As we approach the last couple of weeks of 2022, we thought it might be a good idea to create a bucket list of things for MSPs to check off in the new year. This bucket list covers everything MSPs should be doing in the next year to be successful. Take a look at the list below and see if you are already engaging in some of these MSP sales and marketing best practices.
Understand your prospects
The first rule of sales is that you should have a clear understanding of your prospect’s concerns. Unless you understand what your prospects are looking for, you won’t be able to present your services effectively to them. Consequently, investing in an MSP sales enablement tool that offers you a complete, 360-degree view of the prospect makes sense. Make sure the tool offers you a syndicated prospect overview across all channels of interaction. This includes websites, landing pages, emails, PPC campaigns, direct mails, etc.
Sort your leads
Invest in a good lead segmentation tool that will classify your leads into meaningful sectors for you, based on pre-set conditions of your choice. You can have your leads segmented automatically for you on the basis of their position in the sales cycle, their industry, their existing IT infrastructure, or whatever criteria you choose.. The advantage of having your leads sorted in this manner is that it helps you chart out different marketing and sales strategies for each key segment–which in turn makes your marketing and sales efforts more effective.
Also, be sure to put a lead scoring mechanism in place that helps you prioritize your sales efforts. A lead scoring tool will grade your prospects based on multiple predefined parameters tied to their attributes and behavior. This will provide you with an accurate score for your leads. It also ensures that you don’t spend your time on leads who are not yet ready to sign a contract with you.
Engage in Instant, focused lead follow-ups
Invest in MSP marketing automation tools that analyze prospect behavior and automatically take care of follow-ups. These advanced lead prospecting and nurturing tools also notify you about key prospect actions so you can reach out to them.
Personalize your communication with prospects
Don’t share generic marketing and sales pitches with your leads. Provide them with personalzied, relevant sales and marketing content that is customized to suit their needs. Invest in a personalization tool that customizes your MSP marketing and sales content for each prospect, so your messaging resonates better with your contacts.
Improve brand visibility
Invest in tools that work to keep your brand on top of the prospect’s mind even if they are not ready to buy in the near future. Such marketing automation tools ensure that you need to spend less time convincing your prospects when they are further along the sales cycle, ready to make a decision. Automated newsletters, social media posts, email drips and blog updates, all ensure that your brand is ‘out there’, which means, when they are ready to bring an MSP on board.
Don’t forget the social media
Social media serves as a good platform for local businesses to come together and discuss their challenges and possible solutions. You can win trust and come across as a thought leader by being active on groups in Facebook and LinkedIn that talk about IT challenges faced by your prospects and helping them troubleshoot, or by tweeting Zero Day alerts. However, building your brand on social media takes consistent effort. Timely updates across all social media channels are not easy to make when you are already juggling client meetings, system upgrades and firefighting unforeseen IT crises. By automating your social media marketing efforts, you can still be active on all your social media channels, even as you are busy taking care of the more important stuff. Look for a social media automation tool that allows you to post relevant content across all major social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Social media is a great tool for MSP lead generation and a good social media automation tool will help you harness that to the maximum.
But, wait…you don’t need to invest in 7 different tools! With the MSP Advantage Program, you can get all these MSP marketing and sales automation tools, plus content and much, much more for as less as $499. Checkout www.mspadvantageprogram.com to learn more.