We are about to head into another recession, and most MSPs will be looking to cut costs, including marketing (they look at it as an expense not an investment – but correct marketing will always be an investment). A recession is the ideal time for growing your MSP, as the number of competitors you have will drop.
To take advantage of this opportunity, you must have at least the following seven basic marketing oil wells in place and conduct them on a consistent basis.
1. QBRs/Quick Shot E-mails – Clients
You should be doing QBRs EVERY QUARTER with your best clients. If possible, do them with all clients, but if you lack time or resources, then do technology business reviews (TBRs) with the smaller clients. For those TBR clients, you can send quick shot (cross-sell or upsell) e-mails in the quarters that you are not having the meeting.
2. 9-Word E-mail – Unconverted Leads
This should also be actioned EVERY QUARTER. Go back and look at every lead in the past six months you were in the sales process with (e.g., went to do an assessment or gave a proposal) who then went quiet despite you contacting them many times. (NOTE: Do not send this e-mail to leads who are active in your sales pipeline currently.)
3. Weekly Prospecting Campaign – Prospects
You should be sending a campaign (e.g., Aspirin, Closer Look, Worry Doll – pick just one) EVERY WEEK to a minimum of 25 new prospects each week. The campaign should be direct mail, have phone call follow-ups, e-mail follow-ups (where you have permission to e-mail the prospect) and a LinkedIn connection where possible. Do the same campaign each week to 25 new prospects.
4. Monthly Print Newsletter – Clients, Leads, Select Prospects, Influencers
This should go out to your clients, leads, some select prospects (your Dream 100 list, influencers in your target market, etc.) and key influencers (such as local vendors, banks, TV stations, newspapers) in your target market. This needs to be CONSISTENT in timing. You need to pick a day (e.g., 4th of the month or first Wednesday of the month) and ensure it lands on their desk on that day EVERY SINGLE MONTH without fail.
RELATED: If you want my top six ways to get more MSP leads, appointments and sales withOUT spending a dime on marketing download this report and video now. Click here.
5. Monthly TechTip Postcards – Prospects
Every prospect who has received your weekly prospecting campaign then goes into your drip marketing campaigns – one of which is the monthly TechTip postcards. Again, pick a day (e.g., 20th of the month or third Tuesday of the month) and ensure it lands on their desk on that day EVERY SINGLE MONTH without fail. When you are starting out, you can use the same postcard each month (it doesn’t matter that they received it last month and the month before). This will ensure you get it out the door each month, and later, as you build up your processes, you can introduce other postcards. The postcards have a call to action on them (e.g., two hours of free support). They work in the same way as the Bed Bath & Beyond “$20 Off” postcard you get each month – it is not to get you to rush out as soon as you get it (unless you have an immediate need for something), but you keep it until you have a need (if your spouse is like mine, it is on your fridge). Then you will go directly to BB&B rather than anywhere else, as you know you will get $20 off. The two hours of free support will do the same.
6. Weekly Cyber Security Tips E-Mails – All Contacts With Permission To E-Mail
You should send the cyber security weekly e-mail tips to everyone you have permission to e-mail. For clients, ask them if you can send it to all employees – this is for two reasons. First, the employees are usually the ones who click on the phishing links, etc., so they need educating. Second, you never know who these employees have in their inner circle that might be a great source of a referral. As with everything, pick a day of the week (e.g., Tuesday) and a time (e.g., 10 a.m.) and ensure that the e-mail goes out to them EVERY SINGLE WEEK at that day and time without fail.
7. Monthly E-Mail Newsletter – All Contacts With Permission To E-Mail
This is a monthly blog post on your website. And you e-mail a “teaser” to send people to your website to read it. The blog post should be informative and educational and not “sell” anything. However, on that page there should be a free offer (e.g., free report download, two hours of free support) to entice people to give you their details, and this will allow you to follow up with them. Again, pick a day of the month (e.g., 12th of the month or second Thursday of the month) and a time (e.g., 10 a.m.) so the blog goes live at that time and the e-mail goes out – the same time and day EVERY SINGLE MONTH without fail.
Work through these in order. Get one going at a time as resources allow. Ensure you are building oil wells (this means fully documenting the process, sending the campaign on time, recording metrics and reporting on metrics regularly) before moving on to the next one. Having these in place and being consistent in your timing will greatly increase your leads and appointments and help you grow, even during a recession.
Get the tools to succeed for marketing IT services today!
Already a client? All the campaigns above are either in the Toolkit or on the Dashboard, so you have all the information you need. We can also help with some of these (e.g., newsletter, TechTip postcard fulfillment, list building for your 25 a week) in the Done-For-You menu on the Dashboard.
