Datto challenging MSP sales and marketing assumptions

Datto is challenging the assumption that MSPs need to invest heavily in sales and marketing activities warning smaller firms to be careful before they pour money into growing their teams.

The vendor is holding an event in London where it will cover sales and marketing issues having seen that according to its own MSP research that those areas remain challenges for a lot of managed service providers.

A lot of the smaller MSPs do not have sizeable sale teams or a developed marketing department and the advice from Datto is to carefully consider what steps to take next.

"For a lot of MSPs there is not a sales operation and they do not have a marketing presence and a lot of the sales are driven by referrals and word of mouth. That is a highly commendable model but you are going to hit a growth cieling," said Christian Nagele, director of EMEA strategy, Datto.

But he said that rushing out to recruit sales staff was not always the best course of action and there had to be a strategy and a clear understanding of the costs.

"You have to know what your financial exposure is going to be, what cash reserves are and be prepared to make mistakes," he added.

Nagele will also be looking to un couple sales from marketing ad make sure that MSPs viewed them as distinct activities.

"You have to get your marketing right before you invest in sales. You can invest a lot in sales people without having the collateral or investment to support them," he added.

Datto found in both of its most recent EMEA MSP surveys that sales and marketing was one of the biggest challenges and there was a lot of discussion about how best to run a business but there was a limited understanding of what was required of an SME focused managed service player.