Why you shouldn't hire a marketing agency in your MSP

So should you hire a marketing agency to help you scale your msp? Today I'm here with our VP of marketing coaching, Lindsey Badillo, and we're going to break down exactly what you need to hear to know what you need to grow your msp. Hey, Lindsay.

Hi, Michelle.

Okay, so we're here in Indianapolis right now and we're post event for the day and we have really talked a lot about what it looks like to build your sales team. And the number one question that kept coming up time and time today was, was well, should I outsource this to an agency? And I think it's a really great question. So let's go ahead and break it down.

What do you think? Yeah, so I think it comes back to the why. Like why do we hear that question a lot? And it's because most MSPs are good at tech and that's what you do and you know how to protect your clients and you know how to fix the things that are broken in their technical world. Okay, so it seems like the most natural option. Let me go find someone that's really good at this. Let me go find the person who's skilled in that. And they told me that they'll handle all my marketing. They told me that they'll do my social media, they'll do my blog content, or they'll even make outbound calls for me. That to me is a red flag. So here's why, number one, you have to have a very clear idea of where your leads are headed and why, Number one, that's part of your sales process. But also how do you get them there? Because if you are completely right reliant on this outsourced marketing agency, number one, it's probably hard for you to know how they're getting those leads in the door. Is it the content? How are you measuring that? Is it the, is it the outbound calls that you're making? If you are booking those outbound calls and they're probably end up being not super qualified leads. We said a lot with our clients that they will outsource to an all in one marketing agency or to an outbound calling agency. And they'll promise, oh, we promise that we'll get you two appointments per month. And then what ends up happening is that they get appointments that are not qualified. They're just there because someone on the phone promised them a lower price. Yes, they promised them. Yeah, we'll beat your current it or oh, just come in, we'll help you fix X, Y, Z. And so you're not getting super qualified leads. So that comes back to having this sales process that works, which I know that you could speak to that. Yeah. So having the sales process that works. And let's say that you. Let's say that you do find some success with your marketing agency, but then you're six months in and you're like, hey, I'm actually going to start building this internal or. Well, it's kind of working backwards though. Right. Because now you've outsourced this stuff and now you have to go back and figure out what's working, what's not. I've got to train everything up internally and I feel like it just kind of kicks the can down the road of you doing what you really need to be doing by yourself to begin with.

Yeah, I love kicking the can down the road. Like that is a perfect analogy for it. And I think that there is some mistakes in the coaching industry or consulting industry where it's like, if you're not good at something, outsource it.

Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah.

But that doesn't actually apply to everything. Delegate, not necessarily outsource.

Yep.

And that is a really key piece of the puzzle. So what would you say is the biggest risk to a business owner that chooses to outsource their marketing?

What is the biggest risk to a business owner, MSP specifically, that chooses to outsource their marketing? I think you're really taking a risk on the money that you're putting out and the results that you get back. So a huge thing that we talk about in our inner circle program is your input equaling your output. So if I'm putting in the money somewhere, it's like I want to see results that come back. But it's really hard to do that if I don't have control over the input, if I don't have control over the messaging, if I don't have control over someone on my team that I can develop and that I can control and I can role play and I can workshop with them. Actually, you had this analogy earlier or you had this example earlier. You said, what do you do whenever your salesperson comes back to you and says, hey, I have a lead that keeps dropping off between this stage and this stage of the sales process. How do you coach them to that if you don't have those skills? So this is why it's absolutely imperative that you, as the business owner. Yes. Even as the msp, that you're still learning this process yourself. Now eventually you hire someone internally that can go and be better than you. Absolutely. Train them up, develop them, invest resources into them. But we can't just blindly hand off any of this. Not marketing, not sales, not closing. It needs to be internal. Yeah.

And I also just don't like sharing my resources.

There you go.

I'm just going to say it. It's like you hire an agency and you're not getting full time support. You're not getting someone who's aligned with your core values, who's invested in the company. It's very transactional, right?

Yeah.

Like they have no loyalty to your company whatsoever. And so how do you think they talk to prospects if they have no loyalty or alignment with, you know, and they're just doing it to book the appointment. And I think that's like a huge risk. A huge risk. And I just don't love it. I want somebody, if I'm going to have somebody cold call or reach out on the behalf of seven figure msp, I want them to know that that person is always going to be there through the sales processes that can figure out.

Oh, so really cool example. Yeah. So I actually received a call today for a book that I had signed up for from a mentor that I personally follow. And they're like, hey Lindsay, we're just going to check on you. How's the book going? I'm like, hey, I actually haven't started on it because I'm reading one of their pre previous books and they're like okay, no worries. Well listen, we're actually an events based business. We host XYZ events per year. Would you want to make it to one of these? I'm like actually yes, it's been on my list. So we go through dates, all these things. I end up buying the ticket on the spot out here in the venue hall today. I told him no at first. I was like, well let me check on the date. And he's like well how about this? How. And this is a cold call. I mean I guess technically it'd be a warm call because I'd already opted into a previous lead magnet.

But someone's digging into their CRM and making great calls. I love it.

And this kind of like I nerd out on this like and I will buy stuff kind of just because I want it and like it's going to bring value but also to kind of see their process. Like I just admire a really good sales process. So he's, I kind of like follow back up next week. And he's like, well how about this Lindsey? How about I go ahead and give you this ticket we'll reserve the spot. If you can't make it to this show, we'll keep your ticket open and you can be flexible, and we'll have more shows that open up. And. And what I'll do is I'll give you another ticket for free, and you can bring a business partner. You can bring someone with me. How does that sound to you? I said, okay. All right. Do you need my card details? And literally checked out on the spot out here. But what was really cool about that is after I checked out, he sends me a personal message. He's like, hey, Lindsay, this is. I think his name was Jeff. Actually. I think it was Jeff. Yeah. Funny enough, our camera guy's name is Jeff, and he's like, hey, this is Jeff. I just want to say thank you. So excited for you to. To our event. And then he sends me a selfie.

Right.

And he's, like, got his thumbs up, and he has some of their core values in the picture behind him. So it goes all back to this alignment that whenever you have internal people on your team that are doing this stuff, like, they are in it. And the key was he was. He was determined to get me into that event. And then he sends the selfie. And I know that in the future because I know they're going to sell me something at the next event. So I know that, hey, Jeff's on my side. I. I can ask him questions, and hopefully he'll get the commission for that sale as well.

Yes. He's totally going to sell you something else. Oh, I love it. I love it.

Sell me something.

What you going to sell me? I mean, one of my favorite things is to be sold to.

I love it. I love to be sold to. It's amazing because it would be a disservice for someone not to sell me a solution that I need.

Yes. So I think that really sums up why you should not outsource. And I. And I also want to say that it's really critical that you have a rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat marketing and sales process within your business, because you can't bring someone in to your business to be successful without that.

And how do you scale?

Right.

Like, how. So we can only scale outsourced so far.

Yes, correct.

So how do you scale past that? Yeah.

Unless you can get that person to come work for you then.

And then it's still internal. So, again, kicking the cam for the inevitable that we need to be doing from the beginning.

Right?

Yes. I love this question. And of course, if any of you have any questions or you want to continue this conversation, you can check out our events like the seven Figure MSP live event that we are tuning in from right now. You can also watch any of our webinars or book a call with our team. Yep.

7 figure MSP events.com All right.

Thank you. Thank you. Michelle. Yeah.