Empowering Your MSP Business to Grow and Prosper—One Post at a Time

One area that can often get overlooked in MSPs is operational strategy and process building. MSP business environments are chaotic by nature, often with small, nimble teams constantly putting out fires—which makes it easy to put off process-building initiatives. Revenue, profits and customers are always top-of-mind, and anything that remotely looks like it would impede the positive outcomes of these objectives is often deprioritized. Below, we’ll dive into some reasons why building these processes is so important and share insights on how they can catapult your team to greater success.

Everyone appreciates a helping hand. When you discover a free, online tool that makes your job easier, it can be hard to imagine life without it. With that in mind, we decided to reach out to you in order to compile a list of these helpful tools, all in one place. Why spend hours poking around online looking for a solution to your problem when it is very likely that one of your peers has already discovered and shared that solution?

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post called How to Sell Managed Services: Understanding the New Buyer Dynamic, a topic that's still top-of-mind for most MSPs today. In it I stressed that purchasing behavior has changed, rendering once popular sales strategies outdated and ineffective. Need proof on this? According to HubSpot, a mere two percent of cold calls result in an appointment. Clearly, there must be another way!

So let's say you're still struggling to fill your sales pipeline. You know what NOT to do because you've done it, and it isn't working. What then is the solution, how has it changed over time and what's driving that change?

This year has already brought a lot of channel activity; whether through mergers and acquisitions—for both vendors and service providers—the naming of new CEOs and executives, or things to look out for in 2019. But which of the major trends in the market are actually worth watching?

To answer this question and more, I sat down with Continuum CEO Michael George. Recently, Michael shared his predictions for the managed services industry, alluding to three major forces that will disrupt the market. Keep reading for a deeper dive into these three forces, including exclusive insight from Michael on how to align your MSP business for success in 2019.

The managed services market is predicted to grow to $242.45 billion by 2021 at a 10.8 percent CAGR! With such an outlook, it's no wonder so many MSPs are seizing this opportunity.

Whether proactive IT management has been your primary business model for years or you're exploring the managed IT services advantage for the first time, the potential for revenue growth is significant. Yet, maybe you've struggled to capitalize on this growing market. You're not alone. Here are five of the most common problems MSPs encounter and how you can avoid these pitfalls in your own business.

Money is many things, but it isn’t everything. It can be tough out there for managed IT services providers who want retain top talent but don’t always have the means to pay them. Luckily, there are several non-monetary ways that you can offer your employees compensation that actually help to enrich your staff’s daily work environment.

In the spirit of the upcoming new year, look to incorporate these non-monetary compensation strategies. As a result, you could see a more positive company culture, more engaged employees, and a more loyal, productive workforce.

Pricing is something many businesses struggle with, and MSPs are no exception. Price your offerings too high, and you might not find a great market for you. Price too low, and you might be hurting your own margins. Right now, the industry still offers enough flexibility that there are a number of different managed services pricing strategies that work. However, it’s important for MSPs to be aware of the benefits and drawbacks to each. Which pricing model is best for you? Let’s discuss.

What is one of the worst things an MSP can hear? “You’re fired!”

When a client leaves you, that’s called churn… and it’s really bad for your business. Churn not only represents a client leaving, but it can be incredibly costly to replace that business. It’s important to minimize client churn and therefore, you need to be able to identify the early signs of churn so you can reduce the chance that your client leaves you.

If you’ve been on LinkedIn recently, you’ve probably seen the #NextGenMSP challenge floating around. Started by Continuum, this challenge engages MSPs and asks them to post a video sharing their top growth tips for the next generation of MSPs. 

With over 60 videos and counting, the challenge has taken over our LinkedIn feeds. These videos contain excellent pieces of advice from fellow IT providers, MSPs, and vendors. We noticed a couple key trends and themes, so we’ve decided to consolidate these to bring you the best pieces of advice we’ve heard thus far.

An increasing number of managed services providers (MSPs) are finding competition creeping into their accounts. Inevitably, competition will drive down prices and profitability, unless you can demonstrate to your customer why working with you is worth the extra money.