Improve Your MSP Marketing

Is There One Thing You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your MSP Marketing?

A few years ago, ChannelPro invited me to participate in their SMB Forum in Atlanta, and the topic was “Improve Your MSP Marketing” The single biggest question asked was this:“If an MSP was going to choose only one thing to do right now to improve their MSP marketing results, what do think the single most important thing would be?”  Spoiler alert: The answer to the question is not get a new msp website!

Can You Improve Your MSP Marketing With Only One Change?

Panelist answers varied – one presenter said you should make a really great MSP website, but frankly, with no way to push people to that great MSP website, an MSP website redesign is just a big black hole that you’re throwing money in.  You may as well take your $10,000 MSP website budget and give it to charity or take a vacation with it.  Both of those things will do more good for you than your shiny new MSP website will.

Before Revamping Your MSP Website, Monitor Your MSP Website Analytics!

Several years ago, we inserted code into some of our active client MSP websites.  We tracked every visitor to every site over a six month period.  Our MSP outbound agents called every person that visited any MSP website.

Would you like to know how many good opportunities we generated from calling MSP website visitors?

We Saw No Correlation Between MSP Website Visitors becoming MSP Prospects

None.  That’s right.  Zero.  Six months and ten MSP clients in ten different city markets, and not one additional MSP sales appointment was generated from following up on MSP website visitors.  All other variables remained the same – and our ice-cold cold calls continued to generate new MSP sales opportunities every month.

Do Your MSP Marketing Initiatives Need To Be Integrated?

Alternately, we wanted to see what, if any, chain of events gets set off when someone cold calls a company to introduce a service.

The first thing I do when a salesperson calls me is check their company website. Does it look like they built it ten years ago?   Is it riddled with spelling errors?  Is it hard to navigate?  Most importantly, is there no way to contact them directly? Is there a phone number or are they forcing me to communicate with them via a web form or email only?

All of these are personal red flags for me.

I assumed they would be red flags for any MSP marketing website as well.

How badly our MSP marketing plans go when we assume everyone thinks the way we do.  Assumption is the mother of all MSP marketing failures.

What Was My Motivation For Measuring MSP Marketing Website Effectiveness?

Our motive in measuring this metric had nothing to do with trying to prove or disprove the value of a “really amazing MSP marketing website”. Our interest lied in being able to show our MSP clients that our outbound MSP marketing calls led to more website visits and better brand recognition for our MSP marketing clients.

Well, it turned out I was wrong, and none of that was true.  Our MSP marketing calls did not improve MSP website traffic.

Even companies that were qualified MSP sales prospects – the ones who were not just interested, the ones that scheduled an appointment  -did not visit our client’s website during or after the completion of that initial call – or at any time before their scheduled MSP sales meeting.

The prospect did not look at the MSP website while we were on the call.

They did not look at the MSP website after they agreed to the appointment.

No one went to view the MSP website when we called to confirm the appointment the day before the MSP sales meeting.

And they didn’t view the MSP website after the sales appointment took place.

In fact, the only time they viewed the MSP website was when the MSP sales proposal was hosted on the website.

Small Sample Sizes Do Not Make MSP Marketing Truths

A big caveat at this juncture – this is true for a very specific niche focused market – this study was executed with MSP IT companies who were already using cold calling.  The MSP clients were targeting service-based, technology-dependent companies with over 20 but under 200 employees in Canada and the US.

To  say that the results from our small study would apply universally would be a ridiculous statement.  In this instance, under these circumstances, for this subset of companies, I have found this to be true.  So when trying to decide how to spend your MSP marketing budget, a new MSP website may not be the best investment for you.   If you want an example of a billion dollar company who spends nothing on their website, head on over to Warren Buffet’s website:  www.berkshirehathaway.com

Nobody can argue with Mr. Buffet’s success.  And I don’t think anyone would say that his website has any of the things your MSP website company is trying to tell you that you need.   It’s not a great website.  He doesn’t need one.  Do you?

(Selling to MSPs is a completely different ballgame, and we have the landing page feedback to prove that as well.  So, while your MSP prospects aren’t looking up your MSP websites, you’re certainly hitting your potential vendors sites, which I am sure is what leads MSPs to believe that they must need an amazing website to get better MSP marketing results.)

What One MSP Marketing Thing Should You Change Right Now For Better Sales Results?

So, back to the original question, if you are an MSP owner and you’ve only got a very little bit of budget, should you put it into an MSP website?  My reply to that is NO.  Get yourself a modest, managed MSP specific website that is clean, easy to navigate and mobile friendly.

(May we suggest you talk to Vertical Axion?  Their rates are low, their service is exceptional.)

A template is fine.  It’s not your website that is going to differentiate you from your competitors.

YOU are the one thing that is going to differentiate you from your competitors.

You.

Your attitude.

Your relationships.

Your willingness to be of service.

Your interest in other people and your community.

Your reliability and your focused execution on the things you promise to your friends, your peers, your prospects and your clients.

So, what are some free and easy things you can do to start building your MSP business right now?

Volunteer

Are there fundraisers and events in your community that you can’t afford to sponsor? Volunteer at them.  If you want to meet decision making executives in your community, volunteer at the golf tournaments they’re sponsoring or playing in, and donate your time to the charities they sponsor.  Volunteer your expertise to the associations they belong to, or the non-profits they sit on the board of.

Teach.

Help other people without expectation, then be delighted when it leads to unexpected new business.   We started becoming “experts” by calling every MSP-specific publication, creating relationships with their content directors and offering sample content.  We did the same thing with vendors who published guest content.  Now we write for several blogs regularly and get a lot of leads from people who read something we published years ago.  (This post is a rewrite of a blog post from 2017 – we publish content for Barracuda, Datto, Zix, and Informa just to name a few)  Most of this content was freely offered and unpaid, and we still get leads from things we wrote six years ago!

Write your own blog.  Send out newsletters.  Be helpful to your prospect base before you try to sell them things.

Teach someone something.

I don’t lose business by helping you get better at building yours.  Hopefully my advice leads you down a path of success that wins me business in two years when you’re trying to figure out your next phase of growth.  MSP marketing is a long game, and you can’t expect it to work overnight.  Yet, everyone wants the MSP marketing magic bullet.  The “one thing” that will help their MSP marketing initiatives work overnight.  There just isn’t one.

Be A Community Contributor instead of an MSP Marketing Expert

Host seminars at schools teaching kids and their parents about online safety.  Some of those parents own businesses, are married to people who own businesses, live next door to people who own businesses.   Hopefully you’ll remember this article if it’s helped you, and the next time you’re at a tradeshow and someone says “I need help with sales” you’ll think of us and refer them to me.

So What’s The Most Important MSP Marketing Activity?

And now, back to the original question.  “What’s the single most important thing you should be doing to improve your MSP sales and marketing results?”

The single most important thing you can do to grow your MSP business on a limited budget is network.

Everywhere.

All the time.

End every conversation with “Who do you know that might be able to use our services?” 

Talk to everyone you know about what your business goals are and how they can help you achieve them.  More importantly, start by asking people about their business objectives and ask what you can do to help them.

• Do this at Starbucks.
• Talk to people the gym.
• Network at your kids soccer games.
• Start conversations with the person sitting next to you on the airplane.
• Go to  more networking events.
• Meet new people at church.
• Talk to people everywhere!

Join things, do things.  The people you meet are going to tell you how you can help them.  They’ll listen to you. They’ll tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends…and before you know it you have built a powerful referral network with people who are helping you not because you gave them an Ipad or a gift card, but because they truly, genuinely want to.

Remember, there’s no hail Mary pass for MSP marketing.  Nothing replaces consistent, process-driven prospecting.   One day of networking isn’t going to fix a failing MSP.  You don’t double your MRR this year by waiting for the phone to ring and sending out a couple of emails every day.

Want some help?  We can get you started with some training or consulting.  Email hello@managedsalespros.com to set up a time to discuss your requirements.  Looking for outsourced MSP marketing help? First, take a look at our ROI calculator to see if it would make sense for your business!

Want some free help?  Visit our YouTube page and our blog for plenty of free sales tips!

And as a final takeaway, I’m reading a book right now called “The ONE Thing:  The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results” by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan.  This is a great book, and this post has nothing to do with the book.  It’s merely coincidental that my post is called this, but I do suggest you read the book.

It is completely changing how I structure my day to day activities.  Check it out!