Scaling a Cloud Services Brokerage by Building a "Lean" Customer Acquisition Engine
Through 2015, the Cloud Services Brokerage will represent the single largest revenue growth opportunity in cloud computing, according to researchers at Gartner, who coined the phrase. In order to exploit that opportunity, CSBs must redefine their approach to customer acquisition to scale their businesses rapidly and cost-effectively. This session will describe an approach for modeling the financial impact of the CSB business model in terms of recurring revenue, deal profitability and customer acquisition cost. It will then describe a "lean" customer acquisition strategy that replaces the traditional and expensive product-centric sales approach with a more solutions-centric inbound marketing approach. Attendees will be provided with modeling tools they can use for their own business planning as well as best practices for building a lean customer acquisition engine.
SPEAKER:
Dave Zwicker, Partners and Co-founder, CSPexcellence
3. Intro and Agenda
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Quick Market Update
IT Channel Transformation
Defining Your CSB Business Model
Differentiating Your CSB Business
Scaling Your CSB Business (Profitably)
“Lean” Customer Acquisition
Ensuring Business Alignment
Resources, Questions & Comments
5. IT Channel Transformation
VAR/Agent
MSP
Outsourced
IT Staff
In-House
IT Staff
OPEX SAVINGS
Sells Products & Services
CSB
Outsourced
IT Staff
CAPEX SAVINGS
Remotely Manages IT
Manages the Cloud
Business Model Attributes:
Business Model Attributes:
Business Model Attributes:
Efficient Product Sales Engine
Sells the Value of Services
Sells the Value of Solutions
Provides Break-Fix Support
Manages On-Premise IT
Adds Value to Commodity Cloud
Earns Margin & Commissions
Earns Margin on MSP Services
Earns Margin on Blended Service
One-Time Revenue
Recurring Revenue (Premise)
Recurring Revenue (Cloud)
6. Differentiating Your CSB Business
• 277,713 channel partners globally*
– 244,905 VARs
– 20,981 MSPs
– 11,827 Cloud Hosters
•
•
•
•
What is your business model?
What are your core competencies?
What are your target markets?
What are your cloud solutions?
– Hosted Apps & Services
– Managed & Professional Services
– Business Outcomes
* Data Compiled by AMI Partners
7. Defining Your CSB Business Model
Cloud Services
Collaboration
& UC
Business Strategy
CSB
Growth
Plan
Cloud
Solutions
Portfolio
Sales &
Marketing
Metrics
Target Markets
Mobility
& BYOD
SaaS-based
Business
Apps
Cloud Service Broker
Reseller
Virtual
Infrastructure
Enterprise
Mid-Market
Integrator
Information
Security
Hoster
Aggregator
Business
Continuity
Hybrid
IT
Managed &
Professional
Services
SMB Market
8. Scaling Your CSB Business (Profitably)
Measure the Metrics That Matter
• Average Deal Value
• Deal Volume
• OTR Value
• Deals/Month
• MRR Value
• Close Rate
• GM Value
• Cycle Time
• Cost of Acquisition
• Funnel Metrics
• Sales Expenses
• Lead Volume
• Marketing Expenses
• Cost/Lead
• Ratio to Deal Value
• Conversion Rate
9. “LEAN” Customer Acquisition
Customer Acquisition Cost Comparison
Recurring Revenue
Traditional
Breakeven
Lean
Breakeven
Traditional Sales & Marketing
Lean Sales & Marketing
Wasted Profits
Months to Recover Customer Acquisition Cost
11. What is Inbound Marketing?
SEO
Many
Disciplines
Working
Together
Site
Conversion
Rate
Leads
Website
Content
Lead
Nurturing
Social
Media
To
Produce
Quality
Leads
12. An Inbound Marketing Engine
SEO
Fuels
Your
Funnel
Site
Conversion
Rate
Leads
Website
Content
Lead
Nurturing
Social
Media
And
Drives
Growth!
13. Fueling Your Sales Funnel
The Buyer’s Journey:
Website Visitors
Generates Traffic to
Your Website
Realize a Problem or Need
Perform Research
Establish Buying Criteria
Select a Vendor Solution
More Satisfied
Buyers
Inbound Marketing:
Top of Funnel
Suspects
Middle of Funnel
Prospects
Bottom of Funnel
Opportunities
Customers
Converts Website Visitors
into Suspects
Converts Suspects into
Prospects
Converts Prospects into
Sales Opportunities
Scalable Customer
Acquisition
14. Ensuring Business Alignment
Growth Plan
Create a Scalable
Business Model
Execute Against
That Model
Average
deal size?
Monthly deal
volume?
Deal Economics
Funnel Metrics
Average
deal value?
Cost of customer
acquisition?