msp sales best practice | how to close sales leads
DESCRIPTION
MSP sales tactics and best practices. Content includes the following: How to plan and prioritize your efforts using your list of qualified leads; Sample goal-setting techniques to help you get ready for a sales appointment; How to identify your best sales opportunities (and avoid wasting time on deals that will never close); How to prepare for – and how to handle – the 4 or 5 most common sales objections; How to use 3 effective closing techniques that will help you win new business. Presented by Kaseya with MSP Sales Pros. September 2013.TRANSCRIPT
MSP Sales Best Practices
How to Close Your Qualified Sales
Leads
September 24, 2013
Agenda
• Introductions
• How to plan and prioritize your efforts using your list of
qualified leads
• Sample goal-setting techniques to help you get ready for a
sales appointment
• How to identify your best sales opportunities (and avoid
wasting time on deals that will never close)
• How to prepare for – and how to handle – the 4 or 5 most
common sales objections
• How to use 3 effective closing techniques that will help you
win new business
• Q&A
2
Stay with us until
the end and you
may win!
About Kaseya
• Enterprise-class IT systems management for everybody
• Key Facts– Founded 2000
– STILL privately held• Multi-million dollar R&D
• Bench strength via Insight Partners
– 33 offices worldwide in 23 countries with 450+ employees• 12,000+ customers
• Millions of assets managed
– 6 patents issued for IT service delivery processes & remote IT management processes• 37 patents pending
– Common Criteria (EAL2+) certified and FIPS 140-2 security compliant
– ITIL v2 and v3 compatible (Pink Elephant cert in progress)
4
Why MSPs Choose Kaseya Essentials
A single Kaseya user can proactively manage 1,000s of automated
IT systems and network tasks in the same amount of time
required by a team of technicians using other techniques
It’s the industry’s only patented single-server-single-agent
architecture; MSPs get enterprise-class capability that is easy to
use and easy to afford
With 60+% of top MSPs worldwide using Kaseya, they get access
to the most robust community available
And with so many ISVs plugging in to Kaseya via a seamless
integration process, they get an easy way to leverage their
existing strategic technology partnerships
About MSP Sales Pros
• 10 years experience in IT Services
• 15 years creating sales and marketing
strategies for B2B
• 1 man shop to 500 plus employees
• Experience and expertise with every
major RMM / PSA / CRM
• Kaseya Industry Expert since 2012
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How to Close Your Qualified Sales Leads
Why you need a better process
• Highly competitive environment
• Referrals far less common
• 90% of small business owners polled
said they know what “managed
services” are
• SMBs do not recognize their need for
your services
8
Where do I start?Where do I start?
9
Understanding the basic principles
Focus Solution Planning Execution
Target MarketNeeds
Analysis
Competitive
Analysis
Packaging
BrandingCampaign
Sales
ToolsTarget Lists
Sales
Process
Goals
MetricsTraining
Who What How
10
Understanding the basic principles
Focus Solution Planning Execution
Target MarketNeeds
Analysis
Competitive
Analysis
Packaging
BrandingCampaign
Sales
ToolsTarget Lists
Sales
Process
Goals
MetricsTraining
Who What How
11
12
Start with the right list
• Data fuels your sales engine
• Sell to the right prospects
• Wrong companies = wrong answers
• Don’t poison your fishing hole
• Make sure you have all of the data you need or your sales engine will stall
Hoovers
Info USA
Sales Genie
OneSource
Data.com
List brokers
Partners
Library
13
A little known secret
http://www.hoovers.com/sales-leads/list-building/features-pricing.html
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Preparing for meetings
15
All meetings are not created equal
Myth: More meetings will lead to more business.
• Meetings with referred accounts
• Meetings with existing customers
• Meetings with leads you generated
16
Getting in position to close
Preparation is the key to success – Never wing
it
• You must know the goals of a meeting
• You must follow a process
• You must qualify and close often
• You must tell the prospect how to proceed
17
What is the goal of a meeting?
• Establish trust, credibility and value (TCV)
• Show them you understand their business
• Gather requirements
• Define the purchase process
• Discuss pricing
• Raise objections
• Close and Qualify
• Move to a next step in the sales process
How do I do all of this in one meeting?
18
Learn the “One Meeting Close”
– Introductions
– Company Overview
– Information Gathering
– Solution Presentation
– Price Discussion
– Determine Timeline
– Next Steps
19
Learn the “One Meeting Close”
– Introductions
• Not just small talk and icebreakers
• You need to know each role
– In the organization
– In this meeting
– In the decision process
• What do they want to learn from the meeting
• Transition to the Company Overview
20
Learn the “One Meeting Close”
– Company Overview
• In place of asking about them - tell them about
you
• Brief company overview
• Start building credibility by talking about how you
help similar businesses
• Transition into information gathering phase
– We have been helping schools improve student
achievement and drive down operational costs for
many years. Some of the most common
challenges we see are…
21
Learn the “One Meeting Close”
– Information Gathering
• The prospect is expecting to learn something
• You asked to meet with them so avoid the interrogation
• Frame questions properly to gain credibility
• Most of our customers this size did not have an
Acceptable Use policy in place when we started with them,
is this something you have here?
• Use more statements to gather information
• In most of the law firms this size we typically see…
• Use the “Spectrum” technique
22
Learn the “One Meeting Close”
– Solution Presentation• This is where you present your service offer
• Show them how:– Employees can become more productive
– Data can be more secure
– The business can become more agile and more sustainable
– They can become more profitable
• Alert them to other risks they may not be aware of– Non business applications
– Security breaches
– Improper data access privileges
• This is where you will build value to bridge the price
gap
23
Learn the “One Meeting Close”
– Price Discussion
• Never leave a meeting without discussing
price
• You can’t afford to WOW before providing
a price
• Use a broad range if you have toBased on what we know today and how similar you are to many of our
legal clients I would expect your cost to be somewhere between $1900
and $2400 per month. Does this align with your current budget?
• Gather feedback – do not guess at how
they feel
• Use to uncover any objections
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Learn the “One Meeting Close”
– Determine Timeline
• This is where the majority of your objections
will come
• No Happy Ears
• Be prepared to explore every answer further
• Do not ask - What is your purchase process?
• Tell them your onboard process
• Close
25
Learn the “One Meeting Close”
– Next Steps
• “We'll get back to you” is not a next step
• You must control the next step to maintain
control of the sales process
• Avoid “ Just checking in”
• If the prospect cannot agree to a definitive
next step you need to probe further
What other concerns might you have that we have
not discussed?
• Set a time and send a meeting request so
everyone has it on their calendar
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Closing should not be complicated
• Closing is about setting next steps
• Closing is gaining agreement to take action – no matter how small
• Closing is part of effective qualifying
• Closing does not happen at the end
• Closing uncovers hidden objections
• Closing sounds like:
– I have an idea if you are open to it…
– Does this sound reasonable to you…
– Would you like…
– Could this work for you…
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Objections, objections, objections
• Don’t fear objections – You need them
• Objections let you know where you stand – learn to raise them yourself.
• No matter what you sell the objections are the same.
– We already have another vendor
– This is more than we are spending today
– Your competition is less expensive
– Your solution is more than we need
– That is outside of our budget
Common Objections We Hear
The Objection How We Handle It
I’m not aware of IT managed services (ie, I’m a
VAR)
Managed services provide service standardization, growth and profit
opportunity. Kaseya leads the market in helping MSPs run their
businesses.
Prepare for the close: discuss current network info and costs to
acquire info, review benefits of better service.
I like the flexibility of point solutions (ie, I have
Windows update and I use LogMeIn)
Point solutions don’t provide automated service delivery and by
their design, are not integrated with each other. MSP profits are
impacted. Kaseya’s integrated solution is scalable and creates better
efficiency for less cost.
Prepare for the close: review assets managed, prices of current
maintenance contracts, review cost savings.
I don’t want a framework and it likely will bloat
my network
New frameworks are very lightweight and do not impact network
performance. Kaseya is available via the cloud. It sets up quickly and
is easy to learn and use.
Prepare for the close: review assets managed, prices of current
maintenance contracts, review cost savings.
I can’t afford a MSP solution right now
Actually, if you are delivering services to your clients and you want to
continue doing so, you cant afford NOT to move to an MSP solution.
Prepare for the close: discuss services offered and machines
managed to size the solution and determine the optimal delivery
model and license.
Another Common Objection
“I know it’s needed but I can’t SELL MSP”
Instead of the end user IT
team working on routine –
ie, non-value-adding –
tasks, they can be liberated
to work on more strategic
projects while the MSP
handles the routine IT
management tasks.
Common Closing Techniques We Use
What We Listen For and How We
PrepareHow We Close
I need to see {feature} – the “pivot” close
For: Any prospect – when a prospect is stuck on a subject that is
not critical to their decision-making process, use this close to
move forward
{Mr. Prospect}, if I can get you that technical information or {feature
datasheet} you’re requesting, would you like to move on to the next
step?
I want/need to think about it some more – the
“attempt-to-delay” close
For: Any prospect – this sales close uses the process of
elimination to see which aspect of the service your prospect is
objecting to. Most of the time your prospects are objecting to
the investment amount.
{Ms. Prospect}, I think I’ve shared with you how managed services can
help you. What is it about the service/feature that you want to think
about? Is it the Remote Control? Or would it happen to be the {other
aspect of our service}? Is it the {other aspect}? We are building a
relationship together, so please be candid with me; is it the investment
amount associated with getting started?
I don’t have budget for this now – the
“attempt-to-undercut-price” close
For: Any prospect – when a prospect attempts to talk pricing
too early or tries to undercut the value of the deal, use this close
to restate the value of your service and move forward
{Mr. Prospect}, would you say that you utilize your budget more as a
guideline to grow and expand business, or as an inflexible anchor to
adhere to? If you don’t mind, I’d like to quickly review what we’ve
discussed here. Do these benefits of managed services create flexibility
in your budget, or is it still an inflexible anchor?
OR
{Ms. Prospect}, wouldn’t you agree that the 24x7 network monitoring,
unlimited help desk, managing all of your vendors, backing up your
critical data and saving you $XXXXX every year is worth the mere $XX
extra dollars per day?
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How to use objections
• Raise them first
• What we are going to show you is likely to cost
considerably more than you pay today.
• Continue to qualify
• We have to look at 37 other vendors
• Never give the prospect a position to defend
• Always validate the objection
• That is a very valid concern…
• Use other client stories to gain credibility
• In fact, most of our clients had the very same
concern…
33
Managing Opportunities
• 80% of your time is spent on deals that will never close
• The point of qualifying is to uncover objections and processes
• The information you need to know
– Decision Maker
– Requirements
– Budget
– Timeline / Process
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Putting it all together
• Better lists equals better meetings
• Prepare for meetings
• Follow a proven process
• Qualify and close early and often
• Manage you opportunities wisely
Next Steps
• More on MSP Sales Pros
www.mspsalespros.com
• Learn more about Kaseya for MSPs
www.kaseya.com/msp
• For a free live product demo
www.kaseya.com/mspdemo
• For a free trial
www.kaseya.com/trynow
• To speak with us
www.kaseya.com/contactme
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