Executive Summary
Technical MSP owners don’t need to transform themselves into stereotypical salespeople to become good at sales.
They need to develop the right commercial habits.
In Part 1, I covered the first six habits: adapting your communication style, solving rather than selling, asking better questions, translating technology into business outcomes, avoiding jargon and following a structured sales process.
In Part 2, we’re moving further through that process.
We’ll look at how to establish whether a problem is genuinely a priority, how to become more confident discussing price, how to use customer stories to build belief, how to diagnose objections rather than defend against them, and why every sales conversation needs a definitive next step.
These are habits any technical MSP owner can learn.
And, just like technical skills, they improve with practice.
Why Do Technical MSP Owners Need to Develop Sales Habits?
Most MSP founders didn’t start their businesses because they wanted a career in sales.
They started because they understood technology.
They’re problem-solvers.
They’re comfortable diagnosing technical issues, recommending solutions and helping clients get better results from IT.
But eventually, technical expertise alone isn’t enough to grow the business.
You need to win new clients consistently.
That’s where many technical MSP owners become uncomfortable.
The mistake is thinking you suddenly need to become a completely different person.
You don’t.
In fact, many of the behaviours that make you a good engineer can make you excellent at sales.
You diagnose before fixing.
You investigate problems.
You follow processes.
You look for evidence.
You develop expertise through practice.
The challenge is learning to apply those same principles commercially.
Here are the final six sales habits I believe every technical MSP owner should develop.
Habit 7: How Should MSPs Move From a Prospect's Problem to a Solution?
One of the biggest mistakes I see MSP owners make is discovering a problem and immediately trying to solve it.
It’s completely understandable.
You’re an engineer.
Solving problems is what you do.
Imagine a prospect tells you:
“Our existing IT provider takes far too long to respond.”
Immediately, you’re thinking about your helpdesk.
Your response times.
Your ticketing system.
Your service levels.
Maybe you’re already mentally preparing the slide explaining why your support is better.
But you haven’t yet established whether their slow IT support is actually important enough for them to do something about it.
That’s where PIPRO comes in.
The framework used in the original email is:
Problem → Impact → Priority → Recommendation → Outcome.
The PIPRO Sales Framework for MSPs
Stage | What You Need to Discover | Example MSP Question |
Problem | What is actually happening? | “Tell me more about the issues you’re having with support.” |
Impact | What effect is it having? | “What happens to the business when tickets aren’t resolved quickly?” |
Priority | How important is solving it? | “Where does fixing this sit compared with your other priorities?” |
Recommendation | What should change? | “Based on what you’ve told me, here’s what I’d recommend.” |
Outcome | What business result will it create? | “This should reduce disruption and give your team much faster access to support.” |
That third stage — Priority — is particularly important.
A prospect can have a genuine problem.
The problem can even be painful.
But that doesn’t automatically mean fixing it is a priority.
If it isn’t, don’t be surprised when your beautifully prepared MSP proposal sits unanswered in their inbox for three weeks.
Before you prescribe, establish whether the prospect is genuinely motivated to solve the problem.
Habit 8: Why Should MSP Owners Practise Sales?
Nobody becomes technically excellent without practice.
You didn’t read one Microsoft manual and become an expert.
You learned.
You practised.
You made mistakes.
You gained experience.
And you got better.
Sales works exactly the same way.
Yet some MSP owners walk into one of the most commercially important meetings of their month without practising anything they’re going to say.
Practise:
- Your discovery questions
- How you explain your MSP’s value
- Your response to common objections
- How you introduce case studies
- How you ask for the next meeting
- How you present your price
That last one is especially important.
Practise Saying Your MSP Pricing Out Loud
I’ve seen MSP owners confidently explain an entire technical solution and then completely change when they reach the price.
Their voice changes.
They speed up.
They become uncomfortable.
And sometimes they almost apologise for it:
“So… erm… that’s going to be £3,500 per month… but obviously we can look at that…”
You’ve just told the prospect you don’t believe your own price.
The words aren’t the only thing a buyer hears.
They notice your confidence.
Say your pricing out loud before the meeting.
Practise it until £3,500 per month sounds as natural coming out of your mouth as explaining Microsoft 365.
If you don’t appear confident in the value you’re providing, why should your prospect feel confident buying it?
Habit 9: How Can MSPs Use Case Studies to Win More Sales?
Trust is particularly important when choosing an MSP.
You’re asking a business to hand over responsibility for technology that could be fundamental to its operations.
So imagine you’re the buyer.
Which statement creates more confidence?
Option A:
“We’re really good at supporting businesses like yours.”
Or:
Option B:
“We recently worked with another 80-person business in your sector experiencing exactly this problem. Here’s what was happening, here’s what we changed and here’s the difference it made.”
Option B is considerably more powerful.
It’s evidence.
Build an MSP Customer Story Library
Every MSP should have five to ten strong customer stories that salespeople can draw upon naturally during conversations.
They shouldn’t simply be testimonials saying:
“ABC IT are brilliant!”
Build stories around four elements:
Element | Question to Answer |
Before | What was happening before the client came to you? |
Problem | What specific challenge were they experiencing? |
Solution | What did your MSP change? |
Result | What became better afterwards? |
Choose stories covering the major problems your ideal prospects experience.
Cybersecurity.
Poor support.
Downtime.
Compliance.
Growth.
Cloud migration.
Lack of strategic IT planning.
Then, when a prospect describes one of those situations, you have a relevant story available.
Even better, develop relationships with customers who are happy to speak directly to prospects when appropriate.
You can tell someone you’re brilliant all day long.
When one of your customers tells them, it carries considerably more weight.
Habit 10: How Should MSPs Handle Sales Objections?
Here’s where being an engineer gives you another advantage.
Treat an objection like a support ticket.
Imagine a client calls and says:
“The internet isn’t working.”
Would you immediately replace their firewall?
Of course not.
You’d investigate.
What’s not working?
Is everyone affected?
When did it start?
What changed?
What have they already tried?
You diagnose before recommending a solution.
So why behave differently when a prospect raises an objection?
A prospect says:
“That’s more expensive than I expected.”
And suddenly the salesperson starts defending the price.
They explain everything that’s included.
They justify the service.
Or, worst of all, immediately offer a discount.
Instead, diagnose the objection.
What Is the LAIR Framework for Handling Sales Objections?
The SSE introduces another useful framework:
Listen → Acknowledge → Identify → Reply.
LAIR
Listen
Don’t interrupt or immediately formulate your response. Understand what the prospect is actually saying.
Acknowledge
Show them you’ve heard the concern.
Identify
Discover what’s behind the objection.
Reply
Only once you understand the real issue should you respond.
For example:
Prospect:
“It’s more than we expected.”
Instead of defending your pricing, try:
“That’s fair. Can I ask what you had expected the investment to be?”
Now you’ve got useful information.
Perhaps they expected £2,500 and you’re at £3,500.
Perhaps they expected £500.
Those are two completely different conversations.
The objection wasn’t the problem.
It was the beginning of the diagnosis.
Get curious before you get defensive.
Habit 11: Why Should Every MSP Sales Meeting Have a Definitive Next Step?
Please remove this sentence from your sales vocabulary:
“I’ll be in touch.”
It means nothing.
Its equally useless cousin is:
“Have a think and let me know.”
You’ve now handed complete control of the sales process to the prospect and created no commitment from either side.
Instead, every meaningful sales conversation should finish with a definitive next step.
Not:
“I’ll give you a call sometime next week.”
Try:
“Why don’t we speak again next Thursday at 10am? I’ll send the invite now.”
A good next step establishes three things:
What happens next + Who is responsible + When it happens
For example:
Weak Next Step | Definitive Next Step |
“I’ll be in touch.” | “I’ll send the proposal Tuesday and we’ll review it together Thursday at 10am.” |
“Have a think.” | “Take a couple of days to review it and let’s speak Friday at 2pm.” |
“Let me know what you think.” | “I’ll send the revised scope tomorrow and we’ll make a decision together on Monday.” |
“I’ll chase you next week.” | “Let’s put 20 minutes in the diary for Wednesday morning.” |
There’s another benefit.
Clear next steps expose deals that aren’t really progressing.
I’d rather have a prospect tell me:
“James, this isn’t right for us.”
than spend six weeks chasing someone who has absolutely no intention of buying.
A clear no gives you information.
A vague maybe consumes your pipeline.
Habit 12: Should MSP Owners Invest in Sales Training and Coaching?
If an engineer needed to improve their Microsoft Azure knowledge, most MSP owners wouldn’t hesitate to invest in training.
If the business adopted a new cybersecurity platform, the team would be trained.
If someone needed an important certification, you’d budget for it.
Yet MSPs sometimes invest tens of thousands of pounds improving technical capability while investing almost nothing in developing the skills required to sell those capabilities.
Sales is a skill.
And skills can be learned.
Development might involve:
- Sales training
- Mentoring
- Coaching
- Role-playing
- Reviewing recorded sales calls
- Practising objection handling
- Analysing conversion rates
- Learning better discovery techniques
You don’t have to love selling.
But somebody in the business needs to become good at it.
And for many MSPs, particularly in the earlier stages of growth, that person is the founder.
Don’t expect yourself to instinctively know how to sell simply because you know how to deliver the service.
Invest in developing the skill.
The 12 Sales Habits Every Technical MSP Owner Needs
Across both parts of this series, we’ve now covered the complete framework:
# | Sales Habit | Key Principle |
1 | Understand different styles | Adapt how you communicate |
2 | Focus on solving, not selling | Diagnose rather than persuade |
3 | Ask great questions and probe | Get beneath the first answer |
4 | Translate technical issues | Connect technology to business impact |
5 | Avoid jargon | Make expertise easy to understand |
6 | Understand sales is a process | Manage each stage deliberately |
7 | Use PIPRO | Move from problem to outcome |
8 | Practise | Build confidence through repetition |
9 | Show real examples | Replace claims with evidence |
10 | Diagnose objections | Use LAIR before responding |
11 | Agree a definitive next step | Never leave a deal vague |
12 | Get sales help | Invest in commercial skills |
Which Sales Habit Should an MSP Owner Work on First?
Don’t try to fix everything tomorrow.
Pick one habit.
Think about where your current sales process has the biggest weakness.
If prospects aren’t opening up during discovery meetings, work on your questions.
If proposals repeatedly disappear into a black hole, focus on Priority within PIPRO and definitive next steps.
If prospects constantly tell you you’re too expensive, examine how you’re communicating value and handling objections.
If you’re uncomfortable discussing money, practise saying your prices.
Small improvements compounded across dozens of sales conversations can create significant commercial change.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do MSP owners need to be good at sales?
If you’re responsible for growing the MSP, you need enough sales ability to identify opportunities, understand business problems, communicate value and move prospects towards a decision. You don’t need a stereotypical “sales personality.”
What is PIPRO in sales?
PIPRO stands for Problem, Impact, Priority, Recommendation and Outcome. It helps MSP salespeople avoid recommending a solution before establishing what the problem means to the prospect and whether fixing it is genuinely a priority.
How should an MSP handle a price objection?
Don’t immediately defend the price or offer a discount. Diagnose the objection first. The LAIR framework — Listen, Acknowledge, Identify, Reply — provides a simple structure for understanding what the prospect really means before responding.
How can MSP owners become more confident discussing price?
Practise saying your prices out loud. Confidence comes through repetition. You should be able to state your monthly fee calmly and clearly without apologising, rushing or immediately suggesting there’s room for negotiation.
Are MSP case studies important for sales?
Yes. Specific customer stories provide evidence that you’ve successfully solved similar problems before. They’re generally more persuasive than broad claims about your expertise.
What should happen at the end of an MSP sales meeting?
Agree a definitive next step with a specific action, owner and date. Avoid vague endings such as “I’ll be in touch” or “have a think and let me know.”
