Close More Deals for your MSP Company Using These Best Sales Rebuttals

As a sales person, you hear the word “no” all the time. As a matter of fact, you probably hear it more often than not. What you also probably hear are reasons why prospects can’t buy right now. SMB Decision Makers seem to always feel the need to explain why they are not interested in your services instead of just stopping at “no thank you”. While this doesn’t exactly put the wind back in your sails, it does leave the door open for a rebuttal.

Documenting Common Rebuttals and Automating Responses

We started documenting our most common rebuttals when we first launched our full scale marketing automation campaign. We were getting flooded with responses from prospects that were not interested and they tended to always offer up their reason why.

To make responding easier, we created rebuttal campaigns within our Automation Workflows. This way all we had to do was tag the user in our CRM and it would automatically send them back an email with our perfectly crafted response.

Creating Sales Deliverables and Remarketing

As this strategy of Best Sales Rebuttals continued to develop, we started putting together content in the form of articles specifically written for these rebuttals and included the link in our reply email. The click thru on these links was surprising and we could even “retarget” these users after they hit our article page so we could feed them more content on social media and display.

To give you a head start on adapting this proven process, we compiled some of the most common responses we received and provided you with some rebuttal content ideas for you to re-interpret in your own words.

MSP Sales Rebuttals and Content Deliverable Preview

“We are happy with our current outsourced IT provider.”

This is probably the most common response you will get when selling IT Services. Even though customer relations is a rocky road in Managed Services, most SMBs will still remain loyal. This could simply be out of fear of transition, but it makes new doors difficult to open nonetheless. Try these content ideas to get their attention and get them to health-check their current provider relationship.

Sales Rebuttal Content Ideas
  • [Insert Number] Questions to Ask Your IT Company
  • SMB Price Survey: Are You Paying Too Much For IT?
  • Is Your Company Prepared for [Insert Threat]?

READY TO SELL MORE IT CONTRACTS? GET THE COMPLETE STRATEGY YOU NEED TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

“We have a dedicated staff member that handles our Desktop Support.”

When a company becomes large enough to house a dedicated Desktop Support/IT person, they leave themselves vulnerable to a lot of hidden costs. This is particularly true when there are non-technical personnel involved in the direct management of this person. With no one to control the quality of their work and high level technical direction, the company often runs into major challenges in scalability. Here are some content ideas to get through to SMB Decision Makers on this topic and offer them supplemental services or staffing.

Sales Rebuttal Content Ideas
  • The Hidden Costs of Internal IT and How to Offset Them
  • [Insert Number] Tips To Better Manage Your IT Employee(s)
  • [Insert Number] Questions to Ask Your Internal IT Person

“We are unhappy with our IT provider but are under contract.”

This one stings. It’s sort of like an awkward high school dating scenario, except this time there are binding legal contracts at stake and thousands of dollar in implications. We always attempt to buy the contract out in this scenario if the numbers work in our favor, but occasionally you run into an evergreen contract or auto-renewal situation that the prospect never knew they were in. Talking to your Business Attorney will give you some insight on your state’s stance on service contracts how you can approach this topic. Here is how you can better educate your prospects once you have those legal specifics.

Sales Rebuttal Content Ideas
  • How To Cancel Auto-renewal on an IT Contract in [State]
  • The [Number] Most Common IT Provider Contract Breaches
  • Cost of Freedom: How to Evaluate Buyout Options in IT Contracts

“We have an employee that knows IT and also fills other roles.”

If you have heard this one recently, your head is probably still sore from smacking yourself out of frustration. It can be challenging when SMB Decision Makers take the DIY approach and don’t just ask for help when they need it. Some think that the intern that knows how to reboot the ISP modem is somehow qualified to provide their company security, networking, and desktop support. Even if you can flip a prospect like this, a lot of times they are not worth the trouble and will nickel and dime the heck out of you. If you are just looking for a revenue grab to meet your sales goal, here are a few content ideas that will surely get their attention.

Sales Rebuttal Content Ideas
  • Pop Quiz: Ask Your Smartest Employee These [Number] Tech Questions
  • How to Calculate the Value of Your Time (& Stop Wasting it on IT Issues)
  • The Top [Number] Technology Pitfalls That Halt Growth & Burn Profit

“We don’t have the budget to work with a Managed IT Provider.”

Proceed with caution. This is a clear sign that this customer does not value Managed Services and/or technology in general. This type of sales process is a difficult one, mostly because there is no “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow. Even if you do convert this customer, it is very likely that expectations will be skewed and they will be far more trouble than they are worth. There are circumstances however, especially for companies in the “start-up” phase, where this could be worth the push. Here are a few ideas on how to get these SMB Decision Makers rethinking the value of Managed IT.

Sales Rebuttal Content Ideas
  • Hidden Costs of Not Having a Managed IT Provider
  • Reduce Your Company’s Labor Costs w/ These Productivity Solutions
  • The Average Business Loses This Much Per Hour in a Security Breach

“We have an Internal IT Dept. and an IT Director that handles this.”

Sometimes barking up the wrong tree still pays off. Getting the CEO or CFO’s attention and having them forward you down the chain to an IT Director is a great way to get your message heard. The key here is helping them understand that you can offer supplemental services and create a win/win scenario for everyone involved. As an IT Consultant and Virtual CTO, you already know a lot of the pain points. Use them to your advantage when crafting content around these next few topic ideas.

Sales Rebuttal Content Ideas
  • Big Picture: Outsourcing Desktop Support for a More Focused CTO
  • Leveraging Managed Service Providers to Reduce Licensing Costs
  • [Number] Things Your CTO Should Be Doing Instead of Desktop Support

Perfecting Your Pitch

Now that your hopper is loaded with responses, we recommend spending the time to carefully craft these deliverables and practice your approach. With this information, you will be ready for anything the Decision Makers throw at you and can instantly send it right back.

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