The Real Key to Managed Services Success
“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” Variations of this quotation have been attributed to Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford and other revolutionaries in our history. I’m not sure if anyone really knows who coined the phrase…but I don’t think anyone would contest its truthfulness. Planning and success go together like PB&J. And although we are fairly comfortable in planning our business meetings, sales pitches and supporting data I’m willing to bet that most managed service providers do not sit down and plan a marketing strategy.
According to the latest MSP Partners/Institute for Partner Education and Development (IPED) research, top MSPs who incorporate a marketing strategy into their business plan are getting real results. I’d like to share with you some highlights on our research into the importance of Managed Services Marketing.
Marketing Is Important!
It’s true. MSP Partners/IPED’s 2008 and 2009 research shows that Best-In-Class MSPs (the really successful ones) spend 86% more on marketing activities than your average IT Solution Provider. Best-In-Class MSPs believe so strongly in effective marketing that 2/3 of them list having a marketing person on staff as critical to their success in the market. Clearly there is a “marketing component” to a successful Managed Services business model.
Success Requires Investment
That’s right, you get out what you put in. No silver bullets here. Our numbers show that Best-In-Class MSPs invest significantly in their marketing activities. In fact, these top MSPs invest roughly 11.2% of their total revenue back into marketing (people and activities) compared to 6% by an average SP. I should note that simply throwing money into marketing activities isn’t going to bring about success, and that a good ROI on your marketing spend means sitting down and blocking out some time to sincerely consider your goals.
Your Brand IS Your Value Proposition
Think of a well-known organization with an established brand. You can probably infer what sort of value proposition they bring to the table. Now think of your customers (and prospective customers). Could they instantly call to mind the value proposition you offer? Too many times we get stuck in the trap of “broadening” or “thinning” our company brand. Our research shows that creating one consistent, fundamental version of your brand will yield far better results than a “jack of all trades” approach. Build one core message into your value proposition, and ensure that every single person in your company knows it – from the CEO down to the guy dedicated to print servers.
You can learn lots more about best in class MSP marketing strategies and many other important managed services topics through our IPED best practices courses at www.msppartners.com.
Andrew Pohran is program director at MSP Partners. Follow MSPmentor via RSS; Facebook; Identi.ca; and Twitter. And sign up for our Enewsletter; Webcasts and Resource Center.
How does IPED obtain it’s industry information and is there a way to learn more of what they know?
Hi Tony: Please feel free to contact IPED directly (www.IPED.com). We’re not affiliated with them. Or, reach out to MSP Partners (www.MSPPartners.com) and I’m sure they’d be happy to answer any Q’s you have about IPED/MSP Partners research findings, etc.
@Tony – Without turning this into a sales pitch, yes, you can learn much more about this topic and others at http://www.msppartners.com. IPED has teamed up with MSP Partners to provide exclusive industry data to MSP Partners members, gathered from MSPs in 2008 and 2009. You can gain access to this market research for only $49/yr. Feel free to contact us directly at [email protected] with any questions you may have.
No doubt about it – marketing is hot right now. Everyone in our space is looking for ways to fill the pipeline in a down economy.
The post says “IPED’s 2008 and 2009 research shows that Best-In-Class MSPs spend 86% more on marketing activities than your average IT Solution Provider” and this mirrors my own informal research in the field.
Better than 90% of MSP owners I’ve talked with at various conferences say referrals are their number one source of new business, yet less than 5% have a defined process in place to solicit referrals from existing clients.
I would love to see MSP Mentor do some in-depth pieces on what’s working in terms of marketing in our space.
Thomas: You had me at hello. I promise MSPmentor will be doing some in-depth pieces on marketing in the days ahead.
-jp
Joe: It’ll be great to hear what you have to say regarding marketing. It remains the top area of focus (and concern) for most MSPs with whom I’ve spoken.
-jim
Thomas, Jim: See the first of this week’s marketing posts here. And thanks for the feedback.
-jp