If you’re running a sales campaign for your MSP business, one thing is certain: not all of your prospects are going to be the right fit. This is expected, and you should plan for a portion of your outreach to not hit the mark. However, if you’re seeing more than 10-15% of your prospects being a total miss, you’ve likely got a problem with your list. Getting that right is foundational to your success.
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The Numbers Don’t Lie
Let’s say you sent a campaign to 200 people and 50% of the list was wrong—invalid addresses, unqualified leads, or otherwise irrelevant contacts. In that case, it’s obvious: you need to clean up your list. But if you’ve cleaned your list, targeted 210 people, and found only 10-20 outliers, then you’re within a reasonable margin of error. Getting in front of 30% of the people you reached out to is a great start! This means your process is working, and that’s the power of using numbers to troubleshoot your sales efforts.
What’s alarming, however, is if you’ve sent your message out to 60 qualified people and not a single one bites. This is where you need to dig deeper into your messaging. Are you saying the right things? You should at least get a few responses, even if they aren’t ready to sign on the dotted line just yet. The goal is to generate interest.
Dialing In On Your Sales Process
Let me tell you, if your team isn’t making enough calls, you’re already missing quota. I’ve seen this with my own team—some of our appointment setters were only making 50 calls a day when the goal should have been 100 or more. If you’re not hitting your daily dial targets, you’re simply not going to hit your sales numbers. It’s math.
But it’s not just about quantity; quality matters too. I had two SDRs working the same list, using the same offer, script, and everything else identical. One SDR was getting to the decision-maker only 5% of the time, while the other was connecting 35% of the time. The difference? The SDR. This is where you need to analyze and figure out what’s working for the top performer. Replicate that success!
When one SDR is making great progress and another is lagging behind, it’s time to dig into the details. Are they asking the right questions? How’s their tonality? Do they exude confidence when speaking to prospects? Often, it’s not even the script that’s the issue—it’s the delivery.
Small Sample Size, Big Impact
Another thing to keep in mind is that a small sample size—like 210 cold leads—is just that: small. If this were a warm list of clients or people you’ve already engaged with, the results would look different. With cold leads, you should expect lower engagement rates, but that doesn’t mean you stop. Don’t get discouraged.
Every MSP business owner needs to approach a new marketing initiative with the mindset that you’ll keep tweaking and refining until it works. If you’re constantly refining your list, measuring your outreach metrics, and honing in on what’s being said during those crucial phone calls, you’ll find the winning formula. But it’s a process, and persistence is key.
By focusing on the right metrics—call volume, decision-maker connection rate, and conversion rates—you can troubleshoot the problem areas and, most importantly, find out what works. Then, do more of that!
