Overview
As a rule, businesses can't expect to survive without a solid sales and marketing strategy. MSPs are no different. MSP marketing aims to generate interest in the company's services through focused methods, investing in the proper channels and persistence.
The MSP industry is expanding. According to Statista forecast the MSP market will grow from $152 billion in 2020 to $274.2 billion in 2026. But that doesn't mean that all MSPs are fully equipped to market their services in the most efficient ways.
This space has traditionally been bad at sales and marketing, as a large portion of the industry professionals come from a technical background.
Here are five ways MSPs can improve their sales and marketing strategies.
Recognize Managed Service as a Different Kind of Sale
One of the main misconceptions is the idea that being a great IT professional would mean being a great salesperson. And it’s not usually the case. Realizing that you can’t do it alone is part of the solution. A viable alternative to “one man-marketing” would be to hire a salesperson dedicated to promoting your services to others. And here is the caveat as well that the sales techniques that usually work in traditional B2B or B2C space don’t apply to MSP settings.
Your potential customers have different needs and, as an MSP, you must address them before your sales call. The process of highlighting your offerings must differ from the monotony. Avoid giving answers like you have a great team of experienced people, technology, client focused, etc.
Rather, suggest options along with your services that will help their business grow. The more you showcase your strengths, the more you sound rhetoric. But when you flip the coin and show how they can grow using your services, they will show extra attention.
Scalable Sales Process
One of the biggest mistakes an MSP can make in its sales and marketing strategy is thinking there is a silver bullet to targeting customers. MSP marketing strategies can run the gamut of traditional and internet strategies — all of which will depend on the MSP's ideal customer as determined by business type, size or vertical. While many MSPs may find the most success in customer referrals, ignoring other marketing methods can be detrimental. The critical question for MSP owners is whether they have the necessary people and tools in place to build a scalable sales engine.
Having a talented sales person will only get you so far. You might run into trouble during the onboarding process, sending your proposals using PDFs and not fully using your website as an e-commerce instrument. According to one study, 39% of B2B buyers want self-serve options. Even getting a CRM tool might not fulfill your sales and marketing needs. For example, using a CRM that doesn't have a proposal or a quote builder forces you to use multiple platforms. And ultimately puts you at risk of losing track of the crucial information and letting the opportunities slip by your hands.
Another way to help you set up a proper MSP sales funnel is to calculate FTA and MRR. FTA stands for First Time Appointments while MRR stands for Monthly Recurring revenue. And while you always keep a track and goal of your MRR, FTA is equally important. Because when you set your MRR, you must also calculate the number of FTAs that are required.
To calculate the FTAs, the factors you must consider are:
- The average deal size you are targeting. This helps you to analyze the number of clients you need to achieve the revenue target.
- Sales close ratio determines the number of FTAs required, which also helps you analyze the number of leads that you need to generate weekly.
Further reading MSP Sales Critical Metrics
The only way to come out of this hassle is to open yourselves to learn. Most MSPs are so busy every day that they don’t have time to learn, and that’s the major problem of not moving to a better sales process.
- The main MSP sales strategy parts
- How MSPs usually qualify leads
- How to handle sales objections
Service Catalog
Your MSP company can do a lot, from data center support to machine learning. The challenge remains in having a narrowly tailored and defined service catalog that can be incredibly beneficial to all parties when creating a successful sales strategy. For example, backup as a service as an example of paring down MSP offerings. Instead of having several backup service options, companies should focus on a few proven solutions, such as on-site backup and cloud backup, and, possibly, a hybrid backup that includes both. A good example of this would be the MSP360 Backup solution.
Besides having a service catalog, an MSP should clearly define pricing and ensure the sales and marketing teams are up to speed on its offerings.
Further reading 6 Benefits of Backup as a Service
Identify Unique Value Proposition
The relationship between MSP and its clients is based on trust. Potential customers don't just need to know what a provider can offer; they need to be educated on what a successful MSP can do and how it can help their business.
One of the possible ways you can stand out from the competition is to focus on data privacy and data security. In our day and age, when data breaches are already part of our vocabulary and regular lives, having an extra set of protection is necessary. However, the challenge here might be the ability to explain how exactly data protection works within the company and its clients.
Service providers must be prepared to thoroughly describe their methods, because we’ve come to the point where customers are well-informed and knowledgeable about the cyber security questions and usually require proof of data storage.
Investing in Marketing
IT service providers consider marketing as an unnecessary budget line. Neither do they implement the marketing techniques nor do they leverage it from the in-demand technology. MSPs are so busy selling their services they forget how important it is to market. After all, how can you close deals if you don’t let the world know about your services?
Marketing may sound tricky, but MSPs must master it to grow into their full potential. Think of MSP marketing as a board game, where you look for customers' pain points and find solutions to address them by providing your services. Research on the common difficulties your customers face and create content for your website, stating how your services will help them overcome the difficulty.
As it’s already said, the more you showcase your services, the more disinterested they’d be. Flip the coin, make them realize that you know their problems, and you’re here to help!
Conclusion
If you expect different results from your actions, the same strategies will not take you far. Don’t just add or remove technical services or hire a sales expert, rather, focus on changing how you package your service offerings. Get help from fellow MSPs or channel partners who have already implemented what you wish to do. And employ the right tools to optimize your service catalog.
Simple. Reliable.
