How Do I Get My First Ten Clients?

Start With the People Who Already Trust You

A small business handing over its computers, email and security is taking a real risk on a new MSP. The fastest way past that risk is trust that already exists. Your first clients are most likely to be a former employer, a business a friend or relative runs, a company you did side work for, or someone those people refer to you.

Survey data backs this up. A 2025 MSP Success reader survey found referrals were the top strategy for winning customers, cited by 43% of respondents, followed by cold outreach at 18% and SEO or website at 16%. Social media accounted for only 2%. For a new MSP with no track record, referrals matter even more, because nobody has seen your work yet except the people who know you.

Choose Who You Serve

"Any business with computers" is not a market you can reach. Pick an industry or type of business you understand, ideally one you worked in or already support. A focus makes every other step easier: you know their software, you can speak their language, and a referral from one client is naturally a referral to a peer in the same industry.

• Choose a segment where you already have contacts, such as dental offices, accounting firms, construction companies or law firms.
• Learn their line-of-business applications and compliance needs. Healthcare, for example, brings HIPAA obligations, covered in how HIPAA applies to MSPs.
• Set a size range you can support well, so your stack and pricing fit the typical client.
• Write down what a good client looks like, including a willingness to meet your security baseline.

Package One Clear Offer

New MSP owners often sell whatever the prospect asks for, which leads to hourly work, custom arrangements and thin margins. Decide on one managed offer before you start selling: what is included, what is not, and a fixed monthly price. Read how MSPs price their services and use the managed services pricing calculator to set a price that covers your tools and your time.

Include a security baseline in the offer rather than selling it as an add-on. Clients understand security as part of what they are paying for, and a consistent baseline makes your support work predictable. MFA everywhere, managed backups and endpoint protection are common starting points.

Price your first clients properly. It is tempting to discount to win the first logo, but early clients become references, and a client who joined cheap is hard to move to your real price later. If you must offer something, offer a free assessment rather than a lower monthly fee.

Work Your Network Deliberately

Referrals do not arrive because you announced your business once. They come from specific conversations with specific people. Treat your network as a pipeline and work it on a schedule.

1. List everyone you know who owns, runs or influences a business in your chosen segment, including former managers and colleagues.
2. Contact each one personally. Tell them what you do, who you serve, and ask whether they, or someone they know, would benefit from a conversation.
3. Offer a short, free assessment of their current IT: backups, security gaps, aging hardware. It gives them something concrete to say yes to.
4. Follow up. Many first conversations do not close on the spot, and a polite follow-up a few weeks later often does.
5. Ask every new client, after a good onboarding, who else they know. Make the ask specific: another office in the same industry.

Add professionals who serve your target clients. Accountants, lawyers, insurance brokers and office equipment dealers all hear about IT problems. A relationship where you refer to each other can produce a steady stream of warm introductions.

Add Outreach and a Simple Presence

Once your network is working, add channels that reach people who do not know you yet. Cold outreach works better when it is narrow: a short, specific message to businesses in your niche, referencing a problem they are likely to have, with a clear next step. A generic email to a purchased list rarely works.

Build a simple website that says who you serve, what your offer includes, and how to contact you. It does not need to rank on day one; it needs to reassure someone who heard your name from a referrer and looks you up. Local business groups, chambers of commerce and industry associations add in-person reach at low cost.

Mistakes That Slow Down the First Ten

Many new MSPs that struggle to reach ten clients are not short of effort. They are spending effort in places that do not convert, or winning clients who make the next sale harder. These are the patterns to avoid.

• Saying yes to every kind of client. A mix of industries, sizes and tools spreads your knowledge thin and makes referrals less useful.
• Selling hours instead of an agreement. Hourly clients call only when something breaks, which gives you income but no recurring base and no reason for them to refer you.
• Accepting clients who refuse your security baseline. They create most of your emergencies and put your reputation at risk.
• Spending the first months on branding, logos and a large website instead of conversations.
• Stopping outreach once the first few clients sign, then facing an empty pipeline when the onboarding work ends.

It also helps to decide early what you will walk away from. A prospect who wants a price you cannot deliver at, or who expects you to support equipment you do not know, will cost you more than the revenue is worth. Saying no politely, and referring them to someone better suited, keeps your capacity for clients who fit and often earns goodwill that comes back as a referral later.

Turn Each Client Into the Next One

Your first ten clients are also your marketing. A smooth onboarding produces a reference; a messy one produces silence. Use a structured process such as the 30-day client onboarding checklist and read onboarding a client in 30 days so each new client has a good first month.

After onboarding, keep the relationship visible. A short review with the owner, even an informal version of a QBR, shows what you have done and opens the door to a referral. Track your win rate and sales cycle length from the start, so you learn which channels actually close.

Watch concentration as you grow. With only a few clients, losing one can take a large share of your revenue. Keep an eye on your largest client share of revenue and keep selling even when you feel busy, because the pipeline you build now is what carries you past ten clients.

For the wider picture of launching the business, the starting an MSP section covers tools, structure and early decisions, and how long a sales cycle should take sets expectations for how long each of these ten will take to close.