How Your MSP Can Stand Out in the Market
As technology develops at extraordinary speeds, more businesses and organizations are seeking the services of MSPs, but the market is getting crowded. As an MSP business grows, the opportunities to make mistakes increase. In a crowded market, those mistakes can cost the MSP business greatly. If you're thinking of making changes to your MSP so you can stand out in the market, you'll need to have a game plan and you'll need to avoid making mistakes. Here are some of the most common mistakes made by MSPs that you need to avoid in order to stand out in the market.
Mistake #1: Failing to Explain Service Offerings
One of the biggest mistakes Managed Service Providers make is not making it clear about what managed services they offer. There is often a disconnect between what services clients need and what they're asking for. There is no shortage of jargon in the IT channel, and it does not help that many terms are confusing. Not every client will understand technical jargon, so some clients may not know how to express what they're looking for. Keep this in mind when selling your managed services.
What Can You Do to Stand Out?
Don't assume that your existing or potential clients understand all the potential outcomes of the services they're agreeing to. The truth is, most clients do not understand the risks and benefits associated with each managed service. When things don't go right, don't expect a client to understand the issue. You must communicate all the risks and benefits associated with a service before the client agrees to that service.
As an MSP, you are in an incredible position to identify issues that clients may not notice, and you have the skills and expertise to put those issues in context. When you communicate clearly, your clients can gain a better understanding of what they need, and you can highlight your MSP as the answer to their problems. Make sure your clients understand what you're offering, and make the information easy to understand for every client.
Mistake #2: Allowing Flexibility to Disrupt Efficiency
It's understandable for MSPs to have tiered options when organizing managed IT services, but some MSPs go overboard. MSPs that allow customization for all of their service packages will find that the execution process will suffer. Over time, those MSPs will discover that they are no longer able to meet the needs of their clients. While flexibility can be a good thing, many MSPs are unable to keep up with all the customizations that have been made. Maintaining service levels for all clients creates a multitude of problems for technicians.
What Can You Do to Stand Out?
To offer the best results and to streamline your MSP services, offer a few standard service packages so that clients know what services they can receive, what service offerings can be customized, and what offerings cannot be customized. As mentioned, flexibility can be a good thing, but flexibility should not disrupt your efficiency. Offer the service offerings that you specialize in and offer the services using a standardized process. In the end, you will limit confusion and both sides will experience a smoother business process.
Mistake #3: Creating False Expectations
Another mistake that MSPs make is creating false expectations by making promises they know they can't keep. When meeting with a prospective client, many MSPs will oversell their service offerings because they want to secure the client before another MSP does. However, as time goes on, the MSP fails to deliver the level of managed services the client was expecting. This damages the MSP's reputation because the MSP loses credibility.
What Can You Do to Stand Out?
Highlight your service offerings and everything you can actually offer. Highlight your strengths to build a base of loyal clients. Don't make any promises that you cannot keep unless you want to disappoint your clients. If you do not have the capacity to offer an IT service, do not offer it to a client. Do not oversell just to gain a client because it will usually end in disappointment, and this will ruin any chance of gaining loyal clients who will advocate for your MSP business.
Mistake #4: Having an Underwhelming Marketing Strategy
Many MSPs struggle with marketing, but marketing is an important part of any business and it should not be ignored. However, marketing must be done properly to work well. Some MSPs are under the impression that bringing in more salespeople will bring in more clients, but that's not how marketing works. Some MSPs invest money in a marketing strategy before they have established a client base.
What Can You Do to Stand Out?
MSPs don't have to market to everyone at once. It is important to create client personas to develop a more in-depth understanding of your clients and their unique needs. Your marketing messages should convey how a product or solution can solve a client's needs or challenge. Don't get caught up in technology and how it works. Make sure you see the big picture, which is the problems that your services are designed to solve. You must articulate how your services will add business value.
To gain more clients, you need more leads. To get more leads, you need to have an effective marketing strategy in place. So, how do you boost your MSP marketing?
- Build trust by introducing your team
- Tell a client story
- Have a client testimonial page on your website
- Use videos to improve the client experience
- Create videos from your blog posts
- Amplify your message on YouTube
A solid, comprehensive MSP marketing strategy focuses on more than generating leads. This should be a plan of what you want to accomplish over a period of time and the actions you'll do to achieve this.
As an MSP, it is essential to find a winning formula that will allow your business to deliver winning services to your clients. Once you find that winning formula, you'll be able to stand out in a crowded MSP market. Are you holding yourself accountable for getting a strategy implemented that will allow you to stand out? What are you waiting for? Engage with Ulistic today and let's get started.
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