What’s the secret to keeping your clients locked down tight – so tight that no rival MSP can steal them away? In this blog, I’ll be covering strategies that we used when we were an MSP to create client loyalty that rivals couldn’t break.

Nowadays, the MSP market is extremely competitive: I’m sure if you’re reading this, you know what I’m talking about! A lot of MSPs are concerned about competitors taking their clients away from them, and it’s a valid concern.

When we were an MSP, we found a powerful tool that can give you a major edge in keeping your clients: can you guess it based on our company name? Of course, I’m talking about the cloud.

If you’re ready to stop competitors in their tracks and secure your customers, then read on!

First and Foremost: Take Care Of Your Clients!

It doesn’t matter what you do if you’re not taking care of your customers! If they’re unhappy, there’s no strategy that’s going to work…

You need to make sure that you’re taking care of your clients and doing what they need as far as technology is concerned. The cloud strategy we are going to discuss next in this blog is just another layer on top of providing great customer service to your customers and prospects!

If you’re already doing this, you’re ready to move on to the next section.

The Cloud Difference

There are still a lot of MSPs out there that aren’t utilizing cloud or aren’t even aware of it!

This lack of knowledge typically makes MSPs very wary about taking on a customer that’s already in the cloud. That’s good for your MSP!

Once you’ve moved to the cloud and your customer is set up in the environment, it becomes part of their daily operations. This creates stickiness and a dependency that, in general, most clients are not willing to break! Your competitors would have to offer something massive that you’re not, and if you’re properly taking care of your clients, I don’t know what that would be.

This brings up the question: how do you make your cloud offering sticky enough to protect against another MSP poaching your clients?

The answer is to do a lot more than just the basics.

Differentiating Your Cloud Offering

If you use a generic cloud solution like Azure, it’s very easy for another MSP to take over. To differentiate our offering, we always used our own data centers, our own environments, and our own servers! This made it very difficult for another MSP to take that over.

By tailoring your cloud offering beyond the generic options, you’re showing your clients that you’re watching what they’re doing and that you care about it. If someone else tries to take them over, they’ve got to match up to their environment, which the majority of MSPs will not be able to do!

Remember, your clients aren’t looking to make things harder for themselves: they’re too busy on a day-to-day basis to worry about switching to something unknown and potentially disrupting their operational processes.

Start Building Your Cloud Barrier Today!

When utilized correctly, cloud isn’t just a technology: it’s a relationship building tool for your MSP! When you offer cloud that’s really integrated into one of your customer’s businesses, it moves you from a vendor to a strategic partner in your client’s mind.

Creating a cloud barrier may sound bad, but it’s actually a net positive for you and your clients: it’s about protecting your MSP and everything you’ve done for your client, all while showing them what you’ve done and what you will continue to do for them!

Today, I’m going to leave you with this quote from Steve Jobs: “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close, in fact, that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.”

Have a great week!