Last week we spoke about how MSP’s investment in sales and marketing automation tools often fail because they lack the time and expertise to utilize the tools to their full capacity. This week, we talk about how MSPs can overcome that hurdle by selecting the right marketing automation vendor.

The right marketing automation vendor is the line that separates the success from failure of your marketing automation investment. Here are 3 questions to ask your marketing automation vendor before you sign up with them:

1. Do they offer sales and marketing coaching? You are just great at what you do–providing IT services. Now you need someone who will help you tell your story in the same way. Ask if your marketing automation vendor offers sales and marketing coaching sessions to help you make the most of your investment in their tool. Ideally, they should have a custom marketing/sales game plan that you can put to work using their tool.
2. Do they offer content? When it comes to marketing your services, content is the king. No matter how good your marketing automation program is, it won’t work unless you feed fresh content into it: content that helps keep your customer and leads engaged. Between running a business and solving client’s IT problems, you don’t have the time to whip up new content on a weekly or even monthly basis. Check if your marketing automation vendor will do that for you.
3. Do you offer sales-marketing concierge services? Let’s say you are confident of mastering the new marketing automation platform. You won’t have the time to work in it consistently. Ask if your marketing automation vendor can deploy virtual resources who can work in the platform for you, running marketing and sales campaigns or importing lead lists, etc.for you.

As a MSP business owner, you already have too much going on to spend time devising marketing and sales strategies and learning to use new marketing tools. That is why you need a marketing automation/sales enablement vendor who can help you do all that. Someone who will be your trusted partner in your marketing and sales efforts. Not someone who just sells you a platform and then leaves it up to you to figure out how to make the most of it.