Tough Love: Marketing Guru Questions MSP Owners’ Aspirations

When you ask someone for their honest opinion on something, you better be certain that you really want to hear the truth – because it’s not always what you want to hear. The MSP channel got a taste of that from “Rockin’” Robin Robbins, the industry’s go-to marketing guru, when she was a guest on “Sunny’s Silver Linings” podcast.

Robin has such a wealth of marketing knowledge that it couldn’t all be covered in just one episode. So here are some nuggets from Part 1 that I hope will help you determine where you are in your marketing operations and where you can improve to take your MSP to the next level.

“My clients are actually marketing, which is not what most of the channel does,” Robin said.

She noted that other MSPs are doing what she terms “vulture marketing”, which is when they wait for a prospect to get so fed up with their current IT company that the prospect starts looking and then the MSP gets a referral. This is why Robin believes most MSPs get less than two leads per month, because they’re just waiting for something to happen.

Ouch. Is that you? I hope not. Here’s what she believes is the top marketing mistake that MSPs are making.

Many MSPs still operate like a “tech with helpers”, Robin said. They’re not investing in the business growth, not investing in marketing, not investing in hiring and managing people – all the things that a business needs to grow. So it’s the lack of commitment to becoming a driven MSP CEO who wants to grow the business. “They’re not doing anything,” she said. “They believe marketing takes too much time.”

“If you’re looking at marketing from the tactical standpoint – meaning website, social media, etc. – you’re missing the point of it because your marketing plan is your business plan. It’s not just a task that you need to complete. It’s about your business identity,” she said.

Robin suggested asking yourself some key questions:

• What type of business are you?
• Who do you want as your customer?
• Who’s your competition?
• What is your unique value proposition (aka unique selling proposition)

Sadly, she admitted, all of these questions belong in your business plan, but most MSP owners don’t start out with a plan.

“Once you start the business and have some money coming in, there’s some point when you have to make a decision as to whether you’re just going to be a ‘tech with helpers’ and stay small or are you going to grow this into a real business,” Robin said. “Some individuals are content just having a small business with the lifestyle of their choice, which includes working set hours, time with family, weekends free, etc. The people I work best with really have the mindset that they want more.”

“So it’s not marketing that’s the issue, it’s your motivation and aspiration. What are you trying to build? Are you going to be serious about this discipline of marketing? If not, then don’t bother if you’re not going to make that commitment to be an entrepreneurial leader who’s going to dig in and grow this organization. Remember, everybody can start a marathon, but not everyone can finish it.”

Robin noted that 79% of MSPs don’t ever reach the $1 million mark. Are you one of them? If so, I encourage you to listen to Part 1 of the podcast and learn how you can finally bust through that ceiling.

If you want to.