Realizing Measurable Business Value – MSPs and CRM

Back in another life, I had an interesting conversation with a partner sales rep. He was telling me how he had complete account control, and nothing happened (from a solution acquisition point of view) in his accounts without his knowledge.

I asked him about a specific customer and their backup solution (I was working for a leading company in that space at that time).

Silence. Then he admitted that he didn’t focus on that solution.

From my point of view, that conversation paid off. Realizing that he was leaving potential revenue on the table, he made it his mission to look for those opportunities and made the rounds of his client base then and going forward.

I’m at that same moment right now.

As I talk to MSPs every day I ask them the same question about CRM. It’s more understandable that most of them readily admit that they don’t spend any time or effort on it. They see themselves as infrastructure providers.

But CRM is infrastructure.

Not infrastructure like networks, Cloud, and license management (oh and backup too, never forget the backup!) but something just as, if not more important – workflow infrastructure.

Traditional tech infrastructure is vital.

But workflow infrastructure is critical.

There are a lot of reasons why MSPs don’t focus on CRM. A lot of them make sense, too. But they’re not permanent roadblocks.

I won’t list all the reasons why they don’t. But let’s look at a few good reasons why MSPs should:

1.????? It’s a huge value to customers

?It’s true. A lot of CRM projects from other providers go over budget and become casualties of low adoption. But that does not diminish customers’ need for the solution. We recently had a conversation with a large customer that freely admitted that they had attempted twice in the last 5 years to implement CRM for their business and face-planted each time. That made them determined to get it right, and it’s what led them to us.

?2.????? While no one was looking, CRM changed

?The whole CRM world has never stopped growing, but with AI it’s accelerating even faster.

?What we are witnessing with CRM today is like the change from the medieval guild system to the Industrial Revolution.

?Customers today want to feel seen and spoken to. They want to see that their needs and wants are recognized by the organization they’re dealing with.

?Organizations want to speak to customers at scale, while they offer deep personalized experiences to them.

?And sellers want to engage with their customers, not with the tedium of data entry.

?And this how today’s CRM works, by offering:

?·???????? Hyper-personalization

·???????? AI-powered customer insights

·???????? Predictive analytics

·???????? Automated data entry and management

·???????? And more…

This is much more than old-fashioned CRM. And so, the value promise to customers is that much bigger.

?3.????? It can generate healthy MSP margins

Most CRM providers sell direct. Some do offer a nominal referral fee to deal influencers. But very few can or will meet MSP’s where they are with a complete partner program, based on a simple partnering agreement. Here are a few details on Azamba ’s program:

·???As mentioned, the agreement itself is a short two-pager with common sense as its guiding star. No lawyers required.

·???If the MSP is a Microsoft partner, they get 100% of the Dynamics license revenue. No haggling for points.

·???A percentage of the ongoing CRM-based services revenue for the lifetime of the customer on the platform. This is 6+ years.

·???No investment in people, training, resources etc. Azamba takes care of the whole engagement, from the initial Discovery call, through the opportunity close to implementation, onboarding, and concierge services.

·???We offer a 100% money-back guarantee, so we are driven by great customer outcomes, not billing for time & material.

?Recap:

·???CRM is an in-demand solution whose capabilities are becoming essential for customers to manage the expectations of the modern buyer.

·???Customers who have had difficulties in the past getting their CRM systems know that they need to get this right and are willing to have the conversation.

·???With Azamba ’s Crawl-Walk-Run methodology and our 100% money-back-guarantee, we take the risk out of CRM for the customer, and for our partner.

Your customers are ready. We’re ready. Let’s go.