Not All Relatives Are Qualified IT People – But Can You Win The Business?

Calling on small business? Your prospect’s IT is being managed by their nephew, brother-in-law, or some other relative. Can you win this business? What should you do?

I get this question all the time. They’re related, but you know the IT guy isn’t qualified to handle today’s IT demands. You have people, certs, vendor relations, and a strong track record in MSP services. But winning this deal seems impossible. What should you do?

First, Don’t Compete Head to Head…You Can’t Win That Way

Trying to get the nephew fired never works. So don’t.

Instead, change the rules…

This is where security really shines. Their nephew (or cousin, brother, mother’s sisters’s son’s brother-in-law…I could go on) isn’t going to say, “you’re better”, and they probably don’t want to destroy family relationships (even if they see your value).

However, getting them to admit they could use a third-party security review (where you include, not stomp on, the relative) isn’t hard…

Next, Introduce The Stuff They Can’t Provide, But Need

From there, your best bet is to work alongside to remediate, but introduce MSSP technology – not available to that relative. (Use my assessment template below and you’re sure to uncover some urgent stuff!)

An endpoint security solution, backed by a SOC (Security Operations Center) can’t be easily matched, but does complement that IT person’s role. If the company’s big enough, a SIEM solution can be added. While label someone else’s solution unless you’ve made a big investment to build one of these…

Years ago, while running a technology services company, our small firm managed to break into Michelin, Visa, First Union, and other whale-size accounts, by keeping our eye only on those security niche offerings others weren’t providing.

Over time we crept into product and services sales, showing the client savings by working with one provider capable of doing the entire IT thing. (Some patience pays off here).

Will they always let you expand your business? No…

However, the money is in the high-valued services, not patching Windows machines. And if their server ever does crash, you just might see them becoming one of the 55% – those who can’t actually recover from a backup.

P.S. This all starts with the security assessment – check out my simple high-conversion template here. It’s free just for reading this far!

Need help selling high-margin security? Read The House & The Cloud…