4 Tips to Selling SaaS from MSPs

I am Andy Sahl and the Sales Director at ActivTrak. I was employee number four back in 2015. I started out at ActivTrak leading the channel sales team. We are always searching for others like us who want to help small businesses grow by offering them a customer-focused approach to a SaaS tool that will help them create an engaged corporate culture, produce a higher quality product, save money, and increase profits. Our Managed Service Providers (MSPs) successfully generate reoccurring revenue through reselling ActivTrak, because we offer their customers a product that is new and bundles well with antivirus and other software packages. As Sales Director, it is my responsibility to make sure we’re providing an exceptional customer experience for all our clients, so when some our highest-performing channel partners told us they had heard of us through the Robin Robins Technology Marketing Tool Kit, we knew we had to consider it. Robin Robins has over 15-years of experience coaching Manager Service Providers (MSPs) and IT providers in marketing and sales. She organized a conference in Dallas, which we attended to demonstrate ActivTrak to potential resellers. I still enjoy working with our IT and MSPs partners, so I was excited to attend this event, so we could share what ActivTrak can do for people in Robin Robins’ network. We currently have 1,200 channel partners of ActivTrak and are looking to expand our resellers program. The Robin Robins event was perfect for us because we understand that ActivTrak requires significant trust between us and our customers. A reseller already has that trust, so their customers are much more likely to express interest in employee monitoring software from their IT providers rather than directly from us. Here are four key lessons we learned from Managed Service Providers at the event: [caption id="attachment_5707" align="alignright" width="300"] The setup at the Robbin Robbins Technology Marketing Toolkit Road Show in Dallas, TX[/caption]

1. To grow your business, you need to sell a new product.

Our table drew a lot of attention. We had a drawing to win a Yeti cooler, but people weren’t just walking up to drop a card in the box. They all asked about our services. What an incredible feeling to hear from so many who told us their customers were requesting a behavior analytics and monitoring program. ActivTrak solves a big data problem by organizing it in an easy-to-understand way and many people weren’t just interested in reselling the software, but many expressed interest in running ActivTrak in their own companies. If you are an MSP being swallowed by the oversaturation of antivirus software on the market, you must sell a different product to grow your business. ActivTrak provides you a new opportunity to up-sale your customers on an innovative product that your competition isn’t offering.

• Only 24% of computers worldwide are without antivirus software.
• There are much less employee monitoring SaaS systems to choose from than antivirus.
• Even the creator of Norton Antivirus Brian Dye has said, "Antivirus is dead."

One MSP mentioned that he can offer the fastest services to companies, but if that companies’ employees spend too much time on unproductive work, the speed of his services doesn’t matter. He agrees that ActivTrak is an excellent, value-added solution to bundle with his other services.

2. Affiliate marketing and online marketing techniques are not suitable for MSPs and VAR.

As a Sales Director, I understand how important it is to establish and maintain a lasting relationship with your clients. That is why the entire team here at ActivTrak takes a customer-centric approach to selling and developing our product. We listen to the needs of our customers and then we deliver! Everyone we talked to at the Robin Robins’ conference feels the same. Her coaching provides our partners the knowledge and confidence to sell their product well. They aren’t afraid to pick up the phone and reach out to current and potential customers. They are all professional and understand the need for small businesses to embrace new technology and developments in the world of IT.

 

Despite their traditional approach to sales, MSPs do not benefit from affiliate marketing and ActivTrak completely understands that. Managed Service Providers and Value-Added Resellers want to sell directly to their customers and not on a commission-based system. We built our resellers program to benefit all involved.

[caption id="attachment_5581" align="alignleft" width="300"] Small businesses will continue to spend on SaaS. Now is the time to take advantage of the trend.[/caption]

3. MSPs and VARs are trying to find a way they can obtain reoccurring revenue.

ActivTrak is a simple, but sophisticated management tool that you can resell without effort to your customers, either alone or bundled with your other services.

• Our Reseller Program was purposefully built to support and grow our partners’ businesses by delivering competitive margins, a dedicated sales and support team, and innovative marketing tools.
• Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) averages up to 62. Customers are so highly satisfied with us and our product that they are extremely willing to recommend us to others.

4. Resellers are looking for a product that will deliver value and improve their current clients' satisfaction.

[caption id="attachment_5638" align="alignright" width="300"] We currently have 1,200 channel partners and are looking to expand our resellers program.[/caption] Our Reseller Program was purposefully built to support and grow our partners’ businesses by delivering competitive margins, a dedicated sales and support team, and innovative marketing tools. By joining with us, you immediately gain access to sales and technical tools, training and marketing resources that will open doors and close deals. Once ActivTrak is installed on your clients’ workstations, there isn’t much else required of you, but to collect your money!

• We regularly automatically update ActivTrak globally, so maintenance isn’t your problem.
• Our reseller program is designed to let you decide if you want to sell upgrades such as DLP security, management fees and access to custom dashboards.
• We have the lowest churn rates in the industry.

We hope you are as excited as we are about being able to sell the absolutely best employee monitoring and behavior analytics software on the market. Your involvement and investment are minimal and signing up is easy. If you’re ready to make money, click here. Or if you're already one of our reselling partners, check out our on-demand webcasts on how MSPs can include ActivTrak in their service offerings and how to position ActivTrak successfully.