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IT Sales Centers on Relationships and Benefits
By Joshua Feinberg
There is no such thing as an instant or guaranteed contract in IT sales. You have to invest time and energy to seal the deal. Showing your clients the benefits your services can give them and developing a quality relationship with them will help your IT sales efforts tremendously.
What Benefits Can You Provide?
If you find that your prospect has an IT problem you are incapable of solving, you should focus more on the other problems you can handle and the outstanding little things you can do that will grab his attention and respect while making his life and the lives of his employees easier.
Have A Clear Pitch
The more intimately you know the intricacies of your pitch, the more it will stick with potential customers. Talk about things you've done in the past to help other clients and the benefits those customers have achieved from your specific solutions.
Let The Relationship Grow
It might take some time to get a definite answer on a sale from your prospect. You should be patient, but gently persistent. Send emails, faxes, postcards and make follow-up calls, within reason. You don't want to contact them every day, but if they gave you the impression they want you to complete the project within the next few months, calling them once or twice a month is completely appropriate.
Answer All Questions
You should solicit questions from your prospect in initial IT sales meetings and during follow-ups. Even if they say they keep saying they will get back to you, if they seemed to think you had great ideas, the conversation is not over. Only you can end the relationship.
Sometimes there is no way a prospect will agree to IT sales this moment. Asking key questions can help you discover why not:
1. How important is this?
2. When is your ideal start date?
3. Is the need urgent?
4. Where are you in terms of being ready to make your decision?
5. Where are you in your research?
6. Is this a good time of year for a project like this?
7. Have you budgeted for this project?
There are many ways to approach all of the above questions. For IT sales, you can't let "later" turn into "no" by lack of communication.
Copyright MMI-MMVII, Computer Consulting 101. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}
About the Author
Joshua Feinberg, co-founder of Computer Consulting 101, helps computer consulting business owners get more steady, high-paying clients. Learn how you can too with free proven computer consulting secrets at http://www.ComputerConsulting101.com
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