Starting your first company is always a huge leap into the unknown. You will learn a lot of things about the industry you’re jumping into, as well as about yourself as a business owner. But you can’t leave everything to chance if you’re thinking of starting an MSP (managed service provider) company. It can be a tricky business to start. But, for certain people, it can be a great business to start too. It enables you to tap into a growing sector and make plenty of money.
However, there are some questions that you will need to answer before you can be sure that this is the right step for you to take. Below, you will find some key questions. By answering them and mulling them over, you should get a firmer idea of whether or not this is the kind of business you should start. So, what are you waiting for? Read on to find out more.
Do You Understand the Common Mistakes?
Before you set up this kind of business, you will need to know some of the common mistakes that get made. This is simply a case of getting to know the sector a little better before you jump in. It’s definitely useful to talk to other business owners who have already worked in this industry before you start your business. That way, you can learn from them and hear about the kinds of mistakes they made. You’ll then be able to avoid those mistake when your business is up and running.
Are You Going to be Able to Close Sales?
In this industry, the ability to close a sale is everything. It’s thought that the conversion rate is one of the lowest of any industry. So, you will have to get used to failing to seal deals. But it will till help if you have the skills required to persuade potential clients, put their mind at ease and close the sale. If you have those skills, then maybe this is the sector for you to enter into. You will also have to spend a lot of your working day chasing after clients and talking to them. And that’s after you’ve already put in the work of generating leads. You shouldn’t shy away from hard work if you want to make a success of your MSP company. It might be difficult, but hard work pays off.
Do You Know How to Take Clients to the Cloud?
If you want to run a company that acts as a platform provider, you will need to understand the cloud. Right now, most businesses and individuals are thinking about the cloud more and more. To get ahead and find success, you’re going to have to move with the times and offer relevant services. Clients will only want to do business with companies that know how to use the cloud. They will be looking for your company to direct them towards the latest cloud services that can benefit their organisation. Without that knowledge of the cloud, your MSP company will be less appealing to potential clients. So, this is something that you can’t afford to ignore.
Are You Prepared to Join an Association?
You might think that starting a business is all about going it alone and ignoring everyone else. But, in this industry, at least, that’s not the case. In fact, your business will have a huge advantage if it can become a member of an MSP association. There are many associations out there. And clients will take your company much more seriously if it can show evidence of being a member of one. It’s about much more than simply gaining the trust of your clients though. It’s all about the access to other resources that come with being a member of this kind of association. The sum of money you can save as a result is huge.
How Are You Going to Offer Something Enticing?
If you want people to take an interest in what you’re offering, it will need to be enticing and different to all the other things you’re offering. It might be a strong approach to backup, a new way of monitoring sites or something else entirely. It doesn’t matter what it is that you offer, but it needs to have a serious level of appeal. If you can achieve that, it will be impossible for people to ignore what you’re doing and saying. You can grow and expand your services later on. But when the business is still young, you should focus on getting the core things right and marketing them correctly.
Do You Understand Marketing Strategies?
Marketing strategies will be central to your new business’s approach. You won’t get very far in this sector unless you have a strong understanding of relevant marketing strategies. So, you should be careful to ensure that your approach to marketing is up to date and coherent. You’ll fail to reach out to the right people in the right way unless you have this knowledge. The fact that running a managed service provider is reliant on marketing makes it a good sector for ex-marketing experts to move into. If you are tired of your old marketing role, starting this kind of business could be the ideal solution for you.
How Will You Create a Pricing Model?
You will need to spend lots of time thinking about your company’s pricing model if you’re going to get it right. You can’t simply jump in and assume that things are going work out for your business if you have no idea how you will price your service. You need to make sure that your business has a healthy profit margin. When the profit margin is too slim in those early months, the business is too vulnerable. But if your prices are too high, you will find it more difficult to tempt clients away from other more established MSPs. It’s not easy to get that balance right, but that’s the task that you’re going to have to accomplish before you get underway.
