This article was written by Ray Green, CEO of MSP Sales Partners, and Sitima Fowler, former MSP owner and sales consultant.
Confused prospects never buy.
That’s why it’s critical to deliver your solutions presentation without bogging prospects down in technical details. Instead, keep things simple, straightforward, and focused on the benefits they’ll gain from working with you.
The solutions presentation is the heart of step 4 of the 5-Step Process to Closing an MSP Sale. Sitima Fowler and Ray Green, MSP sales experts who teach this process, explain how to present your recommended package offerings, without losing all the momentum you’ve built along the way.
If you missed the previous installment on how to separate your MSP from the competition and pre-frame the solutions talk, see Why MSPs Lose the Sale in the Home Stretch—And How to Score Instead.
Don’t Talk Tech
Before diving into the solutions presentation itself, keep in mind that overwhelming your prospects with tons of technical jargon is a surefire way to kill your sale. After all, confused prospects don’t buy. Keep it straightforward, remove the complexity, and make it easy for them to say yes.
She Said: Do not talk them through a detailed technical proposal. A lot of proposals are a list of hardware and software services, and it confuses the prospect. You might have a huge list of things you’re going to provide, but that does nothing to bring you closer to the sale.
Everybody wants stupid and simple. If you go into too much detail, the buyer will hesitate to make a decision. Proposals don’t sell the value—delivering outcomes does. That’s why you’re going to tie the proposal back to how it’s going to benefit the prospect.
He Said: It’s also important to remember that there’s a big difference between what you, the IT person, know and believe to be important and what the prospect really is considering in their decision-making process. They’re not buying your tech stack; they’re buying the results. You’ll know the technical reason why your offering is a better solution. All they want to know is that it’s the better plan for them and the better economic decision to get their business where they want it to go.
Conducting a Killer Solutions Presentation
There are four steps to a great solutions presentation, according to Green and Fowler. Here’s what you need to do to master them.
Part 1: The Stabilization Plan
She Said: A stabilization project is any work that needs to be done ahead of time, to fix things so they are up to the standard of doing a maintenance plan. This could be a project, an update to their network, etc. Let the prospect know that this is not an onboarding fee; this is just to repair anything broken that needs to be addressed before you can start them on the maintenance plan. Then, you’ll explain what the stabilization project includes and what it’ll cost.
Part 2: Present the Two Managed Services Plans
She Said: This is where you’ll actually offer the two plans that we taught to pre-frame in the previous installment. This is where most MSPs go wrong; you don’t need to detail every single line item in your tech stack. Summarize them instead: What are the benefits the prospect is going to get?
Focus on the benefits of working with you, not the features themselves. At the most detailed, you’ll want to show your first plan, how many computers and users you’ll cover, and the benefits. Stack those benefits on top of each other in a list; it’s going to seem amazing, because look at all the benefits they’ll get! Then you’ll say, “To get this plan, the initial investment is $X. After that onboarding period, the monthly subscription for this plan is $X a month.”
Just remember: if there’s simplicity, the buyer will buy. If there’s complexity, they’re going to want to think about it. So, keep it simple!
He Said: Exactly; this is a much simpler proposal than those that are a long list of the entire tech stack, with an old school quote and proposal. As a layman and non-technical person, I’ll be able to understand what the plan is going to cost me and what the benefits are, all from one single snapshot.
She Said: Then, you’ll transition to your other plan option. Spell out the differences for them. Both plans will cover all the issues the prospect told you they’re looking to solve; the only difference will be in the service level, emergency services, or whatever you’ve decided to include in your higher tier plan.
The important thing is to spell out the differences for them as clearly as possible. Then state the onboarding price and the monthly cost for the second plan.
Part 3: The Plan Comparison Chart
She Said: Next, show both plans side by side on the same slide. This makes comparison easy for the prospect. Make sure you remind them both plan A and plan B will solve all the problems they need resolved; this slide is just to spell out the benefits one more time, in a side-by-side format.
He Said: Keep in mind that there’s a difference between the two plans we’re presenting here and the three different categories of businesses we discussed in the previous installment. The three categories of businesses are not your three plans. Instead, you’re categorizing the prospect into the second or third category of business based on your discovery meeting with them. Then, you, as the expert consultant, have created two plans that would suit the prospect’s needs.
Make sure you reinforce that both of these options will solve the prospect’s problems—don’t sell against yourself.
Part 4: Risk Reversal
He Said: Now, before you get into the closing portion of the meeting, start thinking about how you’ll address any objections from the prospect. How do you mitigate the risk of a purchase? At the end of the day, there’s always some doubt when buying from a service provider; your prospect is always thinking, “But, can you really do what you say you’re going to do?”
Everything up to this point has been intended to help you build rapport and trust, but there’s still that piece of uncertainty. So, if you have some guarantee or way you can de-risk that money for the prospect, this is the time to present it.
For example: “All of our services come with a 100% client satisfaction guarantee. If you’re not happy for any reason whatsoever, you can cancel within 90 days.” You’re reducing the risk of the purchase for the prospect as much as humanly possible.
She Said: This is where we want you to stop. You’ve been talking a lot; now it’s their turn. If the prospect has any unanswered questions that could become objections later, you want to answer them now. You’re not looking for feedback; you’re trying to get into the prospect’s head and see where they’re at. It can be as simple as asking, “Which plan are you leaning toward?” This is an easy way to get a temperature check on how the prospect is feeling.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
She Said: Let’s talk about some common mistakes we see over and over. First, using itemized quotes in your closing presentation. That is not going to get you to a sale; instead, stick to the benefits, not the details of what you produce.
Also, keep your slides simple. We see people using cutesy graphics or clever backgrounds—those are not going to help you close the deal. That said, the slide deck shouldn’t be homemade looking. It should look polished, professional, and consistent with your other marketing materials in color and font design. And don’t forget to proofread!
He Said: Another mistake we tend to see is MSPs packing slides with too much information, in too small of a font. I think it’s based on the mistaken belief that more information is better—that if you flood the prospect with information, if they know everything that you know, then they’ll buy. But you can’t cram everything you know into a single slide of a presentation. So instead, you need to understand what actually moves the needle: why do people make the decision to buy? It’s shocking, as a technical person, that most customers don’t care about the inner workings of the technology they’re buying—but it makes a huge difference in your ability to sell.
Get Ready to Sell…
By presenting your services this way, your prospect stays focused only on the value you provide, rather than getting lost in technical details they don’t understand or care about. In the next installment of the 5-Step Process to Closing an MSP Sale, we will dig into how to actually close the deal and win that sale.
For more sales advice from Ray Green, learn how to stop chasing dead deals before your prospects ghost you.
