How did this managed service provider get past your colleagues, the folks he says are the “best gatekeepers of all time”? Turns out past performance was an indicator of future results.
The midmarket enterprise offers unique challenges from your smaller and larger colleagues, but we thought it might be interesting to hear directly from a managed service provider who works in the midmarket space.
We talked to Phillip Walker, CEO of Network Solutions Provider, a Manhattan Beach, California-based managed service provider, about what it’s like working with midmarket customers.
“The big thing for us is in the midmarket space, we know what it takes to help midmarket CIOs succeed. That is our biggest asset to the midmarket is that we understand the dynamic of being in the midmarket. It’s a challenge to balance budgets and offer enterprise solutions.”
What makes Walker so successful? He’s been in your shoes.
When Walker started Network Solutions Provider in 2007, during the heart of the last recession, he had been working as a consultant liquidating large companies and foreclosing on their businesses. “Companies brought me in as a consultant/CIO to trim the budget, consolidate the infrastructure, and prepare the company for sale, purchase or liquidation. Through that experience, I found tons of potholes in solutions, skillsets, understanding and expertise.”
Show, don’t tell
Walker tells a story of meeting someone at an event and striking up a casual conversation. The discussion ends, but the meeting doesn’t.
“I can’t shake this guy. As I walking through the crowd, he won’t leave. He gave me his business card twice. At this point, I haven’t done business with him. He just met me. He’s pitching and giving me recommendations to other people, ‘Do business with this guy.’ It’s those moments that get us past the curtain.
“Getting past the curtain with the midmarket is difficult. They are the best gatekeepers of all time.
“They know the sales pitch is coming. They know who is coming in. They have relationships with vendors and vendors have favorites.”
Walker says there are three secrets to getting past the gatekeepers. “Understand the problem, show you can fix the problem, and demonstrate it. Stick to that formula and you’ll get past the gatekeepers.”
Finding midmarket success
The “secret” to midmarket success, according to Walker, involves “Dynamic messaging. Keep it simple. Focus on execution. Build relationships.”
The biggest challenge is demonstrating value. “A lot of times, it’s trial by fire. You have a solution provider with a unique skill set. You bring in an IBM-based shop and they only handle your IBM stuff, or a security expert who only deals with security. You’ve got a channel of seven or eight people. Now you are a midmarket CIO and now you are doing vendor management. Now you are doing solution provider management. Not everybody has time for that.”
The advantage of dealing with a solution provider rather than the vendor directly is clear to Walker. “We can take the vendor management piece because that’s the true value add. (The midmarket CIO) can have the relationship with the vendor and we can manage the products that vendor puts out and give you recommendations on real-life problems. We can manage the ecosystem so instead of dealing with 10 vendors, you’re dealing with two and we’ll manage five of them for you. It’s consulting in a role of IT strategy specialist into a managed service provider who can understand project management, ROI, vendor relationships and execution.”
If this sounds familiar, there’s a reason. “Enterprise CIOs do this,” Walker says.
You can, too.
