Landing sales appointments for your MSP business can seem like an uphill struggle sometimes. It is a necessary evil of the sales process, and it is rare to find someone happy to make cold calls in order to try and set up sales appointments. But there are ways in which you can make it more successful. Here are some tips to try in your company:
Finding Highly-Qualified Prospects
As the saying goes, there are salespeople who can sell ice to the Inuit, but generally, there is no point in trying to sell to someone who has no need of your products or services. However good you are at selling, this is likely to result in very little return. You will be much better served researching companies that would be genuinely helped, and the first stage to this is creating a detailed description of your ideal client, listing their key traits and problems.
Preparation
Keeping this detailed description in your mind’s eye when you are looking for prospective clients will result in approaching only companies and people who have the potential to be wowed by your MSP business and products. When you have settled on your targets, investigate the company in detail to ensure you have all the knowledge you need in order to make the best initial call you can. Make sure you grab their interest quickly because the initial call is not for selling.
Create Intrigue and Overcome Objections
That first call is just the setup. You need to pique their interest and create intrigue, suggesting that your product could answer their problems but without pushy sales tactics. Because you have already done your homework when it comes to investigating their company, you should know what their critical business issues are and how your product or service can help. In this way, you should be prepared to overcome any objections they may have and even preempt them.
If your opening gambit was enough to keep them listening to you after the first 30 seconds or so, now is the time to tell them how you have helped other similar firms in their position. If you can explain exactly the problem these other companies faced and the benefits your product helped them achieve, they should be able to see more clearly how you can help and hopefully be in a position to accept a meeting to learn more.
Your only goal out of this first call is to get them to agree to a meeting, and in that meeting is where you will employ your sales techniques. For now, stay away from any sales talk and just impress upon them how you can help.
Conclusion
If you would like the sales team in your MSP business to land more sales appointments, try and introduce some of these tips. If you can review each salesperson’s sales funnel to see if there is a pattern to lost sales or appointments, it can be an excellent way to address any problems. And beginning with the number of cold calls that result in sales appointments is a good starting point. After all, your company relies on sales and when more cold calls lead to appointments, more appointments will lead to more sales which makes everyone happy.
