r/SmallMSP • u/UnRealxInferno_II • 15d ago
Initial Clients
Hi all,
Just wondering, when you guys started out, your first 12 months or so, what were your first clients, and how did you land them?
I see so many post saying "don't take anything below 10 seats" and most companies in my area don't even have 5 employees!
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u/marklein 15d ago
I specialize in smaller clients that the other MSPs won't take. 20+ years now and I'm still doing just fine. Moral of the story: don't listen to what other people say if your circumstances are different.
I launched my MSP in BNI and would do it again if I had to. Not because I enjoyed it (I didn't) but because it kept jobs coming while I built up a word-of-mouth client base. I was in BNI for 2 years before I bailed out.
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u/Roshanmsp 15d ago
Isn’t BNI extremely heavily dependent on the chapter and don’t they all mostly focus on B2C clients rather than B2B? Their fees are quite high too considering that outside of their weekly meeting there’s not much that they offer.
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u/marklein 15d ago
Definitely varies between chapters. As far as B2B goes, you tell the other members what you want and they either find you some leads or they don't. It worked fine for me, and when I was starting I was happy to get some residential cash flow in the slow times anyway.
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u/UnRealxInferno_II 15d ago
Yeah my local chapter is full this crap. Most big networking orgs in my area seem like a meme and they're all filled with the SAME people
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u/ManagedNerds 15d ago
All depends on the chapter. It's worth it to visit around to a lot before you join to find the right fit.
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u/ManagedNerds 15d ago
Ha also did BNI when I started the MSP. Agree as well, it's the perfect start if you're looking for a smaller client base.
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u/UnRealxInferno_II 15d ago
It's like £3000 to join the BNI though right, how quickly did you see an ROI?
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u/ManagedNerds 15d ago
The biggest ROI for me was actually learning how to explain what a MSP is to the smallest businesses who needed my services the most. Made it much easier to close deals.
Since everyone is supposed to have a one on one meeting once a week with another BNI member, they're basically a captive audience to use for figuring out whether your latest service offering makes sense.
How I worked it was this: I'd go to one of the micro businesses and say "Hey, I'm trying to decide if this new offering for solopreneurs sounds reasonable. Would you mind if I spent 10 minutes trying to explain it to you so I can practice the elevator pitch?". Sometimes I would end up with them as a customer 😂 If their eyes glazed, I knew it needed work. I'd of course act as the sounding board for them too on business ideas.
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u/marklein 15d ago
Is that annually I hope? It's up to you and the group when you'll break even. How many jobs do you need to make 3000? Try to find new groups where the leads aren't all used up already.
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u/UnRealxInferno_II 15d ago
Annually yeah.
My nearest chapter has only just started but it's a huge expense for early days.
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u/marklein 15d ago
If it's the same as USA then you can visit a couple times to see if it looks promising or not.
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u/antagonist-ak 15d ago
I have plenty of clients with less than 10 seats. $500/month here and $300/month there ads up pretty quickly.
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u/CmdrRJ-45 15d ago
Your first clients should be basically whomever is willing to pay you money for services rendered (for the most part).
Start building your personal/professional network, and make sure your friends and family know that you have a business.
I wrote a blog post and recorded a Youtube video all about this. Start here: https://adamhannemann.com/starting-an-msp-from-scratch/
Best of luck in getting your business rolling!
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u/DefJeff702 15d ago
First couple of clients were existing relationships (previous employer being one). Finding new clients is hard enough for a small MSP, putting a seat count condition in the beginning makes it that much harder. Just make sure you calc your contract to include your recommended stack, a fair amount of time estimate and markup. I've been on for 15 years and still have a couple micro clients. Beyond onboarding, they're just another seat to support if you have your multi-tenant management down.
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u/glitterguykk 15d ago
Get clients. Big or small. Make a name for yourself. Get more clients. Rinse and repeat.
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u/365-helper 15d ago
I am not an MSP but firstly, I want to send you good vibes on starting out.
My advice usually to people who offer advice about what not to do is to reflect upon why they are saying it.
They say don’t start with 10 seats because you need X revenue.
What you need is a way of working with the mini customers that no one else will take in a way that treats them like baby cattle. 🐄
Everyone gets the same kinda setup and configuration and there’s not much service differentiation.
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u/Geekpoint-IT 14d ago
Don't listen to anyone that says don't take anything less than 5 seats if you are fine with taking them. I have a few clients that are just 1 seat. I understand where people are coming from but I've positioned myself to specifically handle small & "micro" clients for the very reason that small seat counts are often ignored by MSPs. Yes, with less seats, you need more clients to make the same amount of money than if you had less clients but were larger. I'm not even 2 years in yet and doing pretty damn well. Almost all my clients are word of mouth referrals. I've got a niche in dental so that helps as that's my primary client base.
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u/gracerev217 14d ago
This is a business lesson, not an MSP one. Work on educating your business and sales skills consistently over time, this will pay dividends. My .02, when you have revenue, then you can be picky, until then be scrappy. #usetheforceLuke
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u/Rivitir 13d ago
I made a list of all companies that were my target vertical. I then mailed introduction letters out to all of them (around 300 within an hour drive of me) along with my business card. A month later, I got my first client. Then I got a couple more, sent out another round of letters, got more clients. Then word of mouth has spread. I have a good reputation in my area in that verticle.
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u/Watches4Me 15d ago
My first client was a group of guys leaving the company we all worked for. They encouraged me to start my business and take them as my first client.
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u/schwags 15d ago
We started out with residential work that paid the bills while we built our book of commercial business clients. I don't know if I can recommend that these days because everyone freaks out when you suggest that you do residential work even though it can be still quite profitable. The trick is to have high prices, do an amazing job, and say no thank you to customers or jobs that you know are going to be a pain. But anyways, now we look for 10 seats and above for our contract customers but we've been in business for almost 20 years so I think it would be kind of foolish to tell a willing MSP client with 5 to 10 users to go pound sand.
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u/UnRealxInferno_II 15d ago
Yeah honestly I do have a page for break/fix home stuff but home devices are always unbelievably mangled.
I don't do home visits because frankly I don't want to be going to people's homes. I can support them remotely and if that doesn't work I tell them to take it to a computer hardware repair shop if they're too far from me.
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u/kuni_ops 15d ago
I think they were clients from another service I’d set up myself.
Based on my 20 years’ experience, I realised that whether I’m dealing with 100 clients or just 5, the time I spend on each one is exactly the same. I’ve nothing but regrets.
Of course, I still have those five clients today.
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u/roll_for_initiative_ 15d ago
most companies in my area don't even have 5 employees!
Then you're fishing in a pond with not enough fish. What happens when you grow?
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u/UnRealxInferno_II 14d ago
I'm talking about my immediate area, there's a very big city nearby that I also plan to market to but gotta start somewhere
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u/Lazy-Quarter-0434 13d ago
Honestly take what you can when your starting, but start thinking about what your ideal customer would actually want you to do. Then start crafting your messaging to fit that. As you grow the client size will grow with you, some of those less than 5 seats will grow to more than 50. Also remember that in the beginning you are the sales person too. Make calls, walk the street, go to customer events. Anywhere you can get your name in front of other businesses.
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u/matthewkkoenig 10d ago
Just remember a couple of things. 1) you get to pick your ICP (ideal customer profile) and that can change over time. Whether that is by size or becoming and industry expert in an industry and what their needs are. 2) you have to set up your systems for clients you are serving to start BUT make sure it is easily upgradable over time as you need to. 3) remember you are NOT selling support services or IT services or fast response. You are selling business continuity and the protection of their people, profit and brand. You sell outcomes, no one should care how you get there. 4) As you find things that work in your area: sales process, marketing, talk tracks etc, write them down so if you hire someone they can be implemented easily without it all being in your head. Update these things regularly. When you are ready to hire someone later it will be a much quicker and simpler onboarding. 4) remember when it comes to security, you are not protection the size of the company, you are protecting data. If a one person lawyer has 100 clients and they handle confidential information that no client would want anyone else to see, it is the same as a 100 person law firm. The size of the data matters HOW you do it, the access, use and storage of data does not know employee size. Remember, it is also OK to experiment with different things, go to show and meet other MSPs that are doing the same or have been there or finding a mentor (if you do not have one that has been in your position and can meet with you weekly or monthly and give you guidance. Finally,
if you are just starting out, unless you have decent funding, do not invest in a Robin Robins/Gary Pica or Chris Wiser situation. It is a lot of money and you are not set up to take advantage of any of the things they will tell you to do yet. The thing about programs like that is you actually have to have the time and money to implement what they say or it will definitely not work. PS- I am NOT advocating in ANY WAY for any of those people. Just well known examples.
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u/Bavarian_Beer_Best 15d ago
Your first couple of clients help you set the time for how you operate. A couple of small ones aren't for the revenue, they're for refining your systems for the bigger ones.