For managed service providers (MSPs), a lead generation strategy can greatly affect your bottom line, but driving quality prospects to the sales pipeline is a lot easier said than done. Many MSPs have smaller marketing teams, or lack a dedicated lead generation expert. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t start gradually implementing some lead generation tactics that will pay off in the long run. By dedicating some time to building a lead generation plan early on, you’ll set yourself up for future success as you grow.
1. MSP Sales: Creating a Lead Generation Plan
First up is planning. To create your lead generation plan, you first need to define your monthly recurring revenue (MRR) goal. Once you have that figured out, determine the average deal size. After that, compare the ratio of leads to closed deals. Based on that ratio and your average deal size, you can determine how many leads you need to acquire to make that MRR goal happen.
Example: If your average deal size is $3000 and your MRR goal is $30,000, you’ll need to close 10 deals. If you close and average of 1 deal per every 10 leads, you’ll need to bring in 100 leads each month to meet your MRR goal.
2. MSP Sales: SEO for Your Website
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, has a huge impact on how well you reach your target audience. You may have the most robust product, at the best price point available, but if people can’t find your website, you’ve got a big problem. Here’s how it works: SEO keywords are relevant words/phrases in your web content. Search engines, like Google for example, crawl websites to match queries and yield the best content to the person searching.
Example: Consider what your target customer would be searching for. If an ideal customer needs, IT consultants for small businesses, those words need to be present in your website’s content. You should include keywords in your page headers, URLs, meta descriptions, and Image Alt Text.
3. MSP Sales: Qualifying Leads
As you begin to acquire more leads, never forget that quality trumps quantity. If you’re not qualifying leads to see if they’re a good fit for your company, you’ll waste a lot of time following up on dead ends. First, create your ideal customer profile based off of companies’ characteristics. Next, figure out who the decision makers are at these companies to build a customer persona. Call the leads who meet your personas first! Assess their IT needs, and go from there.
Example: Company characteristics to consider include: company size, number of desktops to service, the industry, etc. Depending on the company profile you build, define who the decision maker is at each company type. Is it their CEO, owner, IT manager, etc.?
The methods listed above will help any MSP build a great foundation for their lead generation program. However, there’s still a lot more that goes into a lead generation plan that continues to yield results. For example, inbound and outbound marketing strategies are two giant pieces to the puzzle. To learn about these strategies and more, check out the eBook, “Lead Generation Made MSPeasy”.
Chris Rudnick is director of demand generation at Datto Inc.. Read more Datto blogs here.
