The vast majority of MSPs in the market are generalists. They start a business and follow best practices which means that they are going to be pretty much like everybody else. I am not saying best practices are a bad thing, but we’re all living in a very crowded marketplace and it’s difficult for clients to intrinsically determine the value of MSP services. They don’t understand it.
But what if I told you there are 4 words that will give you the single biggest advantage over your competitors and shape the way you position your MSP in the market?
Start With The Who
QUESTION: Should I focus on cybersecurity and build my target market around it?
Robin: Think about it like this. We’re digging up the yard for a pool and everything’s dug up. I’ve got to redo landscaping, irrigation, and lighting. I’m calling these lighting companies and I’m meeting with them and I’m like, I don’t know, one light over another.
I need to figure out the placement of lights and cool versus warm versus this and that, and I don’t know. Right? I’m looking for somebody I can trust. That is why being different is important but what most MSPs get stuck on is being a generalist and not knowing who their customer is. I would encourage you to start with the who first. The who is the person you want to build your empire on.
Pick The Who And Go After Them
I was looking at a case study on Tom’s Toothpaste. Which is a natural, organic, no dyes, no toxins, toothpaste. If you’re going to sell toothpaste, it’s a crowded market, how the hell do you sell toothpaste?
Well, he made it specifically for a particular customer who wanted just those things and then focused everything about the business around that customer, even where he sold it. He didn’t sell it in generic supermarkets and only distributed it through health food stores originally.
Look at somebody like Black Rifle Coffee. Their marketing is really, really good. Evan Hafer is the CEO of Black Rifle and he’s selling coffee. Everybody says it’s organic and slow-roasted and so on but they all say the same things, right? So how do you differentiate? It’s for somebody. It’s for people who love America and it’s very controversial, which is what makes it great. You have to pick a “somebody” and then build everything around it. You have to build your story, your brand, how you distribute it, how you sell it, your rules of engagement, pricing, and all of that around it.
If I pick wealthy individuals as my target audience, I can’t discount Rolls-Royce. I can’t have a Saturday sale with clowns, balloons, and free hot dogs for the kids with the big orange stickers on the Rolls-Royce. If you’re selling that to your audience, you have brought down the value of buying a Rolls-Royce. They’re very expensive and everybody knows it and they’re never on sale. You have to pick a who first is what I’m saying and then build the whole business around that particular individual, that entity, that person.
