Seventeen years ago, Allen Krueger, Jr., took over his father’s telephony company. He always joked that they were a “new old” company because they’d been around forever but had to adjust to today’s technology needs. He has since retooled the company by transitioning from a telephony-only business and into networking, VoIP and managed services.
When I joined Allen’s team two years ago as their Director of Sales and Client Experience, I had two problems. First, the technology field was brand-new to me. Second, I didn’t know how to do marketing for an entirely new type of client and set of problems.
Perpetually Searching For That “Easy Button”
When it came to marketing, Krueger Communications did NOTHING. For decades, they relied on referrals and business networking groups, but no intentional outbound marketing. However, because we’d helped Wisconsin businesses for 63 years, we did grow to a $6 million business.
But with aggressive goals to grow to $10 million, we knew we needed a lot of help with marketing. Allen had constantly been searching for a repeatable marketing wheel with that “easy button” so we could feed the machine. It’s human nature to always look for that path of least resistance. As I started my journey here, I was determined to find it too.
It All Seemed Too Good To Be True
When Allen came to me with the idea of Technology Marketing Toolkit, I was skeptical, to say the least. I read the success stories and Genius Of The Month articles. It all just seemed too good to be true. I questioned if all of it was fabricated.
Then we went to one of TMT’s Roadshows. Suddenly, it “clicked”! We realized that all the content and marketing I had been trying to do myself was already DONE and PROVEN through Robin’s marketing! And much of the same information Robin Robins was telling us confirmed the EXACT SAME conversations we had been having with our team for weeks!
So, Allen and I asked ourselves one last question: “What does going ALL-IN look like?” That’s when we realized it consisted of the Rapid Implementation Workshop followed by 12 weeks of accountability calls, joining Accelerators Club, adopting MAP and Keap, getting a Done-For-You Website and adopting the Done-For-You List Building program.
We Booked 18 Appointments The First Week Using ONE E-mail!
The 9-Word E-mail? Two words: it WORKS! I had account managers coming to me saying, “I’ve been trying to get a hold of this person for MONTHS. Then you just send ONE e-mail, and he books an appointment! How is that even possible?” Because it doesn’t overwhelm and gets right to the point, the 9-Word E-mail SAVES TIME!
This “Gold Mine” Became Our Most Successful Marketing Initiative, Adding $500K In New Sales!
Unlike most MSPs, we have been serving clients for over 60 years. That translates to a very large book of business. As Robin told me at the Rapid Implementation Workshop, “Matt, you’re sitting on a GOLD MINE!”
However, before discovering TMT, we only loosely did quarterly business reviews (QBRs). They weren’t organized and we did them maybe once a year if we were lucky. So, at the workshop, my peers challenged us to conduct business reviews for our managed clients every quarter for the first year.
The amount of success that comes out of just organizing your QBR process is insane. From the 90ish e-mails we sent out to clients, we booked 43 meetings immediately! This really gave us the platform to establish a foundation for the first time, which became our MOST SUCCESSFUL marketing initiative by far.I could not believe the results as these QBRs added $500,000 in project sales and another $4,000 in new MRR!
Drip Tips Keep Clients And Prospects From Drifting Away While Adding $8,300 In New MRR
Our 90 clients contracted for one year became the perfect playground to fine-tune our approach with the Drip Tips E-mail Campaign. Every week, these clients received a tip via e-mail that centers on technology and cyber security. Using Keap, we were amazed to see the number of opened e-mails and activity.
The Drip Tips WORK, as we got our first big win! We converted one of our telephony clients to a managed services plan that added $4,500 in MRR. This effective drip marketing campaign keeps MSPs “tied to the dock” so they don’t drift away from being top of mind. Just last week, this campaign also helped close a $3,800 MRR client!
Doing The “Advil” Campaign All Wrong… And It STILL WORKED!
Will Nobles suggested that we start with Robin’s Aspirin campaign since that’s where a lot of MSPs have success. My first test with the Aspirin campaign was nowhere close to correct. No cleaned list. No aspirin attached to the letter. No bright-colored envelope. No red stamp. And worst of all, no follow-up. Of the 82 letters we mailed, a whopping 27 came back as undeliverable! Yet, somehow we STILL ended up with an appointment.
Then we got on the ball. First, we switched ours to an Advil campaign. We affixed Advil packets on the letters and put our branding on them as well. June started our first month that we consistently sent out 25 letters each week. Plus, we’re doing EVERYTHING correctly, including the follow-up calls and e-mails. As a result, we expect to close TWO MORE CLIENTS this month! Our goal with our Advil campaign is to secure an appointment or feed them into our Drip Tips e-mails.
Because of the success of the campaign, we are using it to replace some of the abusive clients we have. After all, adding MRR but being miserable with the clients you have is not a success.
So, I’ve tasked my team with building up our Dream 100 client list. Each week, they identify five Wisconsin companies and let me know why they would love to work with them. Then I run those businesses through my marketing administrator to clean the list. We get the owner’s name, e-mail addresses, phone number and physical address and plug them into Keap so they can receive our marketing and Advil campaign.
Trust The Process… And Just Do It!
While it sounds cliché, my advice to any MSP owner is “Just do it.” Just do the list building. Do the Aspirin campaign. Do the drip marketing. Do the website, Shock-And-Awe box and ESPECIALLY do the QBRs. Because the longer you wait and the more you try to tackle it all on your own, the longer you’re delaying what your results could be. Once we started letting go and trusting the process, we knew the marketing would resonate with right-fit clients. So far it has!
I often wonder if Allen Krueger, Sr., searched for that “easy button” for decades. I know his son was looking for it for many years. In fact, when I joined the team, I too was on a mission to find it. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t exist.
I quickly learned that this marketing journey is tough, relentless and challenges you at every turn. But once the results start coming in, like adding $576,000 in new sales, $8,335 in new MRR and transitioning out abusive clients and replacing them with right-fit clients, it’s so worth it. As Better Your Best winner Mike Bazar put it, “One in a row is a win.” So, we keep winning. And today, we’re building on momentum unlike anything I’ve seen before.
