Client
Managed Storage International (now Incentra), an international RBR provider.
The Client’s Problem
Managed Storage International had a challenging goal: they wanted to become a dominant market force in their niche in a small period of time. They had built the infrastructure necessary to provide remote backup and restoration services to a massive number of corporate customers and knew they could either build every aspect of sales internally, or outsource some, or all of it. After extensive analysis, Managed Storage International determined that Sales Partnerships’ sales outsourcing solution was more productive and more flexible for their business needs.
The Marketplace
The market for the solution was very large. Focusing on the small and medium-sized business (SMB) marketplace, companies traditionally bought backup equipment, did their own backups, and then shipped them off-site for storage. Managed Storage International, however, presented a radically new solution: allow software to automate your backups and securely send your data off-site to hardened data centers through static Internet connection while paying only for the backup services you used. There would be no more time “flipping tapes”, no more off-site storage fees, no more internal backup hardware, and an overall reduction in cost by as much as 60%.
The Sales Partnerships Solution
- Sales Partnerships worked with Managed Storage International to build a list of companies meeting their technical requirements. This involved the compilation of data from several different sources and analysis work to identify the most immediate profitable segments and marketplaces.
- We placed a team of well-trained sales representatives and management to begin the lead generation process. In time, this grew from lead generation only to Sales Partnerships representatives closing many of the final deals.
- Sales Partnerships employed a consultative sales approach to help build more long-term accounts. Managed Storage International realized that the Sales Partnerships solution worked much better than the traditional telemarketing approach. The sales calls required the sales representatives to go off-script almost immediately, as the issues were often technical and had wide-reaching impacts on the organization.
- Additionally, the question-based consultative approach helped identify customers that didn’t know they had problems or opportunities. This resulted in Managed Storage International being viewed as industry experts that help customers find solutions, rather than just vendors. This created more customer loyalty, while minimizing the importance of price in each sale.
- Sales Partnerships’ analysis and proprietary systems helped create a framework for a successful sales model and was influential in successful Venture Capital funding rounds.
- Sales Partnerships was also able to partner with bandwidth.com to re-sell bandwidth as necessary. This helped alleviate the extra technical needs for the remote backup solution.
Results
Sales Partnerships helped generate enough business to move Managed Storage International into one of the top two providers in their industry. Alongside this, they were able to shift their attention toward the customers that maintained higher profit margins.