Over and over again, I’ve driven home the point that the ONLY real asset in your MSP/IT services business is your list and the RELATIONSHIP you have with it. You cannot produce a crop from scorched earth or with unfertile ground, no matter how good the seed, water, sunshine and tending, but too many business owners ONLY think about communicating with their clients when they suddenly wake up one day desperate for sales – and even then it’s sporadic, random attempts to motivate and persuade their clients to action, akin to a teenage boy clumsily and awkwardly trying to ask a girl for a date.
Here’s a quick litmus test: Do you get clients writing you personal notes and/or sending occasional gifts and cards outside of the expected holidays? If you fail to send a newsletter or other communication, is your absence noticed? (If a newsletter goes out a day late around here, we get phone calls.) If not, something is awry. A common thread of all failing IT businesses is a total and complete lack of ANY consistent communication to their clients and prospects. So let me take this “love month” opportunity to again remind you of the all-important, universally applicable MSP marketing strategy of a monthly newsletter.
For starters, if you haven’t listened to my Deep Dive session on sending e-mail newsletters, go watch it now – fast, quick and in a hurry. This is one area where you could be doing more harm than good if you’re sending out E-MAIL newsletters and promotions that are nothing more than a slapped-together mishmash of random techie articles your clients don’t care about – that’s the fastest route to DISTANCING your clients and ensuring they ignore ALL your e-mails.
Second, your newsletter should be a RELATIONSHIP piece where you are purposefully connecting with your clients. If you’ll read this newsletter through the lens of looking at what I’m doing here, you’ll see that instructing on the mechanics of marketing is the least of what I’m trying to accomplish. Yes, I need to feed you content that will put more jingle in your jeans, but more importantly I’m writing to connect with you and the other members on a level that is deeper and more meaningful than giving you a set of instructions to read. Here’s a short list of what you ought to write about and communicate to your clients frequently:
- Your BELIEFS on business, service, leadership, team-building and personal responsibility, integrity and character, told in story format of experiences you’ve had.
- NEWS about new hires, successes, happy clients, new clients, new products and services and other wins; clients like to be associated with successful companies.
- STORIES about your family, other clients, experiences you’ve had and lessons you’ve learned. Double your points if those stories support your professional advice on investing in quality IT support and services.
- Pictures and details about upcoming webinars and workshops, client appreciation events, and events you are sponsoring, speaking at or attending. Money is attracted to movement.
- Funny cartoons and stories, inspiring favorite quotes, videos and short stories – ALL with permission to use them, of course! Subscribe to Reader’s Digest to see an excellent example of this. Also, CartoonStock.com is a good, legal source of cartoons for reuse.
Side Note: As you may know, we offer a done-for-you newsletter service to our members. If this is of interest, please go to https://staging.technologymarketingtoolkit.com/doneforyou for the full details.
