Managed services aren’t necessarily hard to sell. Most of the business owners my sales team talks to already understand what managed print and managed IT are, what they’re designed to do and why they might be a good solution. The biggest problem isn’t selling the services—it’s selling your version of them.
And that’s fair enough, because when you start talking about what tools you use and how and why you use them, it can get very confusing for anyone who isn’t an IT or print expert.
We’re not alone in this problem. Many other crowded markets with complicated products or services have the very same issue. One in particular provides a nonstop masterclass in how to make its complicated and expensive products a very easy choice—the automotive industry.
Why Is Buying Managed Services Like Buying a Car?
We’re very proud of our response times at Marco. We’ve got all the splashy stats a client would want to see, and we can provide all sorts of detailed information about why investing in reliability actually saves you more money over time.
Similarly, it’s very easy to find out how fast a car can go, how much gas it will require and what you can expect to get out of it. Those are all good numbers to know. However, while most smart car buyers will use that information to start narrowing down a purchase decision, it probably won’t come down to a single stat or even a few.
If more car buyers were honest, they’d admit that before they even walk into a dealership, they already have a sense of which cars they’re interested in and why. And the driver of those interests isn’t the number of miles they’d get per gallon.
The Lesson Automobile Marketers Have for Technology Providers
Every automotive manufacturer understands this: When you need to sell a car, you don’t sell the car—you sell the lifestyle. You tell your audience who the car is for, and you talk up the experience they’ll have while driving it.
A car manufacturer may argue with me on this one, but I’d guess that most sedans are at least 90% identical under the hood. However, the automotive industry knows its buyers very well, including how to cater to them in ways that are exceptionally easy to see and talk about.
They know that a luxury sedan can create a more pleasant commute for an executive if it has a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a higher-end audio system and a moonroof.
They know that a family minivan will help busy parents more if it’s equipped with a big trunk, flexible seating, entertainment options, easy-clean seats and lots of USB ports and cup holders.
And they know that the hatchback will attract more hikers, campers and adventurers if it has roof rails, higher clearance and a heavy-duty suspension.
The automotive industry was way ahead of the curve in understanding that when you tailor your products and services to anticipate the needs of your buyers, they notice. Well, they do more than just notice. Back in 2017, a Forrester study found that 77% of customers have selected, recommended or paid more for a product from a company that provides more personalized experiences. In 2025, I’d be willing to bet the statistic would be even higher.
But before I move on, I’d like to be clear—I’m not saying that people are buying cars just for the cup holders. But those cup holders and all the other amenities make it clear who each car is for, with perks that will make that buyer’s life easier. When your competitors are offering similar services and other advantages may get lost in translation, amenities make a big difference. And often, when the amenities are smart, a consumer will happily spring for the more expensive product.
The “Cup Holders” and “Roof Racks” of Managed Services
At Marco, while we serve clients in almost every industry imaginable, we know our primary buyers are in health care, banking, education, law, manufacturing, government and retail. So let’s take just one example and explore some amenities that we offer.
A lot of health care providers use ServiceNow, so we’ve made sure that our ticketing system integrates with it. Another health care client recently asked us if we could integrate our billing system with Ariba, their supplier management software. Great question, and yes, we can.
We recently won a very large managed print contract with a regional health care provider, and it wasn’t because we were the cheapest. In fact, I’m pretty sure we weren’t. There were many reasons, I suspect, for their decision. But I know that my team’s willingness to adapt our meeting cadence to their needs and have on-site walk-throughs with end-users at every facility had something to do with it.
When our team first met with this client, we brought in specific people who could address the concerns of their IT team, their procurement department and their executive leadership. This ensured we made everyone happy.
We adapted our services to such an extent that it was very easy for this buyer to see how we were making things easier. And it’s the way we’ve continued to operate with them—as an extension of their own team.
I’m telling you this not to toot our horn, but because it’s my hope that in an industry where the common wisdom is to do more while lowering costs to survive, it’s a good reminder that working harder while getting paid less isn’t your only option. Offering more adaptable, customizable services that solve real pain points for specific clients may be the smarter, more sustainable play.
Driving the Point Home
We’ve been adapting our services to our clients for a long time, but we’re also starting to be more targeted in how we market to them. The tools we use now make it possible to offer the right message to the right audience for the service that would best fit them.
At some point in the near future, we’ll also be shifting parts of our website to focus on how our most complicated services (IT and print) can make life easier for our clients in all of those industries I listed at the beginning of this article.
However, it doesn’t take a sophisticated customer relationship management platform or a web development team to do what I’m suggesting. It primarily takes some time to understand your buyer and its tools very well, and it takes some creativity to see what changes you could make to appeal to that buyer in a way that your competitors aren’t.
My prediction—the MSPs that start shifting those gears will get to enjoy healthier profit margins, and those that don’t will have to keep racing to the bottom.
