By Robert Peretson, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer

If you're a managed service provider, you know that every potential new client can possibly represent a significant boost to your revenue. And you know that it's challenging enough to just get your foot in the door. Once you do and you're face-to-face with your prospective new customer, how can you give yourself the edge you need to close the deal?

There are several things that you must do if you want to have any chance at landing the client. Ask questions… listen more than talk… develop a rapport… be honest.

But one of the most effective things you can do to turn your prospect into a paying client is to provide a compelling demonstration.

The late Billy Mays was one of the most successful and recognized sales pitchmen in recent history. There was a television program called "Pitchmen" a few years ago that followed the process that Billy and his partner Anthony Sullivan followed when choosing products to sell. In one of the episodes, Billy said very clearly, "The very first thing I need to see in a product is - "Is it Highly Demonstrable? When I show you the product in action, do you instantly know what it does… what the benefit is?"

Did you ever hear the slogan "Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking"? Back in the 1950's a small, young watch company used that slogan in a marketing campaign where in their commercials they "tortured" their watches with jackhammers, paint mixers and strapped them to the propeller of an outboard boat motor. These compelling demonstrations showing the abuse these watches were able to endure were the reason that in just a few short years, one of every three watches sold in the U.S. was a Timex… and why over half a century later, we still instantly know who the slogan belongs to.