MSP marketing SPECIAL: Convert relationships

[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is an MSP Marketing Podcast special. [00:00:05] Speaker A: Hello and Happy New Year and welcome to our final special episode of this podcast. We're finishing a three part series this week. Last year I released my book MSP Marketing Start here, about a three step lead generation system which is trusted by hundreds and hundreds of MSPs around the world. In the first special, we looked at the first step, build audiences. Last week was the second step, grow relationships. And today, starting 2026, we're going to do the final step, Convert Relationships. Powered by MSP marketingedge.com Paul Green's MSP Marketing Podcast let me paint a picture. You've built your audience, you've nurtured your relationships. But now what? How do you turn all of that goodwill into actually clients without feeling pushy, desperate or salesy? Because no MSP wants to be like that. Well, that is where step three comes in. Convert relationships. I like to think of this stage as harvesting farming. You've spent months planting seeds. Every post, every email, every conversation. And now it's time to gently shake the tree and see what's ready to fall out. And I say gently because good sales isn't about pressure, it's all about timing. Remember, business owners only switch MSPs when they are ready, not when you are ready or you need more mrr. So your job is to make sure that when that readiness appears, when they finally get fed up with their current incumbent msp, you are the first person that they think of. And that's why conversion is as much about staying in touch as it is about asking for the business. There are a few practical ways to do this. The first is personal outreach. And by that I mean a phone call. But here's the trick. It shouldn't come from you. So I'm assuming that you're the business owner and you've already got a million other things to do, right? So hire someone, even if that person is part time, to just make those calls for you. A back to work mom is great for this. Someone working two to three hours a day, two to three days a week, and you want someone warm, friendly and curious. Their job is not to sell it support, it's just to have conversations on your behalf. Things like, hey, we connected on LinkedIn a while ago. Or you connected with my boss on LinkedIn a while ago. How's business going? Something super simple like that. Something human that starts and maintains and builds relationships that can turn into video calls. That's the thing. Her job is to book a video call with you. A 10 to 15 minute video call and then you do the hard work of turning the video call into a real sales meeting. Now the other way that you can do this is through marketing campaigns. And I'm not talking about the one off hit and hope campaigns that we all get tempted by or that we get from vendors. And you think, oh, this is brilliant. And you do one piece of activity and then you're kind of upset that nothing happens from that. I'm talking about systematic outreach marketing campaigns that build on the relationship that you're building with your prospects. So things like sending a physical letter out to a batch of prospects and then following that up with an email the next day saying, hey, did you get my letter? And then making a friendly follow up call later in the week. Now this stuff is old school, but I promise you it works. Because most MSPs don't bother doing this. They rely entirely on digital marketing. And that means that prospects are drowning in digital noise, but they're not drowning in real life marketing assets. So a well written letter or a postcard with their name on it, that really cuts through. It feels personal, it feels different, and it sparks conversations. And then there's one of my favorite tactics, the printed newsletter. Every month you send one to your dream 100. These are the hundred hottest prospects that you would love to have as clients. And it doesn't have to be glossy, it just has to be real. Write about what's happening in your world or share short tech tips. Talk about the humans in your team. The goal isn't to sell in this, it's just to stay top of mind. Because when they finally reach the point, when they're ready to switch MSPs, they won't Google it. They'll just reach for the person they already like and trust. And that should be you. Because the truth is, converting relationships isn't one big moment. It's a series of small nudges. You build trust through consistency. You create curiosity through human contact. And and you stay visible until the timing's right. And then when the stars align, it feels effortless. So at this exciting time of the year where it feels like there's this huge opportunity, the whole of 2026 ahead of us, take a moment to look at your pipeline. Who are the people that already like you, who's opened your last few emails, who comments on your posts or keep showing up on your radar? Those are your warmest opportunities. And you don't need a big sales campaign to move them forward. You just need to have a conversation, send a message, pick up the phone and say, hey, how's everything going? Anything you need help with this year? Because that's it. Sometimes the lightest touch opens the biggest doors. Because in the end, marketing, your MSP is just relationship building at scale. And sales is simply the next step in that relationship. If you've done the first two steps well, if you've built your audience and nurtured your relationships, and then conversion doesn't feel awkward, it feels natural because you've earned it. And that's how you grow an MSP that wins clients every single month without chasing, spamming, or shouting. You just stay human, consistent and present. That's the system, that's the magic, and that's your mission for the year ahead. A reminder that if you want to go into more detail in this, it's all in the book. MSP Marketing, start here. It's on Amazon as a paperback and a Kindle and. And also on Audible. Coming up, coming up next week. Okay, next week it's back to the normal show, and I'm gonna be asking whether free is still a valid marketing tactic. By that I mean giving away free stuff. Does it completely devalue what you do at the start of a relationship, or does it still have huge value? See you then. For MSPs around the world. Around the world, the MSP Marketing podcast with Paul Green.