Most Managed Service Providers aren’t natural sales people. Often, we’re solid technicians that can talk to non-technical humans well enough. The problem is, when we’re in a sales context it’s easy to just try to solve all of the problems that you see in front of you which doesn’t work all that well. Instead, we need to learn to sit back, ask questions, and then come forward with how we can solve the prospect’s problems.
That’s what we’re talking about on today’s ramble. How to build your relationship with your prospects to show them why you’re the best MSP for the job.
In a previous role at an MSP I helped out a bit on the sales side of things. I was asked to go to a prospect meeting and immediately the prospect asked me if I wanted to know how many computers they have and how many users and all of that. My initial reaction was, no, I didn’t really care about the details just yet. I wanted to know about how they operate and how they made money.
I said something to the effect of, “Ultimately, yes I do want that info, but providing IT support is pretty straightforward these days. We’ll load our tools on your computers and document your network, and all of that. What I really want to know is how does your business operate? How do you make money? Where does IT intersect with those processes?”
We spent the next 30 minutes with him explaining how they made money, the processes that were core to their organization, and the challenges that they were experiencing.
I also learned that their buying window wasn’t quite open, but it would be in 2-3 months when their contract expired with their existing MSP. Their MSP hadn’t been performing as well as they had previously and it was time for them to move on.
Taking off the Engineer Hat
See, when you have your sales hat on, you need to think differently. You can’t be an engineer in a sales role. You must listen to what the prospect needs from their MSP. They may not come out and say it, but it’s your job to be listening the whole time.
I’m not sure if you’re like me at all, but if I’m in problem solving mode I quickly start trying to solve the problems presented and when that happens I stop listening properly. That is the opposite of what the prospect needs you to do.
The goal of these conversations is to build rapport with the prospect. You want to grow the relationship beyond them thinking you’re just the computer person. If you do this well, you will find yourself in the trusted advisor category.
Learn how their business operates AND how they make money
the best way to build rapport with your prospect is to be curious about their business. How does it work? How do they make money? What do their processes look like?
Most business owners don’t expect conversations like this from their IT providers, but ultimately If you can have a business conversation a couple of things should happen:
- They should open up. People like talking about themselves and their businesses.
- Their impression of you should elevate because you’re not there just trying to pitch them how great your service is. When this is executed well they will remember that your conversations were different than the typical MSP conversation.
You do not want to be “the computer person” to the prospect. By asking business questions and taking the time to learn about their business you are clearly more than “the computer person.”
Learn their risks and risk tolerance
As part of your conversation you must learn about the risks to their business and their willingness to tolerate risks.
You can get to the bottom of this by asking questions like:
- How much does an hour of downtime cost your business? If they know the answer here, they’ve spent some time thinking about this. The larger the number the less risk tolerant they will be.
- Do you have any compliances or regulations you must meet? This is obvious for some industries, but it’s important to learn what compliancies are important to them.
You can also delve into what happened the last time they were down for any length of time. What was the impact to the business? Did their clients feel any impact? Did you lose any clients? The key is to understand how painful downtime is, and ultimately whether or not downtime is a massive issue, or more minor in nature.
Also, this is an opportunity to dig into their security posture. Not in the “what do you use for securing their network” but in a “tell me about your concerns around cybersecurity” context. You’re gathering information now so you know how best to propose your solutions when the time comes.
Learn about their business challenges
Now that you’ve got them talking about their business, how they operate, and their risks it’s time to start digging into some of the challenges they experience. You can also ask questions as you’re talking to direct them into this. It’ll depend on how the conversation goes a little.
You want to ask questions about any inefficiencies that they see in their world. Hiccups in their process. Issues that they see with their technology. Any slowness? Any challenges with their vendors? Any employees struggling with their computers? That sort of thing.
You want them to tell you what issues are important to them because when you ultimately make your sales pitch at a later meeting or later in the conversation you want to address as many of these challenges as possible.
What’s their relationship like with their current IT provider
Asking questions around how they perceive their existing IT support will tell you a lot. It will help speak to their attitudes around IT. I talked about that in my Target Client Profile video earlier. It will also help you understand what they’re looking for out of an IT provider.
Ask them about the possible wedge issues that you’ve developed as part of your unique value prop. Some of those wedge issues will be apparent since you’ve been having a business conversation and not a number of workstations and stack conversation. That said, if you are closely aligned with their vertical this is your opportunity to ask how their existing support helps them in this thing that you know a lot about because you’re familiar with their vertical.
Similar to the previous point, you’re looking for clues that will help you describe how your MSP will relieve the pain that their existing IT support is letting them experience.
Learn their buying window
When we meet with prospects it’s common that we aren’t in their buying window for one reason or another. That’s okay. Still get to know them and learn about their business because when that window does open you want to be able to climb right through it. Ideally, because of your conversations they want you to be there when it opens.
So, even if the window doesn’t open for a year, so what. Get to know them and build rapport.
Learn their window, learn who is involved in making the final decision, and how you can position your company as the clear best fit for them when the window opens.
What’s next
If their window is open, it’s time to build your proposal. This proposal should address as many of their issues as possible. Try to check off those checkboxes without building a custom offering for them. Remember, your standards and stack are vital to providing efficient support, but if this is a prospect in your TCP it should already be aligned.
Lean into the business conversation you had and offer them business solutions that just happen to include technology as part of the solution.
If their buying window is closed, build a cadence where you check in on them every so often with helpful articles, suggestions about how to solve some of their challenges, and just make sure that they know you’re there for them when they need you. When done well, this looks like a check-in every 4-6 weeks that is personalized to them. Don’t send them a bunch of obviously automated things unless they signed up for your newsletter if you offer one. Make sure that the email is tailored to them specifically.
Eventually their window will open and you will be ready to pounce when it does.
Sales is tough. You will need several chances to have these conversations before they feel natural at all. If you happen to be a Pax8 client, you should check out our Results Based Selling which is a much longer version of this with exercises and process documentation to help you along the way.
Thanks for coming on this ramble with me. I look forward to seeing you on the next one.