B2B Client Journey Mapping: A Strategic Guide for Managed Service Providers

Without an understanding of its unique and nuanced client acquisition and retention process, no business—especially a managed IT service provider—is going to find business growth optimally attainable. MSPs especially need to have a structured approach to nurture prospects from the awareness stage of the marketing funnel to become fully-fledged, long-term partners.

One process that greatly helps this endeavor is the use of customer journey mapping.

Let’s walk through the average B2B customer journey together and develop a framework to help MSPs create and implement one for themselves.

First, What is a Customer Journey?

The customer journey encompasses all the interactions and experiences an individual (or, in the B2B context, a business/decision-maker) has when considering a company’s brand, products, and services as part of their decision-making process, from initial contact to any engagement after a transaction has been completed.

For the IT provider, this journey begins the moment a prospect recognizes they have a need, whether to overcome a challenge or capitalize on an opportunity.

The Stages of the B2B Customer Journey:

• Awareness - This is the aforementioned moment, when a prospect realizes they have some sort of deficit, problem, or opportunity and starts to seek out information about it. Perhaps they are outgrowing their existing IT, or they are concerned about their cybersecurity preparations.
• Consideration - At this point, the prospect is satisfied that they have a good grasp of the situation and starts determining the best course of action to resolve it. This is where they’ll begin comparison shopping more aggressively, comparing different approaches head-to-head. In this case, a business might weigh its options between outsourcing some of its technology needs or hiring additional in-house staff.
• Decision - Once all considerations have been made and a course of action has been established, a prospect will begin looking at their options more specifically. They’ll narrow down vendors and obtain proposals to identify the best fit for their needs and operations.
• Onboarding - The prospect then converts into a client, formally signing up for a provider’s services. Service-based businesses need to be particularly attentive to these processes, as they will largely set the tone for the rest of the business relationship.
• Delivery - After the initial service is complete, the new client still needs to be nurtured through ongoing service, support, and customer relationship management. If they are kept satisfied enough, they’ll skip the first three steps of this journey and continue working with the same business moving forward, all while potentially sending more prospects to the provider.

Why Customer Journey Mapping is Valuable for Managed IT Service Providers

Developing a mapped-out customer journey can provide a managed service provider (or any business) with significant strategic advantages. For instance:

Improved Insights
Creating this kind of map provides a clearer understanding of what a contact will need throughout your interactions, enabling you to address any questions, concerns, or other details more effectively and build a prospect’s confidence in your competence.

Touchpoint Awareness
Creating this map also outlines all the points where you and a prospect might interact, from your website and its content to active communication through consultation and support, so they can be optimized for their efficacy.

Boosted Client Experience
By acknowledging the route their clients take when working with them, a business can be prepared to address needs that commonly pop up at specific points throughout the journey. As a result, the client sees better service and is more likely to be satisfied.

Alignment between Sales and Marketing
Also related to the predictability that a customer journey supports, mapping out a prospect’s trajectory enables a business to communicate more effectively with the prospect and ensure that the necessary resources are in place to meet their needs.

Retention and Conversion Improvements
A well-planned customer journey helps accelerate a prospect’s decision-making process and establishes a lasting relationship built on trust. As a result, these relationships tend to last longer and ultimately prove more profitable for the provider.

This is especially the case for an IT service provider, who often need to bridge the gap between complex services and the value these services provide.

How to Create a Customer Journey Map for a B2B 

Of course, to create an effective customer journey, a process of your own should be followed:

1. Determine Objectives
   It helps to know where your map is leading you, so make sure you identity the goals you’re trying to reach… whether that’s enhancing the quality of your leads or onboarding clients more efficiently.
2. Create Buyer Personas
   A buyer persona—or a profile of a hypothetical idealized client—can help you better understand the challenges that they face and the objectives they want to reach, which in turn enables you to address these needs more proactively.
3. Record Client Touchpoints
   You need to keep track of every single interaction that your prospect has with you—from your website and social media to your support tickets and sales calls to third-party sites and reviews. This will help you better address each need from a more informed perspective.
4. Evaluate Prospect Behaviors
   Using all analytics you have, take note of how your prospects and clients engage with your marketing materials and brand. This will allow you to refine your efforts further and communicate with greater empathy and personalization.
5. Identify Pain Points
   One incredibly important aspect is to identify the sticking points that will create obstacles in the way of your prospects and clients. This knowledge will help you mitigate these factors as effectively as possible.
6. Collect Confirmation
   Using data sourced from various sources—website analytics, customer relationship management metrics, observations from the sales team, and client feedback—adjust the processes that you lead your clients down.
7. Adjust and Improve
   As we’ve alluded to, this data not only helps create a customer journey map to guide your clients and prospects through, but also to revisit the processes outlined and refine them.

Why MSPs Need to Pay Attention to Their Customers’ Journeys

Managed service providers have a unique need to provide customized approaches to technology, simply due to the nature of the services they provide. As such, a customer journey that works well will be one that:

• Communicates value - Your customer journey should demonstrate how your services will provide your clients with a competitive advantage.
• Creates a trustworthy impression - Since IT providers are responsible for the critical tools and for protecting the sensitive data that businesses rely on, this trust must lead in any relationship-building that occurs.
• Address risks - There will inherently be risks behind any adjustment a business makes. Therefore, you need to be open and communicative throughout the onboarding process and throughout your operations to reinforce a prospect/client’s confidence.
• Demonstrate ROI - Make plenty of promises to your clientele regarding the benefits of your strategy, and crucially, live up to them. This will help generate more trust over time and foster a stronger business relationship.

Always Work to Improve Your Customer Journey

It is essential to acknowledge that, like everything else related to business, the customer journey will evolve. This means you have to change with it to keep it working effectively, allowing you to focus on customer needs and grow your business over time.

We can help you make the most of your MSP’s business insights.

Reach out to us at 888-546-4384, or feel free to schedule a meeting or complete our Contact Us form to discuss how we can help you create a more effective journey for your customers and clients to follow.