A favorite story about creativity and tenacity in marketing when you’re DEAD BROKE:
In 1982, when Kenneth Cole decided to launch a brand-new shoe company (an estimated $250 million enterprise today), he had no money, no resources, and no one to help him out. In fact, his father, who was also in the shoe business, smugly told him he would fail miserably.
With no money or investors, he flew to Italy and found a struggling shoe manufacturer that needed the money, knowing it would be easier to get a line of credit from a struggling Italian manufacturer desperate for business than from an American bank. After getting his shoes designed and a means for production, he then had to figure out how to get them sold.
At the time, there were no social media outlets to advertise on, no e-commerce sites or technology. You had to get a retailer to buy your product. The shoe industry did all its business at an annual convention in New York City, where everyone from the industry came together for three days to transact. His options for attending this event were to either buy a sponsorship at the convention and compete for the buyer’s attention against 1,100 other competitors or rent an expensive showroom on the street outside the convention like the bigger, more established vendors did.
Resourcefulness Trumps Resources
How could he stand out? Cole had no money and very little time before the event started, so the showroom option was out. He didn’t like the idea of being lost in a sea of 1,100 competitors in the convention. He was out of money and time, but not out of creativity. His idea was to set up a makeshift showroom in a 40-foot trailer and park it on the street, directly in front of the big showrooms set up by his competitors.
Here’s what he did, in his own words: “I called a friend in the trucking business and asked to borrow one of his trucks to park in Midtown Manhattan. He said ‘Sure, but good luck getting permission.’ I went to the mayor’s office, Koch at the time, and asked how one gets permission to park a 40-foot trailer truck in Midtown Manhattan. He said, ‘One doesn’t. The only people the city gives parking permits to are production companies shooting full-length motion pictures and utility companies like Con Ed or AT&T.’
“So, that day I went to the stationery store and changed our company letterhead from Kenneth Cole, Inc., to Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc., and the next day I applied for a permit to shoot a full-length film entitled The Birth of a Shoe Company.
“With Kenneth Cole Productions painted on the side of the truck, we parked at 1370 6th Avenue, across from the New York Hilton, the day of the shoe show. We opened for business with a fully furnished 40-foot trailer, a director (sometimes there was film in the camera, sometimes there wasn’t), models as actresses, and two of New York’s finest, compliments of Mayor Koch, as our doormen. We sold 40,000 pairs of shoes in two and a half days (the entire available production), and we were off and running.
“To this day, the company is still named Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc., and serves as a reminder of the importance of resourcefulness and innovative problem-solving.”
MSPs in Action (and Reaping Rewards)
It seems to me that far too many MSPs roll over and give up when faced with having to spend money on marketing. I hear it all the time: “I can’t do that…” “I can’t afford that…” “I don’t have the money for that.” It’s the siren song of losers.
What they fail to understand is that it’s not the lack of RESOURCES that is holding them back—it’s the lack of RESOURCEFULNESS, coupled with an unwillingness to do the prospecting and selling work needed to make success happen. I’ll give you some examples…
When Ryan Denehy started Electric AI in 2016, an MSP based in New York, he hired a developer, an engineer he found at Best Buy, and a sales guy. For the first few months, he and his sales guy pounded the phone, cold-calling prospects until he FINALLY landed his first contract several months into starting. He continued to use his cheap cold-calling efforts exclusively for the first few years as he built the organization and the sales and marketing team. Today, he’s a $50 million+ AI-driven MSP. (For more on how Denehy became an industry titan, watch the interview, How An Aggressive Sales Strategy Skyrocketed Electric’s Rapid Growth to $50 Million.)
Another titan of our industry, Rashaad Bajwa, founder of the $150 million MSP Integris, started the company right out of college with his now wife. Initially, he also used networking, cold-calling, and referrals as his primary marketing efforts, scraping and scraping to get the company big enough to be the PE platform it is today. (For more on Bajwa’s growth story, watch the interview From Startup to $240M Powerhouse: Rashaad Bajwa Shares How to Scale an MSP.)
Do These 7 Things BEFORE You Spend Money
I could give you multiple stories like this inside and outside our industry of entrepreneurs who built empires from scratch. Having money is NOT the elixir of success in marketing many think it to be. In fact, here’s a mantra I’ve told clients for years: “If you can’t make money WITHOUT money, you won’t make it WITH money either.”
In fact, here’s my Top 7 list of things you SHOULD DO FIRST before spending any money on marketing media (ads, campaigns, print, etc.):
1. FUEL Referrals
Yes, you likely already get referrals, but what is your system for asking for and FUELING them? If you’re waiting around like a weak baby bird in a nest for a juicy referral to be plopped into your mouth, I promise you’re only getting a fraction of what you could be getting if you actually put thought, effort, and intention into it.
2. Create Lead-Generation Magnets
Create a piece of content that your audience wants … and promote it on your website and social media channels. Better than 80% of the MSP websites I review do not have any type of lead-generation content, designed with the intention of building an email list. No free reports, e-books, white papers, videos, etc. It’s one of the cheapest ways to get leads, yet nearly nobody is doing it.
3. Offer An Appointment Link
Another HUGE overlooked way to generate leads is to put a “Book An Appointment” button on your website and on social media to make it easy for prospects to book a call to talk to you. Stupidly simple and easy. Plus, it’s likely not going to cost you anything since most MSPs already have some appointment-booking SaaS app.
4. Public Speaking
For the first three years of my business, this was the ONLY way I was getting customers—speaking (for free) at ASCII, SMB Nation, IT Nation, Kaseya, and other events in our industry. I created a GREAT talk and “sold” these companies on having me as a speaker. Since many are always looking for good speakers and are operating on a tight budget, my offer to speak for free and pay for my own travel made it easy for them to say yes. Of course, I worked VERY hard on delivering value, so I built a solid reputation and was asked to come back repeatedly. You as an MSP could do talks on cybersecurity and AI and be welcomed to speak. (For a deep dive into getting started on the speaking circuit from MSPs that are regularly taking the stage, see Talk Influence: Why MSPs Should Take the Mic.)
5. Start Cold Calling
Yep. Still works. However, I would suggest you do what’s called “warm outreach” first, calling on people you have met in the past or have some relationship with or connection to. It’s best if you have something of value to offer when you call, so creating the aforementioned lead-generation magnet will do dual duty by giving you something to give them when you call.
6. Canvass Business Parks
I actually learned this from one of my clients very early on who hired an intern (college kid) to walk into the offices of medical parks with one of our “Get Out Of Computer Trouble Free” cards and offer it to the person at the front desk. He would then take one of their cards and ask if they might be in the market for a good IT company. This VERY simple prospecting process brought him over $250,000 in sales in under three months. While the card will cost you a small amount, you can almost consider it free, given business cards don’t cost all that much. Also, you could do this yourself if you don’t have the money to pay an intern.
Bruce Gibbs, founder and CEO of GFI Digital, built his MSP entirely on cold-call canvassing. Watch the interview, From Copiers to Managed Services: How Bruce Gibbs Scaled GFI Digital into a $140M Powerhouse, for more sales advice from Gibbs.
7. Strategic Partnerships
Also called JVs or joint ventures, promotional partnerships, and referral partners. I have several MSPs who have created good referral partnerships with other noncompetitive organizations who funnel them (the MSP) new customers on a regular basis. The companies I’ve seen MSPs partner with most successfully are cyber insurance companies, law firms, CPAs, commercial realtors, SaaS companies, and membership organizations. In all of these situations, they provide a percentage of the sale to their referring partner, and/or refer business back to them. Either works to deliver great customers without spending a dime on marketing.
Now, Spend That Money Wisely
Let me be clear: You SHOULD spend money on marketing. In fact, most MSPs underspend the recommended 11% of topline revenue that best-in-class MSPs spend. Just remember that SPENDING money will not guarantee success.
You still need to have meticulous targeting, strong messages, compelling offers, list building, and no-fail follow-up to ensure you get the outcome you want.
RELATED: The Missing Ingredient for Your Client-Getting Plan: HUSTLE
