This article was written by guest contributors Sitima Fowler and Ray Green. After growing and selling her own MSP, Fowler now teaches TMT members how to close big, profitable managed services agreements with ease. Green has helped some of the world’s most successful business coaches execute world-class sales and marketing strategies.
Sales hinges on emotional connection.
Without it, your prospect will view you as a smarmy used car salesperson. That’s why your discovery meeting sales strategy must include building authentic, empathetic connection during your time together.
The discovery meeting is step 2 of the 5-Step Process to Closing an MSP Sale. Sitima Fowler and Ray Green, MSP sales experts who teach this process, explain the how’s and why’s behind asking guiding questions, designed to get prospects to sell themselves, while getting you the information needed to put together a first-class proposal.
Finding the pain is part 2 of the discovery meeting. If you missed the previous installment on learning how your prospect uses technology, see The Discovery Meeting: How It Could Make Or Break Your MSP Sale.
Finding The Pain
Before you learn how to find the pain, you must understand the why.
He Said: Sales is about emotional connection, even B2B sales of IT services. At the end of the day, the person is making an emotion-based decision, which they justify with logic. The technological challenges you’ve learned about so far are problem-based. Pain is emotion-based. I always separate those in sales. If you walk into your doctor’s office with a broken toe, that’s the problem. What’s the pain that’s associated with thatÑthe symptoms?
She Said: Right! It’s the same thing in sales. If they feel the pain, there is going to be a reaction.
Follow the process we’re about to describe even if you know what the pain is, because you still need to create that emotional connection and make the prospect feel it with you. If another salesperson is more effective in pulling out the prospect’s emotions, like fear and anger, they’re going to win the deal.
Asking The Questions
The key to finding the pain is asking open-ended questions, allowing the prospect to fill in the gaps themselves.
She Said: After you’ve learned how the prospect uses technology, transition with a soundbite, like: “I appreciate you answering all my questions! I have a better understanding of how you’re using technology to run your business. Now I have a few other questions; can you tell me more about the specific IT problems you’re having?” Then leave it at that.
You may know what the prospect’s problem is, but you want them to fill in the gaps. Once they tell you the first problem, ask, “Why is that a problem?” Don’t assume you know the answer! MSPs are so eager to show their expertise they often start explaining how they’d fix the problem right away, turning the conversation into a sales pitch too early.
Here’s some other questions to ask:
- How long has that been a problem?
- How is that affecting your business/staff/clients?
- What have you done to try to resolve it?
- How did that work out?
- What do you think the solution is?
- How urgently do you need this fixed?
Ask these follow-up questions for every pain point they bring up! For some role play examples, see the video below.
He Said: These questions help you understand why something is a problem, and what the associated pain is. Trust this process; it creates consistent results. That doesn’t mean you’ll win every single deal, but it means on the margin, you win more than you don’t. Don’t skip over the emotional piece just because you think your lead is hot and ready to buy.
Digging Deep
Sometimes, prospects can be tight-lipped. Here’s how to handle your lead saying, “We’re fine.”
She Said: If your lead isn’t super talkative, you can use strategic follow-up questions paired with the “wedge technique” to uncover details about their process, without badmouthing anyone. For example, if they didn’t mention security, ask, “How confident do you feel about your overall IT security?”
Your wedge question would be, “When your current IT company meets with you to review your security policies and make recommendations, is there any part of the process you would like to see changed?” Don’t start using wedge questions until you practice and get good at them, but when done effectively, you can create doubt and uncertainty with their current provider by painting a picture of what their IT should look like. (We’ll cover how to craft wedge questions in the next issue!)
He Said: There may be some latent pain that the prospect is not even aware of. Asking these questions could help your prospect realize there is a problem.
This is much more powerful than telling a prospect what they need to do. When you sell through questions, you help them come to conclusions on their own. Prospects will always believe themselves more than they’ll believe you.
Avoid Sudden Death
Finally, avoid this critical error that can kill the sales process in an instant–selling too soon.
He Said: Don’t start pitching your services too early. If a prospect says their slow response time is a problem, ask them to tell you why. Unpack the pain associated with the problem, such as lost sales or team frustration.
She Said: Exactly! You want all that frustration to come out. Then, when you ask the prospect what the solution is, they might say, “That’s why we’re talking to you, we need to make a change.” When you get the prospect to say it, it becomes reality.
Be A Problem-Solver
Creating an emotional attachment elevates you as a high-end consultant who’s there to solve a big problem, not sell something. If you make this part of your discovery meeting sales strategy, you’ll not only differentiate your MSP this way, you’ll also win more business.
