MSP Marketing Blog

To Prospect Or NOT…That Is The Question

Recently a number of questions have come in about how to go about prospecting right now. Some (most) feel it’s a very, very bad idea. I’m not so sure. Yes, I do think you have to be more strategic and careful…but stop? Hell no.

At the time I’m writing this, we’ve booked 41 appointments for my sponsors sales team in the last eight days, all driven by sending e-mails and making phone calls. What makes this even more tricky is that we’re selling sponsorships to events. Remember those? Where we all got together in person and ignored social distancing, actually shook someone’s hand, broke bread, gave hugs?
Are we using some secret stealth script? Bribes? No…we’re just calling and asking, “Are you still looking to recruit MSP partners?” I know…sophisticated, right?

So, here are a few thoughts regarding COLD CALLS right now, and selling in GENERAL:

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How To Not Roll Over And Die (A Lesson In RESILIENCE)

As the casualties on the business battlefield start to pile up with the sudden forced cessation of business by the government, restaurants are taking a hit and many are closing their doors, never to reopen. However, in the midst of all this, one Seattle restaurant owner is THRIVING, with sales DOUBLE what they were the previous year, forcing him to double his staff and continue to look for more. How’s this possible? Simple: the owner of Addo, Eric Rivera, decided, “Not today, coronavirus, not today.”

He instantly shifted his entire business to pickup and delivery using his own staff to make drop-offs rather than using Grubhub or Uber Eats, which take almost all the profits in a restaurant’s takeout service. He then started selling food “bundles” including wine and now allows customers to preorder a three-pack of “heat and serve” meals for the week. He also initiated a “pay forward” $9 bowl of food they deliver to homeless shelters that people can buy. On March 17, they hit over 1,000 bowls purchased and delivered. Not too surprisingly, he INCREASED his marketing efforts and spend on social media and initiated a platform called Tock that allows customers to order meals and pick up on a selected day and time – not just when they’re ready to eat. Doing so has allowed them to better plan food ordering and minimize waste. He’s also changed his menu daily to keep things interesting and makes sure he delivers EXTRA wow in the service so customers keep coming back. Read full article and comment →

The Single Trick To Doubling Or Tripling The Leads Generated On Any Campaign You Run

As Ogilvy famously said, “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent 80 cents out of your dollar.” John Caples wrote, “If the headline is poor, the copy will not be read. And copy that is not read does not sell goods.” All true.

As a copywriter, I know the headline MUST stop the reader in their tracks and draw them in; after all, if you cannot get the reader’s attention, NOTHING else you’re saying or offering matters. Yet how many so-called adver- tisers actually know and practice this? Woefully few. Here’s a list of headlines for an industry publication designed to sell to YOU. Tell me if any of these grab your attention and cause you to want to read (or respond!) to the advertisement:

“Flexible Business VoIP”
“Technology Will Take You Far”
“Better. Faster. Greener.”
“Experience”
“Journey Together. Journey Further.”

Can you tell me from any of these headlines what’s being advertised? Who it’s for? What’s the benefit? My intention is not to embarrass the advertisers, but to make a point: these ads fail at the most basic copywriting and direct response fundamentals. Maybe they can afford a low-to-non-performing ad, but can you? So, a few guidelines to remember: Read full article and comment →

Removing The “Technician” Hat To Become A “R. E. A. L.” Entrepreneur (Rewarding, Easy, Attractive and Lucrative)

Much of our society incorrectly describes small business owners as “entrepreneurs.” But as Gerber famously pointed out, most entrepreneurs are not entrepreneurs at all – they’re technicians suffering from an entrepreneurial seizure. Nothing is truer in our industry, where most (roughly 80%) are self-employed with helpers, generating under a couple million in sales, who are busy doing it, doing it, doing it, with only a little growth year over year, no sales team, no marketing engine, no systems and processes, no equity.

While that’s where many start, it doesn’t mean that’s where they (you) have to stay. I started my business simply looking to replace a paycheck – not because I had a driving, entrepreneurial vision of a company I would one day create. Today, our growth and revenue put us in the top 1% of not only our category, but of all businesses. Similarly, many of our members come to us as “technicians” but evolve into very entrepreneurial leaders, similar to our current Spokesperson, Sitima Fowler, CEO of CapstoneIT. This should be your ambition as well, for one simple reason: it frees you from having to do all the work, giving you both stability and equity. At some point, you WILL get tired of “doing it, doing it, doing it.” Maybe you’re not there today, but mark my word, someday you will be.

Paul Monroe of ITechCare 24/7 is one of them. Last month he posted this (below) on the QUE about his journey of removing the tech hat. I decided to share it here because there are a LOT of people still “stuck” in the tech role. Some by choice, because that’s where their comfort level is. Others, like Paul, have come to realize they MUST get out of that role for their own sanity.
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How To Differentiate When There’s So Little Unique About What You Do

Speaking of standing out from the crowd, below is a real cereal being sold on Amazon Prime called “Poop Like A Champion.” I’m not 100% sure it’s the best name, BUT it certainly does get the “don’t bury the benefit” award in advertising. At least they didn’t put a picture of the end result on the box (LOL). BUT it DOES have something most products don’t: a UNIQUE differentiator, also called a USP.

Although I’ve covered this topic multiple times, I’ve gotten a TON of questions about it from new clients via their NewMember Survey, so a refresher…

We do managed services, backups, cyber security, help desk, documentation, blah blah blah. ZERO differentiation. It’s “WHAT”-based marketing. And when your service looks exactly like everybody else’s, it’s exponentially more difficult to get a customer and near impossible to maintain or grow margins, because there’s always someone willing to undercut you on price – and prospects will always default to price as the means for their decision, given no other logical reason to spend more. Why wouldn’t they? Further, you’re interchangeable with everyone else (or at least appear to be). Problem is, it’s getting harder and harder to obtain TRUE differentiation. Read full article and comment →

6 Unprofessional Behaviors Of MSP Salespeople During The Corona Crisis That Need To Stop

Salespeople do all sorts of stupid things that cause them to lose sales on a NORMAL day, but when the world is facing a crisis like the one we’re all in now with the coronavirus, these behaviors are unforgivable and need to end.
#1. Prospecting as though nothing is going on (click to watch video). Let’s consider what might be going on in your prospect’s world: in a record-breaking number of days, their business has been forced to shut down, thereby cutting off ALL or most of their income. IF they’re lucky enough to continue operating on some level, they’re scrambling to get people to work from home. If that’s not an option, they’re being forced to lay off loyal, hardworking staff in droves. Vendor bills and credit card debt is mounting. They might have a tidal wave of clients calling to cancel contracts and demand refunds. NOW, in the middle of all this, you call to sell them managed services. Do you REALLY think they’re going to be glad you called? That’s not to suggest you shouldn’t be marketing or closing sales now – you certainly should, and I have clients closing deals right now in the midst of all of this. However, you want to focus on delivering value and making generous offers to help them with free support, free services or at least free information. Click here to watch a session I just did on how to market your business during this crisis. Read full article and comment →

Sales Ramp: 3 Irrefutable Signs That You Need To Fire Someone

Here’s a real e-mail I received from a client this week: “Robin, do you think not hitting sales quota for the past year is a reason to let my salesperson go?”

Don’t laugh – we’ve ALL kept an employee long past their expiration date.

On several occasions I made the mistake of keeping someone with the hopes that they – or the situation – would get better. Who are we kidding? Most of the time we don’t act because we are afraid or anxious about the act of firing them, or because we NEED someone to do the job and we don’t have a good replacement. But let me tell you this: Keeping the WRONG employee around is a cancer, an enemy within, that will undo your organization. You will end up with a toxic workplace, unhappy clients, lost sales or WORSE. Cancer NEVER gets better when ignored. Read full article and comment →

What Marketing Media Is ESSENTIAL To Your Audience?

Here’s something to think about the next time you advertise on Facebook:

It’s estimated there are over a BILLION fake accounts, meaning Facebook would have just over HALF of its proclaimed 2 billion users. TwitterAudit estimates that only 40% to no more than 60% of the users on Twitter are real, and AARP estimates that nearly half of all calls to mobile phones this year will be fraudulent – a DRAMATIC uptick in fake spam calls. I also read (although where escapes me) that three of the largest text-messaging bureaus have all been caught falsifying delivery numbers by four to as much as 20 times what the actual delivery rate was.
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