In part two of our step-by-step guide to making the most of your Discovery Meeting, we’ll dive right into the moment of truth itself.

DURING THE MEETING

The time to shine is now. You’re sitting across from a potential client and can’t wait to brag about all the ways you can help them and how great your company is. But it’s better to speak carefully and purpose than rush in with unfocused enthusiasm. So, remain calm and confident and steer the direction of the meeting where you need to go by taking the following steps: 

  • Do a Recap – As the salesperson, it will be on you to remind your potential clients why (to your best understanding) they have asked you to be here, and what ground has already been covered. So, to start the meeting, refresh everyone’s memory on how you’ve gotten to this point in the relationship. This not only helps remind the prospect why they wanted to meet with you but also helps ensure everyone is on the same page. 
  • Get Up to Date – Once they affirm, always ask the prospect if anything has changed within their company or their IT situation since you last talked. You want to make sure you are fully caught up with their current needs before moving forward. Follow up by confirming everyone in the room’s names, roles, and titles in case any personnel or hierarchy has changed. 
  • Get Them Talking About Themselves – Now that you know that you’re in the right place, with the right people, you’ll want to dig deeper. But rather than probe away with a million questions, the best way to achieve this is by turning the focus onto your prospect. Try to get them talking about their company and their goals for the future. Why are they in business? Where do they want their business to be in three to five years? Are they hoping to add locations? Expand their workforce? Try to understand how they see themselves and where they want to be so you can tailor your messaging accordingly. 
  • Get Them Talking About Their Provider – To understand what your prospect truly needs, you need to know what in their relationship with the current or previous provider has worked for them and what they’d like to see improved. But, to avoid the meeting turning into a gossip circle, you must start with the positive and then gradually work your way towards the more negative experiences. Whenever the prospect finishes telling you about an issue they had or is currently having, remember to follow up with, “Is there anything else you’d like to see improved?” Continue posing this question until they tell you there are no more, so you know you have gotten the whole picture.
  • Share Relevant Success Stories – Now, with the spotlight back on you and your services, you want to choose your message carefully. This isn’t the moment to jump in and spout off about all the great new technology you have at your disposal. Instead, you need to focus on relaying how you, as an MSP, have helped similar companies in the same or a related industry achieve success through your technology. It would help if you also talked about your company, how you’ve achieved what you have, and what you see coming from a technology perspective that may benefit them in the future. 
  • Check-In – Throughout this process, you’ll also want to regularly ask if they have any questions and if what you have relayed is clear. You’re wasting your breath if your prospect doesn’t understand what you’ve said and silently nods their head out of politeness or embarrassment.
  • Don’t Leave Without a Next Step – Hopefully, you’ve now found some common ground. So, take the initiative and confirm the next part of the process – a technical meeting. Explain this step by conveying to them that assessing their network is the best way to provide them with technological solutions to their business problems. 
  • Take a Tour – Although, during the technical meeting, the engineer will spend time getting a sense of the prospect’s network and configurations, if you’re on-site and the client agrees, take a walk through the office. See what you can learn by just looking around, and if possible, take a look at the server room and note how old or new all the hardware (computers, servers, routers, etc.) is. If you’re not on-site, ask if they can share any documentation that would give you a similar overview.
  • Confirm Your Next Meeting – Thank them for their time, set a date for the technical meeting, and once back in the office IMMEDIATELY make sure calendar invites and thank you notes are sent.

In the end, a discovery meeting is only one of several crucial moments in the sales process, but it can feel stressful if you don’t know how to navigate one. So, if you’re looking for more helpful tactics for sales meetings or even some professional sales training to elevate your sales team performance, contact our sales experts at OSR Manage today to find out more about how we can help.