MSP Business School

Frank Raimondi from Nodware joins us today at MSP Business School. Frank is the VP of Channel Development for Nodeware. 2:17 – Frank tells us about his journey in IT. He has seen the industry evolve and change with Apple Computer and Intel stops, giving him a great view of enterprise vendor relationships within the channel. From there, he moved to Synnex getting the distributor's viewpoint before joining IGI Cyberlabs (Nodeware) 6:07 – Brian asks Frank where should an MSP or MSSP start when looking at creating a program looking at cyber hygiene. Frank shares his viewpoints on why the SMB should care and how it can impact the customer's ecosystem. Also, the hits are more often in the SMB than the customers might understand. 9:19  – Tim discusses the range of security products and how it takes more than a product but also an education to help clients. Frank speaks a bit about cyber fatigue at the MSP level and how things with a client should start simply by knowing what needs to be protected.  14:23 - The conversation goes into discovering rogue IPs and controlling what is being secured and what assets exist in your environment. Cybersecurity is a daunting task for many MSPs, and Nodeware can help drive this first step. 20:19 - Tim asks about the people factor in cybersecurity and how education is a critical early step in cybersecurity. Frank speaks that leadership needs to drive the conversation within each business. Show Website: https://mspbusinessschool.com/ Guest Name: Frank Raimondi https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankraimondi/ Company: Nodeware https://nodeware.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

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.