I talk to Managed Service Providers all the time in my Peer Groups. Our conversations often revolve around how to grow their business. Generating leads is amongst the most difficult things that MSPs have to do. The conversation then turns into a marketing conversation, and while marketing is important it’s hard to do well.
The problem with marketing as a concept for MSPs is that the term marketing means many things. It’s also hard to prove that your marketing efforts did anything to help your Managed Service Provider bring in any new leads. Frequently, the conversation eventually ends up calling marketing “snake oil” or a “bill of goods” and isn’t worth the effort.
If you are looking for leads in the magic of marketing, I think it’s time to change your focus. Instead of focusing on the next marketing strategy you should look to build your prospecting muscle. Prospecting builds relationships and these relationships generate leads for your business.
There are three core strategies to master in your prospecting efforts. Your Managed Services Practice will be better off for it.
Strategy 1: Join Networking Groups
The best method, in my opinion to level up your prospecting game is to start with joining a networking group or three. For most MSPs, a networking group like a Chamber of Commerce or a specific networking group like BNI are where your Target Clients hang out.
The key here is that you MUST make sure that the group is a good fit for you. Nearly all groups like this allow you to visit, so visit several options and make a decision once you’ve seen a few options.
Early in my MSP days I joined a networking group after just a single meeting and didn’t do ANY sort of comparison. I got lucky as I had a decent amount of success in that group, but I wouldn’t count on that.
Another group that might make sense to lean into are Peer Groups / CEO groups that aren’t really aligned to share leads. That naturally happens if you are a solid member of those groups.
Strategy 2: Ask For Referrals the Right Way
When you ask for referrals do you simply say something like: “If you know anybody that could use my services would you please send them my way?”
Stop doing that. You need to ask for targeted referrals. This means that you want to ask questions that bring a SINGLE name to their mind. Questions like:
- “Do you have a CPA? We’re looking to expand our work with CPAs and I’d love an introduction to yours. Can you set that up?”
- “I see that you know Jim Smith on LinkedIn. Would you please introduce us?”
Stop asking for broad referrals and lean into targeting and you will see your referral counts go up.
I’ve also seen success in asking how to refer them business as well. Who are their target clients? Who are they looking for? I am a believer in that you get a return on the energy you put out there. If you look to provide referrals for others you likely will receive them in return.
Also, don’t forget to thank the person after they’ve made the referral. A simple thank you email or mailed thank you card goes a long way.
Strategy 3: Cultivate Circles of Influence
One area that can be a prospecting goldmine for your MSP is to cultivate you circles of influence. There are businesses that naturally intersect with Managed Service Providers.
Who are your best referral parters? What makes them a consistent referral partner? For MSPs I’ve seen several types of business that are good referral partners:
- Cabling companies that aren’t part of an MSP
- Business insurance agents that have clients looking for help applying for Cyber Insurance
- Professional services like CPAs and Lawyers
- Business Real Estate Agents
- Commercial Moving companies
- Copier/Printer Companies without an MSP arm of their company
- ISPs that don’t have an MSP arm of their company
Getting to know people in these industries and building relationships will put you in front of more of your target clients than just cold calling and doing traditional marketing.
You don’t need to have these companies as clients of yours. In fact, a few might not be great clients, but they don’t need to be.
Building relationships here might be as simple as meeting for coffee, lunch, a drink, or syncing up at networking group meetings. You want them to think of your business each time they talk to a business that could use some IT support. On the flip side, you should think of them when one of your clients or other contacts has a need that they fill.
With these relationships you need to cultivate them as you want a real relationship not just a bunch of transactions so put effort here.
What about SEO, Social Media, and AdWords?
First, you MUST have a website that doesn’t suck. I covered this in an earlier post.
SEO and Adwords
Let’s talk about SEO and AdWords first. I think both have their place, but when I hear about small (sub $1-2M MSPs) spending thousands of dollars on SEO optimization or AdWords I want to smack them upside the head.
These avenues might yield some results, but there is no easy button for generating leads so spending multiple thousands of dollars on either of these things isn’t the best bang for your marketing buck.
Should you have a website that has some solid SEO content? Sure. Should you focus all of or a significant amount of marketing spend there? I don’t think so.
Same thing with AdWords. In the couple hundred MSPs that I know in the Peer Groups there are maybe 2-3 gaining real traction with AdWords. It took deliberate effort to figure out what didn’t work and what worked better. At the cost of a few thousand dollars in trial-and-error. The piece that worked the best from the couple of MSPs that found success here was to require exact matches with the AdWords. Then their words were similar to “IT Support <CITY NAME>.”
Anecdotally, those in smaller markets seem to do a little better with both SEO and AdWords. When there aren’t a ton of MSPs in your market it’s easier to bubble to the top. So that might be worth noting.
So, do a good enough job on SEO content on your website, and set a hard cap on your AdWords and use exact matches. Neither are bad, but don’t put all of your eggs in the “people will come to my website” basket.
What about Social Media?
I think Social Media can be beneficial. That said, it’s also not a one stop shop where you put some content out there and wait for the leads to roll in. Most MSPs have some sort of Social Media presence, and I do think that’s important. Just don’t spend thousands of dollars here if you haven’t put time into the three strategies earlier in this post.
There is a TON of information out there for strategies on Social Media. There are a couple of components that I think are worth doing at any size of business:
- Have a decent presence and provide good thought leadership content. This content should be focused on your Target Client Profile. You will want to post regularly and consistently.
- Work to connect with businesses that are in your TCP. Comment on their posts in a meaningful way where appropriate, and get them used to seeing your name in a positive light.
- Message connections carefully. Don’t just auto-launch into a sales pitch, and for the love of whichever deity that you care about don’t setup an auto-post to ping every new connection. If I connect with you on LinkedIn and you immediately message me a sales pitch I immediately regret connecting with you. Not a great start to a relationship.
There’s a lot to prospecting, and the key is to build relationships. Relationships lead to new prospects, but it takes time and deliberate effort. Put the time and effort in to building your prospects and you’ll see growth in your MSP.