From Seeds to Success: The Black Bamboo Secret to Growing Your MSP

What does black bamboo have to do with growing your MSP? More than you might think!

When I ran my MSP, I learned firsthand that sustainable growth doesn’t happen overnight. It’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day operations and forget about the long game. But trust me, if you’re not nurturing your prospects today, you’re setting yourself up for stagnation tomorrow! To explain why, let me tell you a story about black bamboo.

Black bamboo is a rare and beautiful plant, but what makes it truly remarkable is how it grows. When you plant black bamboo seeds, it looks like nothing is happening. For four years, you water it, nurture it, and tend to the soil—but above ground, there’s no visible progress. Most people would give up!

 But beneath the surface, the bamboo is developing an extensive root system. Then, in the fifth year, it suddenly shoots up 90 feet in just six weeks! Years of unseen effort finally pay off in an explosion of growth.

Why MSP Growth Works the Same Way

Sound familiar? Growing an MSP is exactly the same! It can feel like you’re putting in all this work—sending emails, hosting webinars, making calls—and seeing little return. But trust me: that effort is laying the groundwork.

Every interaction with a prospect is like watering that bamboo. You’re building trust and credibility, and when the conditions are right, your growth will skyrocket!

In the early days of offering cloud services, most of our prospects had never even heard of the cloud. We spent years educating the market, hosting seminars, publishing content, and showing up at industry events. It felt slow at first, but as cloud adoption grew, prospects came to us because they had already learned from us.

We had earned their trust, and when they were ready, they didn’t hesitate to choose us!

The Importance of Nurturing Prospects

prospects are always evaluating you. They’re comparing you to competitors, deciding whether they can trust you with their IT needs. If you’re not consistently showing up and providing value, someone else will… And let’s not forget—most prospects aren’t ready to buy immediately. Research shows that only a small percentage of leads are in the ‘ready to buy’ phase: the rest are still weighing their options.

 If you’re not nurturing them during this phase, you risk losing them to someone who is!

How to Effectively Nurture Your Prospects

Educate Your Audience

First, educate. Share valuable content, like blog posts, case studies, and industry insights. Create videos that address your prospects’ pain points and show how your services solve them. Your goal is to be seen as a trusted advisor, not just a salesperson.

Build Structured Nurturing Campaigns

Second, build structured nurturing campaigns. One of our most successful campaigns targeted businesses in disaster-prone areas, educating them about the importance of cloud solutions.

We started with an email asking, “How is your business protected from fires?” followed by a letter about fire-proofing with the cloud. Then, we sent a follow-up email asking, “Could your business survive a fire?” and another questioning if they were truly fireproof. Finally, we sent a ‘lumpy mail’ letter with a matchstick inside, which sent a clear message: “Don’t let a fire burn down your business.”

This campaign was incredibly effective at keeping us top-of-mind until the prospect was ready to act!

Leverage Events and Social Media

Third, leverage events like webinars, lunch-and-learns, and live Q&As. Even if a prospect doesn’t attend, just seeing you as a leader in the space builds credibility!

Also, don’t underestimate the power of social media. Staying consistent will keep your MSP relevant, even if it feels like you’re posting out to nobody sometimes.

Stay Consistent and Trust the Process

Most importantly, be patient and consistent! Nurturing is a long game that pays off in massive ways. Just like black bamboo, your success is already growing—it’s just happening beneath the surface. Keep watering your seeds, trust the process, and when the time is right, I know that you’ll see explosive growth!

Today, I’m going to leave you with a quote from Zig Ziglar: “You are out of business if you don’t have a prospect.” With the above method, you’ll never run into this problem.

Have a great week!