If you want to be successful at IT sales, you have to get past the first call and lead prospects to the proceeding steps of the IT sales process.

The IT sales call – the initial consultation – is a way to qualify your lead, and if you don’t treat it that way, you could come across a lot of prospects that just want to use you for free knowledge but have no intention of paying you for real services.

So how do you move to the next step in IT sales?  

No More Games of “20 Questions”

Prospects will probably call as part of IT sales and ask you interview questions.  While this is at least in part normal, when they start asking too many questions, you may lose focus on IT sales and find yourself getting your brain picked instead.

You need to stop these questions before they get out of hand, probably at about an hour.  Inform prospects you have quite a few issues to go on and propose a logical next step.  Moving onto the next step of IT sales could mean having you, your systems engineer or a technician spend some time conducting a site survey.

IT Sales:  The Site Survey

The site survey is a great next IT sales step because it lets you inventory prospect issues and get through them systematically. You can work with the prospect to determine what needs to be addressed first, second, third and so-forth.  A site survey should also include a client report that documents everything from security and software licensing to data protection and anything else.

A Summary of Getting Beyond the First IT Sales Call

Once you sense the IT sales call is ending, ask if your prospect would like a site survey and explain its benefits clearly.  This is a first chance for an IT sales close and can prevent hours of wasted time answering endless questions.

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg