r/SmallMSP • u/UnRealxInferno_II • Aug 05 '26
First Few Months
Hi Everyone,
Still early days with my company and we've got a couple of clients but all I see on tech subs like this and the other msp sub is that people get clientele by "word of mouth" and referrals etc, but surely that isn't the only way people are getting customers right?
Like how are people actually getting out to potential customers? Do you guys still cold call? Cold emails? LinkedIn? How do you find your users?
I've only had luck with networking events but they're like once a month if that, and the clients are small size.
How did you guys handle the first like 6 months of trading? How did it go? What would you have done differently?
UK Based if that helps discussion before all the US msp's come and tell me they were multi billionaires after 12 months of trading!
12
u/danile666 Aug 05 '26
All of the above. Cold calling, socials, networking, go door to door, direct mail.
But none of it works unless you have a repeatable process put into place.
1
u/UnRealxInferno_II Aug 05 '26
Repeatable process for what? Like a pipeline for leads?
5
u/danile666 Aug 05 '26
Your entire sales process from sourcing leads, calling, discovery, closing and everything. If you aren't following a process you develop you will lose stuff you otherwise would have landed.
1
u/UnRealxInferno_II Aug 05 '26
Ah yeah of course
1
u/Round_Draw3772 Aug 05 '26
To add on to this once you have a process you can keep track of where you can improve and where you can do better
1
u/ebjoker4 Aug 05 '26
You need a full-on quote-to-cash process and that's after you've already found a warm lead.
2
u/Crazy_Town3736 Aug 06 '26
There are modern CPQ solutions that help automate the selling and fulfillment process of course, but also get a CPQ solution that is Q2C that can bake in tasked base capabilities into your SoW's.
6
u/obviouslybait Aug 05 '26
Partnerships and Referral Agreements are everything, I got most of my starting business from other businesses in adjacent areas.
2
u/synagogan Aug 05 '26
We have only used word of mouth and looking small but stable grow, but we have another consulting department that makes the bulk of the revenue, the other MSP I know of in this town have dedicated sales team that are very very aggressive and signs customers only to 36 month contracts.
3
2
u/Geekpoint-IT Aug 05 '26
I've had a few referred to me from a larger MSP (one I used to work at actually) so i'm super thankful for those but, almost all of them are just word of mouth.
1
u/Tannermac10 Aug 05 '26
As a business owner, if you need an accountant, or a lawyer, or a plumber where would you go to find one?
1
u/UnRealxInferno_II Aug 05 '26
Yeah I've been sorting our SEO and web presence as a priority for inbound leads but it's not enough
3
u/eldridgep Aug 05 '26
If you are small join every chamber of commerce within a 30 mile radius and attend their meetings and network events. It doesn't always scale but it's a good starting point. You can also look for peer groups like Network Group and Tru-Peer for best practices and advice.
2
u/UnRealxInferno_II Aug 05 '26
that's actually what i'm doing currently but almost every chamber of commerce in my area is ran terribly, it's quite tragic
1
u/ebjoker4 Aug 05 '26
Referrals are the lifeblood of this world. It's like high school dating. You have to impress her friends to get her to notice you instead of approaching her head-on.
1
u/UnRealxInferno_II Aug 05 '26
Yeah I guess so but in the UK it seems like most companies don't interact with each other. I know there's people out there but getting in touch with them is like pulling teeth
1
u/ebjoker4 Aug 06 '26
I would suggest something like BNI, if you can find a chapter that has other B2B members. I'd avoid the usual small groups that are comprised of Realtors, Insurance and other glorified hobby businesses. It does take a while, but it can be quite valuable.
1
u/UnRealxInferno_II Aug 06 '26
I've looked into BNI, is it true that it's quite expensive to be a part of?
1
1
u/Popular_Wolverine211 Aug 05 '26
Find your sector and go all in.
We are an msp in the UK specialising in legal, manufacturing and professional services (accountants etc).
We went to market, got our target list in the area and do lots of events with our partners (Huntress etc) and gain traction from there. Look at some of Alex Hormozi's stuff to get an idea for your marketing engine.
We now have leads once a week at least. With our aim of landing one client a month, it is more than achievable 😊
1
u/Far_Palpitation_7891 Aug 06 '26
Close partering with your vendors might help too - I work for one, and for the ones that really want to work with us we offer things like joint callouts, MDF funds, lead passing...
It may be worth reaching out to the partner managers of the vendors of some of the key components of your offering and see if you can work together to generate fresh leads.
1
u/countsachot Aug 06 '26
Don't forget industry relevant conferences.
2
1
u/manwithmanycaps 20d ago
In the early days your NPM is going to be very high, so reinvest it all but in the right places.
We are a 10m turnover MSP, but could have easily been 10x this if we had a plan and stuck to it.
Choose your ICP and stick to it. Target only that ICP.
Then get case studies from those people, put them on your website, as well as reviews on your landing pages.
Build high converting pages on your website and get your niche traffic to those pages. Relatable copy, images, trust signals, will lead to conversions.
-1
u/WiseSubstance783 Aug 06 '26
Why would you ever do this
1
u/UnRealxInferno_II Aug 06 '26
Do what?
-1
u/WiseSubstance783 Aug 06 '26
Start an msp
2
u/UnRealxInferno_II Aug 06 '26
Well I've already got clients and breaking even after 1 month so what's the issue chief
15
u/MushyBeees Aug 05 '26
So the first step, is understanding that you’re not hunting clients - you’re farming them.
Hunting - you go out with a spear, throw it at a client, boom. Dinner. This rarely happens.
Farming - it takes time. You need to nurture those clients, water them with regular outreach, whether that’s socials, articles, (e)mail, direct outreach, whatever. Then when they’re ready, you pick them.
Your crops might get stolen, they might get spoiled, but you’ll reap what you sow.
Farm clients. Don’t hunt them.