Finding the right prospects
How MSPs can reach businesses that are ready for outsourced IT
Reaching businesses that need outsourced IT comes down to four things: knowing exactly which businesses you serve best, noticing the moments when they're likely to rethink their IT, getting to the person who decides, and making sure the first conversation is qualified and handed over well. Channels and tools matter less than getting those four right.
This guide walks through each one, with checklists you can use whether you do the prospecting yourself, hire someone, or bring in an appointment setter.
Start with the businesses you serve best
"Small and medium businesses" isn't a target. It covers most of the economy, and it gives whoever is doing your outreach nothing to work with. Look at your best five clients, the ones that are profitable, easy to work with and likely to stay, and write down what they have in common.
| Describe | Questions to answer | An illustrative answer |
|---|---|---|
| Size | How many staff or devices do you support well? Where does it get too small or too big? | 15 to 150 staff |
| Sector | Which sectors do you understand, and which do you avoid? | Professional services, clinics, not-for-profits |
| Location | Where can you get someone on site, and do you support remote-only clients? | Within an hour of your office, plus remote |
| Current setup | Who looks after their IT now? | One stretched in-house person, a break-fix contractor, or another MSP |
| Complexity | What makes a client a good fit or a headache? | Several sites, Microsoft 365, some compliance obligations |
Then do the same for your worst clients. Ruling out the wrong businesses saves as much time as finding the right ones.
Notice the moments when IT gets looked at
Often, something prompts a business to look at its IT. These moments are worth watching for, because they give you a genuine reason to get in touch:
- Growth or change: opening a new office, moving premises, taking on staff quickly, or merging with another business.
- People: the in-house IT person leaves, or the office manager who "did the IT" moves on.
- Contracts: the current support agreement is coming up for renewal.
- Security questions: an insurer, a bank or a large client sends a security questionnaire nobody can answer with confidence, or there's been a phishing attempt or a near miss.
- Ageing kit: a server or key system is near the end of its life, or a move to the cloud keeps getting put off.
- New owners or managers: someone arrives with a mandate to fix how things are done.
A trigger is a reason to ask, not proof that someone wants to talk. Good outreach asks how things are going. It doesn't assume there's a problem or tell the business it has one.
Get to the person who decides
The person who decides on IT changes with the size of the business, and there's often more than one person involved. Aim to reach the person who feels the problem, and know who signs off.
| Business | Who often feels it | Who often signs off |
|---|---|---|
| Small (owner-run) | Owner, office manager | Owner |
| Mid-sized | Operations manager, practice manager, finance manager | Managing director, partners or the finance lead |
| Larger, with in-house IT | IT manager | IT manager with the finance lead or leadership team |
When a business has its own IT person, they may see an MSP as a threat. Co-managed support, where you take the load off them rather than replacing them, is a different and often easier conversation.
Choose channels that suit how you sell
No channel suits every MSP. Pick the ones that match your capacity and the businesses you want.
| Channel | What it's good for | What it needs from you |
|---|---|---|
| Referrals from clients | Warm introductions with trust built in | Happy clients, and the habit of asking |
| Partnerships with accountants, software vendors or other advisers | Introductions to businesses at a moment of change | A clear idea of what's in it for the partner |
| Local business and industry groups | Being known in a sector or area | Time over months, not weeks |
| Your website and guides | Being found by businesses already looking | Useful content and patience |
| Research-led outreach | Reaching the businesses you chose, at the right moment | Research, consistent follow-up, and someone to handle replies |
Referrals are valuable but hard to plan around. If you want steady growth, it helps to add at least one channel you control.
Make outreach about their situation
We're not going to publish outreach scripts, but the principles are simple:
- Research first. Know who the business is and why now might be a good time, before you get in touch.
- Lead with their situation, not your services. A new office, a renewal or a security questionnaire is a better opening than a list of what you do.
- Ask for one small thing: a short call to compare notes, not a full proposal.
- Stay calm about security. Scare tactics damage trust and can make claims you can't back up.
- Take no for an answer, and keep a record so the business isn't contacted again.
- Follow the rules. Check the privacy and marketing rules that apply where you and your prospects are, and get advice if you're unsure.
Qualify before the first conversation
Before anyone books a call, agree what makes one worth having. A qualified first conversation is with the right kind of business, the right person, for a real reason, and they've agreed to talk. Our qualified meeting checklist turns that into criteria you can write down.
For an MSP, illustrative criteria might be:
- Within your size range and service area
- Not an existing client, and not already in your pipeline
- The person attending decides on IT, or has a real say alongside whoever signs off
- There's a live reason to talk: a move, a renewal, a staff change, a security question
- They've agreed to a conversation about their IT support, not just to receive a brochure
Your own criteria will differ. Test them against the last few good and bad sales conversations you had.
Hand the conversation over well
Whoever books the call, the person running it needs context beforehand: who's attending, the business and its current setup, why they agreed to talk, and what they want to cover. Our sample meeting brief shows what that looks like.
On the first call, aim for a sensible next step rather than a proposal on the spot. That might be an IT review, a site visit or a second call with whoever signs off. Then follow up within a day. A good first call loses momentum if the follow-up takes a week. The handoff guide covers this step by step.
Doing it yourself, hiring, or getting help
All of the above takes steady time every week: research, outreach, follow-ups and replies, on top of running the business. Some MSPs keep it in-house, some hire a dedicated person, and some outsource the booking and keep the selling. Our in-house or outsourced decision guide sets out the trade-offs.
GoodYarn books qualifying calls or meetings for managed IT providers with the businesses you choose, and you only pay for the ones that take place. See how it works for MSPs and managed IT providers, wherever you're based, or ask for a free meeting plan below.