SERIES: MSP Sales Process – WARM UP

Welcome to the third article in a six piece series where we are viewing our 5 step sales process.    In this article, we will take a look at the WARM UP step.  In the last article, we, talked about the RESEARCH step.

STEP 2: WARM UP

Picture this:

You’re back in high school, sitting in that dreaded algebra class that you’re passing by the skin of your teeth—that pale-faced,  braces-filled, scraggly-haired child just waiting until the day you graduate. But then she walks in, the girl you’ve been crushing on since freshman year. She’s smoking hot and just the sight of her makes you super nervous. Then, she does the unthinkable—she sits down next to you, looks over, and utters one simple word that makes your heart stop: “Hi.”

You look at her, blink rapidly, and mutter a short “Hey. The weather’s really nice outside.”

Now, that’s the type of small talk that a person who conducted no prior research would engage in. That’s not you, though. Oh no, you know everything about this girl, because you’ve already asked your friends about her. You know what she likes, what she doesn’t, her hobbies, etc., all because you’ve done the proper research. So, when she walks in, you speak to her and you immediately begin talking about things that she’s interested in. You avoid talking about the weather and current events, but rather focus the entire conversation on her. That’s because this conversation isn’t about YOU: it’s about her and putting yourself on her radar.

Think of this scenario as how you should approach the warm-up process with a prospect. You should take the warm-up time as a way to gauge your prospect, pique their curiosity, and set expectations. Take some time to make small talk. This will allow them to warm up to you, and make it easier for them to open up their company for you so you can take a look at what’s lurking in their network. People open up to those they like or feel a connection to. The first step in the warm-up is developing that connection. Just like landing a date with the girl you’ve been crushing on since freshman year, use the warm-up to land your next date—a full network discovery or evaluation.

The key thing to remember during the warm-up is to SET EXPECTATIONS! Be sure to explain what you’ll be doing during the discovery, how long it will take, and who
you’ll be meeting with. This is important because you want to make sure you get a clear picture of the organization from the discovery, so you need to meet with at least one member of every major department—but we’ll dive into that a bit deeper – next article in this series, THE DISCOVERY

See the outline for this series below: