The common elements of the MSP/IT business experience are many, and surprisingly similar in nature, scope and duration for those of us lucky enough to make it a “long-term enterprise” status.

One of the most common experiences is trying to bring a new salesperson into the business, getting them up to speed and actually producing sales before we lose them.  I’ve had countless conversations with business owners who are themselves the only “technical salesperson” within the organization.   Over the years, I have experienced the challenge of hiring or creating new salespeople for IT/technical sales.

There are, of course, many factors to a salesperson’s success with a new business and/or product.   Some of those factors are beyond the direct control of the business management — such as the economy and whether customers are spending money.  But just as many factors — and points of success or failure with a new salesperson — ARE indeed under the control and influence of business ownership and management.

The most common points of failure that are within your control are:

• Making a good hire (I see Kendra Lee at KLA doing a lot of great work in this area).
• Having a good product with a happy, reference-able customer base.
• The ability for the sales rep to properly configure and quote products and services on their own.
• The ability to compete effectively with the materials presented to the customer.
• The knowledge transfer infrastructure that enables the new salesperson.

If the salesperson can’t create their own quotes and proposals, they must continually rely either on other salespeople, management or the business owner. They must rely on “tribal knowledge” to pass the sacred information along on how to put a quote in front of a customer.

Other salespeople may be distinctly unmotivated to assist our intrepid new hire — I’ve seen many cases where the grizzled vets see that new salesperson as moving in on their turf.  Sales management and the entrepreneur business owner can be incredible bottlenecks to that new salesperson — notorious for hoarding needed information and grudgingly doling it out. Or, they may simply be too busy to provide the necessary assistance.

It takes a concerted effort to put the right tools and processes in place to create an environment of success for a new salesperson, but the return on investment ranges from substantial to incalculable – since solving this problem is often the key to unstopping business growth. One part of this effort is most certainly the right platform for quote and proposal management.

The right quote and proposal platform is essential, providing both a vehicle for repeatable, standardized quote AND proposal processes, and the right tools for knowledge transfer to the sales team. Knowledge transfer is facilitated directly within a quoting tool like Quosal, with instructions, directions and even videos pertaining to the creation of the quote embedded within the quote template itself.

The right platform also facilitates the workflow to allow the new sales professional to submit quotes and proposals for approval when necessary — smoothly, easily and efficiently.

Finally, the right platform for creating quotes and proposals is going to put your new salesperson in an advantageous competitive position out of the gate, with documents and technology that impress the customer and leaves the competition in the dust.

With those advantages, a new salesperson can experience the early success that is so critical to longevity, without the blockades that are too often in the path.  It is with these factors in mind that these elements of Quosal were designed.