I wanted to buy a hot tub. Keep reading on how this ties back to MSP lead generation…
Okay, so I wasn’t actually crippled..yet. I was experiencing debilitating pain, which was affecting my sleep and work.
So a while ago I found myself having to run to a UPS store and right next to it was a store that sold hot tubs. You’re probably already wondering how this will have anything to do with lead generation, but stay with me… At the time I was having really bad chronic shoulder pain. I couldn’t sleep at night. I was trying chiropractic care, physical therapy, and doing all this stuff to try and fix it because I didn’t want to have surgery.
That was the next step, but I didn’t like that. I wanted to try rehab. So I’m trying all these things to prevent that, and as I was walking into the UPS store, I look at this hot tub store. I just had a thought in my mind where I wondered if Epsom salts, heat, and soaking would help alleviate the pain. Maybe be another source of therapy.
It might be cool to have a hot tub. My interest was piqued. The lead generation process had begun.
I walk in the store; salesclerk comes up to me in a room full of hot tubs. It was only her in there. What does she say to me? What does every salesclerk say when you walk in? “Can I help you?” And what does every prospect say back? “No, I’m just looking.” As if I just make it a habit of going in hot tub stores. Of course, I don’t want to just look around. Then it gets awkward because I’m walking around and I don’t know what I’m looking for. The salesclerk returns.
She walks back up to me and says, “Is there anything in particular that you’re looking for?” I responded, “No, I don’t know. I just kind of came in to look around” She then says, “Well, let me show you what’s on sale.”
Then the salesclerk walks me past all the brand new, more expensive hot tubs to show me the sale stuff that’s all the way in the back of the store. As we are walking there, I’m looking back at the more expensive ones and thinking how much nicer and bigger they are. The salesclerk’s thought on choosing what to try and sell me was “This one’s the cheapest.”
3 Irrefutable Signs That You Need To Fire Someone
What she really meant was “This is the one I think you can afford.”
Now I’m looking at myself wondering if something about the way I was dressed made her think I couldn’t afford the nicer ones. So without any indication of what I was in there looking for, why I was in there, and no diagnostic questions whatsoever… she goes straight into selling me on price. I can tell you that same salesperson will answer to her manager that checks on business for the day, by saying “A bunch of people came in but were all “tire kickers.” They’re not looking, they’re not qualified, they’re not interested in a hot tub. They all care about price.”
I guarantee you that’s the conversation happening with that sales rep. The reality was that I was at a different starting point than she was. I wasn’t really in the sales process yet. The hot tubs had just piqued my interest. I had curiosity. Believe it or not, if she was a good salesperson, I’m an easy buyer.
Salespeople are easy to sell.
Talk to any good salesperson if they get in front of another salesperson. Salespeople love to because we’ve got money. We love a good sales pitch. She absolutely could have had me. I had the money. I had the desire to a certain degree. I just wasn’t sold if that was the right thing for me yet. This is where it becomes important that not only you, but your salespeople understand the flow of lead generation marketing as well, which this salesperson did not understand.
My starting point was knowing I was looking for something to help with physical therapy and I needed to also know if this hot tub would even fit in my backyard? She started out with “Here’s the stuff that’s on sale.” We were just at two different starting points in the sales process. Lead generation had started, but the ball was dropped with the salesperson not taking me through the sales process properly.
I didn’t buy. I walked out. 
I didn’t buy the hot tub. I think a lot of times when we’re trying to lead generate, we don’t understand that we can’t take the customer from hearing that you do IT support to…let’s sign a contract. There needs to be a process for MSP lead generation. There’s a series of sequential agreements of thoughts that a prospect must go through to feel confident enough to buy
from you.
Basic questions to ask if someone calls into your office asking for help would be (think of this as an MSP lead generation checklist):
Before we continue, can I get your name? Great. Is this the best number to reach you in case we get disconnected? [Repeat number.]
How many workstations do you have?
What industry do you serve?
What is your biggest pain point for your business?
THIS is why we do MSP lead generation marketing.
We can take somebody who has a curiosity, who might have been thinking about something, and we can baby step them towards being a customer…The way we do that is through educational or direct response marketing.
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