What we see in technology and IT services prospecting
Integrators, IT consultancies, SAP and ERP implementers and infrastructure providers share one challenge: they sell complex solutions to large accounts, with multiple decision-makers and long cycles. Across Siete's engagements with technology companies in Mexico, Peru and Brazil, the most common starting points were:
- Vendor-led sales. Partners of large vendors who receive opportunities from the manufacturer but don't control their own pipeline.
- Several business lines with a single sales effort, such as software implementation and IT talent staffing.
- The jump to enterprise, with more competition and more formal buying processes.
Reference benchmarks
- Account meetings per month: 10–12+ in 4 of 5 engagements (case data). Engagements still building their base start at around 4–5 meetings a month.
- Meeting quality rated by the client: 79% on average (case data), ranging from 70% to 82%.
- Positive reply rate: 1.5–3% of contacts reached (estimate). It is lower than in software because the targets are larger accounts with more gatekeepers.
- Meetings that turn into opportunities: 20–30% (estimate).
- Time to first meeting: 4–6 weeks (estimate). Building account maps takes longer than in a transactional sale.
What worked
- A pipeline of your own, independent of the vendor. Prospecting with the integrator's value proposition (service, support, local expertise), not just the manufacturer's brand.
- Separate campaigns per business line. Implementation and staffing speak to different decision-makers: CIOs and project managers in one case, IT and HR managers in the other.
- Explicit target industries. Prioritizing 4–6 industries with the same pain brought order to prospecting and improved meeting quality.
- Specialized profiles on the team. To break into enterprise, adding SDRs with technical-sales experience worked better than adding volume with generalist profiles.
- Direct and partner channels in parallel. Prospecting both end clients and channel partners doubled the sources of opportunities.
Three typical situations
- A partner of networking and security vendors built its own pipeline in two countries and stopped depending on opportunities passed on by the vendor.
- A technology services provider with two business lines added an outbound channel to its inbound and sustained 12+ monthly meetings with strategic accounts across six industries.
- An IT services company targeting enterprise added three specialized profiles to its team and increased the revenue generated by that team by 12%.
Common mistakes
- Prospecting with the vendor's logo as the only argument.
- Mixing different services in the same message.
- Going only to the C-level without mapping who influences the technical decision.
- Expecting enterprise results in the first month.
How to apply this to your company
If you sell technology services to mid-sized and large companies, see how we approach lead generation for technology companies or book a call with the Siete team to define which accounts and decision-makers to prioritize.
