It’s abundantly clear that in order for an MSP to stay ahead in 2020, you have to focus on selling to very small businesses (VSBs). Make no mistake, though – this isn’t a “Ready? Go!” kind of task. 

To effectively sell to VSBs, you must know the buyer’s persona. You’re aware of the basic differences between SMBs and VSBs, but you’re not marketing to a business without a face. Your customer is a VSB decision maker who we’ll refer to as Martin on Main Street from here on out. If you want to get Martin’s attention, you’ve got to understand who he is and what he needs. 

The Making of Martin on Main Street

That “who and what” can be broken down into more granular categories, which define the buyer persona that is Martin. A buyer persona is a profile that represents your target client. In this case, that’s the owner of the VSB. Let’s start with a template that will help you define exactly who Martin is: 

• Demographics. How old is Martin? Is he usually a particular gender or ethnicity?
• Martin’s likes. What makes Martin’s life easier? What motivates him in his role as the VSB owner? This could include business-related preferences such as “having enough staff for the amount of work needed” as well as those that are more personal such as “work/life balance.”
• Martin’s dislikes. What does Martin steer clear of? Is there anything that turns him off? Martin may not be a fan of meaningless technology buzzwords or new technologies that are difficult to understand.
• Martin’s pain points. These are the things that keep Martin awake at night and maybe even prevent him from doing his job. A big one we know is on every Martin’s list: wearing all the hats.
• Challenges with Martin. These will be your sticking points when trying to sell to Martin. They’re not his challenges – they’re yours. For VSBs, this one is guaranteed: Martin is the sole decision-maker. While this will work in your favor in many cases, there are a few situations in which convincing one-man Martin will be a hard sell.
• The ideal Martin. In a perfect world, what would the Martin who buys your services look like? He’s probably agreeable, trusting, and has a baseline knowledge of the technologies he needs to run his business.
• The not ideal Martin. This is the version of Martin you need to be prepared for. Martin may not see the ROI in the services you have to offer, or he may feel more comfortable sticking with his legacy technology. 

Build Your Own Martin

Before you run out the door trying to drum up VSB sales, spend some time defining who Martin on Main Street is for you. The best way to do this is by analyzing your existing customer base. Who are the decision makers, and what are their likes, dislikes, and pain points? You can send customers online surveys and conduct in-person or phone interviews. This provides clarity on who Martin is at your target VSBs.

The more real data you use to create Martin’s buyer persona, the better. Study his behavior and get to know his needs and goals. Doing so will help create messaging that grabs his attention and gets you more VSB sales with recurring revenue. 

If you want more information about how to customize your efforts to the buyer persona of Martin, contact D3UC. We’ll give you all the resources and support you need to keep your business growing in 2020 and beyond.