What does MSP business success look like to you?
Is it something you achieve, and then relax, knowing the job is well done?
Well, in all the years I’ve been working within the IT industry, meeting hundreds and hundreds of IT business owners, I’ve never once met anyone who told me that had nothing left that they wanted to improve in their IT business.
The reality of running an IT business is that the growth of the business is never, ever “completed”. It is always evolving.
What does an ever evolving MSP business look like?
It is my experience that your MSP business is always evolving.
- Even if you’ve built the perfect sales machine or the perfect Service Desk.
- And yes, even if you have the best employees and the most qualifications.
- Perhaps, even if you have met your financial targets.
The IT industry is forever changing and so your business needs to adapt to those changes.
Clients have new requirements. The sands are constantly shifting.
Your IT business is like a jigsaw puzzle that is always expanding and is impossible to complete.
Most MSP owners would agree that their business is a continuous work in progress and they will never be “finished”.
Yet, why do so many IT business owners put important tasks off — such as sales and marketing.
The excuse for not undertaking these important tasks is typically that “the time isn’t right” and that once they’ve finished <insert big project here> (a client deployment, hiring a new employee) they will get around to this important work.
But does the important work of marketing ever become important enough to actually get done?
MSP Business Success is made easy through consistency
Don’t get me wrong. As the former owner of an MSP myself, I know that the demands on an owner’s time are immense.
You have to be technician, salesman, HR and chief bottle washer.
But you know what? That’s unlikely to change unless you change it.
The most common aspiration I hear from IT business owners is that they want to acquire new clients and grow their business.
However, when asked what marketing they’re doing, the response is typical – “We keep meaning to, but can’t find the time”.
Let me be blunt. Within a constantly evolving IT industry, with new products and new tools always being released, with clients who have ever-changing requirements, with the goalposts constantly shifting – something will always demand your attention, distracting you from doing any marketing.
Unless you make the time, consistently.
MSP Business Success = Making Time to Market Your Business
Making the time to do marketing means taking baby steps and being serious about executing them consistently.
That means:-
- Not trying to coordinate a massive direct mail campaign after months of doing nothing.
- Resisting asking vendors to give you unsolicited Marketing Development Funds (MDF) in the hope that will cure-all of your marketing ills.
- Don’t throw money at a telemarketing company and expecting miracles.
What making the time does mean is:
- Googling the next business networking event in your area and booking a place.
- Organise cover for any emergencies or distractions that might occur in the days before the networking event.
- On the day of the networking event, turn up on time, with your Smartphone turned off and a pocket full of business cards. Then repeat, the week afterwards. And the week after that. You can learn how to end procrastination
What making the time does mean is scheduling the time in your diary to sit down and think about the type of clients you’d like to work with.
As a result, that means that when you sit down to do the marketing work at the time you’ve specified, you aren’t distracted by emails or the latest “emergency”.
Turn your Smartphone off and make a list of the type of clients you’d like to work with.
Then repeat, the week afterwards, only take a business directory with you and write down the actual names of the companies you’d like to work with.
Then repeat and look for a way to begin a conversation with them.
If you struggle with making time, then why not view my Tate Talks with Tubb recording on demand. We cover time management for MSP business owners.
Conclusion
Your IT business will never, ever be complete. It will never be finished. Nor will the list of tasks that you need to do in and for your business.
Therefore, your IT business must always be evolving.
If you agree with this statement, why are you putting off the most important jobs – such as finding new clients, marketing and business growth?
Why are you waiting until the time is right and you’ve finished the swathes of other less important work?
Stop putting off the important tasks and start making the time for your MSP business.
No excuses.
Simply make the time to complete baby steps.
Before long, they’ll added up to significant milestones in your business.
You’ll look back and find that you haven’t maintained your business position, but advanced it by massive strides.
This is what your evolving MSP business is all about.
This is how you’ll find MSP business success.
What would you like to get started with for your MSP business? Leave a comment below or contact me – I’d love to hear what you’re working on!
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Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
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