“Have you ever heard the phrase life is hard, but it’s harder when you’re stupid?” One of my favorite talk show personalities Bill Handle asks listeners this often.
In my early days of selling, I earned the highest degree in D.U.M.B and discovered that cold prospecting and marketing without a plan is NOT fun or productive.
Today, I coach hundreds of managed services providers and computer consultants. The thoughts, habits and behaviors of those who literally attract success is different from those who can’t seem to make anything positive happen. And circumstance, client type, market area, finances and other external factors have nothing to do with it.
Are These Sales Mistakes Killing Your Managed IT Services Business?
Here are the top five dumbest MSP sales mistake I see computer consultants do that consistently sabotages their success in marketing, attracting clients and making money.
1. They Don’t See Marketing And Selling As Top Priorities
The MSPs and computer consultants who struggle to get ahead and make mediocre headway always seem too busy to do any marketing. Sure, they know it’s important and admit they should invest time, but that’s where it ends.
They view marketing as an annoying, necessary evil of running a business and constantly put less important activities and projects above it.
And because they never spend time on mastering marketing or consistently delivering and implementing marketing plans, they’re always starting over. Marketing becomes much more difficult and drawn-out than it has to be.
Read: 3 IT Services Marketing Tactics To Upsell Customers And Double Revenue
2. They Waste Time On Trivial Matters That Get Them Nowhere Fast
This goes hand-in-hand with the first point. If they eliminated even half the time-wasting activities they indulge in daily, they would have plenty of time to market their business.
You cannot manage time. Time is an intangible thing that cannot be touched or felt, much less managed. You can only manage YOURSELF. You get to choose where you spend every minute of your day, and most people consistently make bad choices.
In most cases, they’re unclear on their personal, financial and business goals and have no clear plan or way of knowing what they should spend their time on.
Read: Keep Your IT Services Sales Funnel Full
3. They Aren’t Crystal Clear About Their Business Goals
Most computer consultants operate their business the exact same way they did the year before — and the year before that. Sure, they make some changes, but they make no REAL progress because they’re wandering through the growth of their business without a clear set of objectives.
They don’t have written financial goals. They have no idea what they want their business to produce in terms of revenue, profits and clients. They’ve never thought about how they can extract themselves from the business to enjoy more time off by developing systems or hiring people.
Naturally, they also lack a marketing plan because they don’t know the end goal.
4. They Don’t Hold Themselves Accountable
Do you know why most people never achieve their New Year’s resolutions? Because once they’ve made them, they stop there. They don’t create plans, they don’t think through the steps to achieving them and they don’t measure their progress until next year!
Top performers hold themselves accountable. They plan and organize every month, every week, every day and every hour and stick to those plans.
If you talk to people who have achieved success in marketing their business – or anything else for that matter – you’ll discover they are consistent. They don’t start-stop, start-stop, start-stop. They get going and see their plans through to the end. They constantly build and refine their systems.
5. They Don’t Study Marketing, Developing Opportunities And Attracting Money
If you want to be great at anything, you have to study it. Not once in a while, but ALWAYS. Vince Lombardi started every football training season by holding up a football and saying, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”
Mastering the basics of MSP marketing and selling requires constant learning and constant practice. Not just when things get desperate or when you feel like it. Consistency is key.
Read: MSP Sales Secrets: Charging (And Getting) Premium Prices
How To Stop The Stupidity And Master Selling Managed Services
Less than 5 percent of Americans retire financially self-sufficient. That means 95 percent of all Americans retire without the financial means to support themselves.
If you don’t want to be part of the broke majority, sign up for the Advanced MSP Sales And Persuasion Blueprint to avoid these MSP sales mistakes.
It’s 100 percent guaranteed to show you how to make more money, attract a better-quality client and finally get a solid, reliable marketing plan in place.
You’ll see actual case studies and examples of marketing systems used by other VARs, MSPs and system integrators to dramatically increase sales. You’ll learn exactly what type of marketing works best for attracting new clients — and the type of marketing that will leave you frustrated and broke.
Don’t wait to turn around your MSP sales. Sign up today!
