As co-founders of Nerds In A Flash for 19 years, Shawnda and I felt like we were signing our lives away on a half-page Yellow Page ad. “We’ve done just about everything you can do in advertising,” we agreed, “from Yellow Pages to TV, radio and newspaper ads to Google AdWords.”
Nerds In A Flash
So, when we started receiving Robin Robins’ marketing 10 years ago, we thought we already had marketing covered. Years later, we started noticing something unexpected. When bidding out projects, we realized our competition was 20- or 30-person Austin MSPs we had never even heard of before. We know Austin like the back of our hands, but these fast-growing MSPs never once hit our radar.
One evening over cocktails, Shawnda and I questioned it: “If we’re spending all this money on advertising, and we’re not seeing these MSPs anywhere, what are they doing to get so big?”
Finally paying attention to Robin’s marketing, we were invited to her Houston Roadshow, where she presented the advertising analogy about throwing pasta against the wall to see what stuck. We suddenly realized that all the advertising we were doing was simply hoping and praying it lands in someone’s lap. And we also suddenly realized that these more successful MSPs had discovered REAL marketing. On the drive home, we both agreed to STOP all our advertising, commit to Robin’s program and sign up for Rapid Implementation Workshop.
This Simple Billing Change Saves Us $2,166.57 Every Month
Did you know there’s a way to add the equivalent of an extra contract each month WITHOUT adding a new client? We realized we were losing THOUSANDS each month in credit card transaction fees. Once we learned that Will Nobles’ clients were covering their credit card fees, we knew this would be our first (and simplest) task.
Our unique approach was to give our clients an easy choice: either change their billing to ACH or pay the merchant fees. This quick task saves us $2,166.57 per month, or $25,998.84 a year! And everyone was happy to switch to ACH. No complaints there – WHEW!
Shedding Our Mind Blocks And Improving Our Security Stack
Won Us A Deal Worth Nearly $4,000 In MRR!
For years, we had a mind block against offering a discount to larger companies to win their business. Even worse, we had become complacent with upgrading our security stack. After attending the TMT Houston Roadshow, it became clear as day we were not charging enough for our services. On our drive home, we committed to charging an extra $50 for every service tier. Plus, we resigned to offering a more robust cyber security stack.
Shortly after, a bid came in for 36 employees and three different locations across Texas. This was our first big test. Would we provide our usual discount? Nope! Rather than quote our usual remote-only plan, we quoted our full on-site services plan, complete with our new cyber security stack with Office 365 backup. And we WON that nearly $4K a month proposal! Just two months before, we would have SETTLED for just $2,300 a month on that same bid. WE ARE WORTH IT!
How 85% Of Our Customers Said “YES!” To Our New Security
To Add $14,730 In New MRR
We started with that first moment at the Rapid Implementation Workshop when they said, “Now hit Send” for the 9-Word E-mail (See 9-Word E-Mail Marketing Example) to request technology business reviews. That very next week, we knew every TBR would start with the difficult phrase “Today, we’re going to have a separate part of the conversation. We have a new security offering you really should adopt.”
While TBRs in the past weren’t very structured or scheduled, we did stay in constant communication with our clients. That’s where having good relationships with our customers proved fruitful, as probably 85% of our customers adopted our new nondiscounted security stack with ZERO COMPLAINTS. Just a couple of months since the workshop, we have added $14,730 in new MRR by upselling our new security in these TBRs! And we still have a few TBRs left, so that number will be climbing.
What really surprised us was how customers on our lowest-tier plan responded to the TBRs. While we figured they would push back, most adopted our new stack without question. In fact, several clients went from our lowest MRR to our highest-priced zero-trust packages!
Going All-In With Our Digital Marketing Presence
For $7,900 In New MRR
“Go all-in” has always been the philosophy of Nerds in a Flash. So, when we were presented with Robin’s Done-For-You social media posting for both Facebook and LinkedIn, social media retargeting ads and even their new tool called PlusThis, we said, “Let’s do it. Let’s do it ALL.”
We have consistently been posting regularly on both LinkedIn and Facebook. Our retargeting ads have pushed our “IT Buyers Guide” to interested prospects. And we improved our website to now include calls to action; a free downloadable guide, “12 Big Reasons To Choose Nerds In A Flash”; and lots of great testimonials.
These digital marketing improvements have helped to bring in 20 new discovery calls and evaluations. In our world, that’s 20 new prospects in the pipeline for contracts and 20 companies interested in Nerds! We have already signed two of them, equaling $7,900 in new MRR!
Following Robin’s Lead, We Started Showing Clients Our Appreciation
For YEARS, Shawnda and I talked about delivering appreciation gifts to our clients. Then a year would pass. And another. Then we got a sign. Not only did Robin Robins chase us with her marketing for 10 years, she covered us up in appreciation gifts when we signed with TMT. Before receiving those packages, we would probably have just delivered donuts to our clients. Now we wanted to do something they would always remember.
So, we created our own thank-you boxes, custom-designed with the Nerds in a Flash logo. Inside those quality boxes, we included a Nerds Yeti tumbler and Nerds T-shirt. It shows our clients we do truly care about them.
From HATING Our Newsletter Process To Fast And Easy, Content-Rich Newsletters
Before working with TMT, we had already been consistently e-mailing a newsletter. I HATED the process with everything in my being! Every month was a chore to find valid content that people would actually appreciate. I would scramble for hours before we sent it, searching for any nugget of content our clients would give a crap about.
Thankfully, their newsletter process has been one of my favorite parts of Technology Marketing Toolkit. It’s so quick and simple, I don’t even have to think about it at all. Every two weeks, our Done-For-You e-mail newsletter is sent to our prospects. Then, another newsletter is e-mailed to our clients. Now I just copy and paste a link and schedule them to go out. I know our customers appreciate the quality content. We expect to start mailing a printed monthly newsletter this month.
Preparing To Cure Austin-Area Headaches
Rather than dive headfirst into the Aspirin campaign (and risk doing it wrong), we decided to take our time and do it right. First, we learned the program. Next, we got set up with ZoomInfo and started cleaning our lists. We realized it’s absolutely vital to clean your lists since ZoomInfo showed our company had 30 employees and several people who have never worked here – WRONG! Finally, we just hired an appointment-setter firm. So, now we are officially READY.
While we just sent out a small batch of Aspirin letters this week, we will soon be mailing out 200 consistently to Austin engineering and construction firms every week.
Adding Penetration Tests To Our Discovery Calls
Prior to the Houston Roadshow, we had never heard of Galactic Scan and had never done penetration tests. After the Roadshow, we immediately adopted their service. It’s clear that running a penetration test gives an impression of thoroughness. When you hand a prospective client their Galactic Scan report and go through it page by page, it plants a seed of doubt that their current IT company is not providing adequate protection.
We presented these penetration scans on four different discovery calls. Although none of those prospects became clients, they were all very appreciative of the eye-opening data. Going forward, these scans will remain part of our discovery process.
“Just Do Something”
During the Roadshow, as well as throughout the 12 weeks of the Rapid Implementation Program, we heard a common theme: “Just do something.” Stop second-guessing. Stop overthinking. Stop fighting the system. Stop letting your demons and mind blocks win. Actions drive results. So, just make those phone calls. Just get those letters out. Just do something.
These Nerds Just Grew By Nearly $300,000 A Year!
(And We’re Just Getting Started)
Skepticism is what holds all of us back. We considered working with Robin Robins for 10 years. While we weren’t skeptics of her program, we were skeptical that anything could beat the advertising we had been doing for years. Then, after attending her Roadshow, we discovered a way to increase our business by about 20%! Blown away, we figured that if a free show could help grow our business that much, imagine what might happen if we went all in.
We have LOVED learning so, so, so much in this program. They are right when they say, “It’s like drinking from a firehose.” But if you put in the work, you WILL learn it. For us, putting in the work has enabled us to add $24,796.57 in NEW MRR – $297,558.84 a year – in just THREE months!
TMT Member: To access all the campaign examples mentioned by this month’s Marketing Genius Of The Month, click here or go to the Dashboard under the Marketing Strategy Brief resource and access them there.
If you’re not a member and want hundreds or growth systems for your MSP and want to see how to get started, click here and you’ll get the 4 marketing oil wells an MSP needs to get 1 to 2 new high-profit clients each month.
