The goal of every MSP should be to have a list of “warm prospects” These are prospects that you know a lot about and they know something about you. You feel they are an “A” prospect that you are determined to do business with. Ultimately, you would like to have 250 of these types of prospects. We call this the warm 250! You can spend more marketing dollars on these high-quality prospects and work to build a business relationship with each of them.
Building your Warm 250 isn’t easy, especially if it’s your first go-round. There’s a lot to stay on top of when it comes to building and managing your Warm 250, but once you get the hang of it, closing more deals at the right price will become second nature to you and your salespeople.
If you don’t have a prospect database, build one today. (I’m not kidding!) Drop everything you’re doing and find some time in your schedule to start the process. Your prospect database is essentially a stockpile of market information at your fingertips.
In other words — your database is gold!
But your work isn’t done after you build your prospect database — not by a long shot. What many MSPs fail to realize is that simple and efficient prospect management is essential to closing not just more customers, but also customers at the right price. Categorizing leads is your next step, and it’s one many MSPs forget about.
Separating your leads is important because you need a way to focus and track the leads with the most potential in your database. If you’re unaware, there are basically four types of leads: Suspects, Prospects, Warm 250, and Hot. While all four lead types make up the sales funnel, your leads in the last two groups are ripe for signing.
For the purpose of this blog post, I’d like to focus on your Warm 250.
While your Warm 250 is only part of your prospect database, it’s an important one. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears go into building this category. It contains your best and warmest prospects, all of whom fit your ideal customer profile, in terms of size, location and MRR.
Additionally, you know a lot about the businesses in your Warm 250, for your centers of influences (COIs) and first-time appointments (FTAs) are typically your two primary sources of your Warm 250. Leads in your Warm 250 are an ideal fit for your client portfolio, aware of who you are and what you can provide, and have been reframed. They usually are also returning prospects. The good news for you? They’re in the market to buy. These are the accounts you should spend some of your marketing dollars on!
I frequently get asked, “How often should I follow-up with my Warm 250 prospects?” The simple answer is at least quarterly, but here’s the thing: World-Class MSPs follow up with their Warm 250 prospects more often, and they don’t just follow up with phone calls (so put those phones down!).
World-Class MSPs also send emails to their Warm 250 prospects to highlight client success stories and hold webinars to educate prospects about the benefits of working with an MSP. Most importantly, they seek to add value to their prospects and build business relationships in sincere ways.
Your Warm 250 isn’t something you can set and forget. Your goal should be to improve quality, not quantity once you hit 250 leads. You must update and clean up your list on a regular basis. If you don’t, your Warm 250 isn’t going to be of any use to you or your salespeople.
It takes a lot to build and manage your Warm 250, but once you commit, selling will become a whole lot easier.
