Computer consultants that want to grow their businesses through it services marketing face a serious barrier to achieving that goal. The problem is that the vast majority of the companies in the market have in-house IT departments.
There are still a cadre of services that can profitably be sold to these firms like server management. However, none of these proposals usually ever see the light of day because these decisions are pocket vetoed by the IT Director.
Most managed services providers view the IT Director as sort of a Svengali character who controls the CFO and stops them from ever thinking about outsourcing because they’re afraid of losing their job. Therefore the big question is how can you sell in such a hostel environment? (more…)
I think the grandiose goal of many computer business owners is to grow their business to amazing heights so they can push their competitors out of business and establish a near monopoly that spreads all over the country! Well maybe they don’t all want to get that big, but at least they want to grow through IT marketing so they can make a few million in reoccurring revenue. Then they can step away from the company and let someone else managed the tedious day-to-day activities and finally enjoy what life has to offer. The problem is that most of the average computer consultants probably feel they are a million miles away from ever achieving either one of those goals. The question is what is the final piece of the puzzle that can get these guy’s IT services marketing back on the track to achieve their Dreams? 
I once heard a famous magician explain to someone that was pestering him for his secrets that if did reveal the secrets to his prestidigitation then they would no longer be amazing. In fact in the very instant the information would be conveyed suddenly the formerly enraptured audience would consider the tricks very common place and believe they could have figured it out on their own. Recently I was questioned by a computer consultant that wanted to get some of the secrets we use in our process of telemarketing and sales training. However, the same is true with the secrets to IT services marketing as with Magic! Even the most brilliant technique that is used to get past gatekeepers, once revealed, would suddenly be perceived as mundane and ordinary. 
If you have ever spent any time in your career making cold calls for some product or service then you can probably remember hearing the most common objection to doing any thing new, “If It Ain’t Broke Then Don’t Fix It.” It seems like this objection comes up even more often when you’re marketing anything new with IT services. It’s amazing how pervasive this phrase has spread among professional business owners and on the surface it’s seems the logic behind this old saying is pretty air tight. After All if some product you have or concept is still working then why on earth would you ever spend any time trying to fix it? 
Crashing airplanes in the process of learning to fly would be a very dangerous and costly proposition. In fact, real planes are so expensive that most people would never even attempt to fly one without quite a bit of class room training along with spending plenty of time in the air with an experienced pilot. Not only does this just make particle sense it is also a legal requirement before a pilot can get a license to fly. Unfortunately, there isn’t a similar requirement for managed services providers to get certified by a marketing expert before risking precious capital and time trying to learn IT services marketing on their own.
When computer consultants are trying to decide which marketing path to take, there is a blinding array of choices and factors to consider. The one factor that always seems to be at the top of the list for most MSPs is the bottom line price of the IT marketing services they might be evaluating. Whether it’s a post card campaign or a SEO service the big question is usually what is it going to cost. The second most important question is what kind of ROI should I expect from my investment. However, one issue that usually is not considered is how much time will be lost or wasted if the campaign is not successful. Why should you consider such negative concept before you pull the trigger on any marketing plans? 
Is your computer business model sexy enough to convince companies that are happy with their current tech provider to take a second look as you walk by? Would they blow some wolf whistles as you walked by and think about cheating on their current consultant? Since companies are not wedded to their IT provider then there would be nothing immodest about having a sexier model and flaunting it all over town. However, one managed services provider recently told me flat out that his service deliver model was anything but sexy and seemed to be proud of that fact. In fact it almost seemed that he was offended that I might even suggest the importance of trying to dress up his model to attract more prospect.
When it comes to marketing strategies more and more computer business providers are placing a premium on technology solutions. In other words, if there is a way to automate something or use a software tool to simplify human efforts for IT services marketing, then this automatically glitters as gold to your average tech provider. Now some telemarketing companies are polishing their service models by adding lots of razzle dazzle technology solutions in their overall marketing packages. You might be asking what could possibly be wrong with using tech solutions to polish off telemarketing. Well there is nothing wrong with that unless, just having raw talent alone might achieve better results! 
Murphy’s Law says that if anything can go wrong then it will go wrong! However, most computer business people don’t consider that aspect of life when they sit down to plan out their marketing. The majority of the time when they have outsourced their telemarketing they expect everything to go perfectly. However, many times when a computer consultant hits a snag or a bump in road during their marketing campaign they tend to have a knee jerk reaction and want to make a huge course correction. Of course, we need to always consider when the time is right to make changes, but on the other hand if a business is constantly changing direction then they might just end up going in circles. One good example of this is Block Buster Video’s marketing efforts which keep changing at the first sign of serious competition. At one point their model was changing so fast it would make your head spin and now they have had to sell out! So how should managed services providers deal with adversity? 
In a perfect world a computer business owner should be able to arbitrarily come up with their pricing model and never have to come down from that price. Unfortunately this is not a perfect world and the market place is still going to decide what the price and terms for IT services is going to be. This is an extremely messy process but that is exactly how establishing the fair price for any service works. The initial marketing sets the price from a blind spot and hopes to get as close to what the market place will accept. However, what happens when you find prospects through your IT marketing that are willing to talk and consider a proposal but end up rejecting your offer based on price or terms? Should you just get up and indignantly walk out of the door? Or should you be prepared with a counter offer and begin negotiations? 
