MSP Business School

In this episode, our team talks about the tactics to accelerate revenue growth. With many MSPs and MSSPs focused on the holy grail of recurring revenue, there may be some low-hanging fruit to boost your top line and expand your profits. 2:04: Tim opens the discussion by talking about a trend where MSPs feel the need to diminish hardware revenue. He talks about tactics to work deal registration, discounts, and spiffs to dramatically grow your margin on NRC projects. 4:27: Robb talks about contract reviews and the mindset of not rocking the boat with MRR customers. If you are not looking at increasing rates for your services within your contracts you will ultimately be losing money (think inflation). Brian shares his thoughts about the deals that can haunt you if you don't correct them. 9:15: Brian suggests never discounting, but adjusting the scope to the right size on underwater contracts. Robb and Tim share their tactic of reducing the inflationary clause in exchange for time commitment driving a win/win for both parties. 13:04: New customer acquisition strategies and ensuring you are market-pricing are critical. Leverage peer groups, trade shows, and market demographics to build pricing models. Robb also mentioned asking for contracts "to ensure apples-to-apples comparisons to get market pricing. They had an 80% success rate in looking at contracts. 16:04: We close by looking at how to goal yourself on customer acquisition. Robb hits the fact...you need to prospect, prospect and prospect.

Vince Tinnirello joins us today on MSP Business School. Vince leads the Business Development team for Anchor Network Solutions and today we talk about the steps he has taken to help grow the business 2x in three years. 2:01 – Vince kicks off his backstory by sharing the career path that ultimately sent him towards a career in IT. Coming from a hospitality background, Vince saw that the standard IT companies they worked with didn't deliver with a customer service focus and that became his mission 7:26 – Brian shares his experience in the hospitality sector and Vince responds by sharing about a presentation he has given in the past about "Customer Service the Marriott Way" and shares how problems and questions in the hospitality industry translates to the issues we face in IT. 11:41 – Robb kicks off a discussion on how Anchor got past the $2.5M barrier that many MSPs get stuck at and grew to $6M+ in just 3 years. Vince shared how he helped the team get past that and the steps taken by his management team to drive upward success. 15:03 - The conversation shifts to client assessments/raters that allow you to measure the relationships with your customers. Tim brings up criteria for firing a client and the team expands on this concept. 22:26 - We close out the conversation of how Vince came to understand how culture is real and plays a part if generating client success.

In this episode, our Brian and Tim talk about Risk Based Selling an how it can drive a more consultative discussion where customers can make a more informed decision about projects and services. We discuss that the biggest reason that customers do not want to engage in meetings like QBR's is often because it is treated like a sales call by the MSP vs. an opportunity to learn and grow a relationship. Risk based selling can change the narrative. When leveraging risk based selling process you need to first understand how the customer views risk in their business and then match your discussion to their viewpoint. We need to help them understand the risk factor and what the cost to be to their business if that risk is realized. This will arm them with the proof points they need make a decision they feel confident about when choosing technology initiatives to move forward.

George Smith joins us today on MSP Business School and we discuss how important it is for MSP's to manage and monitor their clients cloud services and if they do not, someone else will. 2:01 – George shares his backstory that begins in Northern Ireland, with a stop in London, before settling in his home of Canada. He talks about his start in tech originating in web development, finally landing at Augmentt 5:25 – George share the history of Augmentt and how the idea for the product came to be. With the support world moving to the cloud MSP's need a tool to manage it. 9:25 – George shares how SaaS management can go beyond risk and help as well with productivity. The conversation shifts to shadow IT and how to manage that problem facing our clients. 13:48 – The conversation pivots to Microsoft 365 management and how to go beyond the Secure Score to drive new opportunity. Augmentt can support that process and add other security information to help the customer better understand where the total gaps reside. 15:50 - Tim addresses the sales opportunity behind SaaS Management and George shares how MSP's can generate new revenue through security scans as part of the prospecting process. 19:00 - The conversation shifts to user education. To reduce security issues companies need to build policy to support acceptable applications and users need to know the risk of not following the guidelines to security for the organization. It starts with a proactive view vs. a reactive approach. 22:22 - We close the episode with a discussion of how to engage with Augmentt and a secret approach to how to get to know Augmentt better (hint Top Golf).

Garret Peaslee joins us and tells the story of a person that has seen it all in the IT services space. Starting in 1986 before the internet, Garret has show the ability to adapt to change and grow a business and expand. 1:17 – Robb, Tim, and Brian recount their trip to CompTIA ChannelCon and share a story about the "Ducky Derby". 2:47 – Garret starts the conversation sharing his background which starts with him starting operations in 1986, pre-internet, pre-networking, as a desktop publishing service provider. This launched a career of adjusting and adapting to meet the evolving technologies. 7:38 – Garret shares how as the internet began to explode he and his team invested $5M and built a data center. This opportunity drove Garret into the world of MRR. He and Brian share war stories from the data center. 13:03 – The call shifts to his sale of his company. Once they hit $18-$20M in revenue they enlisted a broker to support the sale. It was a successful exit and it keep the majority of the team remaining employed post-transaction. A big concern of him and his partners was to find them a safe landing. 16:56 – Tim starts a discussion of how not only was Garret the CEO of Secant, but he also led the sales team. A rare occurrence in the Managed Services industry for a mature MSP. Garret then shares how it was a passion of his and that is why he kept the controls. 20:09 - They close the episode with a deep dive into the selection process for and M&A broker. This includes the consulting that broker provided to help drive the sale, the handling of the legal process with a high-end attorney, and leading the marketing process.

In this episode, our team talks about the Whitespace opportunity. Existing customers offer a huge opportunity to grow revenues and every MSP shares in this chance to expand their relationship with clients. The Whitespace opportunity starts with an assessment of where each client stands against your tech stack and your standards. When you identify the gaps, you can identify potenitial. Brian, Robb and Tim engage in a discussion that outlines tips that MSP's and MSSP's can use to to grow their revenue within each customer through cross-selling and upselling opportunities. Join us as we share how you can grow sales immediately through a whitespace analysis of each client's environment and download our worksheet to do so at our sales development application site Sales MaturIT.

We're thrilled to have Peter Duflo, join us for an incredible episode. This one is jam-packed with useful information, tidbits, and challenges for anyone thinking about building a leadership team. 2:44 – Peter kicks off the call with his background as an MSP leader who has sat on both sides of the M&A event over his early career. His experiences led him to realizing that many MSP's needed guidance on the M&A process. This led him to do some M&A work. In 2008 when the firesales started, he moved into helping MSP's in finding key talent. 5:36 – Brian kicks off a discussion on why an MSP need recruiters and how it can help accelerate company growth. Peter shares his model that helps focus MSP's on bringing on key leadership talent when their MSP exceeds $5M in revenue. 10:50 – Tim drives the conversation of the new remote business models and how that plays into recruiting leadership. Peter shares his experience on executive teams and remote work and the feasibility of a mixed executive team. This conversation transitions on where to find these resources. 17:57 – The call shifts to culture and how feeling like part of the team and helping the greater good for society are key critieria that is driving a lot of the leadership movement. 19:40 – Conversation turns to search timelines. How long does an executive search take and Peter shares some amazing numbers around hiring timelines.

In this very special episode we introduce to the MSP industry our new Sales Development Platform entitled Sales MaturIT. This new platform allows MSP's and MSSP's to evaluate their current Sales Maturity Level (SML) and create a guided, self-paced patch to reaching their sales goals. The platform is geared to meet service providers at that stage their sales team currently resides. Our approach takes you from the early stages of sales, typically owner led, and guides you through activities and strategies to help you grow sales both in velocity and revenue growth. It starts with a self-assessment, allowing you to self evaluate the current state of your sales process. That assessment will allow Sales MaturIT to create a customized training roadmap for your organization. In this system you can also track your sales financial picture. Insert a minimum of your last four quarters of sales data and then head to our goals plan, where you can modify growth indicators like customer count, MRR, and contract value to build a sales plan to meet your long term goals. Sales MaturIT serves as a virtual coach, helping you grow your business and stay on track.

Show Website: https://mspbusinessschool.com/ Guest Name: Hartland Ross https://www.linkedin.com/in/hartlandross/ Company: eBridge Marketing and The HostBroker https://www.ebridgemarketingsolutions.com/ https://www.thehostbroker.com/ Hosts Brian Doyle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandoylemetathinq/ Robb Rogers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robb-rogers-07415251/ Tim McNeil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timmcneil3/ Sponsors vCIOToolbox: https://vciotoolbox.com OSR Manage: https://osrmanage.com We're thrilled to have Hartland Ross, join us for an incredible episode. This one is jam-packed with useful information, tidbits, and challenges for anyone thinking about a future M&A transaction.

We're thrilled to have fellow MSP podcaster and YouTube personality, Dave Sobel of MSP Radio, join us for an incredible episode. This one is jam-packed with useful information, tidbits, and challenges for anyone in the MSP industry. Dave Sobel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davesobel/ MSP Radio: https://www.mspradio.com/

Back for the third time on our podcast, Abe Garver of FOCUS Investment Banking joins us for an update on M&A in the MSP industry. ChannelE2E article referenced by Abe: https://www.channele2e.com/influencers/5-msp-valuation-drivers/ Abe Garver: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abegarver/ FOCUS Investment Banking: https://focusbankers.com/

Jerry Koutavas of The ASCII Group is a household name in the MSP community. In this episode of MSP Business School, we get to hear directly from one of the foremost leaders in the industry as he and the hosts discuss where the MSP industry is now and where it's headed in the very near future. Jerry Koutavas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/koutavas/ ASCII: https://www.ascii.com/

As one of the few companies that started during the dial up days, Shane Naugher has seen many shifts and changes in the industry. The evolution of DaZZee IT Services is a master class in paying attention to trends and staying ahead of the curve, even when it's uncomfortable and pushback is strong. Shane Naugher: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanenaugher/ DaZZee IT Services: https://www.dazzee.com/

If you listen to our show, you've probably heard us talk about the "curse of the great MSP": the more you automate, the more you do remotely, and the less things tend to break, the more likely it is that your value gets called into question and you get shown the door. What are some things you can do to avoid this curse? In this episode, hosts Brian, Tim, and Robb share some practical steps you can take to break the curse and provide even greater value to your clients, solidifying yourself as an integral part of their business.

The president of EscapeWire Solutions, Michael Beecher's unique experiences – both good and just plain awful – have shaped a solid MSP with a healthy and robust security offering. In this episode, Michael and the hosts dive into how terrible events can sometimes be the best things that happen in a young, growing company. Michael Beecher: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-beecher-810523/ EscapeWire Solutions: https://escapewire.com/

The Director of Sales for the MSP Advantage program at Mindmatrix, Eric Weber led an interesting and diverse life before joining the MSP industry. His journey serves as a reminder to show up, be consistent, and give it your all in everything you do, because eventually you'll end up in the right place and just exactly where you should be. Eric Weber: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esweber/ Mindmatrix: https://www.mindmatrix.net/

Sometimes life takes you on a wild ride, and other times you're granted choices that have the possibility of changing everything. Then there are people like Derek Gabriel, Co-Founder and CEO of Ignite Solutions Group. As you'll hear in this episode, Derek is one of those people who doesn't wait for life to offer up wild rides and lucky breaks: he carves the map himself. Listen in for a great tale of experimentation and gutsy moves from Fargo, to Bismarck, to Kansas… to Hawaii. Derek Gabriel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dereksgabriel/ Ignite Solutions Group: https://www.ignitetheday.com/

Objections to pricing when presenting a prospect with the cost of your services is always an uncomfortable situation. How do you set the tone from the initial encounter to ensure your prospects appreciate the value of the products and services you offer? In this episode, Brian, Robb, and Tim give many examples on how to avoid and overcome price objections at different stages of the sales process.

Frank DeBenedetto has the fascinating perspective of being both an MSP owner and a vendor. We dive in with him about the incredible service he provides through audIT and how it came out of a specific need in his own MSP, Two River Technology Group. Frank DeBenedetto: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankdebenedetto/ Two River Technology Group: https://www.tworivertech.com/ AudIT: https://www.auditforit.com/

What creates a thriving culture and excellent client base when it comes to MSPs? For Jon Kotman of Kotman Technology, the answer is your principles and core values. Join us for a wonderful discussion on how defining your principles and sticking with them no matter what leads to the best possible outcome for everyone on your team. Jon Kotman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonkotman/ Luke Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucas-ross-238b07143/ Kotman Technology: https://www.kotman.com/

It's our 100th episode of MSP Business School and we couldn't be more excited to be joined by Ed Carroll and Jeremiah Smith of Edison Marks, a brand new company that's promising to be a major disruptor in how MSPs operate in the sales and marketing space. Buckle up and get ready for a few "ah-ha!" moments of your own as you listen to this exciting interview.

Sales and Marketing: two departments that are often disregarded by smaller MSPs but are crucial for growth… especially when you structure your company so that they work together. In this episode, hosts Brian, Tim, and Robb tackle how to integrate a marketing team into your sales efforts in order to create the greatest growth potential for your MSP.

Another addition to our conversations with MSP owners, Travis Barker of EZ IT Solutions joins us to talk about the somewhat crazy and not-so-apparent road that led him and his company to where they are today. Starting with a great origin story and ending with our best cliffhanger to date, this is a must-listen for any MSP owner.

As a business owner, you need to be able to estimate what your sales are going to be in the near and distant future. But if your sales reps aren't clearing stale deals out of their pipelines, how will you be able to make an accurate forecast? In this episode, Brian, Tim, and Robb sit down for a discussion on how you as the owner can help your salespeople create healthy pipelines and actually close more deals in the long run.

Oftentimes the best way to get advice on how to run your business (or ideas for areas of opportunity you hadn't considered before) is to listen to other successful owners talk about how they got their business to where it is today. This week, we're joined by MSP owner Allan Jocson of Agilitec. Allan generously shares how he and his team navigated many challenging times to emerge as a highly successful MSP.

The shift in recent years to prioritizing monthly recurring revenue over all other money-making methods has led to a bit of a stalemate in the industry. How do you stand out against the crowd if all you're doing is offering the exact same services as every other MSP out there? In this episode, Brian takes the lead as he presents a shift in mindset that will provide your MSP with an endless number of ways to create new avenues of generating revenue and greater value for your company.

In episode 90, Brian, Tim, and Robb discussed how to find and recruit MSP salespeople in today's market. Now that you've found the perfect rep, how do you present a job offer to them? And before you do that, how do you put together a competitive compensation plan that makes them want to work for you? In this episode, the hosts continue their roundtable discussion about hiring salespeople by diving into compensation plans, bonuses, and the right way to present a job offer.

The Vice President of Service Leadership (a ConnectWise solution), Peter Kujawa knows a thing or two about building a business. Assisted by Service Leadership's support offerings, Peter led the turnaround of Locknet, including the acquisition by EO Johnson Business Technologies. Now, 11 years later, he's committed to helping MSPs experience success by using the same tools that aided his company's growth.

The MSP space is a fast-moving, ever-changing industry. Staying on top of the latest information and technology can be challenging, especially for younger MSPs that aren't quite ready to commit to something like a peer group. Enter ChannelPro: a free publication with a mission to educate and support the MSP community. Joel Zaidspiner, ChannelPro's Vice President & Associate Publisher, joins us to share the importance of education, community, and exposure, and how ChannelPro can assist MSPs in their growth and client relationships.

Not too many people make the leap from technical positions to the world of sales and marketing, but for Jimmy Hatzell of Quickpass, his background in IT serves as a major plus when developing content and marketing strategies. In this episode, Jimmy shares his philosophy on marketing, explaining how the right kind of marketing will boost your sales teams' efforts and create sales at scale.

For this special roundtable of MSP Business School, hosts Brian, Tim, and Robb tackle one of the most difficult challenges MSP owners are facing today: finding, recruiting, and hiring salespeople.

The Executive Vice President and Chief Product and Marketing Officer for Nuspire, Michelle Bank joins us to talk about what has people perplexed in the MSSP space, why end users are confused by the alphabet soup of IT, and what MSPs and MSSPs can do to help their clients better understand cybersecurity

Are you covering your SaaS? That's the question that Jim Lippie of SaaS Alerts wants to answer for you in this episode of MSP Business School. As more and more SMBs are migrating the majority of their business to the cloud, it's up to MSPs to ensure their clients remain protected no matter the application.

Willis Cantey of Cantey Tech Consulting joins us to talk about what it's like to be under the umbrella of a private equity organization, sharing unique strategies they use to grow and find new MSPs coming in, and what the opportunities are for MSPs looking to be targeted.

As the Senior Vice President of Business Development at Datto, Rob Rae is a man who needs no introduction. If you've been in the channel for any length of time, chances are you know his name and have most likely seen him at an event or two. We're delighted to have Rob join us for this episode of MSP Business School to talk about the current climate of the industry and the opportunities he sees for MSPs in the coming year.

The CEO of Binox MSP, Walter Contreras is a technologist, entrepreneur, and marketer whose current focus is helping MSPs grow quickly through lead generation and marketing automation technology. Walter sits down with Brian, Tim, and Robb to discuss the changing landscape of sales and how technology and automation can help MSPs through some of the more difficult parts of the sales process.

Welcome to MSP Business School's first episode of 2022! We made it through another year, and as we look forward to this new year bringing a bit more normalcy and stability as the pandemic continues to wane, we wanted to share the top three things we believe MSPs should be thinking about in 2022.

2020 was a challenging year for all of us, but we all hoped for a better 2021. While your opinion of this year may be mixed, it was another great year for the IT Community rich with new opportunity, new stories, and as always new challenges. We were privileged to have a front row seat to some of the most influential leaders in the MSP space. some of our favorites in 2021 include in no particular order: 3:45 – Teresa Rule, CEO, or RNT Professional Services (Episode 36) shares with us a story of how a countries economic outlook can be impacted through a cyber threat as simple as tracking portable rest rooms. 7:48 – Michael Crean (Episode 60) of Solutions Granted explains how his organizations culture and mission was shaped through the respect of hard working blue collar community in which he was raised and how that shaped his view of relationships that he takes with him to his job each day. 12:09 – Abe Garver (Episode 75), the industries leading M&A advisor at Focus Investment Banking joined us for a second time to share the M&A outlook for MSP's in 2022 and what makes a successful merger today. 16:58 – MJ Shoer of Comptia ISAO (Episode 81) helps us understand the roles of an ISAO and how membership can help MSP's and MSSP's cut through the noise surrounding cyberthreats and get actionable information on how to combat active cyberthreats earlier and faster. 22:19 – Our guest Guy Walton, a former FBI cyber agent and founder of Counterthreat Analysis Mitigation Ops (CAMO), (Episode 32) tells us a story of an Intel processor heist and how they found the perpetrator during the early days of cybercrime. 26:45 – Jay McBain, the channel's premier analyst at Forrester Research (Episode 61) joins us to share his thoughts on the future of the service provider and what steps they should take to ensure future success as the industry continues to change. 31:20 – Shawn Walsh, founder of Encore Strategic Consulting (Episode 53) talks about what it takes to become an effective leader and how ot avoid business the mistakes that he endured while trying to grow his MSP. One of the first steps is that you work for them, they do not work for you. 35:29– Brett Jaffee, of ConnectStrat (Episode 68) shares his view on how MSP's and MSSP's can get from start up (Level 1) to the growth stage (Level 2) within their business and its starts with what the owner wants and in what timeframe. 35:29– Kevin Clune , Editor of MSPGrowthHacks and founder of MSP Spark (Episode 80) tells us how new MSP's can get started with marketing and how the MSP Spark community can help you solve your marketing issues and get direction through a group approach to problem solving. We want to thank all of our listeners for a great 2021 and we look forward to serving you in 2022!

2021 was a year full of challenges and unexpected twists and turns, most of which still carried at least a touch of the pandemic. As we wrap up year two of this brave new world, we highlight the top issues we heard from our listeners and friends in the MSP community.

MJ Shoer of CompTIA ISAO benefits from years of experience in many different areas of the industry. In this episode of MSP Business School, MJ shares some of his own experiences and the many benefits of belonging to a trade organization like CompTIA.

Kevin Clune of MSP Growth Hacks comes onto the show to share some exciting new tools that MSPs can use to gain consistency in their marketing and to tell us about his new resource and networking platform, MSP Spark.

Bill Stucklen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Stack Advisors, an MSP-focused agency and automation powerhouse. In this episode, Bill, Brian, Tim, and Robb talk about the importance of automation and why every MSP should automate as much of their workflow as possible in order to achieve scalability and growth.

We have another case study from our listeners to dissect: an MSP went through the entire sales process with a prospect. Right before the contract was signed, the new client got spooked by the very thorough and honest 90-day onboarding plan that they were presented with. What should the MSP do? How do they navigate the new client's fears and rectify the situation so they start this new relationship on the right foot? Brian, Tim, and Robb weigh in and share their thoughts and experiences.

In this very special episode of MSP Business School, we welcome Miles Walker of Graphus. Graphus is the industry leader and creator or the world's first anti-phishing defense platform for protecting companies from cybercriminal acting like your teams trusted contacts. 2:14 - Miles shares his unconventional career trajectory and how he found his way into the world of cybersecurity. From a position on a Travel cooking show to a massive layoff in the travel industry, Miles talks of how he hooked up with the folks at Graphus. 6:18 - We discuss what Graphus does and how it can help your business, how they found themselves as part fo the Kaseya family. 13:10– Miles shares with us what the process that Graphus uses to identify bad mail from good mail and how it generates a trust score for all senders via an AI that looks at 20+ behaviors before classifying email. 19:22 – Miles shares a story of a typical phishing attack and how the problem can really cost a company.

You had a great sales meeting, delivered the proposal and set an upfront contract wit your prospect on next steps...then they go dark. What should you do?

In this very special episode of MSP Business School, we welcome back our first ever repeat guest: Abe Garver. The MSP Team Leader at FOCUS Investment Banking, Abe joins us for an update on the state of M&A in the MSP industry.

In this episode, hosts Brian Doyle, Tim McNeil, and Robb Rogers break down the benefits of knowledge-based sales, explaining how you can shift the conversation around security from one of fear, uncertainty, and doubt to one of risk tolerance and relationship building.

What do you do when you find yourself being strung along in the sales process? Do you know how to determine whether a prospect is simply dragging their feet or is actually lying to you about why they're on the hunt for a proposal? In this episode, hosts Brian Doyle and Robb Rogers sit down for a fireside chat about how to know when it's time to let go of a potential client and stop wasting your time chasing them down.

You hear it everywhere: "email is dead," leaving many to believe that locking down their email accounts is an unnecessary expense. Enter Matt Scully, Senior Channel Development Manager at Mailprotector. In this episode, Matt shares his thoughts on email security, the state of the industry, and what he sees facing MSPs today.

Ali Imran of Boundless Digital – a company that helps MSPs automate the deployment, troubleshooting, and overall administration of their Cisco Meraki organizations – is an automation evangelist. In this episode of MSP Business School, Ali shares how Boundless works tirelessly to make Meraki a better fit for MSPs, helping them become more efficient and more profitable.