3 Ways To Cultivate Cloud Services Sales

3 Ways To Cultivate Cloud Services Sales

This is especially important when negotiating with next-generation IT buyers, who are probably won't spend as much at the beginning of a relationship but are likely to invest more if they like what they're getting. "Once you get them hooked, that's what's important," Ryan said. "How do you get people loving you first, and then go transform them?"

Tribridge actually does pay on the total contract of a cloud deal upfront, rewarding the "hunters" who have pulled in a new client. "It has to start with the company that some tradeoffs need to be made in order to get the recurring revenue stream in place. Companies need to be comfortable paying ahead of revenue," Terp said.

But once a new account is on board, it is assigned to a supervisor to ensure that there is a high level of satisfaction during the entire length of the contract. "You don't want to wait until month 34 to make sure that someone is happy," he said.

3. Invest seriously in training

When it first began building its cloud services practice, Tribridge reassigned some of its most experienced and successful sales people to help show the way. It has documented their progress methodically, sharing the lessons they have learned in the real world through the Tribridge Academy training program.

Although mainly intended for recent graduates and new hires, the Academy involves 12 months of both classroom study and real-world exposure. For example, new cloud specialists might be required to participate in three sales calls with experienced sales staff over the course of a three-month time period, before embarking on their one prospecting calls, Terp said.

The approach has been so successful that other ISVs have consulted with Tribridge to help kickstart their own cloud sales efforts. The educational content is refreshed on an ongoing basis, as the cloud business model matures. One thing that Tribridge is contemplating, for example, is whether it should allow other solution providers to sell its Concerto services and the ramifications of doing so. "Things don't stay the same for very long, we constantly need to reflect on that," Terp said.