Securing the second opportunity to meet your prospect means that you have done a good job during the first one. In this article we will discuss how you can keep that momentum going. You will have to put your heart and soul into the preparation for this. But this time you are going to sell not just your services but yourself. Your prospect will judge your management skills from the way you manage this presentation. Prioritize each step of presentation in a manner that one step leads to the next, making perfect sense for your prospect. These three things should be part of the theme of your presentation:

• Personalization: This process must be personalized from the beginning to end. Present yourself as a partner who will solve their IT challenges instead of presenting yourself as some distant, outside authority.
• Trust: Trust is the foundation of a solid business relationship. You need to make your prospect feel that he can rely on you through an ordeal. You must be prepared for any scenario your prospect may bring up. Pay close attention to their questions. Be sure to respond directly to their perceived needs. This will create trust.
• Value: Your prospect must know that your services will add value to their operations. Let them know that you offer proactive solutions, something very important for business continuity. Your data recovery plan can prevent revenue losses caused by prolonged downtimes.

Follow these six steps to close the sale

1. As soon as you sit down for this meeting, briefly review what was discussed during the last meeting to lay the ground work for today’s presentation. It is important to establish a link between what had been discussed and what will follow. Then outline today’s agenda to explain the process step-by-step to let your prospect know what he can expect.
2. This appointment should be featured with a power point presentation. Highlight the benefits of having your services such as data Backup & Disaster Recovery. Promote your company. Stress the importance of continuity of their business in case of downtimes and security breaches. Show your prospect how having their IT infrastructure managed from a remote location can provide them peace of mind 24/7. Emphasize the need for continuous monitoring of systems due to ever increasing threat from hackers. Also, their systems have to be updated as the new technologies evolve for security and efficiency. Their in-house IT management team may not keep up with latest updates because they are too busy dealing with day-to-day challenges.
3. Offer cost saving analysis to make the financial argument for having managed services. Monetize the losses incurred due to lack of proactive solutions provided by you. To minimize haggling ‘Value Proposition’ should be discussed at length. Highlight the replacement cost of lost data and downtimes. Tell them that saving in the short run could cost much more in the long run.
4. Some case studies will be the added ammo in your arsenal of persuasion. When your prospect is presented with a real life situation where someone could have avoided a disaster by using managed services, they will think seriously about it.
5. Make sure you bring some testimonials with you. Testimonials serve two major purposes. One, your client can testify how your services have benefited them with their revenue and two, how you have served them better than your competition. Both of these assertions are very significant for your credibility. It is even better if a testimonial is from the same vertical that your prospect belongs to.
6. At this point ask your prospect if they have any questions that you might address. Otherwise, it is time to offer your business proposal. Once again, address any concerns your prospect may have after looking at the proposal. If not, it is time to close the sale.

Conclusion: A well structured presentation interwoven with personalization, trust and value should be able to get the desired results..