Have you ever left a presentation thinking, “Well, I hope I closed that one”? There is a major problem with this thought. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Put poop in hand, hope in the other and see what fills up first.” It’s a crude but funny way of saying hope is not a strategy. Unfortunately, that’s exactly how a lot of MSPs approach sales. They hope the prospect sees the value. They hope the proposal makes sense. They hope the price is right.
Thankfully, there’s a far better way to generate sales success. Every successful deal follows the same foundation: the five prerequisites of a sale. Missing any one of these and you’re tanking your chance of walking out with that signed check.
A Recognized Need
Your prospect likely called you because they were facing a specific problem, but it’s not good enough to solve for that one need. Instead, uncover as many needs as possible for everyone who is part of the decision-making process. Dive deep into business issues and any negative implications they may cause as you conduct a thorough discovery prior to your presentation.
A Viable Solution
Match your offering to the needs that you uncover. This doesn’t mean customize your offering for every client (that would be grossly unprofitable, impossible to service properly, and tick off everyone in your service department). Instead, call out pieces of your standardized offering that best match the needs you uncover. Reveal how you eliminate the negative implications of each business issue brought up during discovery.
The Value Justifies the Cost
Properly accomplishing the two steps above should make this prerequisite infinitely easier. The juice must justify the squeeze for each person in the decision-making room. Price only becomes a problem when value isn’t clear. A strong discovery process lets you connect the prospect’s needs directly to your solution, proving the investment is worth it.
A Sense of Urgency
Without a sense of urgency, deals will drag on in perpetuity. Without a sense of urgency, deals will drag on in perpetuity. Prospects may acknowledge the problem and even agree that your solution makes sense, but without a clear reason to act now, the decision gets pushed to “next quarter,” “after busy season,” or “when budgets open up.” Your role in the sales process is to help the prospect connect the cost of waiting with the problem they’re experiencing, whether that’s security risk, lost productivity, compliance exposure, or missed growth opportunities. When the impact of the problem becomes immediate and tangible, urgency replaces hesitation and the deal can move forward.
The Authority to Buy
If you’re presenting to a room of non-decision makers you won’t close the deal. Even if one decision maker is absent, you can’t walk away with a yes. Before you book the presentation you must ask, “How will this decision be made?” and make sure that everyone involved sits down to hear your presentation.
Hope is Not a Strategy
If you find yourself leaving sales conversations hoping the deal will close, it’s a sign that you’re missing at least one of these five prerequisites. Instead of guessing whether a prospect will move forward, continually evaluate where you are throughout the process, as well as what still needs to be uncovered. Deals stop stalling. Objections become easier to navigate. And most importantly, you stop relying on hope and start relying on a repeatable sales process that consistently leads to closed business.
If you’d like to dive deeper into how to apply the Five Prerequisites of a Sale in real MSP sales conversations, join us for our upcoming webinar where we’ll walk through each prerequisite, the questions that uncover them, and how to ensure your deals are ready to move forward. Register now to learn how to turn hope into a process—and more conversations into closed business.
