Most MSPs are, first and foremost, service-focused organizations, with the sales and prospecting side of things often taking a backseat. Many smaller MSPs don’t even have dedicated sales teams - rather, their company owner, or a select few technicians, perform outreach to new clients.
Print Partner works with MSPs across the country, supplementing their services with our managed print services from our parent company, Green Office Partner. Based on our 14 years of industry experience, we know some of the most common hurdles MSPs must overcome to sell their services adequately.
This article will review five main steps to selling your MSP’s service suite and getting consistently positive results. While this is by no means a comprehensive sales guide, we aim to provide you with general guidance and information to get you started on fleshing out your prospecting strategy.
In order to sell MSP services, the first and most crucial piece of the puzzle is to be able to articulate your value proposition in a clear and concise manner.
Having your service suite memorized is only half the battle. Now, you have to communicate what you know to prospects.
Consider the “why” behind what you sell. You may have the most comprehensive backup and disaster recovery service on the market - but a less tech-savvy client may not recognize this unless you know how to talk to them.
You are not selling 1s and 0s. You are selling safety. Security. Ease of mind.
Also, consider the synergies between your offerings.
What service does one package cover that another does not? Which security package is suitable for which tier, and why?
Knowing how to supplement specific offerings with others will help you confidently cross-sell and up-sell to your customers, increasing your profitability and creating more value for them.
For more tips on improving your MSP’s profits, read: Top 6 Ways to Increase MSP Profitability in 2023
Once you know your offerings like the back of your hand, research who resonates with what you bring to the table.
Successful businesses don’t strive to please everyone - rather, they identify their niche in the market and strive to deliver killer results to that audience.
It’s possible that you can provide fantastic results for multiple different groups - identify them, and develop packages that provide specialized support for each audience you want to satisfy.
Consider how to cater to other industries. Which service package is best for law firms? For hospitals? For schools? Etc.
To learn more about how we target different industries for print service sales, read: 5 Industries that Use the Most Print
The more market research you have at your fingertips, the easier it will be to answer your prospect's questions, allowing you to move forward with them in the sales process.
Once you know your target market, it’s time to find prospects. But how?
Marketing is a deep rabbit hole to venture into, and it would be impossible to explain how to develop a marketing strategy in one section of this article. But we’ll review some of the primary avenues you can take to get some eyeballs on your MSP:
Understand that different audiences will have varying responses to different marketing techniques. So plan to research, perform A/B testing, and complete the puzzle that is your overall marketing strategy.
Nobody wants to be your guinea pig. When building a relationship with your prospect, they need to know about the excellent work you’ve done for previous clients.
Past success is often an indicator of future success - use your past wins to your advantage!
Susan Perez of Brightgauge writes, “Reliable IT services are a crucial part of any modern business, so it makes sense that any company considering your business will want to confirm your expertise before agreeing to a long-term deal.”
Perez outlines some of the primary ways you can put your expertise on full display:
Using these techniques, your prospects will get to know you and your MSP. Knowing where you guys came from and your current organizational structure will give them a complete understanding of what you do, making them more likely to move forward with you.
And if they decide not to move forward - no worries! After all, why would you want a client that doesn’t accept your MSP for what it is? If they don’t like what they see, your relationship was never destined to work anyway.
You’re almost at the finish line. It’s time to seal the deal!
You’ve built a relationship with your client, and they’ve concluded that you are a credible organization.
Hit them with an offer they can’t refuse!
When presenting them with a proposal, you first need to ensure that your pricing makes sense for both you and your client. You know what your value is and what it costs to provide the services you are proposing.
You should also know your prospect’s budget - find the sweet spot that will satisfy both parties’ needs.
Also, make sure to detail the value of each service. Break down all services offered within each package.
You want your clients to know precisely what they will be paying for.
If you’ve done sufficient fact-finding during your relationship-building process, the proposal should be a sinch. There should not be any surprises.
After reading this article, you’ll have a foundational understanding of how to find clients, build trust with them, and eventually close deals.
However, we understand that selling is a complex process that is constantly evolving, and even well-established MSPs can struggle with onboarding new clients.
Luckily, Print Partner has your back!
We partner with hundreds of MSPs throughout the United States, supplementing your IT support with top-shelf managed print services offered by our parent company, Green Office Partner.
When you work with us, you’ll be able to offer print service to your clients without changing anything about your current business model. Just make the introduction, and we’ll handle the entire sales and support process afterward. We take complete ownership of the account.
And unlike many other print vendors, we don’t offer any IT-related services that compete with MSP service suites, and we never will.
Plus, we’ll pay you! For each deal we close, we’ll pay the person who registers the opportunity at least $500 for the introduction and an additional $250 per $25K in revenue the deal brings us. For the MSP, we’ll pay $1,000 per 11x17 MFP sold, $100 per printer sold, and 5% recurring revenue on the client’s print allotment. And we’ll provide exceptional client service while we’re at it.
We pay you, we collaborate with you, and we protect you. So consider partnering with us, a Print Partner you can trust.