It seems that every sales trainer pitching their services to the managed services industry is selling essentially the same thing:

1. Do a review of the prospect’s environment
2. Determine the Total Cost of Ownership the company is paying for their IT, and make that number really big by adding in hours of management time by senior managers, lost productivity hours from employees, etc.
3. Pitch your managed services at a price X% less than that and claim your solution will get rid of all of their time-wasting problems – demonstrate the ROI of your solution
4. Smile and collect your check

I personally think that this model of sales training is flawed in a big way and is causing a lot of people in our industry to lose out on business.

Why? A friend of mine in the managed services business gave me a perfect example last week.

We were chatting about business and he told me of his frustration with a large number of deals that he has been unable to close.  I asked him about his sales approach, and guess what it was:

Selling on ROI.

The tough thing for him is that all of the numbers made perfect sense, and yet he couldn’t get the deals to close.  “They just don’t get it,” he said.  “For whatever reason, they aren’t willing or able to make good decisions based on numbers.”

My position is not that they aren’t willing or able to make the right decision based on the numbers, but rather that they aren’t interested in making the decision based on the numbers.

What does that mean?

It means that my friend walked into the sales situation assuming he knew the clients problem/buying trigger – money – or more specifically, ROI.  Obviously, this wasn’t the prospect’s trigger at all.

Is selling based on ROI wrong?

Am I suggesting that selling on ROI is wrong?

No.

Selling on ROI works – some of the time.  What I am suggesting is that having a sales process that assumes that all prospects have the same problem and want it solved in the same way is foolish.  No single buy/sell criteria works all of the time.  It’s the equivalent of the old saying “when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

Then why is this sales methodology so popular?

Because it’s easy to learn and easy to teach.

“In two days of training and using our 3-meeting closing process, you’ll be getting all of the managed services business you can handle in no time.”

It’s a very desirable pitch because it seems to give you a very simple answer to your sales problems.  And it will work in certain situations, that’s for sure.  But in the world of professional selling, it’s like walking into a gunfight with a pea-shooter!

A better way to sell

There is a better way to sell.  It’s harder and takes more time to learn, which is why most people won’t do it, but it is also far more effective.  Those who master it can literally make a fortune as a professional salesperson, while those that don’t either flame out or toil in mediocrity.

What is it?

The better way to sell is to have a sales process that gives you the flexibility to explore what challenges the prospect is facing, uncover their unique buying criteria, and make your pitch based on those factors – not on your assumptions.

Maybe it is ROI.

Or maybe it’s speed of response time.

Or maybe it’s quality of service.

Or maybe it’s that they don’t want to make another mistake by choosing the cheaper vendor.

Or maybe it’s because they don’t like their brother-in-law and he works for your competition.

You never know until you ask…and that’s the point.  Some of our best and most lucrative clients would never think to buy our services based on ROI!  They spend way too much money with us for ROI to be a consideration, because they are much more concerned with other factors.

As I said, this sales process is harder.  It requires more practice and more thoughtfulness.

With this sales process, it is less about following a specific script, and more about working within a framework.  That means more variability, which means that you must be more on your toes and more well-versed in a variety of sales skills.

If you take the time to learn such a sales process, you will be well on your way to a much more lucrative career, whether you are a full-time salesperson, business owner, CEO…or just trying to negotiate your next vacation with your wife.  We are all in sales.  The question is whether or not you are willing to put in the time and energy to learn a better way versus trying to take the easy way out.

MRC

PS – this was already a long post.  I’ll give you my thoughts on which training systems are best for learning these skills in a future post.

This was published in Zig Ziglar’s recent sales newsletter.  I think they apply to managed services sales pretty well.

1. Selling is a contact sport!
You gotta see ‘em to sell ‘em.

2. Sales success is based on courage, not talent.
Make the tough calls…believe in you.

3. If you aren’t enjoying the selling process, neither is the prospect.
Enjoy the sales journey, not just the results.

4. The prospect only runs as fast as the salesperson.
If the prospect wants to move quickly through the process, let her.  If the prospect wants to slow the process down, let him.

5. Sell’em when they’re ready to buy.
Help your prospect purchase from you; don’t make it any harder than it already is.

Bryan Flanagan is an experienced salesperson and a world-class sales trainer.  He holds monthly sales training webinars.  For more information click here.

Of all of the skills a salesperson can develop, what is the single most important skill?  Can you guess?

Cold calling?

Closing?

Presenting proposals?

A firm handshake?

None of the above. 

So what is it?  What is the single most important skill a salesperson can have?  Mark Fitzgerald from Sandler Sales said it best:

“The seminal skill of the salesperson is to get the prospect talking.”

Amen, Mark.

Of all the things a salesperson can master, it’s the ability to get and keep the prospect talking that ultimately determines  how successful they will be.   There are a lot of factors that influence how willing someone is to open up and talk to you, but for the most part, it comes down to a very basic and often overlooked skill:

The ability to ask good questions.

There is a right way and a wrong way to ask questions.  When done the right way, questions can help you control the flow of the conversation and move you towards your ultimate goals with the prospect.  Done incorrectly, and you can end up talking yourself right out of an opportunity.

More on how to ask good questions in a later post.  For now, spend some time role playing your call script and analyze how much of the time you spend talking versus asking questions and listening.  I would suggest that anything less than a 2 to 1 ratio in favor of listening over talking needs improvement.

MRC

PS – we cover specific sales strategies like question-based selling in MSP Coach.

Everyone has worked with or been sold by a great closer at one time in their career.

Some salespeople always seem to leave their appointments with signed paperwork in hand.   Others seem to always have a reason for not getting signed paperwork.

What’s the difference between these two types of people, and how can you learn from them?

I heard a quote from a representative of Basho, a sales training and software company based out of Boston, that so perfectly answered this question for me that I had to share it with everyone:

A great closer is willing to put the prospect into a situation of temporary discomfort in order to close the deal.

That’s exactly it.  That sums up the great closers from the average ones.  If you are a Sales Manager, put that quote on your list of “keepers” to share with your sales team.  Look for this ability in anyone you interview.

Everyone that has sold anything for a living knows that there comes a point in every sales opportunity where you could apply just a little more pressure and you’ll probably close the deal.  But most people don’t, can’t, or won’t do it.  Why?

Because it makes the salesperson uncomfortable to make the prospect feel uncomfortable.

Everyone has some degree of desire to be liked by other people; some have this desire much more than others.  In the case of sales people, this desire can be incredibly detrimental to being a great closer.  If you are so worried about making the prospect feel uncomfortable that  you won’t “go for the jugular” when the opportunity presents itself, your desire to be liked is taking over your ability to generate a high income as a salesperson.

I can already hear the comments coming from all of you that have been trained by a sales program that has taught you something like “if you sell right, you don’t need to close”, or “if you have to apply pressure at the close, your dealing with someone that shouldn’t really be buying your products or services.”

B.S.

Closing is, and will always be, a critical part of top sales achievers.  Don’t get me wrong – I am in complete agreement with the idea that in a relationship sales process like the one we have in our industry, you shouldn’t be giving a high-pressure sales pitch.

But even in a relationship sales process, there comes a point in 9 out of 10 deals where applying a little bit of pressure will result in a higher percentage of deals coming your way.  If you aren’t willing and able to do it (in a manner that is still professional), somebody else is and is getting more business than you are.

If you or your salespeople aren’t closing the number of deals you think you should, you are probably getting defeated by your desire to be liked.  Take an honest look at this factor for each rep and work on role-playing using strong closing statements and questions – it will pay off.

MRC

PS – we cover sales techniques and strategies in MSP Coach, our membership site for managed services providers looking to get a competitive edge in the marketplace.

I had a phone call with a person in our industry the other week that touched a nerve.

The call was from a person that I really respect and trust, so I really pondered it for a bit before coming to any conclusions.

He expressed to me that he thought I should be very careful about not letting our blog posts and our references to our membership site, MSP Coach, get too “salesy”; that I don’t want to be perceived as selling to our industry.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand his point entirely and I know he had good intentions.  If you are offering a professional service of any sort,  you want your marketing to come across as “value-added” and educational to establish credibility.  I get it – and I practice it – both at Everon and with content on the SMBITPros blog.

The reason it touched a nerve with me is that I could hear the negativity in his voice when he mentioned that I may come across as selling.  In fact, what really gets me fired up about this whole thing, is that, for a moment, I even got negative on myself for thinking I was selling too aggressively. It was as if by selling I had done something dirty, and I needed to take a hot shower to clean myself up.

Then I came to my senses.

Negative on selling?  Not me!  I am ashamed of myself for considering for even one moment that I should have any hesitation about selling myself, my ideas, or my services.  Why?  Because I know that everything I sell comes from a good place.  I only sell something if I really believe in it, believe in its value, and will stand behind it 100%.  When  you feel that way about something, you have an obligation to sell it to anyone you think it can add value to.

Do you feel that way about your managed services?  If you don’t, you need to ask yourself why and do whatever it takes to fix it.  You should be so fired up about the services that you offer that you can’t stand it when a prospect doesn’t see the value and decides not to work with you.

Tony Robbins teaches that the person in any sales situation with the most certainty and commitment will eventually influence the other people.  That’s what sales is…having so much certainty and commitment about your products and services that your prospects “inherit” your feelings and decide to work with you over your less certain and less committed competitors.

If you believe in what you have to offer, you should be shouting about it from the rooftops.  What this world needs more than anything right now is more really good, really committed salespeople that believe in what they have to offer.

Think about it.  When was the last time you went to a retail store and had someone really try to sell you?  For the most part, you’ll find young, unmotivated salespeople (if you can call them that) that won’t even give you the time of day.  Often times you’ll find them hovering around in packs talking about what other jobs they are applying for or how bad the economy is.

When was the last time you got a follow up call or a hand-written note from a salesperson to thank you after making a purchase?

The lack of strong sales skills and salespeople that are really interested in doing their best every day is probably the #1 killer of economic productivity in this country.  What would happen if everyone that was responsible for selling every day actually tried to sell?!   We wouldn’t need the $1 trillion + stimulus package we are getting (and will eventually have to pay for).

Selling makes our economy flourish.

Selling feeds your kids.

Selling creates jobs at your company.

Nothing happens until somebody sells something, as the saying goes.

So please take notice: I will be trying to sell whenever I think it makes sense for me and for my prospect; whenever I think I can add value.  And so should you.  Let’s consider it our national duty to do our part to lift the economy by selling at every opportunity.

Mike Cooch

PS – I have found some great examples of very professional salespeople recently and will share those in my next post.

PSS – We cover sales strategies and techniques in our membership site – MSP Coach.  You can join here.