After all the discussion our profession has had about lead generation practices, you would think that we would have made some progress by now. The truth is, however, that many MSPs are still struggling with lead generation and cannot get more qualified customers in the door.
My personal belief is that this is not a reflection of demand in our profession, but a result of outdated lead generation models and sales techniques that no longer work in our new services oriented era. I strongly believe that there are effective lead generation techniques that do work, have been proven to work, and that we only need to get more MSPs following these models in order to see a huge surge in managed services spending, even more than we are currently seeing.
Old Models Don't Work
The first step in changing your lead generation strategy is to realize that what used to work in your value added reseller days no longer is effective today. Many MSPs either continue to believe this old model still works, or are so inundated by sales consultants that it does work, that they haven't found anything to replace it yet.
Whatever the reason, we must come to a realization that the inherent differences in what MSPs sell today is vastly different from what they sold before. The difference in products/services sold and the way in which they are delivered is predominantly the reason why a different sales/lead generation model is needed.
If you are interested in hearing some strategies that do work for MSPs, you should view an upcoming webcast titled "The Best Way to Price, Market, and Sell Your Managed Services Offerings" where I will be discussing effective lead generation tactics which can replace your old ones. This is not a pitch to sign up for a sales seminar, simply some information discussion on how you can jumpstart your managed services sales process this year.
