Don’t be a solution looking for a problem! This was the advice I received years ago from a very successful MSP owner while attending a peer group meeting in Nashville. At that moment, it dawned on me that most of my prospects were in a state of unconscious incompetence. In other words, they didn’t know what they didn’t know about their IT environments.
Why The Sale Falls Apart
Yet, there I was time and time again with my proposal trying to make a sale. I was working in reverse by starting with the solution and then backing into the problem. The prospects were confused and price resistant and my closing rate was low.
Many MSPs have had a similar experience and the result is usually the same. Either the prospect takes the safety position and makes no decision with the sale abandoned, or a much lower value sale takes place.
The problem was magnified for us a few years ago when we made the decision to sell primarily cloud based solutions and services. With cloud, we couldn’t decouple our solution and make it less expensive to the prospect. Something had to change in our sales process or we were going to be facing a long and slow road to continued growth.
From Unconscious Incompetence To Conscious Incompetence
Let’s go back to the notion of unconscious incompetence. If your prospects don’t know what they don’t know then maybe we should focus on that first. Let’s move them to a state of conscious incompetence. Deep, I know, but it’s actually pretty simple.
Tell them what they don’t know. What’s the best way to do that? By doing a technical assessment or audit of their IT environment and then telling them about the problems. They need to become aware or conscious of all the issues that could put them out of business or cause them to lose money. No prospect is going to buy a solution to a problem they don’t know exists!
Once the prospect is aware of the problems, then you can educate them on the solution and how it could impact their business. This is where you build value. If done properly, the prospect will now be aware of the problems and be educated on the solution. They will be in a state of conscious competence and in a better position to buy.
Education Plus Emotion Equals Sale
So how do you do this in a consistent and efficient manner? You need a sales presentation system. We are technical creatures and we are very good at gathering data using a variety of tools and manual inspection.
We are also cursed with the gift of knowledge. As technicians, we always want share everything we know with our prospects. But there’s one problem. Logic doesn’t sell. Emotion sells!
Become proficient at doing a technical assessment or audit and then package the results into a presentation that emotionally moves the prospect to buy. Once you become good at it, start selling that audit instead of giving it away for free. You will eliminate the tire kickers, get paid for your time, end up with a more engaged prospect and your closing rate will soar.
Give the audIT Sales Presentation System a try and see how it can help you educate your prospects and close higher value sales. Sign up for your free trial today.