Picture this: You’re sitting at your desk, sipping coffee, and feeling good about your MSP’s remote services. Your clients are happy—or so you think. Then one day, you get the call. “We’re switching providers because we feel like we never see you.” Ouch.
If this hasn’t happened to you yet, it will. And it’s a painful wake-up call to the importance of onsite visits. Even in the age of remote everything, nothing beats face-to-face interaction for building trust, solving hidden issues, and staying top of mind.
The Value of Showing Up in Person
Remote monitoring is fantastic—efficient, scalable, and cost-effective. But clients don’t get warm fuzzies from a green light on their RMM dashboard. They need to see you, or at least someone from your team, walking around, asking questions, and physically checking their setup.
Onsite visits achieve two key things:
- Building Relationships: People work with people they trust. A quarterly (or monthly) visit makes you more than a name on an invoice.
- Uncovering the Unknowns: No matter how advanced your tools are, some problems only show themselves in person. Tangled cables, overheating equipment, or the infamous “What does this mystery device even do?”
A Personal Tale of Onsite Regret
When I owned my MSP, I once had a client about 200 miles away. They were a solid account, so we skipped regular onsite visits and relied on remote support. One day, they called to say they were switching MSPs because “we never saw you.”
This stung, especially since we’d resolved every ticket quickly and had no outstanding issues. When we asked for feedback, they said, “The new MSP owner comes by every quarter to talk about strategy. It feels like they care more.” That’s when it hit me: We’d lost the account because we didn’t make the effort to show up.
Why Distance Isn’t an Excuse
If your client is far away, schedule visits quarterly or semi-annually. Even if it means the account manager has to hop on a plane, the return on investment is almost always worth it. Why?
- Face-to-Face Builds Trust: Email and video calls can only go so far. A handshake and a conversation over coffee leave a lasting impression.
- Spot Issues Before They’re Tickets: I once discovered a client’s server rack was doubling as a bookshelf during an onsite visit. No one thought it was worth mentioning because “it still worked fine.” Remote tools will never flag that.
How to Maximize Onsite Visits
Onsite visits aren’t just about fixing things—they’re about strengthening your partnership. Here’s how to make them count:
- Have an Agenda: Review open tickets, discuss upcoming projects, and highlight any proactive maintenance you’ve done.
- Walk Around: Ask staff about their pain points, check the physical setup, and make note of things that could cause problems down the road.
- Bring Value: Use the visit to pitch new services, address long-term planning, or just show how much you care about their success.
The Cost of Skipping Onsite Visits
When you skip onsite visits, you risk:
- Relationship Decay: Clients assume you don’t care, even if you’re solving their problems remotely.
- Missed Opportunities: Without face-to-face time, it’s harder to identify upsell opportunities or align on strategic goals.
- Competitors Stepping In: A competing MSP that makes quarterly visits can easily swoop in and win over your client with a smile and a handshake.
