Share with the world 🙏One of the hardest parts of MSP marketing is getting a prospect to take the first paid step.
Asking somebody to replace their current IT provider is a big decision. Even when there are frustrations with the existing relationship, changing MSP can feel disruptive and the problems may not seem serious enough to justify moving everything to somebody new.
So instead of trying to sell the full managed services contract straight away, give them something smaller to buy first.
That is where a stepping stone product comes in.
What is a stepping stone product in MSP marketing?
A stepping stone product is a defined, paid piece of work that somebody can buy without committing to a long-term relationship with your MSP.
It could be an assessment, an audit, a strategy session or a specific project.
The scope should be clear, the price should feel accessible and the customer should receive something useful at the end of it.
Charging for it matters too.
Free assessments can generate interest, but paying for something creates a different level of commitment. The prospect has chosen to invest money with your business and becomes a customer, even if the initial engagement is relatively small.
More importantly, they get to experience what working with your MSP is like before considering a bigger commitment.
Why do stepping stone products work for MSP prospects?
A common challenge with MSP lead generation is that you are trying to persuade a business to reconsider a relationship it already has.
They may know their existing provider has weaknesses. They may have concerns that are not being addressed. But there is still comfort in familiarity.
Better the devil you know.
A smaller paid service reduces that barrier because the prospect does not need to make an immediate decision about their entire IT relationship.
They are simply buying help with one specific issue.
That gives your team an opportunity to demonstrate expertise and understand more about the business. The work may also highlight gaps in their current setup that had previously gone unnoticed.
Do a great job on that first project and the next discussion becomes much easier.
Why AI makes a strong stepping stone product right now
AI is particularly well suited to this approach.
Business owners are hearing about it constantly. Employees are already experimenting with tools and there is an understandable concern about competitors getting ahead.
At the same time, plenty of businesses still do not have a clear idea of what sensible AI adoption should look like.
Their existing MSP may not be helping them answer that question either.
That creates an opportunity to start a relationship without asking the business to replace its current IT provider.
An AI readiness assessment, for example, could establish how AI is already being used across the business, identify where it could genuinely be useful and highlight anything that needs addressing before adoption goes further.
Another option is helping the business create an AI policy, giving employees clear guidance around approved tools, company data and acceptable use.
These are current problems that businesses want help solving. They are also easy to buy without creating the impression that you are immediately trying to take over the incumbent MSP relationship.
That makes the first yes considerably easier.
How do you turn a small MSP project into a longer-term relationship?
The stepping stone itself still needs to be good.
If somebody pays for an AI assessment, security review or strategy project, they should finish it feeling the money was well spent regardless of whether they buy anything else from you.
Use the project to educate them. Show them something useful about their business and give them recommendations they can act on.
The sales opportunity should come from the quality of the work.
During the project, you will naturally learn more about their environment and how their current provider operates. You might uncover a security issue, find an area nobody currently owns or spot a process that could work better.
Those findings can create future opportunities because the prospect now has a clearer understanding of where the gaps are and has already seen how your team approaches them.
We use the same approach in our own MSP marketing
Our Jetstream strategy consultation at Wingman works on a similar principle.
A business does not need to commit immediately to a long-term marketing programme with us. They can pay a smaller fee upfront and work with us on their strategy first.
They receive useful work, we get to understand their business properly and both sides find out what working together is like.
More than 90% of businesses that go through that strategy process with us then move into a longer-term engagement.
By that point, the relationship feels very different from a prospect evaluating a proposal from an agency they barely know.
They have already seen the quality of the work.
Give your MSP marketing an easier first step
If the only thing somebody can buy from your MSP is a full managed services agreement, you are asking them to make a sizeable decision before they have experienced much of what makes you different.
A stepping stone product gives them another route in.
Look at the areas your prospects are currently asking about or getting little guidance on from their existing provider. AI offers an obvious opportunity at the moment, but the same approach can work elsewhere in your service offering.
Choose a genuine problem you can solve through a clearly defined project. Put a sensible price against it and make sure the customer receives something worthwhile.
Wow them on the smaller project and the conversation about a longer-term relationship becomes far easier.
