How MSPs Should Sell to IT Administrators: The Complete Guide
Selling managed IT services is no easy feat, especially when it comes to convincing skeptical IT administrators to outsource functions they currently handle in-house. Between perceptions of loss of control, concerns over reliability, and general resistance to change, IT admins can be a challenging audience for MSP sales teams.
However, by taking the time to deeply understand these customers, their objectives, challenges and motivations, MSPs can tailor their pitch to resonate on both a rational and emotional level. This guide will explore a proven “gap selling” approach to winning over IT administrators, equipping MSP sales reps to have more productive, valuable conversations.
The 3 Biggest Problems IT Admins Face
Before presenting solutions, let’s examine the most pressing issues IT administrators grapple with day-to-day:
Problem #1: Managing Disparate Systems and Tools
Business Impact: Performance issues, downtime, high costs
At many organizations IT infrastructure has evolved in a fragmented, siloed manner over many years. Various systems and tools were brought in to solve specific problems but rarely integrate smoothly. This proliferation of disparate solutions creates a complex web for IT administrators to manage day-to-day. From cloud services to on-premise servers to SaaS applications, making all these components work in harmony takes considerable effort. As a result, IT teams struggle to deliver reliable performance and are forced to dedicate excessive resources to maintenance and troubleshooting.
Root Cause: Legacy systems, tool proliferation, lack of integration
Problem #2: Aligning with Evolving Business Objectives
Business Impact: Perceived as cost center rather than strategic asset
While business leaders expect IT to be an enabler of digital transformation and innovation, most IT teams are stuck playing defense, consumed with “keeping the lights on”. Not only does this misalignment lead to stakeholder frustration, but IT often finds their budget shrinking as they fail to demonstrate real business impact.
Root Cause: Focus on operations over strategy, poor cross-functional communication
Problem #3: Adapting to Rapid Technology Change
Business Impact: Falling behind innovation curve, increased vendor dependence
From cloud adoption to ransomware threats to game-changing technologies like AI, IT administrators are playing catch-up to seismic technology shifts reshaping their roles. However, with limited budgets and resources already stretched thin, making the leap to new solutions is easier said than done. Many find themselves locked into legacy systems or dependent on vendors to guide strategic decisions.
Root Cause: Resource constraints, difficulty keeping pace with change
Understanding the IT Administrator
Now that we’ve explored the “problems” IT admins are facing, let’s dive deeper into their unique psychology, priorities and pain points. This insight will prove invaluable in tailoring sales conversations.
Roles and Responsibilities
While specific job titles and duties vary across organizations, IT administrators typically:
- Manage IT infrastructure (networks, servers, devices)
- Support end users and maintain productivity
- Monitor systems health and troubleshoot issues
- Handle software/OS updates, patches, configs
- Document processes, policies and assist with audits
- Oversee projects, vendors and purchasing
Key Objectives and Success Metrics
IT administrators share a common goal of keeping technology running smoothly to minimize business disruption. Key metrics they aim to optimize include:
- System uptime/availability
- Issue response & resolution speed
- End user productivity/satisfaction
- Operational efficiency (doing more with less)
- Cost reduction
How They Spend Their Time
Studies show that IT administrators dedicate over 60% of their time to routine maintenance, monitoring and support tasks. The remaining is focused on high-value initiatives like:
- Strategic planning
- Process improvement
- Training & development
- Project management
- Budget optimization
- Vendor evaluation
However, with the baggage of legacy systems and limited resources, the split often skews even more heavily toward “keeping lights on” activities.
Pain Points
The most acute pain points IT administrators experience typically revolve around:
- Maintaining aging infrastructure
- Troubleshooting connectivity/performance issues
- Managing multiple disparate tools
- Documentation & training demands
- Budget/staffing constraints
- Waterfall demands and distractions
Change Drivers: Factors Motivating Technology Change
While IT administrators may seem change-averse, certain drivers motivate them to consider evolutions in their technology environment:
- Improve reliability and address instability issues
- Simplify infrastructure and tool management
- Proactively address evolving security threats
- Better support remote/hybrid work models
- Reduce costs and optimize budgets
- Enhance organizational agility and IT’s strategic impact
Change Inhibitors: Barriers to Change Adoption
However, various inhibitors frequently prevent IT administrators from disrupting their environment:
- Legacy system dependencies
- Concerns over reliability and performance of new solutions
- Loss of control and visibility
- Switching costs and lock-in fears
- Re-training demands on staff
- Cultural resistance within the organization
The Status Quo: Challenges with Current State
As a result of these change inhibitors, the status quo for many IT administrators involves:
- High maintenance burden and instability due to aging infrastructure
- Excessive costs associated with manually managing multiple disparate systems
- IT misalignment with business strategy and lack of strategic impact
- Security vulnerabilities and compliance gaps
- Reactive approaches vs proactive optimization
Presenting the Solution
To convince IT administrators to engage, MSPs must map their offering against the buyer’s key challenges and underlying root causes:
Operational Challenges
- Consolidates systems/tools onto integrated platforms
- Centralized monitoring and management
- Best practice configurations and policy enforcement
- Predictive issue identification
- Skills augmentation
Strategic Challenges
- Adopts cloud and automation for flexibility and scalability
- Real time analytics/reporting tied to business metrics
- Focus IT staff on innovation vs maintenance
- Facilitates collaboration across technology silos
Emotional and Cultural Challenges
- Gradual/non-disruptive transition plan
- Ongoing visibility into configs and changes
- Dedicated account manager provides “hands-on” guidance
- Maintains strong user experience throughout
Connecting Emotionally and Rationally
On top of alleviating their tangible problems, MSPs must connect with IT administrators on both a rational and emotional level:
Emotional Impact
- Alleviate instability fears - Confidence in reliability
- Eliminate grave responsibility of systems going down
- Allow more strategic focus aligned to peer IT admins
Rational Impact
- Consolidate disparate tools for operational efficiency
- Infrastructure cost optimization
- Performance improvement and boosted uptime
- Enables proactive optimization vs reactive troubleshooting
Envisioning Future Outcomes
Taking this approach transforms IT administrators from roadblock to champion. Success looks like:
IT Leadership Praise
- “IT has become an invaluable strategic partner enabling our digital capabilities”
Staff Morale Surge
- “My team has never been more energized and engaged”
Vendor Consolidation
- “We’ve been able to reduce our roster of vendors by over 30% this year”
Audit Praise
- “Our recent systems audit yielded zero deficiencies for the first time ever"
Next Steps and Closing
As the above demonstrates, MSPs added value transcends technical service delivery, empowering IT administrators to finally align systems with rising business expectations.
By taking time to understand their worldview, priorities and challenges, crafting a consultative pitch focused on closing strategic and emotional “gaps”, MSPs can transform IT administrators from skeptics to enthusiastic partners in driving organizational success.
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