MSP Sales Training: Your Playbook for Success

To grow your MSP’s revenue and business performance, the best sales tool isn’t a selling platform or a ninja/rockstar/unicorn sales hire. It’s documenting and optimizing your sales process. Just like your favorite sports team follows a game plan to win, your sales team needs a playbook to close more business.

In an MSP sales training sense, a sales playbook is a document (or set of documents) an organization uses to gather the key information needed to help sales and technical teams ask the right questions, sell solutions consistently, achieve higher win percentages, and more.

The great news is, it’s not a go-big-or-go-home kind of document. But where should you start?

6 MSP sales methods every playbook should have

There are 6 components you’ll need to consider putting together a complete play:

1. The play: The play includes background information about the opportunity to sell a specific solution and should highlight your unique competitive advantage.
2. The position: Once you’ve established the opportunity, it’s time to dive deeper into your prospect’s problems and needs to understand your position and develop a customized game plan.
3. The game plan: This involves defining the solution that addresses the prospect’s problems and needs, clearly defining their motivations, so you’ll know how to present your solution, and asking the right questions to properly qualify and scope the opportunity.
4. The team: What players are needed to make this play successful? Identify exactly who will be involved, what their roles are, and what level of support they’ll need to provide.
5. The equipment: What tools and resources can your team use to successfully execute the play? Why are these materials helpful, how should your team use them, and when? Do your vendor partners have resources you can use? Are new resources needed to support this play?
6. The opposition: What obstacles might you face during a play? Consider two audiences when building out this section: your prospect and your competitor(s).

When you have one complete play, you’ll be able to quickly and easily create new plays by following the same simple formula.

Tips for getting started on your sales playbook

Before you begin defining your plays, game plan, and toolkit, there are 5 tips to keep in mind:

1. Assign a leader and timeline.
2. Begin with one (really strong) play.
3. Get executive sponsorship.
4. Involve your services and technical teams.
5. Make it the cornerstone of your sales training program.

And don’t forget about the MSP sales training that can come from your seasoned employees, too. Weave elements of your playbook into team meetings to keep it top of mind and well used.

When your team is equipped with a repeatable and scalable set of best practices—to articulate your business value, assess a prospect’s pain points, and ask the right questions—their efforts will directly translate into a healthy bottom line for your MSP.

Ready to start building your very own sales playbook? For more detailed advice, watch this free on-demand webinar I recently co-hosted with Datto EMEA Business Development Director Chris Tate .