were targeting , and building the services THOSE carefully chosen customers needed and would buy . A good buyer for them is someone who already purchases what they sell but needs or wants a better provider . They are the ones who MUST buy compliance and cybersecurity solutions due to regulatory requirements , insurance mandates , or simply to keep their customer base and contracts ( think CMMC ). They don ’ t just rent a list and start mailing and calling it ; they look for strategic partners who already have the relationships with such customers and use that to gain entry .
They are also extremely good at developing customers by conducting deep assessments of their environments to produce an IT road map and budget , then conducting QBRs ( quarterly business reviews ) to continue to develop those relationships , uncover additional opportunities , and further entrench themselves into those accounts . Having those kinds of committed , constant customers should be every business ’ s goal . Why isn ’ t it ?
Use Marketing And Positioning To Dominate
Another way to dominate against competitors is to simply outsell and out market them . Trust me when I tell you it ’ s not that hard . Most MSPs practice “ vulture marketing ,” where they sit quietly and wait for something to die in front of them before they feast — and then have to fight over the carcass with all the other vultures attempting to grab a piece of dead flesh . Definitely not sophisticated . They survive because there ’ s always someone looking for the cheapest price , and they ’ re able to subsist off scraps .
If you want a fantastic example of how to sell in a crowded , price-sensitive marketplace , read the book Simply Success by Jack Miller , founder of the office-supplies company Quill . Miller sold Quill to Staples in 1998 after getting it to $ 630 million . Office supplies is an extremely crowded and pricesensitive industry . I interviewed Jack years ago and learned his secret to success : good old-fashioned salesmanship .
Bottled water is probably the best example of the power of marketing . When bottled water was first introduced , people could ( and still can ) get clean water for free just about anywhere . Somehow , though , marketing departments convinced us that drinking tap water is for poor people without options . When I was a kid , Gary Dahl became a millionaire selling pet rocks . De Beers has somehow convinced men that they must spend three months ’ salary (!) on a diamond engagement ring — a practice that was not widespread until their advertising team stepped in with the “ A diamond is forever ” campaign in the 1940s . TOMS shoes is now a nearly $ 400 million company . Originally , they sold cheap and uncomfortable flats made of what felt and looked like cardboard and itchy burlap . While they have changed the fit and style of shoes significantly from their early days , it was the idea ( USP ) of linking TOMS to a charitable cause that made it take off .
There was a time in advertising when having a truly unique characteristic of your product was a huge advantage . These days , the quality and quantity of choices has exploded , and buyers are more likely to choose a service or product based on who ’ s selling it or on the message , not on the intrinsic value of the product itself .
So don ’ t sit and bemoan for a second your own fate because you ’ re somehow “ stuck ” selling pretty much the same thing as everyone else . You are not a victim but a volunteer . If you CHOOSE to continue to package , price , and PRESENT your services like everyone else , then you can expect to have what everyone else has , which is mediocrity . When I started my business , I knew I did NOT want to sell my marketing services like other agencies — so I didn ’ t . Today , I have a bigger , more profitable marketing agency than the last two I previously worked for because I decided to do it differently .
So , the next time you ’ re frustrated by cheaper competitors and market saturation , go stand in line at McDonald ’ s . Maybe hang out a bit and observe what ’ s really going on so you can see that it ’ s not the product , or the service , that makes them successful .
Robin Robins is the IT industry ’ s most in-demand marketing consultant , sales trainer , and direct response marketing consultant who specializes in developing strategic marketing , sales and lead generation systems for MSPs , VARs and IT services companies .
Robin Robins is the CEO and Founder of TMT . TMT is the parent company of MSP Success .
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