AUTOMATION VACATION
Part 1 : The Biggest Ways MSPs Burn Profits
Last month , I was shopping online for some gifts to give to our Technology Marketing Toolkit Infusionsoft clients , and I stumbled upon a popular beverage container company that promoted nicely done , customized , “ one-of-a-kind cool ” products that I thought our clients would love . Great website , great product , easy form to fill out for more info on bulk orders , credit card in hand — done ! Or so I thought … I was wrong . I had filled out their simple web form for more info on my order ( big money for them !) and never got a response . Not one email . Not one phone call . Nothing .
Bulk orders are premium moneymakers for these businesses , so my form submission was an incredibly valuable lead . How much money do you think this trendy corporation spends on expensive marketing only to have it completely burned ?
And it ’ s not just big corporations where leads get lost and slip through the cracks . It happens every day in MSP businesses too . We do an activity in our Rapid Implementation Workshops where attendees test each other ’ s websites , fill out forms , call the number on the homepage , etc . to see in real life how their peers ’ leads are handled .
Want To Hear The Startling Truth That Makes My Marketing Soul Scream In Angst And Anger ?
Between 20 %– 30 % of the MSP attendees never got the lead . Whether the form was broken , the notification went to spam , the alert went to an old employee ’ s inbox , whatever — it doesn ’ t matter ! The lead was completely lost and burned since the MSP never even knew about it .
How Many Leads Are You UNKNOWINGLY Burning Every Month ?
The average MSP gets about six leads a month , so every lead you get is even more valuable than the hundreds or even thousands of leads a large drinkware corporation gets . It is absolutely critical that you are 1,000 % positive that you ( and someone else ) are alerted for ALL leads and that you are using web technology that ensures that your lead isn ’ t disappearing into the ether .
If You Aren ’ t Using Web Forms That DIRECTLY Tie Into Your CRM , Then You Are Likely Burning Leads
All of the data you requested in the web form should be instantly and automatically entered into your CRM . This should not just be one email to someone ’ s inbox about a lead that opted in , leaving that someone to manually enter the lead ’ s info into your CRM . Your web form should connect to your CRM so that all opt-ins are automatically captured and can trigger next steps for follow-up .
Side note : In the November 2018 Marketing Strategy Brief , I wrote the entire Marketing Implementation Article on the five critical things that must happen as soon as a lead opts in , so refer to that if you need to know how to handle inbound leads .
The Numbers Don ' t Lie
Let ’ s take a look at how these burned leads impact profits . As painful as it may be to see how it influences revenue , do not ignore this . Below are the average leads and sales from MSPs .
MSP Averages
New Leads : 72 ( six per month ) Appointments : 35 ( 48 % of leads ) Proposals Generated : 24 ( 69 % of appointments ) Closed Deals : 12 ( 50 % of proposals ) Average First Year : $ 25,119.32 Total Annual Payout : $ 301,431.84
Based on our raw experience with hundreds of MSPs , we can assume that most MSPs are burning 20 % of their leads because they never even knew about them . Let ’ s start with what it looks like from a profits standpoint if you were to stop burning 20 % of the inbound leads in this article . ( We ’ ll look at the rest in future articles .)
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