MSP Price Objections
By Ian Richardson, Managing Partner, Fox & Crow Group
I want to talk about every MSP owner or sales leader’s favorite conversation piece. Let’s set the stage. You’re meeting with your client. Could be a routine business review. Might be a meeting they asked for. You get through the pleasantries, chat about an open item. You ask what’s going on, and they hit you with it. Out of left field, you get smacked with MSP Price Objections.
“You’re too expensive.”
Woof. That wasn’t what we wanted to hear. Heart rate goes up a bit. You start to rattle in your head to justify costs. Thinking about how you’re going to counteract this. You might even dive into “discount-land”; running math figures on how you can cut costs. Stay far away from that amusement park.
I’ve a different question for you to consider.
What if you’re assuming?
What causes MSP Price Objections?
Price becomes an objection in the absence of value. What’s causing that absence? Exploring that topic, we’ve got a few potential root causes.
- Your services are not presenting clear value for dollars invested.
- The customer’s financial position has changed.
- A third party has presented a “cheaper” option.
Regardless of which cause is happening, you should explore the topic.
“Well Mr./Ms. Customer – I appreciate you sharing that. Until right now, I didn’t know there was misalignment on finances. Something must have happened. Can you share what occurred to bring this up?”
Sit, and wait. Your customer will have to share something. If it’s not specific, like “This has been going on for a while,” or “It’s a lot of things” great. Easy to reply to that.
“When did it start?” “What are some of the big things?”
Get them to share their specifics. You don’t need to get into the weeds, but you do need them to articulate what the concerns are.
Once you get to the truth, all that remains is to handle the financial piece. The objection is either a Financial or Service Delivery constraint.
Financial Constraints are straightforward. Pull up the agreement and mention the big highlights. Service delivery, security posture, backup & continuity, workflow improvements, infrastructure reliability. What would they like you to remove to accommodate the constraint?
If it’s a competitive quote, ask to see the details of the quote. “I can’t compare apples to apples without reading what this third party presented.”
Find the gaps and highlight them. Mention you can remove things to match, but here are the impacts.
Service Delivery Constraints need discovery. What would good look like? What are their expectations? You may find value from our article on MSP SLAs & MSP Project Kickoff Calls to grab some quick wins in this area. Take those expectations back to your team and come up with a plan. Set a meeting for the following week to review your plan.
Price Objection Handling
Once you have an action plan around your client’s MSP Price Objections it is time to handle them. Ensure you have the following three considerations addressed within your plan:
- The new plan is profitable at normal rates for your company.
- The plan is in alignment with your client’s wishes.
- The plan does not violate your MSP SLA or MSP SLO targets. The client will still be within standards for your company.
Present the plan to your client. Align the plan with the responses they gave in the first session.
You might not save every client with a MSP Price Objection. Even if the client leaves, you have valuable insights from the time invested in discovery. Use that information to address objections for other clients who may be in the same position.
If you’re concerned on pricing strategy and differentiation, we can help. Our newsletter shares sales and marketing strategy every month. We also help MSP owners create strategies that work. You can start the conversation here.
