separate entity following the
Overview splitting of the original Hewlett-Packard
Company in 2015, with HPe focusing on
servers, storage, networking, consulting, and
support.
• Over $29B in Revenue
Major Offerings
• Servers: HPe offers a range of server solutions including rack, tower, blade, and synergy servers.
• Storage Solutions: The company provides a variety of storage solutions such as all-flash and
hybrid storage, data protection, and storage networking.
• Networking: This includes wireless LAN, campus, and data center networking solutions.
• Software: HPe offers software for IT Operations Management, Cloud Management, and other
enterprise needs.
• High-Performance Computing (HPC): Solutions for processing large data sets and performing
complex calculations.
• Edge Computing Solutions: Technologies designed to optimize enterprise workloads at the edge
of the network.
• Advisory and Professional Services: Consulting services to assist with digital transformation, IT
strategy, and workload optimization.
 • HPe has been focusing on transforming into a more service-
oriented company. This includes an emphasis on
GreenLake, its flagship as-a-service offering, which allows
customers to pay for hardware and software on a
consumption basis, similar to cloud services.
• Investment in AI, machine learning, and edge-to-cloud
Key Focus technologies are also part of its strategic approach to
maintain competitiveness in the evolving tech landscape.
• HPe has recently announced their intent to acquire Juniper,
which shows their desire to grow their enterprise
networking practice against competitors like: Arista and
Cisco
IT Manufacturers
Overview
Why you need this knowledge …

As a consultative IT seller, it’s important that you have a broader view

of the industry. This section will walk you through the key offerings
and focus areas for many of the top manufacturers.

Even if you aren’t directly selling these solutions or if they are

competitive to your offerings, it’s critical that we can speak the
language of the industry.

Clients will often speak in terms of brand names rather than industry
names and understanding exactly what they are talking about and
why will give you more creditability with your clients.
 • You may need to review this section
many times to gain a full

What to
understanding of the focus areas
and offerings for each of these
companies.

review: • Be sure to understand the key

definitions of their offerings, brand
names, the problems they solve
and their focus areas.
Microsoft Overview
 • Microsoft Corporation is a global technology
company known for its software, services,
devices, and solutions that help both
individuals and businesses realize their full
Overview potential. Founded by Bill Gates and Paul
Allen in 1975, Microsoft has played a pivotal
role in the evolution of the personal
computing industry.
• Over $211B in Revenue
 • Operating Systems: Windows is the most popular and
extensively used operating system in the world, a core
product for Microsoft.
• Productivity Software: The Microsoft Office suite, which
includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, is a staple
Major in businesses and households.
• Cloud Services: Microsoft Azure, a major player in cloud
Offerings computing, provides a wide range of cloud services,
including computing, analytics, storage, and networking.
• Enterprise Software: Dynamics 365 offers business
applications for operations, financials, customer
relationship management (CRM), and enterprise resource
planning (ERP).
Key Focus
• Microsoft is one of the world's largest and most influential tech
companies. Its strategy has shifted over the years from primarily
focusing on software licensing to a more diversified approach that
includes hardware, cloud computing, AI, and other technologies.
• A significant part of its current strategy revolves around Azure
cloud computing and AI, aiming to integrate these technologies
across its product range.
NetApp Overview
NetApp Overview
• NetApp, Inc. is a global technology
company that specializes in cloud
data services, data storage
management, and hybrid cloud
data services. Established in 1992
and headquartered in San Jose,
California, NetApp has carved out
a significant niche in the data
storage market.
• Revenue is over $6B.
 Major Offerings

Primary Storage

ONTAP Data Management

Hybrid Cloud Solutions

 • AF
– All-Flash Storage Line
• FAS
– Fabric Attached Storage (Hybrid-flash array)
On Prem • E-Series
– High bandwidth hybrid-flash arrays
Storage • StorageGRID
– Object based storage arrays
• FlexPod
– Converged (Reference Architecture) combines
NetApp and Cisco
 • As public cloud IaaS continues to rise, NetApp has
shifted their focus to hybrid cloud solutions and
data management for the cloud.
• Note they retired their HCI offering in favor of focusing
on cloud data management and software-based
Key Focus hybrid cloud solutions.
• A benefit of working with NetApp as a reseller is
their margins are among the highest.
• NetApp has a low friction approach in the
channel that makes working with them easier
when compared to other vendors.
PAN Overview
Overview

• Palo Alto Networks is a multinational cybersecurity company known for its

comprehensive suite of advanced security solutions. The company is
renowned for its focus on creating innovative security technologies that help
organizations protect their networks, cloud environments, and mobile devices
from various cyber threats.
• Over $7B in Revenue
 • Firewalls: The company is perhaps best known for its next-
generation firewalls, which are designed to safely enable
applications and prevent threats.
• Cloud Security: Solutions for securing cloud environments,
including public, private, and hybrid clouds.
• Endpoint Protection: Tools that protect individual devices
Major connected to a network, such as laptops and mobile
phones, from malware and other threats.
Offerings • Threat Detection and Prevention: Technologies for
identifying and mitigating cyber threats.
• Cybersecurity Automation: Tools that automate various
security processes to improve response time and efficiency.
• Security Consulting Services: Offering expertise to help
organizations assess, improve, and maintain their
cybersecurity posture.
Key Focus

• Palo Alto Networks is heavily invested in research and development to stay at the
forefront of cybersecurity innovation.
• The company's strategy often includes acquiring smaller cybersecurity firms to
integrate new technologies and expand its product portfolio.
• There's a strong focus on cloud security, given the growing adoption of cloud services
across industries.
• Cortex is a suite of advanced cybersecurity products and services designed to provide
comprehensive security solutions for businesses and organizations. Cortex focuses on
using advanced AI and machine learning technologies to enhance various aspects of
cybersecurity.
Pure Overview
Pure Overview
• Pure Storage is an American
technology company specializing in
data storage solutions and
headquartered in Mountain View,
California. Founded in 2009,
Pure Storage has distinguished itself
in the enterprise data storage
market, particularly with its all-flash
storage array solutions.
• Revenue is over $2B.
 Major Offerings

All-flash storage arrays

Integrated platforms
– FlashStack and AIRI
DRaaS
(Disaster Recovery as a Service)
 •FlashArray
On Prem – Unified Block and File Storage
Storage •Unstructured Data Storage
– FlashBlade
 • Hybrid cloud infrastructure.
• Simplicity and channel friendly.
• Among the easiest manufacturers to work with
for channel partners.
Key Focus • High margins
• Long-term partnership with Cisco.
• Moving from HCI to software defined hybrid
cloud storage.
Activity Tracking
What to track?

• To implement a successful prospecting strategy, it is absolutely critical that you track your
activities. This simple tracking data is going to instantly show you some key data:
• Why you aren’t getting enough meetings. If that’s the case.
• What strategy is working best for you.
• Which script is working best.
• Where do you have room to improve.
• Exactly what volume is required on average to achieve your weekly meeting goals.
• What your next prospecting step is.
• Where your targets are at in your flow and when it’s time to bring in new targets.
 • We highly recommend you download and
implement the LEAD activity tracker from this
course.
• But wait we have a CRM…
Most of the time a CRM doesn’t replace the
LEAD Activity need for using the LEAD activity tracking
spreadsheet. After reviewing the LEAD tracker,

Tracker if you strongly feel your CRM is already setup

to do exactly this and it won’t slow you down
then go for it.
• Keep in mind – many reps use the LEAD
tracker and then input their CRM data later.
The LEAD tracker literally takes seconds, so
you won’t lose time.
Activity Tracker Overview
Why the steps
• A critical part to building a solid
prospecting approach is to have a
well-defined cadence when doing
your outreach. This cadence needs to
include each of the major types of
cold outreach to ensure you are
hitting your target clients from
different angles.
• Remember a lot of cold prospecting is
marketing yourself and your
organization.
Activity Tracker Progress
 • A common question is, how long should I wait
between activity 1, which is cold call 1, until I send
email 1.
• For cold prospecting it is recommended you have
a minimum of 100 contacts before starting the
process.
• An ideal target would be 250.
Timing • The time it takes you to work down the activity
for each contact will naturally space out your
steps. In other words, don’t overthink this. Even if
this means you have contacted them multiple
times in the same day that’s okay too and
sometimes can be an advantage.
• The time of the spacing, between 1 – 3 days
has shown no significant difference in our data
when tracking appointments set.
Activity Volume
 • Ensure you are tracking your volume for
each outbound box. This may mean having
several volume reports for the same date.
Key Points • Note that you will be using and testing
several scripts and you may also have
multiple lists, so it’s important to track this
data as well.
Not enough meetings

• Let’s be logical for a moment if you aren’t hitting your meeting goals every week then there
are only a few reasons for this:
• Your meeting goal is too high, review the video on activity level.
• Ensure your goal is actually achievable on a regular basis and realistic.
• Obviously, you need enough meetings to generate the 3x pipeline ratio.
• Your volume is too low. In your outbound boxes you aren’t hitting a high enough
volume.
• Your decision maker to close ratio is too low.
• The Volume Tracking tab is your source of truth as to what’s really holding you back.
Cold Calls
 • Hopefully, we agree now that using scripts and making
it sound natural are important parts of a good strategy.
• Once your script is developed you need to practice,
Developing your practice and practice some more. We highly
recommend that you record yourself delivering your
approach script or find a peer or manager to role play with.
• Some organization will provide you with a script
and that’s fine too as long as you make it sound
natural.
• Our data shows that starting with a pattern interrupt
has a high success rate of getting the prospect to
engage.
• A pattern interrupt is something that you say to the
prospect that surprises them and it’s typically done at
the start of the call.
 • Hey John, can I have 14 seconds to tell you why
I’m calling and if you aren’t interested after you
can just hang up?
• Hey Paul, I know I’m catching you in the middle of
Pattern the day here, but I was wondering if you’ve
considering outsourcing some of your IT, so you

Interrupt can free your IT team up, so they can focus on

your business?

Examples
• Hey Tina, yes this is a cold call, I promise I won’t
completely ruin your day, but I wanted to briefly
tell you how I can help you.
• Hey Beth, have you ever received a cold call and
you were actually glad the person called? No, me
neither, well today’s the day.
 • The previous examples all have a high success rate of
getting the client to at least listen to you for 15-30 seconds.
Be creative and come up with your own or feel free to
develop your scripts using these approaches.
• One of the challenges with cold calling is that it is always
Pattern evolving the better prospectors are using these types of
pattern interrupts, so overtime when something starts
Interrupts working that just means it’s getting time to change
approach. We don’t want to sound like everyone else.
• With YouTube now being a source of cold callers displaying
their skills many people are starting to improve at cold
calling.
• Check out the many cold callers out there and listen to
their approach.
Developing Your Script
• Following the opening or pattern interrupt you need a 15 – 30 second explanation of why
you are calling and what you are offering.
• You want to end this brief pitch with a question.
• Example: How does your schedule look Monday at 3:00 or Tuesday at 1:00 for a 15-
minute intro call?
• Example: If you could outsource one part of your IT, what would it be?
• Example: What can I provide a sample quote on, pick anything?
Objections

• The real skill and difference maker in cold calling is how you handle objections.
Despite what you say at the beginning of the call, you are most likely to get an
objection.
• The good news is you will hear many of the same objections over and over, so
you can prepare with how to respond to them in advance.
• The best cold callers want the objection, because they know exactly and
statistically what response is most likely going to net them a meeting.
Your Goal

• The goal of any cold call should be to set a meeting. Setting a meeting is in fact your only
goal. Rarely will you start selling on the spot. With that said, there are times when the client
does engage immediately, and they start asking questions. Refer to the video on
“prospecting meetings” to understand how to structure this type of conversation.
• Since our goal is to set a meeting on the spot there are a few rules:
• Be ready with dates and times. Write down 8 time slots that work for you before you
start cold calling, so you have them handy to run through as options.
• Send the calendar invite on the spot and make sure they receive and accept it. Very
important to not wait until after the call to do this. It will impact your meeting
acceptance rate.
Let’s Review

• Start with a pattern interrupt

• Provide a 15-30 second value prop that
ends in a question
• Handle any objections
• Ask for a short meeting 15-minutes or
less. Give specific times for them to pick
from.
• Send calendar invite on the spot and
ensure they accept it.
 • Rep: Hey John, this is Jim calling from ABC, can I have 14 seconds to tell
you why I’ve called and if you are interested you can just hang up.
• Prospect: Uh okay. If you can make it quick.
• Rep: Jim, I’m not sure if you saw but XYZ’s SSE solution was just ranked #1
by Generic Consulting. We know that a solution like this could help
simplify things for you and reduce your risk. I’d like to show you a ten-
minute demo of this. How does your schedule look tomorrow at 3:00 or
Friday I have an opening at 9:30?
• Prospect: I’m really not interested in SSE right now.
• Rep: I can understand the timing might not be right on SSE, if you aren’t
interested in seeing a demo on that, what would you prefer to see? We

Example
can show you our cloud optimization solutions or a demo of ABC APM
tool. It would really help me out if we could just book a quick 15-minute
call with you. I think you’ll be impressed with some of the things we can
do to help you. Would tomorrow at 3:00 possibly work?
• Prospect: I’m booked the rest of this week.
• Rep: How about 15-minutes next Tuesday at 11:00?
• Prospect: Okay that’s fine if we can keep it to 15-minutes.
• Rep: Yeah, no problem. Let me send you that calendar invite now. Just let
me know when you receive it.
• Prospect: Okay.
• Rep: Just so I can prep my engineer correctly. What would you be most
interested in seeing?
• Prospect: Let’s see what you guys do with this APM tool.
• Rep: Sounds good we’ll be ready to go to walk you through ABC APM.
Review
• This cold call example was taken directly from a Gong recording of one of your trainees. It ultimately led to a new
account and closed business.
• Some reasons why this approach works:
• We started with the pattern interrupt of asking for 14 seconds. Sure, you will have clients that say no, or they
just hang up, but many say okay and now at least you know they are engaged and will listen to you. It basically
sets the stage for the call.
• We kept our ask specific and gave some brief value.
• We were prepared for the objection of them not being interested, so we pivoted to giving them a this or that
choice of what they would want to see instead.
• We used the word “help.” Many people will want to help you and just get on a short call. It’s a good thing to ask
for help.
• We offered specific times to meet versus putting it on them or giving a vague block of time. Remember you are
busy too, so don’t act like anytime any day will work.
• Many times, you will need to coordinate with an engineer in advance to ensure the time slots you are trying
to book will work for them too.
• We sent the invite on the spot and ensured they accepted. You will still have attrition when booking prospecting
meetings, but this step will save you time and as much as 20% attrition.
Cold Calls
Part 2
Most Common Objections

You will hear that same type of objections over and over, so you want to prepare your
script in advance with how you want to handle these. Objection handling is the most
important part of a cold call.
• I’m not interested.
• We are too busy.
• We don’t have any budget.
• I already work with a vendor I’m happy with.
• I’m not the right person or don’t make those decisions.
• Send me some information to look at and I’ll get back to you.
• Pushing your call off for more than 2-weeks.
 I’m not I understand you aren’t interested in
__X__ right now, what would be of
interested more interest to you __X__ or
__X__?
We are too busy
Oh, I can understand that. I feel we can actually save you a lot
of time with our services. I know you are busy, but can we at
least carve out just 10-15 minutes for a short call. I promise not
to waste your time.
We don’t have budget
That’s no problem. I still want to give you some education on
our offering. I think you’ll get a lot out of it even if you can’t buy
it now. It never hurts to make a new contact anyway.
I already have a vendor I’m
happy with
That’s great you found a vendor you like working with. I’m not
here to replace them, but I do think it doesn’t hurt to have a
plan B or another vendor you can bounce things off. I’d love to
at least show you __X__. How does (give times) work for you?
I’m not the right person
That’s totally okay, I still think you might find this valuable just
for your own education on our offerings. You never know in the
future we could work together. Can I show you a demo anyway
for 15-minutes?
Send me more information
• Absolutely, let me make sure I have your email address correct: Is
it abc@abc.com? Okay great, just so I don’t inundate you with too
much, what topic is of most interest what we are doing around
managed services or a review of our enterprise agreements?
• Great, I’ll put that together for you. Hey Jim, I know how things
tend to get overlooked in email. If managed services are of some
interest to you, can I least get 10-15 minutes of your time max just
to present it to you?
Pushing your call off more
than 2 weeks
John, I can definitely meet in 6-weeks, but I know how things go
and it would really help if we could just knock out a really short
meeting in the next week or so. I promise we can be brief and
keep it to no more than 15-minutes. That way if you aren’t
interested, we won’t need to meet again, although I think you’ll
be really impressed with what you see. Anyway, we could just
grab 10-15 minutes in the next week to talk?
Make it your own
• All the examples in this video are proven to work, but you need to make
things your own. Depending on the company you work for, your offerings and
your goals you need to develop a script that is going to be natural for you.
• Start with at least two scripts Script A and Script B. This immediately allows
you to A/B test them against each other. When you find one is working better
than the other start testing a script C.
• When prospectors take this approach, they ultimately always find success
since they are always trying to improve.
Why cold calls anyway?
• As mentioned, there are many types of cold prospecting that you will want to
incorporate into your strategy, but as of today our results show that cold calls still
generate the highest close ratio (along with drop-ins, which we will cover later).
• People have been saying for twenty years that cold calls aren’t working anymore and yet
the results show otherwise. Again, watch some of the cold prospectors on YouTube and
how they approach this.
• Why do they still work: LinkedIn (Social), Email, Direct Mailers and voicemail all fail to
provide you the chance to respond to the client’s objections. Most people have an
objection and only if you are talking to them live can you respond. It’s not like they will
email you their objection back and give you chance to respond, no they will just delete it.
• Sellers who regularly cold call or do drop-ins improve their sales skills and develop
confidence significantly faster than sellers who only hide behind the written word.
Having a conversation

• As your skills increase with cold calling soon you will be able to shift toward having a
conversation with the client on the spot. For some sellers this can eliminate the need for the
prospecting meeting as discussed in earlier videos.
• Before we can have an on-the-spot meeting we need to unsure we can:
• Speak intelligently about our offerings and value.
• Understand the industry, the competition, other manufacturers, and major solutions – if
the conversation veers to another opportunity you will be prepared for it.
• Ensure you are fluent in discovery questioning and opportunity qualifying.
• Everything you have learned up to this point in the course should prepare you to be able to
handle a prospecting meeting on the fly.
 In our earlier example note how quickly we pivot to the meeting:
• Rep: Hey John, this is Jim calling from ABC, can I have 14 seconds to tell you
why I’ve called and if you are interested you can just hang up.
• Prospect: Uh okay if you can make it quick.
• Rep: Jim, I’m not sure if you saw but XYZ’s SSE solution was just ranked #1 by
Generic Consulting. We know that a solution like this could help simplify things
for you and reduce your risk. I’d like to show you a ten-minute demo of this.
How does your schedule look tomorrow at 3:00 or Friday I have an opening at
9:30?

Basic •
•
Prospect: I’m really not interested in SSE right now.
Rep: I can understand the timing might not be right on SSE, if you aren’t

Cold Call
interested in seeing a demo on that what would you prefer to see, we can show
you our cloud optimization solutions or a demo of ABC APM tool. It would really
help me out if we could just book a quick 15-minute call with you. I think you’ll
be impressed with some of the things we can do to help you. Would tomorrow

Example •
•
at 3:00 possibly work?
Prospect: I’m booked the rest of this week.
Rep: How about 15 minutes next Tuesday at 11:00?
• Prospect: Okay that’s fine if we can keep it to 15 minutes.
• Rep: Yeah, no problem. Let me send you that calendar invite now. Just let me
know when you receive it.
• Prospect: Okay.
• Rep: Just so I can prep my engineer correctly. What would you be most
interested in seeing?
• Prospect: Let’s see what you guys do with this APM tool.
• Rep: Sounds good we’ll be ready to go to walk you through ABC APM.
Pushing for the
conversation
• If you are new to prospecting or don’t feel like you can
handle the initial prospecting meeting yourself then you
are best to stay focused on pushing for the initial
meeting, where you can bring in a resource to support
you and prep.
• Overtime as your skill grows you will naturally be able to
turn your cold calls into conversations.
• Example of pivoting to conversation now:
AT this point or even earlier we can just immediately ask
them questions like, have you ever looked into APM?
Then you can start a conversation. Optionally, you can
always say do you have a couple more minutes right
now and maybe I can save you the call?
Cold Outbound
Events
Events Tips
 • As you progress through the activity tracker you
will email the prospect on three separate occasions
before moving them to only automated emails and
LinkedIn.
• Each of your three primary emails should be slightly
different, but we highly recommend using a mail
merge or CRM solution, so you are able to quickly
Cold Emails work through your email activity step.
• When this is setup correctly you should be able to
complete your email steps in minutes. If your
organization doesn’t already have a tool or process
for this, setting up an email merge is simple, but
allow yourself a couple hours to get this right the
first time. Be SURE to test your mail merge.
 • Sure, a custom email to each target prospect would
net a higher close ratio, but here again that would
fall into targeted prospecting. In cold prospecting
remember volume always beats customization.
• Make it easy to schedule time with you. There are
Cold Emails many great scheduling apps that will allow your
prospect to just select a time.
• Keep them short and to the point. Emails with
under 50 words have a higher open rate for
instance.
 Dear <name>,
I’m reaching out to see if you would like to see a demonstration
of our SOC (Security Operations Center) service for small
businesses. We have a 4.99 average client satisfaction score. Our
offerings are priced for small business accounts in mind and will
help you offset your risk and save you time.

Example Schedule a 15-minute intro call here.

Cold Email 1
Feel free to reach out with some times that might work for.

Thanks,

Erin
 Dear <name>,
I’ve been reaching out to you for a bit, and I’d love to setup a
short intro call. Just as a reminder our SOC (Security Operations
Center) service for small businesses. We have a 4.99 average
client satisfaction score. Our offerings are priced for small
business accounts in mind and will help you offset your risk and
save you time.
Example
Schedule a 15-minute intro call here.
Cold Email 2
Feel free to reach out with some times that might work for.

Thanks,

Erin
 • This along with the final voicemail email 3 is
commonly known as the “break-up” email and
The voicemail before we send that into an automated
email approach.

“Breakup” • At this point you will have made 15 outbound

attempts to this prospect if you are following along

Cold Email 3 with the activity tracker.

• It’s time to bring in new contacts to target anyway.
 Hi <name>,
Unfortunately, I’ve been reaching out to you
for a while with no success. I really feel a short
call to discuss our managed security offerings
would be worth your time. If you are just not
interested, please let me know, so we can
Example remove you from our contact list. I hope we
can make a connection, send me any times
Cold Email 3 that would work, and we can keep the call
short.

Thanks, Erin
 • Notice in the break-up email we actually
want to let them off the hook. Getting a
hard no can be valuable, but more
importantly we have found that many
times these types of direct emails or
voicemails will actually prompt a client to
Breaking up is respond.
• Reminder a lot of prospecting is
hard to do personalized marketing. They have
received calls, voicemails, emails, and
social media requests from you at this
point.
• Keep in mind we are now just moving
them to an automated approach.
 Voicemails

Your voicemails should

Much like emails, you will closely resemble your
leave 3 voicemails with the emails, with the exception
client over the course of of providing a call back
your activity tracker. number and your own
email for them to reply to.
Social Media • LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram and Facebook can
all be great tools for engaging with an audience,
building a brand, and of course booking meetings
with clients.
• LinkedIn is preferred among professionals, but we
have found success when done correctly with
other social platforms as well.
• For our purposes we will focus on LinkedIn.
• In your activity tracker you simply want to Link
with a prospect without a message. Leaving a
message on the initial request has actually shown
lower long-term results. Plus, when you send the
message after they are Linked it stays populated in
their inbox. If you put the message in the initial
request, it disappears when they connect.
 Social
Branding
Cold Prospecting
Strategy
Building a list
• Now that you’ve been introduced to the LEAD activity tracker you should understand
where to keep and maintain your contacts. If you have a CRM you plan to use you should
also be storing your contacts in there, along with pipeline and notes.
• Not all sellers have the freedom to build their own list from scratch. If you do here are a
few tips:
• First, identify target accounts based on geography if you have the ability to visit them
in person. There is still a power that comes with in-person meetings over any other
type of activity.
• Second, identify accounts based on their size. What size accounts do you want to
pursue, what is best for your offerings, where do you have the most references.
• Third, rank your accounts by vertical. There is a lot of value and time savings that
comes from verticalizing. You will learn both the tech and this unique section of the
business world at a deeper level, further enabling you to take more of a consultative
approach.
Building a list
• To build our list, we want to identify the personas in the account we want to pursue.
• Most IT offerings can help solve business problems, so it’s typical to have a list that is a
mix of IT and business contacts. A common rule of thumb would be to have 60% of your
contacts in IT and 40% of your contacts come from business roles like HR or Sales.
• For each target account you want to identify at least 5-6 contacts.
• We recommend you then sort your tracking sheet by persona or to put the personas on
different lists. This avoids constant switching between scripts during your outbound box.
Each persona type will need a different approach.
 • The beauty of cold prospecting is you only need to do
10% of the research required for targeted prospecting,
which we will learn more about later.
• You need these details only:
• Account name
• Account type
• Contact name
• Contact title
Researching • Office phone number
• Cell phone number (optional but nice to have)
• Email address
• Some of you will have this information supplied to you
by your company. If you do not have access to this, your
company may supply you with one of the services that
can provide contact information.
• If you don’t have access to this, you will have to find it
yourself.
Contact Information
• Assuming you don’t have access to your target accounts contact
data and if you don’t have access to a tool that provides this or if
that contact info is wrong (which is often the case) then you can
research this on your own:
• Use Google
• Use LinkedIn
• Call the main number of the company and just ask for it.
• Call other people in the company and just ask for it.
 • Often when you start working your list
early on you will notice the contact
information is incorrect. You should
skip over these contacts for this

Incorrect
activity and highlight them. Then you
need to schedule the time outside of
your outbound box to update them.

Data • Notice the importance of the

outbound box! We want to
eliminate distractions as much as
possible. Your outbound box is
about VOLUME!
 • The outbound box is all about maximizing
as many activities as you can during that
1-to-2-hour window. It is about minimizing
distractions. The ONLY thing you should be
doing in your outbound box is doing
Outbound outbound.
Box and • If you don’t your data will be thrown off and
you want to be easily able to compare volume
Research from day to day.
• The real reason we amplify this point is
many times the most common reason
people aren’t successful at cold prospecting
is lack of volume. Many people lie to
themselves about what the real issue is.
When to research
• Guess when not to research, in your outbound
box.
• You need to schedule resource on your calendar
like any other activity. When you get to your
outbound box you need to have that contact list
ready to go, so you can start making “X” down
your contact list for each activity.
Scripts

• We highly recommend you use scripts, but we don’t want you to sound scripted.
• After listening to hundreds of prospectors make cold calls with and without scripts the
data is definitively in the favor of those with scripts.
• The best cold callers sound so confidant and natural you would never know they are using
a script.
• They know their script so well that every pause and every uh or um is intentional.
• Scripts allow you to do one of the most critical steps in prospecting to A B test. You will
have data right in your activity tracker that shows you which scripts are performing the
best.
• As you narrow this down overtime your close ratios will continue to improve.
Scripts and Partnerships

• To mix things up from time to time you will want to use a script about a
specific offer versus the more common broader approach. Sometimes this
means working with a partner to offer a demo or review a managed service
offering.
• As we track this type of activity you will see what offerings resonate
better, since you will be using scripts and tracking their success in your
tracking sheet.
Not using a script
Gaining Skill
 • We commonly hear this type of feedback from
prospectors:
• I hated cold calling at first and now I kind of like
it.
• I’ve learned to just make it into a game.
• It’s become just part of what I do.
Improvement • I feel much more confident now than I did a few
months ago.
• Even though I am generally using the same
script I’m getting more meetings. I think my
confidence and talk tracks have just improved.
• I’m at a point where a lot of my better calls just
turn into conversations.
Why are we doing this again?

Let’s remember if you can hit your meeting and pipeline goals into the
foreseeable future without doing cold prospecting then you shouldn’t
be. There is no magic pill that will let you flip a switch and just get
meetings with anyone.

Like anything there is a skill to it and that skill can be greatly improved
overtime with practice.
 • Immediately record your next outbound box. Listen back to
yourself and make notes. Do you sound how you want to?
Did anything surprise you?
• The worst way to improve quickly is funny enough making
cold calls. The best ways to improve quickly is rapidly role
playing with a peer or manager. Have them make it difficult
for you.
Important • Consider it can take you months to have 100 decision
maker conversations, but with a peer you can role play it
100 times in hours.
• By the time you get a prospect on the phone you want to
be confident, you want to sound natural with perfect
cadence and inflection, you want to be numb to rejection
and you want to master objection handlers.
Making it a game
• The game is simple: Beat your previous week’s
volume, beat your DM to Meeting close ratio,
set your high score for most meetings, set your
high score for conversion ratio.
• The activity tracker will provide this for you. The
more you make it a game and compete with
yourself the better you will do and the more
enjoyable it will be.
• Only you choose to be unhappy doing
prospecting. If you choose to be positive and
make it a game, you can find that prospecting
can be a fruitful competitive challenge.
Take pride in your data

• Be 100% honest and accurate with your tracking

data. This is the only way to see if you are really
improving. It’s the only way to really make it a
game.
• Don’t be embarrassed about the results,
whatever they are it just means there is room
for improvement. Continue to work to improve
and your numbers will increase.
• Trust the process.
In-Person
Cold Prospecting
 In-person

When correctly done anything in-person will statistically be the easiest way for you to get
“pure cold prospect meetings.”

Example: You show up for a local cyber security seminar and meet an IT Director at the
bar, chat for a while, ask them if you can come out and visit with them.

In-person cold prospecting can consist of any event, conference, or networking group
you can show up to in-person and meet potential clients that you don’t already know,
and they don’t know you.
If you are unable to travel in-person then you need to fall back to all leveraging all the
cold outreach strategies found in the next video.
High Value
• Start by using Google to look for local events and networking groups.
• Give yourself a large radius (like 2-hours) if you are able to.
• Leverage the chamber of commerce websites to identify additional groups and business mixer
events.
• Going to these events is time consuming and can sometimes cost an entrance fee. You need to
be able to consistently get meetings from these events to make the investment worth it.
• You can’t be afraid to walk up to people you don’t know and introduce yourself.
• As these tend to be more conversational interactions that a cold call for instance you should be
proficient at relationship building and have a solid understanding of the content in this course,
so you can speak intelligently about your offerings, the industry and technology.
• This never mean that you need to be “highly technical,” but you do need to add value on
your own and portray a confidence.
 • Essentially you need to ask people at these
events if they could spare some time to meet
with you. Because you are asking them face to
face, it will be much harder for them to say no
unlike a cold call.
• There also tends to be a lot of attrition with
It can be these meetings because of this, so schedule
simple many and plan for that.
• You will have less attrition if you are able to
have a full conversation with a prospect at the
event. Maybe you can immediately identify
some ways you might be able to help them.
Again, refer to the course content and master
it.
Doesn’t replace cold outreach
• Here again in-person cold prospecting can work extremely well, but we generally find it
isn’t enough to replace cold outreach. Again, if you can generate enough meetings with
this approach then you may not need to do cold calls.
• Many sellers make the mistake of trying to over rotate to this as their sole prospecting
strategy and ultimately fail. Until you can prove otherwise you should continue with
your outbound boxes and schedule in-person as well throughout the week.
• One challenge with in-person is there may not be as many opportunities for in-person
networking in your area. You also have to be careful that many events don’t allow for
down time for you to approach enough potential clients to make it worth it.
• Your time is very valuable, ask questions about what you are signing up to spend your
time on.
Approaching
people
Intro to Cold
Prospecting
Do I need to do this?

• Not everyone needs to do cold prospecting, let’s determine if it’s right for you
through a series of questions:
• Set accounts – if you have a set list of accounts that all already work with your
organization, then you need to focus on in-account prospecting only. This is common
for manufacturer reps handling larger accounts and some partner reps.
• Highly successful – If you are already running a high producing business and you only
have time to handle one more high producing account or if you are verticalized you
may want to choose to focus on warm or targeted prospecting only.
• Almost all other direct sellers will need some cold prospecting as part of their
strategy.
 • It’s a huge mistake to only focus on vendor relationships
and warm outreach. This strategy almost always fails in
the long run and will drastically reduce your long-term
success.
• Caveat: If you are hitting your weekly client facing
meeting goals and pipeline growth targets by just doing
warm and you have no room to add cold then you can
stick with your current strategy. Ensure before choosing to
Pitfalls go this path that you feel you have enough warm contacts
long-term that you will be able to continually generate the
necessary activity and pipeline results.
• Many people have fallen into this trap only to realize they
eventually exhaust all of their warm contacts, and they
are no longer hitting their weekly new meeting goals or
pipeline. Then they start to ramp up on a cold strategy,
but it takes months to develop a solid cold strategy.
I’m unsure
• If you are still unsure how to build a sustainable prospecting strategy or if cold
prospecting is right for you, then make sure to do it. You can’t go wrong with some cold
prospecting and the benefits will ultimately outweigh the time investment in the long-
term.
• A blended strategy is right for most intermediate sellers.
• Warm, cold, targeted and in-account prospecting. As long as each type is calendared,
tracked, and you stick to it for the long term, you will find success.
Benefits of Cold Prospecting
• Lead Generation: Cold prospecting is a proactive way to generate new leads. In the IT sector, where
technologies and needs constantly evolve, reaching out to new potential clients can uncover
opportunities that might not be identified through passive marketing strategies.
• Market Expansion: Cold prospecting allows salespeople to reach out to businesses or sectors they
haven’t worked with before, thus expanding their market reach and potentially uncovering new niches
or industries that could benefit from their IT solutions.
• Building Awareness: Each cold contact is an opportunity to introduce the company and its products or
services. Even if the prospect doesn’t convert immediately, this increases brand awareness and might
lead to future engagement.
• Feedback and Insights: Interacting with prospects provides valuable feedback on the market’s
response to the product or service offered. This information can guide product development,
marketing strategies, and sales approaches.
• Developing Sales Skills: Cold prospecting hones essential sales skills like communication, negotiation,
and objection handling. These skills are crucial in IT sales, where explaining complex solutions in an
accessible way is a key part of the sales process.
Benefits of Cold Prospecting
• Building a Sales Pipeline: Regular cold prospecting activities help in building a robust sales
pipeline, ensuring a steady flow of leads at different stages of the sales cycle. This is crucial for
sustained sales success.
• Networking Opportunities: Each call or contact made can expand the salesperson's professional
network. Even if a prospect isn’t interested, they might refer others who are, or become relevant
in the future.
• Competitive Advantage: By actively seeking new clients, an IT salesperson can gain a competitive
advantage over those who rely solely on inbound leads or existing clients.
• Personal Branding: Successful cold prospectors can establish themselves as go-to experts in their
field. This personal branding can lead to increased trust and credibility with both current and
future prospects.
• Resilience and Adaptability: Cold prospecting often involves rejection and requires resilience.
Overcoming these challenges can lead to a more adaptable and persistent sales approach,
beneficial in all aspects of sales.
Types of Cold Prospecting
• Cold call – (dialing for dollars) simply picking up the phone and calling a contact who you don’t
know and who doesn’t know you.
• Cold email – sending an email
• Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram etc. – Using social platforms to direct message a contact
• Cold text – Text message directly to a contacts, cell phone.
• In-person event or networking groups – showing up to in-person events and making cold
introductions to contacts to set meetings.
• Drop-in – Just showing up at their office to meet them.
• Snail mail – Sending a small gift (commercial accounts) or letter to drive a response or meeting.
• Events – prospecting cold clients to join an event and then leveraging that to set an appointment.
Opening New Accounts
Building a strategy
• Set a weekly goal not just for overall meetings, but
specifically for how many “net new” meetings.
• New meetings are with target clients that you haven’t met
with before.
• Schedule your time to generate the meetings to hit your
goal.
• This will vary based on your data, your skill level, the
type of prospecting you are using and the types of
accounts you are trying to break into.
• Track this and increase time weekly until you are able
to achieve your goal.
 • If you are a new seller without any accounts or any existing
contacts as much as 70% of your working hours could
consist of outbound.
• For new reps it is often a 70/30 ratio between prospecting
and training.
• We do recommend new sellers fully complete LEAD sales
training before hitting the phones. Having the knowledge of
the industry, the solutions and the other person on the
phone will be imperative to your success.
• If you are very experienced seller, you may only want to
Examples have one net new meeting a week. You may need to only
spend 10% of your time prospecting.
• If you are extremely successful and already managing a
large book of business, you may want to go with targeted
prospecting. Here you want to land a meeting over the next
month with just one specific client or type of client. Again,
less than 10% of your week would come from prospecting
and the research required to properly leverage a targeted
approach.
Goal
• So, what’s your goal for net new based on your current business? Write one down now
you can always change it later.
• Now, how much time do you want to allocate to this? Again, you will need to increase
and decrease the time allocation weekly after testing this.
• As you practice and gain skill your close ratios will increase, which may mean you are
able to decrease the amount of time you are allocating to prospecting.
• Don’t forget if you are a new seller as you start getting meetings this will take away
from the time you have to prospect.
• This is why time management and tracking are so critical to success in this area.
Building a Strategy
• Identify the type of prospecting strategy you will need to achieve your
goals.
• Prospecting types:
• Pure cold – the client doesn’t know you, you don’t know the client, and you
have no warm contacts to introduce you to someone at the client.
• Warm – you know someone in the account, a friend or colleague knows
someone in the account and can introduce you.
• Targeted – You select a specific account or a small set of accounts you want to
go after. You will heavily research these accounts.
• Partners – Leveraging your relationships with partners to get into accounts.
Partnerships

• Using partnerships to break into new accounts is a solid strategy, but it comes with some important
caveats to ensure your long-term success on breaking into new accounts.
• For newer sellers it takes awhile to build up the knowledge necessary to impress the vendors. Most
vendors have many, many other salespeople trying to do the same thing you are. Your company’s
reputation could work for or against you.
• It’s vastly easier to get meetings with your partners (manufacturer or resellers), so a common sales
strategy issue is sellers who over rotate on this.
• A common rule of thumb is 70% of your meetings in any week should be customer facing and
30% should be partners.
• Meeting with partners does not replace the need for outbound. It should be a small percentage of
how you spend your time each week. It’s a trap because you can fill your calendar with these
meetings, build good relationships and still never be brought into an account.
Bad advice

• Bad advice on prospecting exists everywhere:

• Managers promote processes they haven’t tried themselves and have no real
data to backup their opinions on.
• It’s the most common sales topic you can find online with many ”sales gurus”
telling you things like cold calling doesn’t work or all you need to do is make
relationships with people.
• If you look long enough you will find lots of conflicting advice.
• You should always spend a lot of time researching someone before calling them.
• Just work your vendors
 • We’ve been tracking prospecting data for ten years, so let’s
stop guessing and build a strategy that is built on reality.
• FACT: When cold calling for every 100 dials you will average
3 conversations. 1000 dials is 30 conversations.
• FACT: Prospectors you track their activity and steps and use
a variety of prospecting methods average 1 more meeting

The Data and

per week than those using only one type of prospecting.
• FACT: Every week in the year 2024 reps are getting 3-6
meetings a week by just cold calling. It does work. It take

the Facts practice. It is not easy or for the faint of heart.

• FACT: Highly researched and well-crafted prospecting to
targeted accounts only increases close ratios by 4%. The
time to do all the research will actually decrease the
amount of meetings a seller gets.
• FACT: Targeted prospecting is not a good solo option for
new sellers.
 • You set a goal of 4 net new meetings per week.
• You block your calendar off “outbound box” for 30
hours.
• You use a tool to quickly gather contacts and build
Example a list.
• You use a prospecting activity tracking sheet. You
Strategy can download our LEAD activity tracker.
• You track the right data to see if you are improving.
• You have pre-built scripts you’ve practice, so it
doesn’t sound like you are reading.
• You consistently stick to your schedule and plan.
Prospecting Mindset
 • Don’t listen to anyone that tells your
prospecting into new accounts is easy and
Getting new definitely don’t believe anyone that thinks
meetings is they have the “secret.”
• The truth you will absolutely get into new
hard! accounts if you have the right mindset and
the right work ethic.
 • A common persona many of us reach out to
is the IT Director. The average IT Director is
solicited over a hundred times every week.
They may get as many as 20 cold calls, 50
emails, 30 social media requests every single
week.
The Reality • There are hundreds of thousands of IT
salespeople who all want that person’s
business. That’s your competition.
• To make matters worst almost all accounts
already have manufacturer solutions they
love and resellers they already work with.
 • 99% of all IT sellers have very poor prospecting
strategies.
• Most have never had formal training on prospecting.
• Most sellers put less than 10% of their time into
actually doing outbound, when they really need to
be putting in 70% of their time.
• Most salespeople give up too soon.
The Good News • Most sellers have poor objection handling skills.
• So, while there is an absolutely ton of competition,
the competition is very beatable with the right
strategy and mindset.
• The best news, every week we see sellers
consistently getting 3 – 10 new meetings. So, it’s
absolutely doable, the question is do you have what
it takes.
More Bad News
• People hate cold reach and especially for new
sellers (really all sellers) it is a necessary evil. I
mean people hate it. Who likes getting an
intrusive cold call or a spam email, no one?
• You will be cursed at, you will deal with mean and
rude people, and you will not be liked at times.
• You will hear NO ten times more than you will
hear YES.
• This is why your competition avoids prospecting
they can’t hack it. They make excuses as to why
they couldn’t make calls, or that cold outreach
doesn’t work – mind you they have nothing that
is working, so they spend their time being “busy”
with nonrevenue generating activities.
 • The outbound box (sometimes called: call boxing) is where
you block your calendar off at all the times throughout the
week that would be required for you to hit your meeting's
goal.
• Then and this is the most important part: Come hell or high
The Outbound water you do nothing during that time except outbound!!!
Nothing!
Box • When it’s time for an outbound box, you don’t: Check
email, get distracted, research the client etc. All you do is
outbound.
• Generally, an outbound box should be 1 or 2 hours max at a
sitting. You can have several of these throughout each day.
Giving yourself breaks to check inbound communications
or just take a breather are mandatory.
 The Right Mindset
• You need to believe that you are calling to help the potential client and that what you and your organization
offer is going to help them drive business outcomes.
• You need to believe that by working with you and your team the client will be much better off than any
competitor they are working with.
• You need to believe that no one will help the client the way you will or go to the lengths to give them the
right support that you will.
• You need to believe this every time you sit in our outbound box. It’s their loss if they don’t want to meet
with you.
• Remember they don’t know you, so it does not matter if they hate you. If you aren’t annoying anyone you
aren’t trying hard enough. This is a reality check.
• You need to hear 100 NOs in a row and still be excited to make that next call.
• You definitely need to make a game out of it and track your results. You need to see that you are improving,
you need to understand this is a skill that takes time and practice.
• The results will come as long as you diligently put in the time!
 • The obvious benefit of prospecting with the right
strategy and sticking to it is you will get into more
accounts and grow your business.
• This is the first step to real sales growth, and it is

The Benefit where many people before you have failed on their
journey.
• For experienced sellers this is what has held them
back from getting past their sales plateaus. They
want to live off their existing business, but it never
grows and then they lose an account now what.
The Time is Right
• When your business is booming and you are killing it, this is the time to be
prospecting for that next client.
• When your new to sales you need to be prospecting the majority of your time.
• When you are the absolute top rep in your company dig down deep and
prospect.
• Most people wait to prospect when they NEED to… when they lose an account,
when their business flattens or when they are behind goal… it’s too late then,
you’ve already missed the boat.
• The time is now, and this applies to all sellers and all businesses. We always need
to be gaining access to new accounts and new business.
Prospecting Tools
and Automation
 • Keep in mind most organization won’t have access
to all the or any of the tools that can be used to
increase prospecting effectiveness.
• Sales organizations looking to bolster their net new
meetings need to consider investing in these tools
The Power if they want to build out a consistent system for
generating net new meetings.

of the Right • If you don’t have access to these tools, everything

can be done manually and remember you are only

Solutions
competing against your peers with access to the
same tools.
• By tracking your data correctly often you can
help make the case for better automation and
data for prospecting.
• An organization can expect to more than double
their net new meetings with the right tools.
Contact data

• Having valid contact data for your prospects is a pretty critical step and while
all of this can be done manually, it takes a major time investment to build a
list out this way. Even then it will be hard to get all the level of detail you can
get from a business information provider or business contact database.
• There are many of these solutions that can provide a full list of contacts for
your target prospect accounts. This can include email, office and cell phone
number and mailing address.
Intent data

Many business information providers can also show intent to by data and
can allow you to sort prospective clients by what they are interested in.

One thing to keep in mind is none of these systems for contact or intent
data is fool proof, so expect to find many invalid contacts and intent data
that is incorrect or out of date.

Even with these contact and intent data can make a massive difference in
net new meetings.
Auto dialer • A good auto dialer or predictive dialer can
increase your call volume by 50%. Volume is
kind when it comes to cold outreach. An
auto dialer will automatically dial from a list
of contacts. These systems will automatically
connect the contact when they answer.
CRM and Email Campaigns

• A good CRM is critical for a place to maintain all of your client information,
sales pipeline and sales reports.
• Many CRMs incorporate cold outreach into their systems, some of these can
be automated. Ex: when you dial it automatically records the activity.
• Email campaigns can be handled through a specialized tool or directly through
many CRMs. These allow emails to be timed to send, they can show you when
emails have been opened and track your statistics.
Social
Automated
• As we have noted there is a tab in the LEAD activity tracker called
“automated” this is where you will move your prospects after you have
completed all of the steps in the tracker. If you aren’t going to do drop-
ins, then you can remove that final column.
• If you have the ability to schedule automated emails to these prospects
through a tool you should set them up to go out every 3-weeks. If you
don’t you will have to put this step on your calendar for every 3-weeks
and use a manual mail merge. After you run a few mail merges this won’t
take long once it is setup.
Targeted Prospecting
 • In cold prospecting we want to minimize the
amount of research we need to do since
volume is really the key.
• In targeted prospecting research is king. We
Targeted want all of our messages to the contacts in
these accounts to be personalized. We want to
Prospecting incorporate their real business data and
information we can find on the Internet in our
Explained outreach.
• Like cold prospecting you still need to schedule
your exact time to do your research and
outreach. You can mix the two activities
together since volume is much less important.
Identifying Targets

• If you have the flexible to identify which accounts you want to pursue, you should have a
minimum of three accounts that you are specifically going after.
• Typically, targeted prospecting involves aggressive, focus prospecting to get into accounts
that have these criteria:
• Large – high employee count, large IT budget
• Brand recognition – highly recognized brand
• Many locations – typically locations throughout North America or Internationally
• Verticalized – they fall into your business area of expertise
• The premier accounts – these are the types of accounts all sellers dream of selling into,
especially from the reseller side. Most manufacturer reps don’t make more just based on
selling into larger accounts as their quotas are made to reflect this potential business.
 • These accounts are extremely difficult to get into and
highly competitive since everyone is going after them.
• We have heard story after story of reps that took years of
Difficult and diligent work to finally break into one of these accounts. It
always paid off in the end. In fact, at a partner level based
Competitive on a comp plan with GP splits just one of these accounts
can be life changing.
• Manufacturers will often bend over backwards to support
these types of accounts. The reference and logo alone can
be worth it for manufacturers trying to grow.
• You can still use the LEAD activity tracker to keep you on track when
trying to break into an account via targeted prospecting. Your volume will
just be much lower.
• For reach account you should have a minimum of twenty contacts to
reach out to. 50% of these should come from IT and 50% should come
from lines of business. This will maximize your efforts trying to get into
these accounts.
• Each contact will need your outreach to be customized to base on their
persona and your research.

Building your list

 • Start with their website and learn as much as you
can. Most organizations post leadership, job
openings, mission statements and even financial
data on their website. You will also be able to
understand their specific business niche and
offerings.
• Make note if they have web chat or not (you could
Research help them add this). Do they have a mobile app
you can download? Go test it out. Maybe they
need app dev help?
• Job openings, can we help with staffing or
managed services for tech openings?
• Are they hiring a lot? How are they interviewing
people, are they recording them.
 • Social – check out all of their social media feeds,
what are they pushing out?
• 10K – are they publicly traded google and
download their 10k or financials.
• Reviews – what are the reviews of their company
Research like from both employees and customers? How can
technology improve this?
• Contacts – now research each contact. Social
media will be best for this. Where did they go to
school? Who are they connected with? (Anything
warm you haven’t thought of?) Any common
interests? Any groups you can both belong to?
Expansion

Continue to expand your Over 100 – For large Vendors/Partners –

contact list within your accounts you could easily Identify for all your
targeted account and keep have over 100 possible partners who have a
working them through the contacts. Group them by contact in this account.
activity tracker, but with persona to make your Build those relationships
customized messaging. messaging easier. and work those angles.
The Whale
• Everyone wants to land the whale account, but so few do. As you can see from the
training it takes time, a ton of effort, tracking, organized, research and consistency.
• Ask your peers or partners who they landed that big account. What you will learn is in
some cases it took years to get into the account.
• Remember with proper time management you can calendar this as a weekly activity.
Maybe it’s only one hour per week per target account. The key is consistency overtime.
Most people give up way too soon and don’t go to all the lengths necessary.
• Finally, be realistic. If you work for a company with three employees, you are unlikely to
get into General Electric. If you don’t have an enterprise offering or can’t support those
accounts, then you need to target accounts you are confident your organization or
offering can support.
Warm Prospecting
 Warm Always Comes First
• When you are trying to set meetings, build or grow a business always prioritize your warm contacts or leads
first.
• A warm prospect by definition is: An individual at a target client or with a connection to a target client, that
already has had an interaction with you or your company.
• There are varying degrees of how “warm” a contact is, for example: You may have spoken to the contact, and
they may have said they are interested in working with you. That would be very warm contact, but they aren’t
a client yet because they haven’t purchased anything from you. Therefore, while very warm they are still just a
prospect.
• If you get on a cold call with someone and they tell you they aren’t interested now, but they might be in sixth
months, they are a warm contact, but we’ll say they are “lukewarm.”
• If your best friend has a friend in the IT department at a target account of yours, then this friend of your friend,
is a warm prospect.
• If someone filled out a form on your website that they were interested in a demo they are a very warm
prospect.
• Someone you used to work with at a previous employer that either knows a target client or has become one is
a warm prospect.
 • Cold prospects don’t know you, you haven’t
talked to them before, and you don’t have a
solid contact that knows them or has an in.
• Therefore, it is obvious why we always start
with warm. Simply put you have a 50%
higher chance of getting a meeting with a
Not Cold warm contact than you do a cold one.
• So why even bother with cold then? Almost
no one has enough warm contacts to
support continued business growth without
having some cold prospecting involved.
• Newer sellers may not have any warm
prospects, so everything will be cold.
Leads
• Some very fortunate sellers may be given leads. A lead should be categorized as part of your
warm prospecting strategy.
• Keep in mind not all leads are created equal. Some leads turn out to not be leads at all. If you are
getting leads start tracking what percentage of them are viable or turn into business.
• Leads are often generated through marketing. An MQL is a (marketing qualified lead). Example a
client fills out a form for more information on your website that could be an MQL.
• After an initial discovery call and they show more interest that MQL is turned into an SQL (sales
qualified lead).
• If at this point this lead is past off to you, it should be highly prioritized since it’s already at the
SQL stage. You may need to better qualify the opportunity before converting it into pipeline. Every
company handle leads differently, so just know your mileage will vary on leads. Just ensure they
are part of your strategy.
 • It’s shocking to see how many sales professionals
mismanage their warm prospects.
• Reminder it’s always easier to get a meeting or future
business from a warm prospect than it is a cold prospect.
• Imagine you speak with a prospect today and after trying
to handle their objections you ultimately agree to reach
back out in six months. Six months go by, you reach out and
you never hear back from them. Then you attempt to reach
Opportunity out again three times over the next few weeks and
ultimate write them off and remove them from your
Squandered prospecting list.
• Meanwhile, in an alternate universe you continue to send
them a note every couple weeks for the next year. One day
they are in a rush and need a quote in a hurry and they
think of you. “What the heck I’m going to give this person a
shot” they say.
• Had you not continually followed up, they never would
have thought of you.
The Lesson

01 02 03
The lesson is that until Warm contacts need to You need to prioritize
someone tells you: Never be nurtured. We hear your warm prospects and
email me again or call me stories all the time of the you need a long-term
again. Take me off your client someone has been continual follow-up plan.
list immediately. You reaching out to for three
haven’t gotten a firm no. years that finally bought
something from them.
Tickler System

• A tickler system (or reminder system) is how you guarantee never to miss a follow-up.
Most CRMs have the ability to remind you or automate many of these tasks.
• If you are looking to simplify things or you don’t have access to a CRM with this
capability, then Excel and your calendar will work fine.
• Always keep a list of all your warm contacts or prospects in a tab. Set times throughout
the week for warm outreach and then just run down through your list.
• There are many ways to organize follow-up reminders just ensure you have a system that
works for you.
The First Step • The first step in building out your overall prospecting strategy
is to prioritize warm prospects and write them out.
to Warm • This consists of creating a list of every single possible person
you know that could help you get a meeting at a target
Prospecting accounts.
• Here is a hint: You have friends and family that have jobs and
they may be able to get you a meeting. They may know
someone, who can get you a meeting. You can use social
media, like LinkedIn to see who your connections know. Think
of people you went to school with or customers from previous
jobs. Any of these people can create that warm intro you are
looking for.
• Exercise: If you haven’t done so yet immediately create your
warm list. This may take several hours, but this list is your
immediate starting point to getting more net new client
meetings.
 • Many successful and experienced sellers need to
pause and write out all of their contacts if they
haven’t done this. This doesn’t just apply to the
Experienced new sellers.
• As humans we tend to move on from relationships
Sellers as we change roles, and our business evolves. This
is a great time to go back in time and write out any
contact you have that may be able to help you.
If not now in the future

• A contact you have right now may not be able to help you today, but they may be able to help
you in the future.
• Maybe you’ve only been assigned a certain set of accounts or in a certain territory, so while
you have a lot of contacts, they may not have any connection to your accounts. That doesn’t
mean things won’t change in the future. Always maintain all of your contacts some where and
stay in touch with people.
• This doesn’t mean you have to touch base with everyone you ever worked with weekly,
but even once every six months or a year you can drop them a note. Or you can like
something they are doing in social media.
• We all need friends that are a phone call away when we need a favor.
• This applies to more than just sales but will help you on your career path long term.
 • Warm outreach needs to be more customized than
cold prospecting. In cold prospecting you can use a
script that will work for most of your outreach, which
will help you hit a higher volume of outreach.
• A lot of warm needs to be customized. Example: Hey
John, my Aunt Sue told me I could email you to see if
Warm Outreach you had some time to chat about what I’m doing
now over at XYZ.
is Specific • Hey Bob, not sure if you remember me but we used
to work together at ABC. I saw you are over at DEF
now and wanted to see if we could catch-up, so I can
share how I’m working with organizations like yours.
• With warm outreach it’s important to put thought
into how you want to approach each of these
contacts.