Yet it’ s far more popular than the opposite— having a great site that clearly defines what you do and who you do it for, as well as a good argument as to why a prospect should buy from you.
“ If you are an MSP and you’ re spending money on ANY marketing or advertising, having a website that doesn’ t plainly explain what you do and fails to build confidence and encourage conversion... is unforgivable. It’ s costing you MILLIONS in lost opportunities.” – Robin Robins
in the U. S.), so it was perfect for providing an example to the audience, who were from small to large cities across the world.
Here’ s what I found: In the Nashville metro area, there are 57 companies that sell IT services and support, all found via a simple Google Map search. Out of those 57, 40 are what I would consider legitimate competitors, while the others either did not have a website or appeared as a 1099 contractor that somehow got listed on Google as an IT services company.
In reviewing their websites, some were obviously tiny, and likely running the equivalent of a“ job,” not a legit MSP. But many were serious and viable competitors— well over 20 of them. If I were looking for an IT services firm, it would have been difficult to pick one based on what I saw on their websites. Only about three or four had anything on their sites that would convince me of their professionalism and trustworthiness. The rest appeared to be EXACTLY the same, or would have confused the average business executive conducting a search for IT support.
If you are an MSP and you’ re spending money on ANY marketing or advertising, having a website that doesn’ t plainly explain what you do and fails to build confidence and encourage conversion( getting the prospect to call or engage) is unforgivable. It’ s costing you MILLIONS in lost opportunities.
Why Can’ t Most MSPs Articulate This?
Candidly, most MSPs can’ t articulate a USP because they don’ t HAVE one.
And they don’ t have one because they’ ve never worked on developing one.
A USP isn’ t something you’ re born with, and it doesn’ t just“ happen” because you’ re good at service delivery, cybersecurity, or operational efficiency. You need to first KNOW who your customer is, and then strategically decide and develop what your USP should be so that it delivers meaningful value to your chosen marketplace sufficient enough to get them to want to buy from you.
LensCrafters didn’ t wake up one day and say,“ Geez, we can fulfill on prescription glasses in about an hour... We should talk about that in our advertising!” This concept was designed by the company’ s founder, E. Dean Butler, when working on an advertising campaign for a family optical business while he was employed at Proctor & Gamble. He saw a frustration: Getting prescription glasses was a long, irritating process that required you to make an appointment at your doctor’ s office, wait for weeks for the prescription to be filled, then make another appointment to pick the glasses up. His idea was to create a place where you could get glasses over your lunch hour through the week( which is also why the stores were put in shopping malls).
Tom Monaghan revolutionized the pizza business by first introducing free delivery. Then making his famous“ Fresh hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less or it’ s free” guarantee. That didn’ t happen by accident. He didn’ t look at his pizza delivery and say,“ Hmmmm, we seem to be delivering these pizzas in under 30 minutes— why not guarantee it?” He had to decide that was something his customers would love( and they did) that would differentiate Domino’ s Pizza from all the other pizza delivery shops and give him a strategic competitive advantage.
Very early on in my business, my USP was the fact that I could increase sales of any company without them spending a single dime on advertising or marketing. This was an outrageous claim that was NOT being made by most marketing consultants, who make money on getting clients to SPEND money on marketing. It was also a bold claim( and one I could easily fulfill on).
I then moved to a money-back guarantee as a way of differentiating myself... and, from there, intentionally designed
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