MSP Business School

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.