SCALING YOUR BUSINESS
The MOST Powerful Way
To Influence Prospects To Buy From You
( And A Deeply Embarrassing Story About A Pink Carnival Ferret )
If you ’ ve read any sales books , I ’ m certain you ’ ve learned multiple ways to overcome objections using contrast , comparison , and outright challenging the prospect . I ’ ve been in sales for over 30 years , and while I do believe you should have a strategy for overcoming them , I also know that most of the tactics taught by sales trainers are brutish , clumsy , and downright insulting to the prospect .
For starters , I absolutely know that the best way to overcome a sales objection is before it ’ s even uttered by the prospect . For example , I always recommend talking about your fees in the “ sit down ” meeting after you ’ ve gotten a good handle on what the client wants — yet the first time most MSPs reveal their price is in the written proposal . Wrong , wrong , wrong !
If the proposal is the first time you ’ re revealing your fees , you will waste a LOT of time on cheap penny-pinchers and lookyloos . You also risk having your proposal completely overlooked and misunderstood because prospects get the proposal , skip past all the work you put into explaining the “ value you bring ,” and go right to the bottom line to make a snap decision that your fees are too much . Then what ? You start the pathetic , hat-inhand follow-up of , “ Hey … just me again … checking to see if you have any questions about the proposal I sent over ,” which is the worst follow-up you can possibly do , making you look like a desperate , needy salesperson . Bad all around .
The alternative I recommend is using marketing to do some , if not all , of the heavy lifting to overcome objections . Your marketing can be in the form of written articles and letters , videos , or even audio files . Let me give you a brilliant example . ( Thank you , Mr . Kennedy , for the idea on this one .)
Below is a true story from my childhood about a deeply embarrassing event . The purpose of sharing it with prospects is to overcome the objection ( more of a concern ) that they will get disappointing results again , from our program , like they have in the past . You see , most MSPs who seek out our services have already run through a number of other consultants and marketing firms , writing checks all along the way with little to nothing to show for it . Now here I am , promising “ we ’ re better , we ’ re different ,” and they are Charlie Brown , really wanting to kick the football but worrying that Lucy will , yet again , pull it away at the last minute .
Your prospects have the same concern . So , how do you overcome that ? You can talk about how honest you are , how long you ’ ve been in business , how you ’ ll personally be involved — but it ’ s still all talk they ’ ve heard before .
What I ’ m suggesting is that you use a personal story to make the point . Clients won ’ t remember all the facts , details , and platitudes , but they will remember a good story . Now , here ’ s mine …
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 4 • MSPSuccessMagazine . com | 21