Your MSP growth habit for February: focus on social proof

Last month, I introduced a new blog series for 2023 that aims to focus on how we can do a better job of making our New Year resolutions stick. Why do so many resolutions fail? Because we attempt to do too much, too quickly. We place too much pressure on ourselves to change EVERYTHING we don’t like, which can then become overwhelming to manage and keep up with.

So in last month’s blog, I proposed an alternative approach: instead of making wholesale changes on January 1^st, I proposed focusing on just one habit instead and dedicating the entire month to entrenching that one habit into your daily routine. Check out my list of the 12 MSP growth habits that I am going to write about this year.

The MSP growth habit I wrote about first focused on ‘Never Stop Learning’.  Now that we are into the month of February, I want MSPs to focus on finding love. Meaning that I want you to spend the month of February reaching out to your new and existing customers and working on building up your war-chest of social proof with respect to your MSP.

What is social proof?

If you haven’t heard of the term ‘social proof’, it’s the theory that explains how business owners in today’s environment make their purchasing decisions—and often times, their purchasing decisions are based upon what others think about the product or service they are considering buying. Social proof is crucial from a prospecting and business-building perspective, because if a business owner is unsure about a particular product or service, or unsure about partnering with a specific organization, they will proactively seek out recommendations and reviews from others to see what their experiences has been. 

If everything they read or hear during their research is seemingly positive, they are more likely to proceed with making that purchase from that organization. Now more than ever, other peoples’ recommendations and endorsements tend to be considered more trustworthy than what advertising alone can deliver.   

According to Nielsen, 92% of customers trust peer recommendations, and other unpaid recommendations, above all other forms of advertising.

So, if one of your goals for 2023 is to drive more leads into your sales funnel, then you will want to closely examine how well your MSP is being perceived—both online and out in the broader community.  And if there isn’t much being written about you, then make the effort this month to reach out and connect with your best and most loyal customers and ask them if they could write something nice about your MSP that can be shared via your marketing. 

Here are four of the easiest and most effective forms of social proof to seek out this month:

1. User Reviews and Testimonials

When it comes to user reviews and testimonials, these are the easiest and quickest forms of social proof to collect, and then so much can be done with them afterwards. They can be repurposed into many other pieces of content that you can use within your social proof marketing. 

Your customers want to have the opportunity to say great things about you—you just need to make it a point to ask them. It isn’t in our nature to offer positive feedback proactively, but if we are asked for a recommendation by a business that we have a great relationship with, we will generally gladly give it.  So if your Google Reviews have been stagnant recently, or if the testimonials on your website are a bit dated and could use a freshen up, reach out and ask your loyal customers if they would be willing write something positive about you that you can post to your website, or in your social feeds. When it comes to switching MSPs, it can be a scary proposition for many business owners, but if prospects can read or hear nice things about how great your MSP is to work with from other businesses in their industry, or area, it makes the thought of switching much less risky for them. 

2. Customer Referrals

If you have any QBRs lined up this month, do you make it a habit at the end of every review meeting to ask for referrals? Provided it was a productive QBR and the customer is pleased with the level of service your MSP is providing, this is the optimal time to seek out client referrals.  

To help make it easier for your customers, come prepared to each QBR with a list of four or five key companies that you would like to do business with, and ask your customer if they happen to know anyone at any of those companies that they wouldn’t mind putting you in touch with? That way, you are not putting your customer on the spot, but rather are offering them industry names to reflect on. A referral from one business owner to another goes along way in building credibility and is one of the highest forms of love and respect one business can show to another business.

3. Expert’s Stamp of Approval

Getting an expert’s ‘stamp of approval’ is when you can leverage a well-known, influential customer in your particular market niche to talk highly about you and endorse your MSP’s services. 

How to put this into practice: Maybe you are an MSP that services the legal industry, and one of your legal customers happens to be considered THE most prominent legal firm in your area. Reach out to them and offer to do a ‘customer spotlight’ on them, with video and pictures and give them the opportunity to talk about themselves and their business, and secrets to their success. Encourage them to emphasize that one of those ‘trade secrets’ is ensuring they engage in the right types of partnerships—where one of those strategic partnerships is with your MSP and have them talk about how you have been instrumental in helping their business grow.   

You can then showcase this prominent client on your website and social media posts. The aim here is if other legal firms in the area see that this prominent firm is utilizing your services to help propel their business forward, it might motivate them to consider switching over to your MSP—the thought-process is: “well if they are the most successful legal firm in the city and they are using the services of this particular MSP, then maybe we should too.”

4. Credentials

Similar to the expert’s stamp of approval, business credentials can help bolster a prospect’s trust and help to de-risk the decision-making process if they are considering switching MSPs. 

How to put this into practice: Ask your best customers (especially if you are an MSP that services a particular market or vertical), if you can add their logo to your website. This will help you showcase how many of the well-known organizations in your vertical or area your MSP can proudly count as customers.

Alternatively, if you’re an MSP that has won a local business or industry award, be sure to showcase your awards on your website to help differentiate and highlight how you are a step-above the local competition. Or if you haven’t won any awards, go searching for ones that you can nominate yourself for.

So, if it’s been a while since you have sought love and appreciation from your customers, then use the month of February to ask your customers for their help in bolstering the amount of reviews, testimonials, and referrals they give you. Your best customers want to be supportive of your business and want to see your MSP thrive—you just need to reach out and ask them.   

Stefanie Hammond is Head Sales and Marketing Nerd at N‑able. You can follow her on LinkedIn and on Twitter at @sales_mktg_nerd.