THE ROBIN ROBINS REVEAL
The 5-Word Question
THAT DRIVES
SUCCESS
IN MARKETING
ARE YOUR LEAD GENERATION EFFORTS NOT WORKING ? SALES IN A SLUMP ?
ASK YOURSELF THIS 5-WORD QUESTION TO REVEAL WHY
B
Before I tell you the question , I want to give credit where credit is due . I learned this from the great sales copywriter Gary Bencivenga . This question is one that all entrepreneurs , marketers , and salespeople need to pause and reflect on frequently . If you have a good answer to it — the RIGHT answer — marketing response will dramatically increase , sales will flourish , price sensitivity will disappear , and you ’ ll be a lot less frustrated in your sales meetings . But if you get it wrong or don ’ t know the right answer , you ’ re essentially flying blind , guessing at what will sell , guessing how to sell , and getting beat up on price , ignored , screened , blocked , and lied to . You can learn all of this information from five simple words strung together ! So , what is the question ?
Drumroll , please : What are we really selling ? My observation is that far too many IT firms get sucked into a technical quagmire of what they are promoting , causing them to lose sight of why someone would want to buy it in the first place . To them , the benefits are so obvious that it ’ s difficult to articulate . ( After all , how does one correctly summarize the importance of oxygen ?) But because of this , firms cannot concisely explain what they are selling . In fact , they ’ ve never really thought about it .
To be clear , I ’ m NOT just talking about benefits , although that is part of this . I ’ m talking about going a couple layers deep into the emotional reasons and triggers that get someone to buy what you are selling . For example , selling cybersecurity is not just about protection from ransomware and downtime , but that is a benefit . What you are actually selling is peace of mind . You are saving that CEO from embarrassment , frustration , and the fear of loss . Out of the three , embarrassment is the one that will motivate them the most . You also need to realize that what you ’ re really selling is prevention . And prevention is one of the most difficult things to sell for a number of reasons . First , nobody likes to spend money on it because there ’ s no ROI . If I buy a new fire alarm system for my house , I gain a little peace of mind , but nobody is going to “ oooh ” and “ ahhh ” over it like they would a new swimming pool or a Tesla . The same goes for IT services and support . Nobody can “ see ” the investment , and in most cases , you hope there is no ROI . Couple that with the fact that most prospects make poor value judgments , are cheap and grossly negligent , procrastinate like hell , and think they are “ fine ,” and you start to see just how difficult the sale can be . Add in a misunderstanding of what you ’ re really selling , and it ’ s no surprise that so many MSPs struggle with marketing and selling .
Here ' s another point : If you attempt to convince a prospect that you are the best managed services / cybersecurity / IT services firm out there — fairly priced , highly competent , trustworthy , etc . — you ’ re overlooking the fact that they might not be convinced they even want managed services ( or whatever you ’ re selling ) in the first place . If you don ’ t cross that bridge first , everything you ’ re saying will just annoy the prospect and frustrate you .
8 | MSPSUCCESSMAGAZINE . COM • VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3