Your Question Answered: How Many Leads Can I Expect To Receive When Working With A MSP Marketing Agency?
First off, don't worry about leads, worry about business opportunities. Let's not get the two confused. Most MSPs want new leads, but true MSP marketing is all about generating new opportunities.
How Are Leads Tied To Business Opportunities?
Besides the obvious, new business opportunities lead to prospects calling you to learn about your services.
But you say, "Leads are what every marketing company is measured on." What's the difference?
A lead is merely contact information for a person or business, which could somehow facilitate a future sale. You need the business opportunities to secure the contact info.
New business opportunities can be:
- The media wanting you to be a resource.
- New business partners wanting to partner.
- New referral sources.
- Speaking opportunities.
- Invitations to participate in panels or conferences.
Is it fair to assume that if your MSP marketing company gets you on the local news where you can speak to hundreds of thousands of people that this is an opportunity? How about speaking at the local CPA luncheon where you have 25 CPAs listening to your talk on cybersecurity? Is this not a great opportunity?
It's Time To Change Your Thinking From Leads To Opportunities
"But leads…we need more leads!"
Leads are on the minds of every managed IT services company when working with an MSP marketing agency. Ulistic isn't immune to this question. Almost every MSP who engages in discussion with us wants to know how many leads they'll receive.
Although this is very difficult to predict, the number of leads will vary from location to location, vertical to vertical and other factors.
But we can guarantee this:
- If you don’t do any marketing, you’ll never receive a lead.
- If you do a bit of marketing, you’ll get some leads.
- And if you subscribe to our proven methodology, you’ll see results.
But, the exact number? Of course, we can’t predict this.
Focus On How You Can Participate In More Opportunities To Gain Leads
One big factor and one we see on a daily basis is the MSP who has done nothing and expects instant results. So, you ran an MSP business for ten years and had done zero marketing. But now, you hope to have a flow of leads tomorrow?
It's time to change this thinking immediately. It's going to take time to get your name known in the market, even by using good SEO, social media and other marketing factors. Getting recognized in this market takes time especially if you're competing against some highly successful MSPs
"How Can I Get Leads Working With An MSP Marketing Agency?"
Like we said earlier, it depends. You must first ask a few key questions:
- Is the market looking for managed services?
- How many competitors are actively hunting the same prospect base?
- Does your MSP offer something different than your competitors or are you just like the others?
- How flexible are you to get out of the way and let the pros do their work?
The above is just a small list of variables that can predict the number of leads you’ll receive working with an MSP marketing agency.
What makes you different is a question we often ask prospective clients. What services, knowledge, expertise and skills do you have that will add fuel to a marketing agency's ability to get new leads for your managed services business?
If your MSP business specializes in working with lawyers, doctors, oil and gas professionals or some other industry, this will help. It can get your website to rank on Google, connect with others on social media, get the attention you seek from your MSP videos and much more.
Getting Leads Isn't A Set-It-And-Forget-It Function
If you’re looking for a hands-off approach, get ready for failure. Every relationship Ulistic has engaged in where the owner said, "I don’t want to be involved," or "I don’t have time for marketing," ultimately ends up in failure for the MSP. Any MSP marketing agency that says, "Leave it to me, we’ll take care of everything," is taking care of nothing.
We have metrics that prove that members of the Ulistic Impact Marketing Program who are engaged with our MSP marketing professionals (and we’re not talking excessive amounts of time), who share ideas, introduce us to clients and take ownership of their marketing, ultimately outperform their peers.
Just ask some of the members of the Ulistic High-Performance Club (open to Members of the Impact Marketing Pro Program). They've grown an average of 20% in 2018 compared to 2017. These strategic MSP business owners are committed to their marketing and collaborate with their MSP marketing professional on a consistent basis.
We invite you to reach out to any of these Ulistic High-Performance Club members:
- Aaron Fox with Buffalo Computer Help
- Shane Kimbrel with Data Magic Computer Services
- Tom Bowles with Alltek Services
- Chris Chao with Centerpoint IT
They'll verify what we just told you.
Ready To Do The Hard Work?
I know, many of you are busy MSP business owners and wear a lot of hats. However, marketing and the creation of media needs to be extremely high on your priority list. Ulistic recommends that marketing and sales be one of your top 3 priorities.
After all, how can you expect more leads and then blindly leave it to an MSP marketing agency to act on your behalf? I’m not bucking responsibility here. All I'm saying is that this is a team effort. There are some things an MSP marketing company can’t do for you (like going after business opportunities):
- We can’t go to networking events.
- We can’t collect business cards from networking contacts.
- We can’t attend industry events.
- We can’t go to your sales calls.
But we can train you on how to do all this stuff.
The next critical question is this: Are you willing to attend regular marketing and sales training that a company like Ulistic puts on?
- Monthly Webinars
- Watch Ulistic YouTube videos
- Act on items we share on our blogs and emails
- Join The Ulistic High-Performance Club
Success in marketing takes collaboration. If you're not willing to work with your MSP marketing agency, even if it’s only for a 30-minute phone discussion every few weeks, be prepared for limited success. The more active and engaged you are in all your marketing efforts, the more successful you’ll be.
Every Ulistic client who's engaged and does the hard work ends up being more successful overall.
Can You Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone?
Just because you don’t like something such as email marketing or live chats, doesn’t mean this won't work for you. Those managed service providers who don’t engage in certain marketing activities or work with their MSP marketing company to change the cadence of their marketing activities will struggle to be successful.
Being uncomfortable also means getting out and networking, answering your sales line and other things that you may not be comfortable with. We don’t expect instant change, but the more you work at stepping out of your comfort zone, the more successful you’ll be.
Are You Willing To Let The Marketing Professionals Do Their Job?
There’s nothing wrong with asking clarifying questions, so you understand what we're doing. MSP marketing companies expect this. But if you elect to step in and get in the way of a proven process, then expect less than stellar results.
Are You Willing To Learn?
Let's face it; you can't know everything.
- Are you willing to continuously learn new things?
- Are you willing to carve out time to attend training?
- Are you willing to put into practice everything you learn?
The more you learn and the more you put what you learn into practice, the more successful you’ll be.
Are You Open To Being Held Accountable?
You’ll hold your MSP marketing company accountable, but are you willing to be held accountable as well? (What is this?… A vendor holding you accountable?)
Well, first, Ulistic isn’t a vendor, we are your MSP marketing partner. And, a true partnership is all about accountability.
Sure...You’ll hold Ulistic or any other MSP marketing agency accountable for the number of new leads being generated. But an excellent MSP marketing company will also hold their clients accountable for doing their share:
- Attending networking events.
- Speaking to industry groups.
- Returning phone calls from media outlets.
- Sharing client success stories.
- Producing video content.
- Plus, a whole lot more.
"How Long Will It Take For My MSP To Get Leads Working With An MSP Marketing Agency?"
It depends.
| 
