After you’ve spent time discovering a prospect’s emotional pain points and potential objections, it’s time to look under the hood of their network.
Step 3 of the 5-Step Process to Closing an MSP Sale is the technical assessment. Sitima Fowler and Ray Green, MSP sales experts who teach this process, explain how to expertly transition from the discovery meeting to the tech assessment in order to find additional pain and close the sale. If you missed the previous installment on how to uncover hidden objections, see Why Prospect Objections Are Your Silver Bullets to Winning Deals.
Why You Need the Tech Assessment
Some MSPs don’t conduct the technical assessment because it’s too expensive. Others use it as their entire sales process. There are major flaws to both approaches.
She said: Conducting an assessment is important because sometimes a prospect tells you they have fewer servers than they actually do. It’s awkward to ask the prospect for more money after you already gave them a price, all because you didn’t do your due diligence correctly.
Also, a prospect might think they don’t have any problems with their network, but the assessment may reveal gaping holes they didn’t know about. Those two pieces of information are critical when you’re putting together a winning proposal.
He said: You not only want to know what’s under the hood but the levers you can pull in the next meeting to help close the sale. Up to this point, you’ve been looking for emotional drivers. Sales is almost always a transference of emotion; it’s an emotional decision that people justify with logic. The technical assessment gives you some of the logic that the prospect is going to use to justify the sale.
A lot of MSPs think if they just do the assessment and show the prospect logically why they need these services, that it should sell itself. That’s not the case. The assessment builds on everything you did in the discovery meeting, so don’t skip steps.
She said: Remember: The result of the assessment is your leverage. Don’t send the results over an email. You need to build up the value of the assessment, incorporate the results into your proposal, and justify why they need to sign up for your services. You want them excited to see the results! This will keep you from getting ghosted for future meetings.
Transitioning to the Assessment
To transition from the discovery meeting to the audit, you’ll first need to propose the idea to the client by building maximum value of the tech assessment.
She said: To do that, you can use this soundbite:
“The next step is to conduct an assessment of your network, what we call Network Health Check. The purpose is to get a true snapshot of your environment—number of laptops, workstations, servers, and other devices connected, as well as the software you’re using. This is also to analyze your network and look for root causes of some of the problems you’ve outlined to me, and to look for hidden problems that could turn into bigger issues. Think of it like an MRI of your network. This allows us to provide you with a detailed recommended action plan.”
Then pause and ask if they have any questions so far.
Next, you’ll say:
“This health check is going to be conducted in three parts. The first part we’ve already done in this meeting, discussing the problems you’re having and how you’re using technology in your business. Part 2 is the technical assessment. To do this, we’re going to …”
Here, outline how you’re going to perform the assessment (modify it for your business).
Then, you’ll say:
“Finally, I would like to send you a survey for your staff to get their perspective on any IT problems. Often, I discover a lot of frustrations and problems that leadership is unaware of. Once these three parts are done, I’ll meet with you next week to go over what I discovered and present our recommended action plan. I need to make sure we get everyone at that meeting because it’s not uncommon for us to uncover major issues, and you’ll need to decide how to proceed. It often involves HR and legal matters such as insurance coverage and IT budgets. Do you have any specific questions or concerns?”
Wait for them to state what’s on their mind, then schedule the assessment. You can do the assessment at the conclusion of the discovery meeting, or schedule a time for your engineers to do it. But the key is to schedule it before you leave the office.
He said: In a consultative sales process like this, the purpose of every step is to sell the next step. When you’re leaving the discovery meeting, it’s a win when you schedule the next meeting.
Once you walk out the door, there’s going to be some chaos, and all the excitement the prospect was feeling or the frustration you uncovered is going to evaporate. So while you have somebody sitting in front of you, secure the next step. It’s absolutely critical to the sale. (Watch the role-play video below for some conversational tips.)
The Great Debate: Whether or Not to Charge
Some MSPs charge a fee for the technical assessment, while others offer it as a complimentary service.
She said: I’ve done both. If you charge for an assessment, it will qualify the prospect further—now they’re paying you for the next step. They’re not going to pay every provider they talk to.
He said: I look at it like an intentional point of friction. If your pipeline has too many opportunities and you’re trying to determine if prospects are qualified, start charging. But if you’re only getting a handful of leads a month, it may not be the time to introduce that source of friction. If you choose to offer free assessments, don’t do a deep dive; just get an accurate account of the servers and network.
Stay Tuned …
Follow these steps to transition your prospect to the tech assessment like a pro. And stay tuned for our next installment on mastering the closing meeting.
