MSP Business School

Today we turn the tables and interview two of MSP Business Schools Co-Hosts, Robb Rogers and Tim McNeil.  Robb and Tim started OSR Manage.  Originally started as an MSP Lead Generation company OSR has morphed into a Virtual Sales Management juggernaut. The OSR Manage team focuses on helping Tech Founders build winning sales teams.  Their approach which is a mix of Executive, and Sales coaching coupled with peer groups for the individual reps has helped 100’s of companies succeed in s

Leigh Wood Owner and Director of Node IT Solutions in Biggleswade, England joins us today and shares a story of persistence in the face of adversity.  We learn how when faced with a crisis that can cause a company to cease operations, Leigh and his team rose up and met the challenge head on.   Leigh starts with a conversation of his companies rise from its roots as an IT consultancy and its ultimate migration into becoming an MSP.  Having formed Node IT Solutions with a co-founder, Leigh initially served as the lead technician.  Soon his partner left the business and Leigh began the transition from technician to the business leader holding the main responsibility for Node IT’s sales. We then moved to a discussion of the biggest challenge that Leigh faced as a small business owner.  Returning from vacation, Leigh stepped off the plane to a text none of us would ever like to receive, a client who owed 50,000 pounds announced that they had gone out of business and that debt will never be collected. Leigh then shares his story of the how this event forced him to look at the weaknesses in the business and his own leadership.  He discusses the steps that he and his team took to get Node IT Solutions back on track and strengthen the operation. He also shared what he did in seeking the help he personally required (and the mentor that came into his life)  so he could become a stronger leader. We close his story with a discussion of the progress that he and his team made in recovering from this loss, and how this event prepared the company to be poised for long-term success.

Jason Schaller joins us in today's episode to discuss the importance of regular assessments and compliance reviews.  Anderson Zurmuehlen started as a traditional audit and accounting firm and ultimately added technology as a division of their business.  Leveraging their existing relationships where trust was established it only made sense to move into IT where trust of private information is also required.  Jason is responsible for both internal security and serving as the vCISO for the AZTS technology clients.  AZTS has built a strong advisory firm focused on IT governance and performing audits like SOC2 and CMMC.. Jason tells us how there is a huge opportunities for MSP's to provide security based resources to the small to mid-sized business community.Accountants have long been conversing with clients about risk management and in his role he is able to use that common language and extend it to IT. We then discuss how many MSP's are changing their models to MSSP, but most are falling short in the areas of governance and maintaining security policy and controls.  While tools are being brought in to support security the talent hasn't often caught up to really identify vulnerabilities. We talk about how the industry and how the MSSP community mirrors how the early days of the MSP world got started, a number of proven premium security players and a large numbers of upstarts that may not be qualified (yet) to truly be an MSSP and opening up risk to themselves. One of the biggest black holes for many MSSP's today is a proven incident response team.  Jason speaks of the key to mitigating that risk is having a good front end and build a quality prevention program.   We close with that MSP's that are unsure if they are conducting assessments and evaluating risk prevention appropriately they can engage Jason and his firm by visiting Anderson Zurmuehlen and engaging with their firm.

Today's Interview Series guest is Todd Whitley, CEO and Partner for Brightwire Networks.  Brightwire started as the traditional owner-led sales organization, and has since completed the transition to a mature sales team.  Todd sees 5-year business cycles within his business.  They key is being adaptable and focusing on growth. A key to Brightwire's success is building trust with clients and the sales team to drive the sales relationship. We talk about the responsibilities an MSP and its ownership has to  supporting staff, clients, family and community. One of the biggest challenges Brightwire faces is the pace of change within the technology sector and helping the team keep up with new tech.  Todd explains that Brightwire's mentality as a Business first service provider has given them the ability to control the pace of new technology and when their clients will implement new services. Through consultative advice, business alignment, and strong client relationships, Brightwire is not forced to allow technology to rule the team. To keep morale with the team, Brightwire doesn't become a slave to their customer. He encourages MSP's develop a process to support your team, leverage business conversation to keep the customer focused, and this drives successful digital transformation. This is critical to a strong, partner relationship with each client.

In this episode we recap some of the highlights from our past 5 guests.  As experts in the field we have seen that each has their own approach in achieving success.  Robb, Tim, and Brian discuss hat they learned and share their opinions on whether they agree or disagree. We start with a discussion that centered around discussions with Craig Skevinington and Matthew Bookspan.  Each has experienced a large, game changing sale and each shared with us what it took to win the deal.  The biggest takeaway we learned as each put in about 100 hours of business development time to win the deal. We discuss the tactics you need to take to win a big deal and how it is not for the faint of heart. We also talk about service models and whether of not a dedicated resource model trumps the pod model for providing support to your key clients. We close with a discussion around peer groups and how they have helped most of the experts we met with and what they have done for our own businesses'.

Today we speak to Tommy Wolosin, one of two partners operating NetWorks in Nashville, TN.  Tommy talks to us about creating an amazing culture to drive both client and customer relationships. We start with a conversation around how NetWorks started operations and how growth came from Tommy networking heavily in the Nashville area.  We talk about how peer groups and coaching were fundamental in breaking past growth driven by hustle into a more predictable sales model. We then transition into creating a culture that both customer and staff wanted to be a part of. Tommy shares how Net Works has long term and close relationships with many of their customers.  They leverage a strong vCIO process to drive engagement and loyalty in their client relationships. We also discuss how that culture spills into the business with most employees being part of the team for 10+ and the tactics that Net Works employs to meet the needs of both the business and their team.

Jon Rees joins us today on MSP Business School.  Jon is the Head of Technologies for Allied Communications, a Communications focused service provider with a large focus on the Casino and Gaming industry. In fact, they are the provider for 37% of the Las Vegas strip and 60% of Atlantic City. Today we discuss how to approach the enterprise space with a solutions focused approach. How once you crack the first enterprise account, you have to work your relationship to help guide you to the next enterprise opportunity. We shift gears to solutions to drive the remote workforce. Jon explains how UCaaS and CCaaS can simplify customer interactions in a world of expanding remote workforce.  We talk about customer experience and how that can make or break a relationship. Jon tells us where contact centers can enhance the experience and client support.  It can also help managers keep tabs, especially when your team is geographically dispersed.

In today's episode we speak with Eric Kiehn, the owner of C&W Technologies.  His service provider business has lasted 36 years and has seen good times and bad.  Eric tells us about those experiences and the downturns often led to new revenue opportunities. Eric speaks about how as he went into the last great recession in '08 it opened up a new market in cloud services for his break-fix shop.  Through the need to control costs it opened up a new recurring revenue model.  In fact, cloud drove the MSP services vs. the other way around. Eric also shares how peer groups changed his business and his life.  How the feedback from peers, both inside the industry with other MSP's, and with local business leaders shaped his leadership perspective and helped C&W Technologies innovate. He then shares about C&W's approach to the COVID-19 crisis. Change is more apt to happen during these down periods and clients are open to ideas they may have rejected in the past.  He adds that C&W Technologies built a list of 5 things they planned to accomplish to improve internally in the crisis. On a personal level, Eric focused on learning as much as he could on PPP, not for his business, but to help guide others.  It drew attention to him locally and drove new prospects into the top of his funnel.

Today we start our Interview Series with our first guest Matthew Bookspan talks to us about the launch of Blacktip IT.  He did this at a time where most of us would be avoiding risk. Holding a six-figure job and with a baby on the way, Matthew and his wife made the decision to start and IT company and he has never looked back. Matthew starts by telling us the story of his launch and his decision process to make the jump becoming and IT Service provider.  Not only did he take a big risk for himself and his family he went a step further focusing Apple Solutions at a time where Apple could only be termed as 'hyperniche". Matthew takes us through his journey of going from startup to a multi-million dollar service provider.  His story is a great one as he shares the focus and strategy he used to drive growth, keep costs in-line and even fire 200 clients on a single day.

Today we start our Interview Series with our first guest Craig Skevington, the founder of Steadfast IT.  Steadfast started as a traditional break-fix house, moved to managed services and then took the bold step in focusing on multi-location companies with remote workforce. Craig shares with us the steps his company took to drive success.  This included building a portfolio and driving customer acquisition.  Craig discusses how their focus is over delivering to their client base. By focusing on service analytics and searching to the repeatable issues that affect their clients to streamline support.  This yields an 8 minute ticket response goal, and leverages skill based routing for support. This approach increases client happiness and drives referral business. We then move into Craig's story about the process he took in order to "hook a whale", an extremely large deal his organization has in their portfolio.  He discusses the sales process, how critical it is to listen and find the pain, and then use that to drive the solution. He shares what the sales process looked like, the time investment required to land the opportunity, and what your should expect from the prospect.  Additionally, he expands on the concept of prospect obligation and how to get the client to "put skin in the game" which may not need to be monetary.  We close with how to manage the "whale".