A few weeks ago, Joe Rogan renewed his multiyear contract with Spotify for an estimated $250 million, which is thought to be $50 million more than his first deal signed back in 2020. In the week after the deal was announced, Spotify’s stock went up roughly 15%, which represents an $8 billion increase in their valuation. BOOM! I’d say Spotify got off cheap.
But the bigger question is this: What PRODUCT is Joe Rogan producing that makes him so valuable? Simply this: influence.
For years, I’ve harped on the critical importance of not just list building, but list development to MSPs who seek out my advice for marketing and new client acquisition. The single most valuable asset in an MSP business IS the people on your list (clients and prospects) and the influence you have over them. Yet so few MSPs treat this asset well. If they even have a list (which is rare) it’s horribly disorganized and scattered among several software apps, out-of-date, inaccurate, incomplete and abandoned, with ZERO consistent or valuable communication happening, let alone strategic influence being developed.
This is why so many MSPs struggle with marketing, despite the fact that they’ve been in business for 20, 30 or more years. They have NO LIST and NO REAL INFLUENCE, even over their clients, much less potential prospects in their chosen market area. In fact, most of their prospects aren’t even aware that they exist (which makes it hard for them to buy anything, LOL).
Consider this: when a larger-platform MSP buys a smaller MSP, they’re not buying their offices, operations and SOPs or their RMM, PSA and software tools. In most cases, all of that goes away as they transition acquired clients onto their platform and service stack. What they’re buying is the CLIENT. The more valuable that client and the tighter the relationship (contractually or emotionally, like a Joe Rogan fan), the more money a strategic buyer will pay.
In my business (MSP Success), we’ll generate just shy of $10 million in sponsorship sales this year – a number that has grown steadily over the last decade. What exactly are the vendors buying? Access to our list – but what makes OUR list so valuable when they often have exactly the same names on their list as we have? Two things:
- The people on our list are far more growth-minded and entrepreneurial in nature than the “mediocre middle” in our industry who are not trying to grow, not trying to learn new skills and not willing to invest in growth. I’ve repeatedly heard from vendors who say that the leads they get from our events, webinars and ads are far superior to other sources’ leads.
- We have reliable influence over our list; when we endorse a product or a company, or invite people to an event or webinar, our members respond.
This month, we hosted a webinar for a vendor that is struggling to secure an adequate number of marketing-qualified leads. Despite the fact that they have an enormous list that has the same prospects on it that we have (estimated we’re 80% to 90% dupes), they’ll pay us tens of thousands of dollars to host a webinar through us (vs. doing it on their own) because WE can get clients to show up. WE have the influence, they don’t. Same list, same industry. Let that sink in for a minute.
So, there are a few things to act on if you want to build the value of your business.
First, make sure you’re gaining influence over the right kinds of customers. Not all audiences are created equal. You don’t want to find yourself king of a poor country. I don’t have access to the detailed and confidential demographic profile and behavior of a Joe Rogan fan, but I can extrapolate from the repeat sponsors and his contract that they are very valuable, HYPER buyers. Otherwise, the ad dollars wouldn’t roll in and Joe wouldn’t have gotten another BFC (big fat check).
Second, start being a lot more intentional and strategic about connecting with and gaining influence over your chosen audience (clients and prospects). Outside of delivering your services, how often do your clients hear from you? When they request a meeting? When a bill is past due? When you’re desperate to sell something?
More importantly, what is your conversation with your audience about? What are the advocated positions you’re advancing with them? How are you positioning yourself in their minds? Do they look forward to your communications – reading, watching and listening to your point of view, sharing it with others, replying back to you – or are they ignoring it and throwing it away?
Here’s your checklist of what you want to accomplish with your communications if you want to have influence over your clients, prospects and chosen marketplace:
- They must admire you, which means they either want to be like you or feel you are very much like them. Think about the people you follow online. Chances are there’s some part of them that you truly respect and wish you were more like yourself.
- They must find your communications USEFUL.
- They must believe you share common values with them or, better yet, ARE one of them.
- They must feel that you truly understand their unique situation, problems, feelings and frustrations and appreciate them because of it.
IF I can get someone to commit to doing consistent drip marketing, the biggest mistake they make is designing their communications about things their clients will find boring or uninteresting, like the technical aspects of what they do. If you truly want to influence people, your communications have to be about bigger ideas, connecting with your prospects and clients on topics that are meaningful and top of mind to THEM.
How do you know you’re getting it right? For starters, you should be getting a better-than-average response to your communications (e-mails, calls, letters, etc.). You should also get responses back, with people e-mailing you or telling you in person about how they loved your video/article/webinar/presentation. And the ultimate test is this – when you ask them to do something, whether it’s to buy what you’re offering, attend a webinar, provide you with a testimonial or give you a referral, they should cheerfully oblige.
Speaking of influence, learn how to amp up yours at the IT Sales & Marketing Boot Camp in April. Grab your ticket now: https://robinsbigseminar.com
