Fears are funny things. I once met a guy who makes a living wiggling into tiny, dark crawl spaces under houses where cobwebs, mold, animal feces, poisonous spiders, snakes, rats and other unsavory things abound – and he was impressed at my fearlessness in speaking in front of thousands of people. Said he could NEVER do that, yet he routinely squeezed into places that would give me a claustrophobic heart attack.
With Halloween right around the corner, I thought I’d give you a list of 6 things that should ACTUALLY frighten you as an MSP, not just the normal ghosts, goblins and politicians. This week, I’ll give you 3, saving the final 3 for next week.
- Not knowing what your employees are saying to clients and prospects.
Like the thrill of haunted houses and scary movies? Then allow me to suggest a totally free way to get spooked that will leave you unable to sleep at night: eavesdrop on what your employees are saying to clients and prospects. A chill will run up your spine, guaranteed. Consider this recent interaction I had at the checkout at the airport when buying a little snack for the plane… Salesperson says with an incredulous look on her face, “You know, this is $8,” with emphasis on the EIGHT DOLLARS. I reply, “Yes, I know.” (I actually didn’t, but didn’t care anyway.) She paused and expected me to do something. Put it back? Slam it on the counter in anger and storm off? When I stood there, ready to pay she persisted, “Are you sure you want to get it?” To that I replied, “No,” and walked out to buy it somewhere else. Oh, but that doesn’t happen in YOUR company, right?
Another friend of mine with a dental practice was told by a patient that she heard the receptionist telling a potential new patient that the doc was MUCH more expensive than other dentists in the area because he had three kids in private school. At our Technology Marketing Toolkit events for MSPs wanting to implement a marketing plan, I secret-shop their offices to see how a marketing lead would be handled and am routinely and utterly floored by what is said and how these calls are handled. On MULTIPLE occasions I’ve heard techs say, “We can’t help you – we ONLY do managed services,” to a prospective client calling in and inquiring about whether or not they could assist with an IT project, and then proceed to give the phone number and website of a competitor.
For starters, you need a playbook, process, rules and scripting for how the phone is answered, how a client is taken care of, how an upset customer is talked to, how an appointment is booked, how an appointment is confirmed, etc. But MORE important than that is checking for COMPLIANCE with those rules and scripts. Everyone likes to do the rah-rah team-motivation stuff, but hardly anyone will do the auditing and enforcement piece. - A lack of a COMPELLING reason for a prospect to meet with you.
A while back I had a private client who was desperately trying to break into a new market they told me they have extensive experience in. They hired me to help write their website copy and to create lead generation pieces.
On the first phone consultation, I asked them to give me a SINGLE (not multiple) compelling reason that their defined prospect would want to meet with them. They came up empty. I tried a different angle: What are the top 3 biggest problems you can solve for them that competitors can’t solve, or solve as well as you do? Nothing…just vagueness: “We make their IT systems stay up and running.” Geez. How about ONE big problem you can solve? Nothing.
Okay, so tell me what you know about your competition and where they are failing? Who are these clients already buying from? No clue. Frustrated, I told them I could not help them and refunded their money. I can’t work with someone who is that clueless not only about their chosen target market, but also what they bring to the table – and then expects ME to somehow give them a magic pill to get customers to flood their doors, waving checks.
This is Business 101: money goes to perceived value initially (marketing) and then REAL value after they buy. If your prospect cannot instantly see how working with you will greatly benefit them, you need to go back and work harder on your value proposition. Further, a USP has to be in your DNA, not some tagline or sales letter I write. And YOU need to know your customers, market and competition THOROUGHLY. That is not my job, and it’s shameful for anyone calling themselves an entrepreneur to be and stay ignorant in this area.
If you are EASY to ignore because you lack anything compelling to talk about, that should scare the crap out of you. It’s a recipe for frustration, low margins, slow to nonexistent growth, slow sales and fee resistance. Yes, I’m a great marketer, but that doesn’t mean I can wave my magic wand and pull a USP out of my butt for anyone who shows up on the doorstep. A great USP is manufactured. It’s designed with your prospect in mind and an understanding of your competition. - Failure To Build, Maintain And Farm A List Of Qualified, Interested Prospects. Not having a good list of prospects leaves you living in the land of the walking dead, with MASSIVE uncertainty about this month’s, this quarter’s or this year’s sales.
If you don’t have a list of prospects in various stages of considering you for their IT company, you’re totally and completely flat-footed should you lose a major account or encounter some other sales disruption in your company. You’re ALWAYS starting over. It’s much easier to maintain a relationship than to initiate one, yet I know of many MSPs who’ve been in business for 10, 20, even 30+ years who don’t have a list! Further, your list is the single biggest asset in your company – including clients and prospects – and for most it’s overrun with errors, missing and incorrect information and ZERO systems in place to nurture the relationship.
Fixing this is easy to understand, but it requires a commitment to playing the long game.- Step 1: Get a CRM in place and start doing name capture for every prospect you meet with, every referral, putting lead capture offers on your website and all other marketing so you start BUILDING a list. Shameless plug – we can help you with one that is specific for MSPs.
- Step 2: Initiate a nurture (drip) marketing sequence of online and offline content.
- Step 3: Every 3 to 6 months, conduct a more aggressive lead generation campaign designed to get that prospect into a sales meeting.
Check out 3 more things that should terrify you and how to fix them. Number 4 on this list is one that is a guarantee to throttle growth and excellence in your MSP. Guaranteed. No question. It’s THE thing all small, struggling MSPs share in common. Till then, leave the light on and to ensure you get details when we post a new Rant, subscribe here…
