Don’t choke at the home stretch: How to close that sale and win the deal

This article was written by Ray Green, CEO of MSP Sales Partners, and Sitima Fowler, former MSP owner and sales consultant.

You’ve learned everything there is to know about your prospect’s business problems and goals, addressed any early objections, and presented your proposal. Now it’s time to close the sale.

Closing is the final part of step 4 in the 5-Step Process to Closing an MSP Sale. Sitima Fowler and Ray Green, MSP sales experts who teach this process, explain how to encourage decision-making and resolve any objections during the solutions meeting.

Start with a trial close

The purpose of the trial close is to get feedback on the two plans you’ve presented—not to ask for the sale directly.

He said: Instead of asking, “Will you buy? Will you not?,” you’re asking, “Which way are you leaning?” With both of the plans in front of the prospect, advise them on which one you think would fit their needs best—tied back to their business goals you uncovered previously—but make sure they know either plan will give them the support and security they need. Then, ask them which plan they’re leaning toward.

It’s not a binary choice—to do business with you or not. Instead, you’re assuming you and the prospect will move forward together; you’re just asking which route is best.

She said: Even though this stage is called the “trial close,” the purpose isn’t to close right now. Up until this point, you’ve been talking about the two plans and what’s included. Now, you need to give the prospect some time to see what’s going through their mind. This is where the objection handling comes in; this is where you’re going to get that information in a non-confrontational way.

(Potentially) close the deal

Depending on the prospect, this may be where you can secure a commitment. Your next steps depend heavily on the their response to the question above.

Prospect response option 1: “We’re leaning toward plan X.”

She said: If the prospect gives you an option that they’re leaning towards, go ahead and assume the sale. Now you can go ahead and say, “Great! All I need you to do is approve the paperwork and we can get started on [X date].” That said, we recommend that you don’t have the prospect sign your big agreement here. You can always mail that to them later. Here, you’re looking for a verbal commitment and something small on paper; we recommend circling the plan they’re interested in on the plan comparison printout and getting them to initial it.

The reason you don’t want to give them their whole agreement right then is because a lot of them may want to look it over, or may want to have a lawyer look at it. You don’t want the sale to be interrupted.

He said: If you present someone with a whole contract, you’re essentially giving them an objection. You want to make it easy for them to initial that page.

If they need a bit more guidance

Sometimes, a prospect will need more direction to settle on a plan. This is where you can provide more discussion and reassurance to help them decide.

Prospect response option 2: “I’m not sure which plan would be best.”

She said: Most of the time during the closing process, you’re going to get some questions. This is where you can direct them a bit more to one option. Always tie the recommendation back to what they said was most important to them during discovery. Don’t list everything your plan includes, just the two or three things they really care about.

He said: You also want to stack the value here; go back and find every element of your plan that is relevant to their problems. Then, bring those things back and remind them that all of these things you are offering will get them where they want to go.

Provide incentive to buy

A limited time offer can encourage action.

She said: People love a little discount. It gets them to proceed with the sale. You can say something like, “If you’ll give me the go-ahead to get started this month, I can discount your rate.” The key here is to always give a reason for the discount, such as a vendor discount or a discounted onboarding fee to account for your MSP’s onboarding capacity and schedule.

He said: If you put a timeline on something, stick to it. Otherwise, it can harm your integrity. So, reinforce your word, build some trust, and enforce the deadline you set.

Encourage a decision by inviting objection

Requesting even a small commitment like an initial often reveals hidden concerns. This is key to getting a conclusive decision from the prospect.

He said: At the end of the day, our job in sales is to get decisions from people. Ideally, we want that decision to be to do business with us. But most deals don’t get technically lost—they fade. We don’t want that. We want to close more deals, get more decisions, and keep deals from piling up in the pipeline.

Here, you want to reiterate that either plan you’ve laid out will solve the problems they have, and that you believe X plan is the better option for them. Then, you’re going to ask them a very important question: “Do you disagree?”

You’re inviting them to say what they really think and what their rationale is. Inviting disagreements here allows you to start having a discussion so you can move them to a “yes.”

She said: It’s a simple, yet powerful, statement. If you say, “Do you agree?,” people might feel like if they agree with you, they’ll be snaked into a sale. They’re going to be more guarded. But “Do you disagree?” keeps the conversation going in a non-threatening way.

How to handle hesitation

Sometimes, the prospect will ask to delay the decision. This is your opportunity to find out what is causing that hesitation and resolve it before the meeting ends.

Prospect response option 3: “I need to think it over.”

She said: If they’re not ready to put a signature on option one or two, say, “Okay, there must be something causing you to hesitate. May I ask what it is?” It’s a very non-threatening way to keep the conversation going. You’re not pushing or saying your company is the best. You’re just having a gentle conversation.

If their objection is that they need to think it over, you can use this soundbite:

“I understand. Obviously, you need to think through a big decision like this. Now, just to clarify my thinking, what part of this do you want to think over? Is it whether or not we’ll do a good job for you? Is it the money?” At this stage, you can ask them leading questions to figure out what is causing their hesitation. Once you hit on what their objection is, recap it to them to confirm and ask if there is anything else preventing them from moving forward with you. Now that you’ve clarified their objection(s), ask, “So how can I help you resolve that concern?”

He said: It’s important to surface the prospect’s objections during the meeting if you can, because they likely aren’t going to think it over afterward. They’re not going to block out time on their calendar and reread your proposal in depth and do internet research. It’s not going to happen. So you want to help them think it through with you, because you’re the person with all the information that they’d need if they were legitimately going to go think it over.

If they insist on thinking it over

Sometimes, prospects will still insist they need more time to think it over.

He said: Here’s a soundbite you can use when that happens. “I can appreciate that. Is there anything else that you need from me? Any information I can provide or questions that you need answered that would help you in your decision?”

The purpose of this question is to confirm that there’s no other information they need. Once they’ve confirmed that, schedule a follow-up call or meeting with them. At the end of the proposal meeting, if I’m leaving without a decision, then I want to ensure that I’ve got the next appointment locked in. Never leave a meeting without the next step actually confirmed. We also recommend asking them for a final decision with a soundbite like this:

“Could I ask a small favor? Could you let me know for sure by then whether it’s a yes or no? I’m okay with either answer, but I don’t want to have loose ends out there and be pestering you by following up if you don’t want to move ahead. I’m okay with you even emailing me a quick answer. Does that sound reasonable?”

She said: Not everybody’s going to want to move forward. You are going to have these cases where they’re not going to initial that paperwork. This is going to get you a lot further by getting the follow-up appointments booked and not leaving things open-ended.

Revitalize your sales pipeline

By following a structured discovery and closing process,  you’ll generate more decisions, reduce stalled opportunities, and improve your sales results. But don’t stop there—continue refining your approach after every meeting to keep improving your sales process.

The closing the sale step picks up immediately after the solution presentation covered in the previous installment, Keep it simple stupid: Why simple sales presentations close the deal.