Many IT providers struggle with establishing steady flows of monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Often, the reason this happens is that MSPs fail to follow a disciplined sales process designed to ensure their business is sales-focused, instead of sales-interested.
There are several sales tactics you should consider using if increasing MRR, improving sales efficiency, and closing more deals are on the agenda for your team this year.
Overcoming sales objections through reframing
When talking to a prospect, reframing the sales conversation can show them how your offering is different than typical IT support companies. When a prospect is unsure if they should move forward with your offering, reframing helps you paint a picture of the results they could experience if they decide to work with you.
You want the prospect to see what their future results could be and why your alternative is better than their current situation. Your goal is to take something that seems like a complex decision and have them see it as a tangible and simplified decision. Once you successfully master reframing your prospect’s views on your services, something magical happens: Your MRR skyrockets.
Let the prospect do the selling
When it comes to selling, a salesperson’s goal shouldn’t be to “sell” to a prospect, but to learn and offer value to them. It’s much easier to let the prospect sell to you instead. That way, they can decide about their IT support without the high-pressure sales tactics.
When sitting down with a prospect, be curious. Understand their business, uncover challenges and opportunities, and make the meeting valuable for them. Prospects don’t want to feel like they are being sold to, so try to avoid being treated like a salesperson. Instead of feeling ‘sold to’, they should be sensing that you are meeting with them to help them improve their business.
Uncovering their pain points
You can improve your close ratio by gaining better command of pain. Uncovering pain falls under the category of reframing. You want to realize the prospect’s pain and alleviate that pain with your service offering. Pain is not the difference in technology, but in the end result you are offering.
Real pain usually isn’t surface level and you may need to dig a little deeper to find it. At TruMethods, we call it the ‘Rule of Threes’, meaning that real pain is at least three levels down. Don’t sell to the initial surface-level pain they bring up, because then the sale will fizzle out.
Understand their business
You can set the foundation for a business relationship by truly understanding your prospect’s business. You can start the business conversation on a good note if you do your homework, research their business, and understand their challenges, customers, and competitors.
Ask them, “Why do people do business with you?” This question excites prospects because they get to express what aspects of their business they are passionate about. If you can fit your company’s offering into that passion, you’ll be able to sell to them.
If your team implements the sales tactics outlined above and incorporates other aspects of the TruMethods sales process, not only will you differentiate your business from the competition, but you will also start generating more MRR for your MSP.
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