Get to IT Sales with Your Elevator Pitch

Elevator pitches can be great tools to get you to IT sales. You need to say something quickly that will be remembered by those that hear it.

The general rule of thumb to think about when creating a good elevator speech is the idea of getting into an elevator on the 20th floor with a potential prospect for your computer consulting business and being able to talk about your business and have him/her talk about his/her business by the time you get to the first floor.

Your elevator speech should answer the question, “What do you do?”

Examples of Elevator Speeches to Get to IT Sales

These elevator speeches can help you effectively get prospects that might need your computer expertise to give you a card and ask further questions.

“I work for XXXX, a company that repairs, builds and upgrades computers.”

“I’m XXX with XXX and we make it our business to help small and mid-sized businesses learn how to get the best benefits out of their computers, the Internet and networking productivity.”

“Our service team specializes in on-site business service and networking solutions. We also provide consulting in the areas of network development and on-going maintenance.”

Don’t Forget about Benefits

Getting to IT sales means talking about benefits. Make sure you outline the unique benefits you offer to those with whom you speak. You need to talk eloquently about your business services and the network consulting you do and how you solve problems.

At the end of your elevator speech, you can also think about offering a “call to action” by asking them for an appointment for a consultation.

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

IT Sales: Sell What You Know!

When you are engaging in IT sales and especially when you are selling to strangers, you can’t lead with products! Your point with IT sales is to sell you as a solution – “You, Inc.” – and sell your expertise.

How Can You Add Value to Solutions?

You can’t just sell ordinary products and rely on them to sell others on the true value of your company. And similarly, don’t sell only to customers that want to buy products and nothing else. When you don’t bundle in solutions and value-added services with product sales, you end up competing only on price. If you want to grow your company and be in it for the long haul, you need to figure out where, when and how to add value.

How can you change your whole attitude with IT sales so you are not reaching “customers,” rather potentially very long-term, high-paying clients that will need you for an extended period of time as an outsourced IT department? The solution is not in rock-bottom prices … it’s about being a specialist and not selling yourself as a commodity.

Your Expertise Differentiates You from the Pack in IT Sales

There are a lot of generalists in your area, but not a lot of specialists. You need to be a specialist and one of the few in your area (if not the only one!) that does exactly what you do. When you can do this, you put yourself in high demand and attract those that will want to pay top dollar for very specialized solutions.

Your Experience and Niche Determine High Rates

When you no longer have to deal with price-sensitive buyers, you can add to your margins, because your clients will expect to pay more for the value of your expertise.

Stop relying on products to drive IT sales … and start selling what you know!

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

IT Sales Copy to Get You Going

Effective IT sales copy is essential to any marketing plan. If you want to get customers to the next step, you need to get maximum impact with your copywriting.

If you create compelling text, long IT sales copy is fine; you can even have a letter that is several pages long and includes endorsements and testimonials. Just stay away from jargon and IT speak and focus on BUSNIESS, which is what your prospects will know.

You should also show with IT sales copy that your business guarantees satisfaction. Personalize your letter and create a common connection to make sure you are creating compelling reasons for prospects to get in touch.

Make Sure Your IT Sales Copy Gets Through

A lot of IT sales letters can end up in the garbage, because a lot of people read their mail near the garbage can. If your piece of mail is not eye catching, it will be trashed, and you will have wasted time and money.

You need to make sure part of your IT sales copy gives people multiple points of contact – fax, phone, Web site and e-mail address. You need to make sure prospects have options and can get in touch with you in the way they feel most comfortable.

Are You Creating a Sense of Urgency?

You need to set a deadline with your IT sales letter to create a real sense of urgency. If you don’t have a deadline, even if prospects ARE interested, they will file it away and forget about it.

Present a call to action or special offer that asks prospects to call before X date to book a free, no obligation security checkup or some other compelling free offer that is of value to them. Give prospects a reason to react to your IT sales campaign immediately!

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

IT Sales and Relationships

If you want to create real relationships, you need to establish them with the IT sales process. Your ability to sell your IT services is not about the size of your customer list or revenue; it’s about long-term relationships you build with customers and clients as part of the IT sales process.

You need to keep in mind that the lifetime value of your clients could be in the six-figure range, so you need to really invest in relationships with them.

Manage Customer Expectations

If you are in charge of IT sales at the start of your business, you won’t have to worry that your salesperson will change regularly, causing you to start over again each time you meet with a prospect or customer. With IT sales, the amount of effort required is often underestimated by consultants. If you are not mindful and don’t manage expectations from the beginning, building a personal relationship with your prospects and customers, you will find yourself struggling later.

Train Your Own IT Sales Staff

Most consultants get really involved in generating leads and closing sales in the beginning stages of their businesses. When you establish a routine and have five or ten really good clients that are giving you $5,000 to $15,000 per month in IT services, you may want to think about having someone help you with IT sales. Don’t delegate it until you are sure you have steady, solid clients that will sustain your business.

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

Getting IT Sales and Determining Clients' Needs

When you engage in your first IT sales meeting with a prospect, you need to make sure you get into their top 3 problems. You might find out that the problems your prospects have are not actually any that you or subcontractors and partners can help with, at which point you want to move onto the next prospect.

WHAT ARE THEIR PREFERENCES?

You need to get prospects talking about their previous IT support. Asking them questions about their likes and dislikes can give you clues as to what you need to say and do to get to IT sales.

Also determine whether prospects have an emergency that needs to be dealt with in the next day or two days or if they are looking for IT audits, site surveys or tech assessments. Sometimes prospects will want something different from anything you are expecting, but most of the time you will know by asking some simple questions how to get to IT sales.

GETTING CLIENTS TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH IT SALES

Your goal with IT sales meetings is to turn prospects into paying customers and clients. You want them to go beyond picking your brain and move onto writing a check to your company for services.

Be sure you have something ready to offer prospects and that you have proposals that clearly address their needs. Having blank forms with you during the initial IT sales meeting will help push them along the right track to becoming paying customers.

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

IT Sales: Find Out How Immediately They Need You

The initial IT sales consultations you have with clients have to end in a step towards paid services, such as site surveys. Sometimes prospects will be very interested in this, but others might give you some delay. You should not get a “delayed reaction” when it comes to IT sales if you convey the true importance of the project.

ASK QUESTIONS TO GET TO IT SALES

Prospects may tell you they want to go from DOS-based fax software to 32-bit fax software, fax to PDAs in the field or set up VPNs between offices. Find out if these are possibilities by asking important questions:

1. When would you like to start if everything looks good?

2. How important is this project?

3. When would you like to start the project?

4. What’s keeping you from starting this project right now?

5. Why has this project been delayed previously?

CHANGING NEEDS

You might find out by asking questions to get to IT sales that a project has been delayed by a prospect previously because it was too expensive or seemed impossible. Maybe the challenge of the project was more than the prospect expected.

DIRECT QUESTIONS CAN LEAD TO IT SALES

If you determine the urgency level and are still feeling blown off during an IT sales consultation you can ask non-pushy but pressing questions:


1. When is a good time for me to follow up with you?

2. When do you expect you will be in a better position to discuss this project again?

THE MAIN POINT

You need to know that with IT sales, no “no” is ever a true “no.” You need to learn about your prospect, his/her problem and its urgency.

Blogged By: Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

IT Sales: Stress Benefits to Build Relationships

IT sales take time and effort. You need to show your clients clear benefits attached to working with you and start developing a relationship in order to get more IT sales.

What’s Your Benefit?

If you come across an IT problem you can’t solve during an IT sales call, you should focus on problems you can solve to get their attention and get them thinking about what benefits you can offer.

The IT Sales Pitch

You should be able to talk about projects you’ve done with other customers and the benefits these customers have enjoyed as a result of your solutions if you want to get your IT sales pitch to ring true.

The Relationship Will Take Time

It may take a few weeks or even months to get a solid commitment from a prospect. Patience and persistence, along with e-mails, faxes, postcards and phone calls can lead to IT sales. Just don’t be obnoxious. Call once or twice a month to gauge progress.

Answer Their Questions and Ask Your Own

See if your prospects have any issues or questions you didn’t address in order to keep the conversation going and lines of communication open. If they say, “Not today,” it doesn’t mean, “No.” Ask basic questions to gauge their progress:

1. How important is your project?

2. When do you want to start?

3. Is it urgent?

4. Where are you in the process of deciding?

5. How much research have you done?

6. Is this a good time of year for this project?

7. Do you have the budget for this project?

The Bottom Line about IT Sales

You can ask questions of prospects in many different ways to determine how close you are to IT sales. Just don’t let “later” become “no.”

Blogged By: Joshua Feinberg