Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of visiting a mentor for an exciting, insightful, and intensive two-day workshop about my business. I’ve always made it a priority to do occasionally, because I think it’s really important to take advantage of every opportunity you have to “step outside” your company. Sometimes you’re so close to what you’re doing that you just have tunnel vision. You can’t really sit back and take in the larger context about what is going on.
During this workshop, we took a look at my promise statement. For those unfamiliar with the term, a promise statement is exactly what it sounds like — it’s a single statement that outlines who you are, what you do, and why it matters.
Over the course of those two days, I polished my own promise statement: “Tech Pro Marketing – Helping MSP business owners book more meetings with more qualified prospects through done-for-you marketing services.”
It wasn’t long after, that I naturally thought of my own MSP marketing clients and their promise statements… which is when I identified a trend that I think I always knew was there.
One of our most successful clients, for example, has an textbook promise statement: “All the benefits of a full-time IT department, at a fraction of the cost — without taking sick days.” Right away, you get a sense of who they are and, if you’re one of their prospective customers, why you should be paying attention to them.
Overall, I quickly realized that there is a correlation between the quality of an MSP promise statement and that MSP’s ability to generate leads and win customers. Therefore, if you really want to win more customers, your next move is clear — you need to polish that promise statement however you can.
Everything begins with your promise
When you have a strong promise statement, you have more than just a straightforward overview of your business. You have an idea that resonates with your ideal customer in a way you can’t buy. By the time they decide to get in touch with you, they’re likely already sold on having you become their provider.
In that sense, your promise statement becomes the best type of salesperson — the one who is working for you 24/7/365 and who people just can’t help but pay attention to.
Thankfully, the process of actually coming up with that perfect promise statement of your own is fairly straightforward. Resist the urge to make things too complicated for their own good and instead just ask yourself the four big questions:
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- Who do you serve?
- What problems did you found your business to solve?
- What outcome do you help people reach?
- How, exactly, do you do it?
Again, let’s break this down further by going back to our promise statement at Tech Pro Marketing. We’re an organization dedicated to:
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- Helping MSP business owners
- Book more meetings, with
- More qualified prospects, through
- Done-for-you marketing services.
In a single sentence, the answer to all four of those questions are accounted for and by the time they finish it, someone is probably already aware of whether we’re an appropriate fit for what they’re trying to accomplish.
Your answers to these questions will be specific to your organization. Who you serve, for example, could be a particular type of business or even a geographic area. It could be a particular job title like a CEO or CFO.
The problem you solve might be “removing the stress of managing an infrastructure properly” or “helping customers reach a 20 percent increase in productivity.”
Regardless of what the answers to those questions are, you still need to put them together and see what you come up with. Keep in mind that your statement doesn’t necessarily need to include all four elements to resonate. Use what works best for you.
Once you’ve worked on that promise statement, you need to get it out there where people can see it. Get it on your website and make it your tagline on LinkedIn. If you get it out into the world where people can be exposed to it, it will support and empower a lot of what you’re doing.
In the end, know that:
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- Your promise statement is a succinct summary of what your business does and, critically, why someone should care.
- You create one by answering the four big questions: who do you serve, what problems do you solve, what outcome are you trying to reach, and what do you do to reach it?
- Once you craft the right promise statement, get it out there where people can see it like on social media or on your business’ website. Give them a chance to respond to it and they will do so.
I have a challenge for all of you MSPs. The next time you have a free 20 minutes, sit down and think about nothing else but that promise statement. Examine the answers to those four questions and see what variations you can come up with. Once you set that updated promise statement as your tagline on LinkedIn, be sure to reach out and send me a connection request — I’d absolutely love to be one of the first people to be impressed by your new promise statement.
Photo: Wonderplay / Shutterstock
