The English language has a small, hardworking family of phrases whose only job is to save face and hold the door open for whatever’s coming through it next:
“No offense, but…” “With all due respect…” “Not to be rude…”
Last week, someone added to the collection and posted this to one of my Rants:
“Not being a jerk but my attention span and attitude only made it through your first two sentences. Staying more with less in an Executive summary could be more effective in your influence. The details could follow in personal one-on-one-owner conversation after your post. But I don’t know Jack…”
The guy who wrote that was not a jerk…so before you go sharpening the pitchforks on my behalf, hold up. I like this guy. I’m actually going to defend him because buried in his post is a marketing lesson worth more than most of the “coaching” being sold in our industry right now.
So gather ‘round, children, and listen to the MSP marketing messiah…
If you deliver any kind of creative works or provide any type of service – AND you do it well – you have to do it FOR a specific type of person.
A great steakhouse has to appeal to a carnivore who has VERY strong opinions about grass fed vs. grain fed and thinks “medium well” is a character flaw and well done a crime against humanity. Everything on the menu, on the wine list, in the kitchen and the wait staff must support that ONE ideal client. That’s who they exist to delight.
A steakhouse can’t do that while simultaneously appeasing the vegan your customer dragged along for his birthday dinner. (And yes, vegans and meat lovers can be friends. Some of them even marry, which is its own kind of courage.)
You can’t delight everyone – so you have to pick one and go ALL IN on making them happy.
Seth Godin said it best:
“Nothing important is for everyone.”
So when you get the one-star review, or the helpful little note explaining how you’re doing it all wrong, your first job is NOT to fix anything. Your first job is to answer one question:
Is this my ideal client – or a bystander with a keyboard?
If the person giving you feedback IS your ideal client and fits in your chosen audience, you need to shut up and listen. You need to do a better job. Thoughtful criticism from a great client is worth its weight in gold.
But if the work you create is criticized or despised by someone who is not your ideal client or is not someone who is going to write you a check, it’s important that you don’t allow it to alter your business or your approach.
This is where so many MSPs get flattened by traffic in both directions, like the squirrel who can’t pick a side. They want to deliver top-level IT support but they allow the broader audience of businesses that don’t want to spend money on IT and don’t care as much about compliance, governance and security alter their approach, pricing and service delivery so they never get to serve “the perfect steak.”
That’s a HUGE mistake.
You say you want to be the premium provider. You brag about how you actually do the work of getting security and compliance right, doing the things that most other MPS miss, overlook or are sloppy about, with real process and real accountability. Good. That’s a service a HVC (high-value client) wants to buy.
Then Larry from Larry’s Discount Muffler & Tire calls. He tells you your price is “a little high.” He insists he doesn’t really need “all that security stuff.” His previous MSP (who allowed him to get hacked) only charged him $40 a seat. He’s a little (or a LOT) insulted by your audacity to charge $200 a user.
And you make an exception. Or two. You dip price a little. You carve out part of the security solutions you recommend because it’s been a tough year in getting clients and growth.
Congratulations. You just let a man who thinks turning off his computer at night will cut his cyber risk by 50% – and every minute you spend serving this client is one stolen from serving or finding the client you actually wanted.
So the guy who made that comment was NOT a jerk.
He’s just not my ideal client.
He can’t know that the length of my writing isn’t a rookie mistake or a first draft failure. It’s an intentional a filter, a velvet rope, that is appreciated by the select few MSPs who want MORE details, not less.
My best clients aren’t *just* running an MSP business. They have honest ambition. They are readers and avid learners. They want MORE details on how to implement a good idea, marketing campaign or strategy, not less. If I just provided high-level concepts in an executive summary, they’d leave in search of someone else to give them the details and “meat” of how to implement a marketing campaign or sales strategy.
Of course, not everyone wants what I offer.
Some people want high-level ideas and HATE details. Or they don’t want to learn how to do something – they just want someone else to do it for them. And a growing number of people don’t want to read, sit in a seminar or watch a video to master a skill or learn something.
And that’s okay, because they’re a great client for someone else.
I’m going to continue to do LONG posts, and LONG videos and LONG content giving more context and details because the people who want that are MY people. It’s not everyone. It never was. But it was enough to have made me very, very wealthy and to grow a thriving business that was actually FUN to operate.
Want it in a tweet?
Here ya go:
Choose ONE type of client to delight and forgive everyone else for hating what you create for that person.
If You’re MY Type Of People, Here’s What To Do Next
For 24+ years I’ve helped MSPs install marketing and sales systems that actually put money in the bank — not “brand awareness,” not likes, but appointments booked, contracts signed and MRR that shows up every single month. If you’re an MSP with honest ambition, go here and see what we’ve built for you: www.robinrobins.com
