Everything You Need To Know About Proactive Revenue, The Next Big Movement in B2B Sales

Proactive revenue is money earned through anticipatory, customer-focused channels. It’s an approach to B2B sales first developed by the team at Quoter.

After introducing the term to a symposium audience at the 2023 IT Expo in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, we’re excited to share our thoughts on proactive revenue with more of our customers.

In this article, we’ll expand on the definition and look at examples of proactive revenue.

What is proactive revenue?

Proactive revenue is money earned through anticipatory, customer-focused channels. The proactive revenue mindset is time efficient. Bottlenecks are removed from the quote-to-cash process. The main benefit of focusing on proactive revenue is the time saved, which can be invested back into sourcing more revenue.

You’re in a proactive revenue mindset when anticipating your customer’s needs in the quote-to-cash process. You free up valuable time by reducing friction and making it easier for your customers to take action. This creates space for new revenue opportunities. And on and on, the money-making cycle continues.

Why should I pay attention to proactive revenue?

In the MSP space, competition is fiercer than ever. For its 2022 Global State of the MSP Report, Datto surveyed 1800 MSPs worldwide. The competition was identified as the top challenge for the second year in a row.

There’s been a “rapid increase of MSPs in the market leading to stronger competition in finding and retaining clients.” It’s never been a better time to be a Managed Services Provider. Customers are increasingly online, making purchasing decisions in an almost entirely self-serve fashion. Building a sales cycle with their needs in mind gives you the best chance of earning their attention and trust.

The concept of proactive revenue is radical because it requires a paradigm shift. Quoting is not an obstacle to the sale. Quoting is the well-honed tool for winning the sale.

Now’s the time to adapt or die.

The opposite of proactive is reactive

By now, we’re all familiar with reactive revenue: money earned by responding to requests. Requests come in many forms:

• RFPs

• Contact from an existing customer requesting a system or hardware upgrade quote

• Providing customers with the items to complete a sale, based on their request. Examples: references, contract details, or invoices.

A reactive revenue mentality is typical. Doing more than reacting (whether to your competitors or customers) takes initiative. It takes understanding the solution and the path forward. It takes work upfront.

But once you’ve committed to change, vast new opportunities open up.

Examples of a proactive revenue mindset

If you’re engaged in one or more of these activities, you’re thinking in a proactive revenue mindset.

• Providing all supplemental information for customers at the time of quote. Examples: link to contract, invoice, payment options, references)

• Providing customer-configurable quoting, where applicable (ex: optional add-ons, user-selectable variables)

• Setting automatic reminders for quote follow-up

• Forecasting based on sales data, and adjusting resources and focus

• Assessing opportunities based on existing client base and past contracts

• Alerting customers to new and emerging services or hardware

• Prioritizing time for sourcing new revenue by automating routine sales tasks

Next step: get proactive

Quoter is an end-to-end quote-to-cash solution built for a proactive revenue mindset.

Let’s clear the path to success. Request your Quoter demo. 

This topic was presented during IT EXPO in Orlando FL, back in February 2023: