Your PSA is Not a Proven CRM

A Professional Services Automation (PSA) software application is a suite of tools that provide a service business with the functionality it needs to manage core business process. Think of a PSA as an ERP or AMS system designed with Managed Service Providers in mind.

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system helps improve relationships with existing and potential customers. A mature CRM can even provide many of the same benefits a PSA does for Managed Services Providers, but these systems are often lacking in the operational capabilities for service management most MSPs want out of the box.

It may seem like we are starting to talk in circles so instead let's just throw some bullets out there:

• A PSA is often used by MSPs to run critical portions of their service business - ticketing system, project management, basic opportunity management, etc. These systems typically concentrate and do well with "service management", but fall short on other critical areas a mature CRM does well.

• A proven CRM can take marketing, lead prospecting, and opportunity management to a whole different level even for a small MSP. It can also provide or integrate well with "Configure, Price, Quote" (CPQ) solutions.

MSPs typically purchase a CPQ that integrates directly with their chosen PSA. Take ConnectWise for example - ConnectWise Manage is the PSA platform and ConnectWise Sell is a CPQ that integrates with CW Manage. CW Manage integrates with other CPQs too like QuoteWerks, which at one time was arguably the most popular CPQ MSPs selected when running CW Manage as their PSA.

Many MSPs start out by trying to glue together cheap tools or overly complex spreadsheets and homegrown database supplements that do a little bit of something, but nothing well, for lead management and prospecting. It's also common for MSPs to try using their PSA as a lead prospecting platform, though this seldom works and is highly ineffective for maximum outreach and information harvesting. They also partner with a web hosting service that specializes in hosting and basic marketing for MSPs - syndicated content/blog creation, newsletters, mailers, SEO optimization, etc.

The more all of this accretes the more complicated it gets to do anything with - several data silos with partial or no integration with overly redundant fragments of data quickly becoming untrusted and unusable!

So what should you consider doing? Let's focus on business development for a minute - specifically lead management, prospecting, and opportunity management.

1. Define your outreach and general sales processes

2. Never forget - it's a numbers game, especially for outbound campaigning. It's going to take X phone calls and X emails to get X conversations and X qualified leads before you can even begin pitching your service.

3. Excluding anomalies (which are typically inbound formed), the average sales cycle for converting a prospect with an existing MSP is 3-12 months.

For item 2 - if it's a numbers game you need a machine (CRM) that will help you manage leads and find inbound and outbound prospects. Even a great sales process with one or more great employees just can't compete without real automation. Remember, do what your peers are doing, or more, if you want to stay ahead of the competition.

For item 3 - if you can't rapidly profile, analyze, report, and retarget qualified leads knowing that the average sales cycle is several months you will MISS OUT on opportunities before they are ever converted to an opportunity. How often have you said, "oh yeah, what about that lead you talked to last year that had a similar profile, what was their name? We should try calling them again"...? A real CRM with tight marketing integration will allow you to stay in touch and constantly drip content to leads you qualify, but just aren't ready to buy. Even if a qualified lead is still under contract or content with their current MSP you can win them over if you have a superior product and you don't lose sight.of them.

Reach out if you want to chat about how a proven CRM like Salesforce can be deployed for your MSP business. Landing one or two small deals that convert because the CRM helped you stay focused will easily pay for the implementation and related service cost for years after...