Top 8 Tips to Get Your First MSP Clients
Have you just started your managed service provider business? If so, you need to know how to get your first clients. Find your new MSP customers and boost your production by using these 8 marketing tips.
As an MSP your goal is to onboard as many new clients as possible. However, finding new customers can be a tedious process. To find your prospects faster, clearly define your practice area. Narrow it down and make it more specific. You can focus on Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR), or you can offer Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) services. You’ve already done that? That’s great!
Once you are crystal clear about your area of expertise, you can explore the ways to find your future customers. To market your product successfully and engage potential clients, view your marketing campaign as a whole by using the 4P approach: price, product, promotion and place.
This means you need to define which product you sell, your service price and promotion place. Finally, focus on how to get visibility of your product with potential customers. In this post, we discuss the top 8 tips to get your first MSP clients.
1. Use Multiple Channels
Facebook and Linkedin are the top places to find potential customers. You can research social business groups on Facebook to find clients who may benefit from the services you provide.
Create a Facebook profile that represents your MSP service in the best light. Engage potential customers by making posts about your services and encourage the prospects to visit your homepage to find out more. Your Facebook profile should be linked to your main website where your customers can learn about your products, services, prices, discounts and contact information.
On Linkedin, you can search for businesses or individuals that might be interested in your services. Sales Navigator on Linkedin is an advanced paid search tool that can help you find business owners in your area.
After you get a list of prospective customers, you can add them and initiate a conversation about your services. In addition, hashtags are often used on Linkedin to direct prospects to information they may find useful. A hashtag is a link with a # sign in front of a word or group of words.
Finally, you can use Google Search to find information about business owners in a desired location. Afterwards, you can build a relationship with them by establishing a contact via emails, sales pitches or calls.
2. Run Ad Campaigns
After identifying your potential clients, you can run ad campaigns to grab their attention. You can advertise on Facebook, Linkedin or other social media networks. You can also send email sequences with discounts and detailed information about your services. Even if your prospects are currently with another company, they can always switch over if your offer is better.
You can also place pay-per-click ads on Google Search. With pay-per click ads, you only pay if a customer clicks on the ad. The main point to remember is that if you want to get results from your ad campaign, then maintain consistency.
Place your ads regularly during specified times to ensure that information about your service is available on the ongoing basis. Consistency here is key to success! To attract new leads, drive high traffic, and convert the leads to customers, determine the best times during the day or night to run an ad campaign.
3. Create Stellar Content
Entertaining and thought-provoking content is a must for creating new leads and driving conversions. The higher the traffic to your website, the better your ranking on Google Search. Your aim is to remain on top of the ranking to ensure that a potential client can find your information easily.
Familiarize your prospects with your services by publishing mindblowing blogs, articles and product descriptions. Incorporate humor and tell your audience a story about your services. Make the words of your ad campaigns grab the attention of your prospects. Create catchy titles, incorporate statistics and explain to your customers why they should choose you over a competitor.
4. Call your Prospects
Another way to attract your MSP customers is by conducting phone calls. However, this method is not always effective and requires special consideration. If you don’t know a prospect and they have no idea who you are, the phone call may have negative consequences. Your potential MSP client may become annoyed and frustrated because you’ve taken their time.
However, a warm call may bring you much better results. A warm call entails making your prospect familiar with your business by putting them through a marketing campaign. You can send your prospect emails or sales letters and then give them a call.
You can also connect with your prospect on social networks prior to the call. If your future customer is familiar with you, they are more likely to have a better response when you call.
5. Outsmart the Competitor
To get your prospective client to say “Yes” to your offer, you need to research your competitor. There is always something better about your service that your competitor does not have. Your task is to find that special something that can help your product to stand out above your competitor’s.
Once you’ve identified your strengths, deliver a clear message to your client about this great service or feature. Surprise your prospect with an engaging and humorous message about your product — entertaining enough to spark your client’s curiosity and interest!
But, how do you research a competitor? There are multiple ways! To start... use Google search, study the competitor’s website, analyze keywords, examine social networks...
6. Acquire Referrals
You may already have an impressive client database. If so, ask your existing clients for referrals. The referral process involves more trust than with other methods. That’s because you already know the business that gives you a referral. Thus, you also know the referred company by default.
You can acquire a referral by using the word-of-mouth method, sending an email or giving a phone call. You can offer a small monetary award for every referral you receive, or you can offer a small discount on your current services. Once you get the referral, do your best to establish a productive relationship and convert the referral to a customer.
7. Create Partnerships
If you partner with competitors, they may send some of their clients your way. There are a couple of reasons why they may do that. Firstly, they may not be accepting new clients. In this case, they may refer their clients to you if they think you are a good fit. Secondly, some companies focus on medium and large businesses. Smaller companies require a different approach. That’s where you can step in.
Another way to acquire clients is by purchasing smaller companies and merging with them. Once you purchase a company, you inherit all the clients of that company. You can facilitate the referral process by offering rewards, commissions and service discounts to companies that participate in your partnership program.
8. Offer Free Services
Today most companies offer free services to their clients. Free trials allow your customers to test your product. If they like your free trials, most likely they will stay with your company.
If you offer backup and replication service, you can partner with your backup software for MSP and offer your potential clients a free trial. Multiple backup companies today design backup solutions for MSP service providers.
Conclusion
Now you know how to get your first clients!
Attract your first customers to your website by using multiple channels. Advertise on social media — Facebook, Linkedin — you name it!
Engage your customers with your story by creating interesting content. Approach your customers by phone only if they are already familiar with you and the services you provide. Research your competitor to boost your marketing campaign. Acquire even more clients through referrals and partnerships.
Finally, introduce your product to the customer by offering free services and free trials. Remember, don’t be overbearing but be consistent when you engage your customers. A smart and persistent marketing campaign will get you more leads, increase your traffic and help you convert the leads to loyal clients.