MSP Business School

With more an more staff working from home and many businesses looking at making that move permanent for their staff, we look at the impact on manage those teams and steps to take to keep everyone productive. Sponsored by vCIOToolbox and OSRManage Today's episode focuses on a trend that been growing steadily over the last decade, the remote office workforce.  The work from home model has had steady year over year growth for quite some time, but the recent pandemic event made it a necessity. Companies are now looking at the overall pro's and con's of this workforce model and many are putting in place plans to not bring many of their employees back into the office. Ultimately, for some businesses this offers the opportunity for reduced operating costs through eliminating rents. We kick off the discussion with Robb discussing the OSR Manage approach to virtual management and how they are leveraging teams to get the team on the same page.   Tim follows with talk around needing to increase their daily huddle call to a twice a day event to ensure all team members were on the same page and to facilitate any communication or decision making assistance that might be required. the team discusses there individual approaches and what has been working or not working as they all grow more accustomed to remote management of staff.   The conversation then flows into what is required for an effective remote team.  We discuss tools that are needed, how to structure business hours and staff availability, and we close with a discussion about work-life balance when home is also work.  

Going Vertical! Sounds like we may be talking with skater or snowboarders, but the vertical we will be speaking about today is singular focus on one industry.  Many MSP's have adopted the vertical approach, and quite a few with huge success as we can see in the ChannelE2E's Annual Top 100 Vertical MSP report. But the big question is can a vertical focus be right for my MSP, and is the risk associated with a single industry to big a risk to put all your eggs in one basket? Robb kicks us off with his opinion and we quickly learn that he is not a fan of the vertical approach.  The risk in his perspective of an industry going dry or facing an economic downturn is too big an impact for many MSP's to survive.  This is being shown here in the pandemic as you see MSP's that singularly serve the hospitality and entertainment venues seeing big channels. Brian brings a discussion of not a complete vertical focus, but implementing "pocket verticals" and taking success you may have had as an early stage and leverage that into building these 'pocket verticals".  Robb speaks that you need to capitalize and get better at the markets you have the most success and then research how to beat your competition in that vertical. Tim reflects on the concept of the generalist and how there is too much of a 'one-off' approach across your client base and you do need to narrow down to a few verticals to support your business growth.  The reality for many MSP's the local market is too finite to support pure vertical growth. Brian speaks about how that vertical MSP's have to be open to moving into new markets and finding a marketing mindset and delivery process that can support that footprint. We close with a discussion of vertical industries and where the least amount of vertical risk lives and MSP's can pursue with the least risk.  

In this episode we dig deep into the role of the MSP Inside Sales Representative.  Robb starts the discussion with some of the key responsibilities of the farmer rep and discusses their involvement in deal registration and renewals, proposal generation and customer service. Brian discusses how MSP clients can be the 'gift that keeps on giving" and how it is crucial to keep close to your client and the account manager function needs to support the account and understand the client drivers and obstacles and communicate that internally. The role of vCIO drives the farming process.  In building a roadmap we are better able to illustrate a long term plan.  This allows for better client budgeting and shorter sales cycles if executed properly. We then dive into key activities around communication, cadence, and duties.  this includes staying informed on client and propsect news.  They keep tabs on press releases, annuncements, and events to keep the entires team aware of current events. The farmer should also be responsbile for tracking customer satisfaction.  For EOS users this cn be iin the scorecard.  It is key for the account manager to stay in tune with the overall health of the relationship. For companies that integrate the farmer roles they can be a growth agent and ensure the account blooms.

In this episode we MSP Sales models that can be leveraged beyond the owner led sales model.  We discuss how to get started and the steps you need to take to set yourself up for long-term customer acquisition success. Tim starts the discussion in outlining owner led sales.  This is the most common way most MSP's get started.  Robb expands on the owner-led sales model generally starts with the 'friends and family" referral approach and how that doesn't scale.  We discuss the realities of this model and why it often doesn't scale. The discussion then moves into sales tactics and how the money is in the follow up.  This starts in the prospecting phase and moves through each step in the sales cycle for MSP's.  When this becomes a larger problem this can be an indicator that it is time to expand the sales team. Robb talks about getting focus and really driving opporunity by building your 'Dream 250".  Many MSP's do not focus on clients that are similar to the companies that they have had success and building pocket verticals. We then move into the transition phase of moving past the owner-led sale and building a team.  We also discuss why the oowner can never really remove themselves from the sales process until you have scale in your overall business. We then discuss what these new sales models look like and the roles that need to be filled.  Also, we hone in on when a full-time sales manager is really needed in the business and its later that you think. We close the masterclass on identifying the key roles needed to build a strong MSP Sales engine and drive success.

In this episode we have a special guest filling in for Robb and Tim.  Jason Moss, Director of Marketing at Allied Communications, shares with us the tips and tactics he has employed to grow the Allied following by nearly 600% in seven months on the job. We begin with a discussion on strategy and the approach model Jason leverages when creating content for the team and when he is posting directly.  We talk about the first step is to engage.  Early in a social media strategy, commenting and engaging is often more important that posting in raising brad awareness and demonstrating thought leadership. Jason then dives into how you can train many social media algorithms on the content you prefer and the contacts you want to see most often. Jason then dives into how you can train many social media algorithms on the content you prefer and the contacts you want to see most often. We talk content creation and how to find ways to engage people without "post fatigue".  As we move through the COVID crisis you can see how people are just growing tired of the pandemic rhetoric, work from home strategies and regurgitated posts on new widely known .  We can fight this issue through sharing personal experiences, talking about your company culture and finding entertaining ways to develop your content. Drive intimate experiences vs. a firehouse of news articles or service offerings. We close with tools you can use at little or no cost to build your social media marketing and look spectacular doing it.

In this episode we discuss the role of the MSP Account Manager.   A great account manager can maximize the lifetime value of the relationship and ensure that the relationship sticks long-term Brian outlines the strategic account management process he employed while running his MSP.  Key points are understanding the key initiatives and obstacles that a client is facing and making recommendations to contribute to solving each. We also identify the key difference between the Key Account Manager (KAM) and the Technical Account Manager (TAM).  Key drivers for each role depends on the size on personnel of the MSP.  We also discuss how these resources can "stealth sell". Tim discusses how to leverage the DISC profile for assessing resources and determining how to assess success in each role.  Robb discusses the communication style that can be leveraged within the DISC profile. We dive into QBR's as an account management tool.  We discuss the frequency of Business Reviews and that should drive those meetings.  WE talk about ways to rate your clients to determine frequency and driving value back to your client. We close the meeting with staying in contacts with clients begin the key to account management.  You need to be proactive and stay ahead of issues.    

In this episode we discuss our the various sales approaches in use at MSP’s and MSSP’s today.  These include owner-led, inside/outside sales team, and hybrid sales models.  Robb discusses the realistic expectations for bringing on your first sales person and what support a new MSP Sales Rep will require. We then discuss how to transition from a word of mouth and refer sales organization and move into a true prospecting led sales engine.  Robb dives into how one of the biggest things that OSR Manage teaches owners making their first sales hire is patience. We also identify one of the easiest things to fix in your sales team, improving follow up and staying in touch and driving sales through a pleasantly persistent approach to sales. MSP’s also need to understand and develop sales metrics.  If you don’t have a measurable plan your sales hire will fail.  Develop your process before making that first hire. We close the meeting with how to interview and hire those resources and tactics to weed out the ‘big talkers’ and identify the producers.

We have hit the peak of the COVID crisis and our conversation focuses on what MSP’s can do to prepare to head back to work in the “New Normal”.   Brian speaks of the importance of the VCIO role as small to mid-sized businesses get back to work.  VCIO’s can help with helping the SMB’s catalog WFH lessons learned and gaps they may have experienced in deploying a WFH workforce.  More importantly, helping our clients build a new strategy as the restrictions on this crisis starts to relax. We start to look at the cyber security issues experienced during the crisis.  These include the impact of layoffs of remote workforce, Zoombombing, and staff security awareness.  We then start mapping out solutions to these common issues. Robb discusses how too many Account Managers and vCIO’s only look at the past and the present and not enough are helping shape the technology plan for the future.   Tim sparks a discussion about how all team members need to step up and help contribute wherever necessary to keep the machine moving as we move into the ‘new normal’.  Robb touches upon how many MSP’s he is speaking with are reviewing their SOP’s as they have changed as a result of work from home. He is also seeing those that embrace security will be leading the way in the ‘new normal’.  Brian shares that security awareness programs and employee monitoring will be key needs.

The Dean's discuss the global condition of MSP sales teams during the COVID-19 crisis. Are they laying off staff? If not, what tasks are sales team taking as companies assess post-COVID damage. We discuss what steps sales managers can take to keep their sales team engaged during this slow period and ready to execute when life returns to the "new normal". Robb speaks about some of the tactics he is seeing MSP's use during this crisis.  He notes that is is a great time to both show empathy and gather business intelligence from your clients and it is helping build a stronger relationship. We discuss how many MSP's are not taking steps to accelerate sales when the crisis is over and too many are choosing sales people as the resources to cut to reduce payroll. This also will create a buyers market for many MSP's post-crisis. A surprising trend is by shifting the conversation to empathy with our clients, sales rep time on call is increasing as their clients are more open to discuss their current situation freely. Brian talks about if there is any selling going on right now and the answer is yes.  MSP's are seeing increases in technologies supporting WFH and Cybersecurity.  Robb discusses some interesting approach models to drive stalled projects and make their employees happy.

In this episode we discuss our experiences in filing for the economic stimulus packages.  We also talk about how to manage our remote teams as we work from home.  We highlight tools that can be used and some of the interesting things we need to adapt to in WFH.  Finally, we talk about how to keep your sales teams motivated and engaged as we work through this period of crisis.  Tim discusses about teaching his team to lead with empathy.  He has found this approach is opening doors and allowing the sales team to log discovery calls that may convert to sales when the country reopens.   We close with a discussion of how to engage with your existing clients and build better relationships through learning lessons learned and how to help our teams sharpen their skills during this period of downtime.    Note: This was recorded prior to the exhaustion of funds and program reopening.