Few things are more frustrating in MSP sales than when a client who seemed like a sure bet ends up walking away. All too often, it happens because you’ve made a mistake during the sales process. You rarely get a second chance with a client. But before you give up, here are four ways to avoid botching a big sale.

1. Be Client-centric

This tip may sound obvious, but it’s still one of the biggest mistakes salespeople make. When you interact with new prospects, make sure you are client-centric rather than self-serving. It’s tempting to talk about what you think your business does better than other MSPs, but every salesperson talks about the same things, like how great their people are and how quickly they respond. There’s a good chance that if a business is talking to you, they’ve already had a bad experience with another IT company. And that bad apple probably said the same things in their pitch.

Instead, make your pitch about them. Identify problems by talking to everyone in the organization. And use a PAS-based selling approach that focuses on how every problem you have found may have a handful of alternative solutions, but the best solution is the one you’ll explain at the presentation.

2. Forget About “One Reason to Buy”

You might have heard the common trope that a client needs just one reason to buy, and it’s your job to find out what it is. However, when selling managed services, this concept can be thrown out the window! To truly succeed, you need to identify as many latent needs as you can from the various job duties within the organization and turn them into active needs.

Switching MSPs is a big deal from the client’s perspective, even if it makes their lives better than before. It involves new hardware, migrations, interruptions, and establishing a new working relationship. It will motivate no company to do this unless you give them compelling reasons to go through another disruptive transition.

3. Don’t Ignore the Frontline Workers

You may pitch to the CEO or owner, but that doesn’t mean you only need to focus on their needs. A CEO’s experience is dramatically different from everyone else’s. Everyone working for them does their best to make the owner’s life easier, so the CEO gets the latest and greatest technology, devices, and services. Most owners have pretty good experiences and might not even realize there are problems further down the line.

It’s the people in the backroom trying to do inventory, installs, or accounting on a seven-year-old computer who may have the greatest need for your services. It’s the receptionist who can barely get anything done because their computer freezes 100 times per day. If you don’t talk to everyone during your discovery process, there is no way you’re going to uncover enough needs for the solutions you’re promoting.

4. Ensure You’re Delivering a Viable Solution

It’s easy to get caught up in all the great options your MSP offers, but when you’re in the presentation phase of the sales process, you can’t just run down a list of what you’ll provide if they decide to sign. Show the client why they need all the features and options you’re offering them. Otherwise, they’re likely to feel they are overbuying services and paying for things they don’t need.

No one wants to buy MSP services. There is nothing fancy or glamorous about managed services. Hiring a new IT service isn’t exciting, like buying a smartphone or a fancy watch; it’s more like replacing a broken dishwasher or getting new tires on your car. From their point of view, the less they can get by with, the better, so you need to justify why the client needs everything you’re offering.

Sales can always go wrong but following these four guidelines will increase your chances of success.

If you have trouble closing deals, we have two great training options for you. First, access CharTec’s Sales Training courses on CORE. You’ll find many tips and secrets that will increase your odds of closing deals. That means more MRR and more money in your pocket.

Second, for the best MSP-specific sales training available, attend our Sales Training Lab. We’ll walk you through every step of closing a deal, including you performing a live presentation in front of real judges. There is no better proven MSP sales training around, so contact us now.

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