Genuine loyalty or inertia? 5 ways to delight your MSP’s clients (for FREE)

Most MSPs I meet are rightly proud of how long their clients stay with them.

You’ll hear it all the time. “We’ve still got our first ever client from 10 years ago.” “Our retention rate is 97.4446%.”

And on the surface, that’s awesome. Until you realise that some of that loyalty is just inertia.

For an ordinary business owner or manager, moving to a new MSP is a massive hassle. It’s complicated, risky, and they don’t really understand the tech side anyway. So even when they’re not 100% happy, staying with an MSP they don't like so much (but do know very well) is easier.

I call this inertia loyalty, and it can give you a false sense of security.

The moment a competitor calls at just the right time, or your main contact leaves, or you make a mistake, that inertia disappears. Suddenly the client who would never leave has gone.

If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it probably will at some point. Sorry!

The fix is to turn clients into bonded clients... the kind who stay because they want to. And you can start this week without spending a penny.

Here are five free ways to delight clients.

1) Call them about anything except tech

Skip the ticket review and the project update. Have a short, friendly catch up instead. Ask how the business is doing, what’s changed and what they’re focusing on.

You don’t need an account manager for this. One call a week to a different client adds up to 52 conversations a year. If you're handling fewer than 52 clients, that's manageable, right?

Some of those calls will uncover problems you can solve, which means extra revenue for you and a happier client. Other calls will just strengthen your bond with the client.

2) Tell them what you’ve prevented

MSPs are brilliant at stopping bad things from happening. And terrible at telling anyone about it.

Silence breaks trust. And clients rarely know what DIDN'T go wrong because of you. So send a quick email saying “we caught this before it became a problem”. If you fixed it for another client first and used that knowledge to protect someone else, tell them.

3) Fix one teeny tiny little annoyance

True delight comes from removing friction on the smallest things. Think clearer instructions, better handovers, cleaner emails and more obvious next steps.

Think fixing that printer error that's been bugging them for a year and which no one wants to fix because everyone hates printer errors 😃

They won’t send you a thank you email when you make something easier. But they’ll feel it, and those feelings add up over time.

Ask your team this week what small things you could do for each of your clients.

4) Celebrate their milestones

Note down client anniversaries, staff birthdays and big business wins. Stick the dates in your CRM. Then send a message or a card.

It's simple but effective. If you really want to stand out for this, do something more time consuming like sending a handwritten card. Or donuts.

In my last business I used to send clients huge cakes with a picture of me and my team printed on edible icing. We were holding up a giant sign and we'd Photoshop in a message before printing.

5) Ask for feedback, then act on it

Skip the survey and have an actual conversation. “Hey, how are we doing? Is there anything we could do to make life easier for you?”

Then tell them when you’ve done something about it. Clients really do remember that.

Which of these 5 would you try first? Let me know. I read and reply to every email 😃