How to Pre-Qualify Managed Services Marketing Leads for Greatest Conversion

May 7, 2018May 4, 2018 Patricia Harris IT Business, it channel, it companies, IT lead generation, it leads, IT marketing, it sales, IT sales leads, it services marketing, managed services marketing, marketing for it, marketing IT, marketing IT services, MSP Blogs, MSP Business, msp leads, msp marketing, msp sales, MSP SEO, MSP website, msp websites

Time is Money–Don’t Waste It!

Managed services marketing can be costly, and it will take time. There’s no way around it. Collateral costs will develop, total cost of ownership must factor in the length of time it takes for your investment seeds to mature into profitability. Accordingly, you can’t afford to tread water with sub-par leads. You don’t want to ignore potential leads just because they aren’t ideal, but you don’t want to focus too much time and energy on a client who essentially ends up being mediocre in terms of profit. What you want to do is qualify leads and there are several ways to do that:

Institute lead-scoring protocols
Use lead capture forms to collect information
Design automated lead-nurturing programs

Institute Lead Scoring Protocols

For your managed services marketing, you must first determine what qualifies leads. Lead qualification will look different for different businesses. For example, if your MSP provides hardware services, then one qualifying need for leads will likely involve onsite hardware. If your MSP primarily works in the cloud, onsite hardware may be a disqualifying factor. Or, this could be used as a bargaining wedge to convert a client who’s paying too much for their current tech solution.

It’ll be different for each client and you need to learn how to score your leads accordingly in order to both maximize your time and best serve them. Lead scoring actually plays a preemptive part in customer service later on. So, determine exactly what qualifies your leads and categorize them sequentially and accordingly. You want the top of the list to be one part exceptionally qualified leads and one part likely buyers–both of which may differ. A high-scoring lead may not be interested in new tech services after all.

Use Lead-Capture Forms to Collect Information

In order to score leads, you need information about them that helps demonstrate whether they’re properly qualified. Lead capture forms are ideal for this purpose, and here’s how you maximize them: put a questionnaire form on your site designed to help potential clients find the best service match. Include fields for phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, and social media profiles. Explain this away by telling readers how digital personas through the web can be intrinsic to IT in terms of security. Have a box related to budget, existing spending, etc. You may even use this questionnaire as a calculation motif to demonstrate the value your MSP could bring to potential clients; that may be a “selling” point in getting them to fill it out.

Design Automated Lead-Nurturing Programs

Some leads will be at the top of the list eventually; they’re just not there yet. For those leads that don’t score as high, entering their information into automated lead-nurturing programs that send out emails and the like at strategic intervals makes a lot of sense.

More Conversions Through Better Leads

A managed services marketing campaign that uses lead scoring protocols to delineate leads is likely to reduce operational expenses while maximizing marketing investment. Lead qualification can be done through the web with greater accuracy today than ever. If you don’t score your leads, taking time to learn how will likely save time later.