Golden Rules for MSP Excellence: Keep It Real!

In honor of this year’s VISION theme – Achieving the Gold Standard as an MSP – we’re publishing a special 4-part blog series: Golden Rules for MSP Excellence. Before you read another word, grab your ticket to the big show – just a few open spots remain! View the full VISION ’24 Agenda here.

Now, without further ado, introducing our third golden rule. As you’re about to discover, it’s the REAL DEAL…

Is your MSP for real?

What do we mean by that? On one level, we’re talking about whether your MSP business is a serious business – and whether you see it as such.

But we explored this idea in the first installment of this 4-part series – It’s Business Time. Now we want to look at another way an MSP can ‘keep it real.’ It has to do with honesty, transparency, accountability, and authenticity.

Does your MSP keep it real? Keep reading to find out!

Golden Rule #3 – Keep It Real

Elite MSPs don’t typically lie and cheat their way to the top. That’s because being an MSP is about forming enduring relationships with clients. It’s about treating people well. Integrity is at the heart of what we do: service.

But simply not being dishonest isn’t enough to help your MSP stand out. It’s the bare minimum. If you want to be a leading MSP – an elite MSP – you have to do more than abstain from lying; you have to lean into truth and transparency, authenticity and accountability – and lean hard. Here are some specific ways to achieve this…

Real Talk – Skip the Technobabble

Don’t do it. What’s that? You’re not? Think again.

We work a lot of MSPs here at The 20, and we see this all the time. MSPs believe they’re communicating clearly with clients and prospects, using jargon only when necessary. But then we show them what ‘plain English’ really looks like, and it’s like the scales fall from their eyes.

So however much you’re toning down the geekspeak, double your efforts and you might achieve the type of clarity the best MSPs have mastered.

This advice is most directly relevant to your sales and marketing efforts, but the ‘power of plain English’ should pervade every part of your business. So, next time you’re in a sales meeting and you find yourself about to say, “Our proactive and expert team uses advanced, real-time analytics to optimize throughput and ensure minimal latency,” take a beat and find simpler words:

“We have really smart people keeping an eye on your network at all times to make sure it runs fast and smooth. Some providers fix things after they break; we keep things from breaking in the first place so you don’t waste time reaching out and waiting on a fix.”

Notice the second one is a little longer, and that’s because it includes the benefit, and not just the feature. Remember, benefits > features. Tell clients why what you’ll do is a good thing. Explain how it makes their life easier, more fun, better. If you commit to focusing on concrete benefits, ditching the technobabble becomes only natural.

Real Costs – Be Transparent About Pricing

This one is straightforward. Be totally, unwaveringly, and wholeheartedly transparent about your pricing. If your pricing model isn’t truly flat-rate, don’t say it is. If you charge for labor, let clients and prospects know. If there are hidden fees, drag them out into the light.

Transparency builds trust, and when you have trust, everything else gets 100x easier (not an actual stat).

Real Words – Mean What You Say

Mean what you say and say what you mean. This applies to pricing, as we just discussed, but it’s a good policy for every aspect of your MSP business. It’s OK to portray your company in a favorable light, but don’t call your one SDR an “elite sales team” or your basic services package “premium.”

Again, it all comes down to trust. We know you want to impress your clients and prospects with attention-grabbing statements and lofty promises. But you know what will really get their attention? Talking to them as human beings, with honesty, respect, and not an ounce of bulls**t.

Real Reviews – Conduct QBRs

Conducting quarterly business reviews (QBRs) is key for MSPs focused on accountability and authenticity. These reviews give you a chance to evaluate your performance against SLAs and metrics, allowing you to honestly address both successes and areas where SLAs were not met.

Not sure how to approach QBRs? Check out this helpful overview from Zomentum.

But here’s something you should definitely include in a QBR…

Real Recommendations – Tell Your Clients What They Need

This one is huge – no, GIGANTIC. MSPs are supposed to be proactive. That doesn’t just mean we ought to do everything we can to prevent IT problems for our clients; it also means we should actively guide our clients toward improvements that drive their success.

If you need to be firm about something, be firm. If your client is lacking in some crucial piece of IT infrastructure or missing a solution that’s really a no-brainer, be respectful, but don’t beat around the bush. Ultimately, being a good MSP is about telling your clients what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. Of course, this is infinitely easier (again, not a real stat) if you’ve previously established trust.

Final Thought – Get Off Your Island!

We’re going to follow our own advice and tell it like it is:

Growing a large and profitable MSP ‘on an island’ was difficult ten years ago; now it’s virtually impossible.

If you want to succeed in this industry, stop going it alone. It won’t work, or it will until it won’t – until you burn out, run into problems with scalability, etc. The MSPs that attend VISION ’24 later this month are some of the best in the channel, and the reason is simple: they know they don’t know everything, and habitually reach out for wisdom and guidance.

If you want to be king, by all means continue to control every aspect of your MSP. But if you want to be rich – get off that island and plug into the broader MSP community!

Thanks for reading – and don’t forget to register for VISION ’24, your MSP’s path to the gold standard.

Golden Rules for MSP Excellence: Do What They Don’t

In honor of this year’s VISION theme – Achieving the Gold Standard as an MSP – we’re publishing a special 4-part blog series: Golden Rules for MSP Excellence. You can find the first installment here. In this second article, we’re introducing a new rule – a rule that separates the wheat from the chaff, the great from the good…

Enjoy the article – and check out the VISION ’24 agenda, now live!

We work with a lot of managed service providers (MSPs) here at The 20 – a lot. This gives us a window into certain patterns – a bird’s-eye view of what separates the so-so MSPs from the really good MSPs, and the really good MSPs from the great MSPs.

The purpose of this article is to give MSP owners a clearer idea of what it takes to make it in this industry. And by ‘make it’ we mean thrive, not survive. We figure most MSP owners founded their companies with high hopes – you don’t set out on your own entrepreneurial path to build something ‘not bad’ or ‘pretty good.’ You start an MSP because you want to create something special and leave a lasting legacy.

So let’s talk about what that really requires. What do you absolutely have to do if you want to grow an elite MSP business?

Golden Rule #2 – Do What They Don’t

It’s nice to think that everyone can be great. But reality begs to differ. Mountains narrow toward their peak, and there’s only so much room at the top.

So, if you want to build a really successful company – an elite MSP in the top quartile of our industry – you have to do what others don’t do, won’t do, can’t do…

That might sound like a tired sports cliché, but remember, clichés become cliches for a reason – they’re typically true! That’s definitely the case here; we’ve worked with hundreds of MSPs over the years, and we’ve observed some consistent trends. In what follows, we’re revealing three things ultra-successful MSPs do that other MSPs simply don’t do.

Is your MSP willing to do these things to get ahead?

They Do What’s Boring

Here’s a simple but profound truth every entrepreneur – and really anyone pursuing dominance in their chosen field – should never lose sight of:

The ‘best in the biz,’ regardless of industry, aren’t necessarily on top because they’ve worked harder than everyone else; they’re there because they did the boring stuff.

Not once, not twice, but again and again and again and again. James Clear, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Atomic Habits, hit the nail on the head when he wrote:

Somehow, top performers in any craft figure out a way to fall in love with boredom, put in their reps, and do the work.”

This is as true about MSP owners as anyone else – and in fact, it might even be more true for MSP owners! There are countless aspects of running an MSP business that aren’t exactly glamorous: keeping impeccable financial records, updating documentation on a regular (and scheduled) basis, performing compliance checks – to name a few of the less sexy tasks that keep an MSP running smoothly.

So, what’s the takeaway here – that if you want to grow your MSP, you’d better brace yourself for some serious boredom?

Not exactly, for two reasons. One, at a certain point in every MSP’s growth journey, delegating or outsourcing areas of business becomes a must. It doesn’t have to be you doing the boring stuff, as long as you’ve got someone on the job you can trust and rely on.

More importantly – and this ties back to the James Clear quote – most really successful MSP owners don’t find the boring stuff, well, boring. In fact, many love it. They love process. They love fine-tuning. They love tracking metrics. They love finding ways to become more efficient.

Are you willing to fall in love with boredom – or find enough ‘process freaks’ to join your team and make sure your MSP is crossing its T’s and dotting its I’s?

They Do What’s Uncomfortable

It’s true – if you want to grow, you need to accept that growing pains are a thing. Now, we want to be careful here not to perpetuate a harmful and counterproductive stereotype: that building a large and profitable MSP is supposed to drive you into the ground and leave you with just a few scraps of sanity.

In fact, our primary goal here at The 20 isn’t just helping MSPs grow and scale; it’s helping them to do so without undue stress and difficulty. We also know that as MSPs get larger and more operationally mature, things actually get easier. In our experience, the MSPs in the bottom half of our industry work harder on average than those at the top. Cruel irony – or the power of scalability in action?

With all that said, there’s no way to bypass discomfort entirely on your way to the top. If you’re looking to take your MSP to the next level, here are a few trips outside the ‘comfort zone’ you’ll likely have to make:

The No Trip

Part of growing a profitable MSP is learning to say no. Whether it’s to an outlandish client request or to taking on (or retaining) a problematic client, strategic denials are a cornerstone of healthy business growth. If something is, on balance, detrimental to the health of your company, remember, it’s OK to just say no.

The Self-Promotion Trip

Self-promotion – yuck, right? Wrong! It might not come naturally, but promoting yourself and your MSP is a powerful tool for unlocking new growth.

Thinking about dabbling in video to build your brand on social media? Go for it! You don’t have to put out a perfectly edited and polished product, either. Even humble videos will attract attention, build brand recognition, and foster trust among clients and potential clients. This is hardly surprising, when video accounts for more than eighty percent of all internet traffic!

Will putting yourself out there be scary? For the introverts (of which there are many in the MSP space), it almost certainly will be. But embrace the feeling of discomfort – it’s a sign you’re on the right track!

The ‘Loosen Your Reins’ Trip

A lot of the MSP owners who approach us looking for help with growth share a common problem: they are their businesses.

What does that mean? It means their MSPs run only by virtue of these hardworking folks’ direct, continual, and at times herculean efforts. They oversee everything, do everything, are everything – engineer, technician, sales, even janitor! This all-encompassing involvement often leads to burnout and hinders growth, as they become the bottleneck for every decision and task within the company.

This approach simply isn’t sustainable in the long run. To truly grow and scale their business, they need to transition from being the doer of all things to being the leader and strategist. Delegating tasks, building a reliable team, and implementing efficient processes are essential steps towards creating a thriving MSP.

They Do What’s Uncertain

Try new things! Try new things! Try new things! We said it three times because it really is that important. You want to create repeatable, scalable processes for everything in your business. Most MSPs owners accept this (fewer act on it). However, it’s the why that loses a lot of folks. So listen closely to what we’re about to share…

You don’t create repeatable, scalable processes so you can rest on your laurels and go through the motions. You do it because you want to build a foundation that allows you to innovate, grow, and adapt. By having reliable systems in place, you free up time and mental energy to explore new opportunities, tackle bigger challenges, and focus on strategic initiatives.

So by all means standardize where you can, implement processes where you can – but never stop looking for areas of your business to improve and evolve. And remember, oftentimes the big breakthroughs come on the heels of risk and uncertainty. If you want to grow, you have to embrace uncertainty.

Rub Shoulders – A Final Thought

We’ve considered three things the best and successful MSPs do that others don’t: they do what’s boring, they do what’s uncomfortable, and they do what’s uncertain.

Striking a balance between these activities is tough. For instance, there’s no foolproof system for optimally dividing your time and attention between ‘the boring’ and ‘the uncomfortable.’ Allocating your time wisely is one of those things you get better at through experience – and also, by plugging into a broader community of MSP owners. Here at The 20, the business-savvy habits and tactics of our larger, more experienced members provide an example for newer members to follow.

You can study elite MSPs from afar and learn as much as you can from them. But there’s just no substitute for getting directly involved in a peer group, and talking shop with other MSP owners who share your goals and struggles.

Want to check out our wonderful group? Take a look…

It’s VISION Time!

If you enjoyed this piece, look out for the next installment in our 4-part blog series, Golden Rules for MSP Excellence. And don’t forget to register for VISION ’24, taking place later this month (Aug 27-30) in sunny Dallas, TX.

The MSPs you’ll encounter at VISION are some of the most motivated, process-driven, and business-savvy companies in the game. Want to know what it takes to make it in this competitive industry? Come hang out with the best of the best at VISION ’24!

The 20 Acquires Collabrance, Expands Operations

Leading MSP growth platform The 20 today announced its acquisition of Collabrance, an award-winning master managed IT services provider based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This latest deal marks the Texas-based company’s ninth of the year and the 35th acquisition since entering the M&A arena in late 2022.

This aggressive expansion strategy is driven by a large pool of acquisition candidates, managed service providers (MSPs) that have achieved significant growth and operational maturity as members of The 20’s renowned growth platform.

The acquisition of Collabrance represents the expansion of The 20’s acquisition strategy. “In this case, we cast our net a little wider to find a like-minded master MSP that will augment our growth platform, drive continuous improvement, and uphold our sky-high standards for excellence in service delivery,” shared Tim Conkle, The 20’s founder and CEO.

Founded fifteen years ago by GreatAmerica Financial Services® as a path forward for existing customers in the office equipment industry, Collabrance has grown year over year, recently winning the #18 position of the 2024 Channel Futures MSP 501: Top Managed Service Providers list.

Moving forward, Collabrance will retain its own brand, underscoring the company’s strong market presence and strategic value. Moreover, The 20 has retained all Collabrance employees, upholding the company’s historical commitment to minimal attrition. The 44 Collabrance team members joining The 20 bring a wealth of valuable expertise to the table, including intimate knowledge of the equipment dealer channel, network engineering expertise, ConnectWise and N-able.

Collabrance leadership is confident that the transition will be seamless, and expect total continuity in services. Moreover, joining The 20 promises new opportunities for growth and advancement, both for individual employees and the company as a whole.

“We’re excited to see Collabrance take the successful model they’ve built and elevate it under the direction of The 20,” said Martin Golobic, CEO of GreatAmerica, Collabrance’s parent company. “We created Collabrance to provide another business opportunity for many of our existing GreatAmerica customers and have been so proud of what they’ve accomplished. The synergies between our and The 20’s business tenets were obvious when we first met. This acquisition allows our Collabrance team to do what they do best – service customers – and allows them to do it with the same integrity and care that they have for the past fifteen years,” added Golobic.

The 20’s leadership is also feeling energized and optimistic about the deal, and look forward to close collaboration with their new team members. “We’ve been fans of Collabrance and their team for some time, and there’s a lot of mutual respect surrounding this deal – and a lot of excitement about the future,” said Conkle. “People, process, and culture are what drive success in this industry, and Collabrance has all three. This is a win for us, a win for Collabrance, and above all, a win for our collective client base, who can expect continued great service, bolstered by enhanced capabilities and The 20’s around-the-clock support.”

Pinecrest Capital Partners served as the exclusive financial advisor to The 20 MSP on the acquisition.

Stay tuned for more deals in the coming months as The 20 continues expanding and solidifying its leadership position in the IT services industry.

View the full press release here.

About The 20 MSP Group

The 20 MSP Group is an exclusive consortium for Managed Service Providers (MSP) aimed at dominating and revolutionizing the IT industry with its standardized all-in-one approach. The 20’s robust RMM, PSA, and documentation platform ensures superior service for its MSPs’ clients utilizing their completely US-based Help Desk and Network Operations Center. Extending beyond proven tools and processes, The 20 touts a proven sales model, a community of industry-leading MSPs, and ultimate scalability.

About Collabrance

Collabrance LLC, a Master MSP, has the knowledge, confidence, and resources you need to be successful. We help IT Solution Providers grow their managed services business faster, and with fewer risks. Our comprehensive technology stack and holistic approach delivers a superior service experience, while protecting your risk and profitability. Collabrance is guided by the unwavering principle that you, the service provider or the equipment reseller, is the center business model. Collabrance is committed to being your trusted technology advisor and helping you keep your customers for a lifetime. To learn more, visit collabrance.com.

Scalability Matters

The Art of Scaling as an MSP

Scalability in business is everything — if you want to scale. But what does it mean to scale? Here’s one definition you might have encountered:

To scale is to increase revenue faster than costs.

This definition helps us start to get a feel for the concept of scalability. ‘Profitable growth’ is concise, and it does capture what it means to scale. Unfortunately, it only captures half of it …

Scalability refers to the capacity to not only scale up — i.e., increase revenue faster than costs — but also down. Scaling down is being able to minimize losses when business slows. In other words, it’s decreasing costs in the face of decreasing revenue. A concrete example: If you lose customers, you’re going to lose revenue. How do you reduce costs to maintain profitability? Answering that question is figuring out how to scale down.

Scalability is straightforward on paper. But as a business owner, you don’t just want a textbook understanding of scalability. You want knowledge you can apply. You want wisdom.

Look no further. In this blog post, we’re going to talk about scalability in the managed services industry, discuss whether scalability is necessary for your managed service provider (MSP), and share three important points to keep in mind as you pursue greater scalability at your MSP business.

What if I don’t want to scale?

We started this article with a qualification: scalability in business is everything — if you want to scale. “But what if I don’t want to scale?” you might ask.

The short answer is that that’s fine. Scalability, like most things in business, is something you can choose to work toward. The operative term here is “choose.” Your reasons for starting or acquiring your own business are just that — yours. You might not be looking to grow a gigantic, hugely profitable MSP. Maybe your ambition is simply to be your own boss, and make a little money doing something you’re passionate about. Nothing wrong with that!

But if you happen to be in the managed IT services game, things are a bit more complicated …

The market for managed services isn’t just growing, it’s ballooning. Competition is on the rise, as more MSPs throw their hats in the ring for a piece of the rapidly expanding pie.

At the same time, clients — i.e., businesses that need IT support — are looking to do more and more on the digitalization front, and accordingly, expecting more and more from their MSPs and ITSPs.

What does all of this mean for an MSP with modest ambitions on the scalability and growth front?

In short, it means that you can’t afford to ignore scalability, even if you don’t aspire to grow and scale up in significant ways. When you’re swimming against a current, it takes effort to stay in the same place, let alone move forward. The ‘current’ your MSP is currently facing consists of other MSPs looking to steal your clients, ever-evolving technology that threatens to render your services obsolete, and greater/more numerous client expectations.

So, even if your goal isn’t to grow, but simply stay in business and serve your clients, chances are you will need to do things like improve your operational efficiency so that you can not only keep your current clients, but also, meet their ever-evolving needs.

Scale Forward to Scale Up

If you’re an MSP looking to scale up, you need to think in terms of scaling forward. This just means thinking ahead, and building out the infrastructure and operational capacities that will be required once you’ve grown to a certain point.

But what point? How far in advance should you plan?

We can’t give you a precise answer to that question (it depends crucially on your specific situation), but we can tell you this much: it’s the right question to be asking!

Scalability is all about anticipating growth, and finding the ‘sweet spot’ between two extremes:

On one hand, you don’t want to only scale reactively, and scramble to adjust operations to accommodate a greater workload, whether it comes from an influx of new clients, an expansion in your service offerings, or whatever else.

On the other hand, you shouldn’t make the opposite mistake, and assume that ‘if you build it, they (clients/revenue) will come.’ It’s good to be optimistic, but it’s better to be realistic, and investing in a bunch of new resources, whether staff or technology, because you’re simply hoping to grow a lot, and soon, isn’t bold; it’s foolhardy and could cost you a lot, including your business.

Figuring out how far to ‘scale forward’ means taking a good, hard look at not only your MSP — where it’s at and where you expect it to be in 1 year (5 years, 10 years …) — but also, your industry and what the market’s doing. You don’t have to know with certainty that your efforts to inject scalability into your MSP will be met with enough growth to justify the investment. But you should at least have good reasons to predict that such growth will occur in a timely manner (i.e., soon enough to prevent any severe dips in profitability).

At the same time, bear in mind that adding scalability to your MSP — hiring more technicians, streamlining workflows, opening a second location, etc. — doesn’t just prepare you for future growth. It can facilitate future growth. When your services are more scalable, they’re more efficient, and when they’re more efficient, they’re more attractive to prospective clients.

Get Hypothetical!

Business is numbers. Cold, hard data.

Sure, but it’s also imagination, risk-taking, vision, and brute persistence. This is particularly evident when it comes to cultivating scalability at your business.

Business executive and startup advisor, Gordon Daugherty, suggests that one of the best ways for business owners to maintain an appropriate level of scalability is by asking one simple question, again and again:

Where would we break?

If one of your clients opened two locations in a different state, where would your MSP break?

If your revenue doubled next quarter, where would your MSP break?

If you landed a client with triple the endpoints of your current largest client, where would your MSP break?

When you can zero in on the parts of your business that would start to unravel — or fall apart entirely — under the pressure of an increased workload, you can focus on injecting more scalability into those weak points, so that they don’t end up hampering growth.

Of course, when you ask, “If X happened, where would we break?”, the likelihood of ‘X’ matters a great deal. If ‘X’ is highly unlikely, fixing the part of your business that would break in the event of X isn’t so pressing, or even advisable. But if ‘X’ is something you’re expecting and/or striving toward — if it’s a scenario you’re preparing to encounter — then making your operations more scalable to accommodate ‘X’ becomes a much higher priority.

The devil is in the details with all of this, which is why it’s a good idea to recruit outside help when trying to increase your MSP’s scalability. The 20 gives MSPs something very valuable in this regard: an entire community of MSP owners who’ve gone through a variety of growth stages, and learned crucial lessons along the way. Our MSP members can draw on the collective wisdom of the group when planning for future growth.

Become a Process Pro

If you want to make your MSP more scalable, it’s time to fall in love with process. This is just another way of saying that becoming scalable is all about efficiency. Scalable processes, all things being equal, are efficient ones.

Your MSP might operate efficiently with its current workload, but what if your client base doubled — where would operations bend? Where would they break? A general principle of scaling up is that it amplifies what’s bad, and makes what’s good harder (a big reason why so many companies fail to scale up successfully!). So, when considering the efficiency (and scalability) of your MSP’s workflows, keep in mind that small or minor inefficiencies can quickly become glaring service issues when the scope of your services increases. Similarly, scaling up requires that you keep an eye on areas where your MSP shines, and ask: How can we continue to excel at these things under greater operational demands?

In your pursuit of greater operational efficiency, two invaluable tools at your disposal are metrics and documentation. Employing the right metrics, including key performance indicators (KPIs), can help you track, analyze, and improve your team’s performance, enabling your MSP to reach greater and greater heights of efficiency. Documenting your MSP’s core processes, and developing standard operating procedures (SOPs), not only helps technicians perform their jobs faster and more smoothly, it also makes it easier to bring new hires up to speed. This is vital, as scaling up often means hiring more people, and if your MSP’s hiring/onboarding/training protocols aren’t standardized and documented, the costs of expanding your workforce can easily start to exceed any gains in revenue that such growth produces.

And remember, employing metrics and documentation at your MSP is only worth doing if you’re committed to doing these things well. Using ineffective KPIs, or documenting processes without also scouring those processes for inefficiencies, costs more than it’s worth in time, resources, and energy. So don’t just dip your toe into metrics and documentation; dive in with gusto!

Scale Your MSP with The 20

If you want to see real changes at your MSP, you need to make real changes — and this is especially true when it comes to scalability. The main reason MSPs struggle to scale up successfully — i.e., increase revenue faster than costs — isn’t that scalability is too complex or difficult. It’s that it’s too scary!

Generally speaking, scaling up doesn’t mean getting better at what you already do, but rather, getting good at new things. It means changing your business model — the very plumbing of your organization. It means giving up some control (if you are your business, that’s fine, but it’s not scalable!). In short, becoming a scalable business often means becoming a different kind of business, which is why many MSP owners make scalability-oriented changes only halfway, or half-heartedly — they’re afraid of the meaningful change that is actually required to achieve a high level of scalability!

The 20 works with MSPs that are serious about growth. Our revolutionary approach not only gives you a blueprint for how to scale, but an entire community of MSP owners to help you along the way. You can spend years and years trying to puzzle out scalability all on your own, or you can plug into The 20’s model and give your MSP the tools and tactics to scale up (or down) with ease. If you’re in the MSP game to grow a large and profitable company, The 20 is your “easy button.”

Get in touch today to learn more, and check out this 2-minute testimonial video to find out how The 20 helped one MSP owner solve the problem of scalability.

Golden Rules for MSP Excellence: It’s Business Time!

With just over a month till VISION ’24 (register here), it’s time to get into the spirit of this year’s conference theme: Achieving the Gold Standard as an MSP. We’re excited to share the first installment in a special 4-part blog series: Golden Rules for MSP Excellence. In this first article, we’re looking at the number one rule MSPs should follow in the pursuit of greatness…

Before we get to our first golden rule for MSP excellence, let’s talk about what MSP excellence even means. When we talk about ‘achieving the gold standard’ as an MSP, what are we really talking about?

The easy answer is that ‘achieving the gold standard’ means doing what the biggest MSPs do.

But it’s not the best answer. That’s because big MSPs aren’t always shining beacons of operational maturity and service excellence. And while achieving the gold standard helps with growth – undoubtedly – it’s not just copying large MSPs. It’s doing things the right way – not just growing, but scaling; not just winning new clients, but keeping them (and keeping them happy); not just solving technical problems, but core business challenges.

A lot of larger MSPs are good at these things – that’s a big part of how they became larger MSPs! But achieving the gold standard isn’t exclusive to the major players with many millions in annual revenue. In many cases, the gold standard is something you can start working toward right away, regardless of your MSP’s size.

This is especially true of our first golden rule for MSP excellence…

Golden Rule #1 – Be About Your Business

Be about your business. What does this mean? On the surface, it just means you should, as an MSP owner (and really any business owner), be focused, disciplined, diligent, professional, and so on. But there’s a deeper meaning…

To be about your business is to conceptualize your MSP as a business, first and foremost, and not, say, as a source of technological expertise or an excuse to geek out about computers while making a little money.

Thinking about your MSP business as a business doesn’t mean you have to stop being passionate about technology, or that you should think purely in terms of profit. In fact, both of those sound like a recipe for disaster.

So what does this conceptual shift involve? How do you think like a business owner and approach decisions accordingly?

Good for Business

One of the best ways you can ‘be about your business’ is by habitually asking: Is this good for business?

This might sound obvious, but as the following two examples reveal, determining the overall impact of a decision on your MSP’s health as a business is anything but straightforward.

Example #1 – The Right Tool

You’re considering making a change to your MSP’s tool stack. But you really like your tools! From a purely technical perspective, they rock!

But what about from a business perspective? Would switching to a new tool stack be good for business?

Answering that question actually requires answering a whole bunch of other questions: Are my tools scalable enough for my growth goals? Are they preventing crucial integrations? Are they backed by heathy vendor relationships? Would switching tool stacks open new doors?

And let’s not forget about what is arguably in this context the most important and salient question of all: Which tools best serve my client relationships?

You might like your current stack, but when you’re striving for the gold standard, it’s not about you. It can’t be. It’s about your operations, your employees, your clients – in short, your business.

Example #2 – Just Say No

Imagine one of your clients demands a complex system migration in a week. You might be able to pull it off, emphasis on might…

When you’re first starting out as an MSP owner, it’s only natural to say yes. New client? Yes! Custom request that falls outside your core capabilities? Sure! Unrealistic timeline that will likely make your technicians hate life? Bring it on!

While understandable, saying yes to everything isn’t a sustainable business practice, and in fact, strategic no‘s are a hallmark of a mature, forward-looking MSP.

So, getting back to that complex migration, while the engineer in you might jump at the opportunity to showcase some serious technical wizardry, the business owner in you should be wary. Depending on the details, you might decide to take on the project, but it shouldn’t simply be because you can do it (albeit with a lot of stress and overtime). It should be because, all things considered, taking on the project will be – you guessed it – good for business.

A Matter of Time

As the above two examples show, making decisions that are good for business, while simple in concept, is pretty darned complicated in practice. That’s because it requires ‘zooming out’ – seeing the big picture and considering the cascade of effects a single decision is likely to have.

This zooming out business is especially challenging when you’re busy. When you’re up to your neck in day-to-day work while constantly putting out fires, it’s almost impossible to step back and consider things coolly, with an eye to the overall health of your company.

To perform that kind of objective assessment, what you really need is time. This is why one of the most important things you can do as an MSP owner is find ways to protect your time. Creating repeatable, scalable processes backed by robust documentation is one way to protect your time. Delegating core business functions to trusted partners and experts is another. Becoming a member of a group like The 20 and off-loading the bulk of your tickets to an acclaimed 24/7 help desk – that frees up time too!

However you choose to free up your schedule, prioritizing high-impact activities and strategic planning will help drive your business forward. Just ask Greg Padgett, an MSP owner who joined The 20 back in 2018:

“When I met him [Tim Conkle, CEO of The 20], I had determined I was tired of just making myself a job; I wanted a business. Joining The 20 helped me to get out of that hole that I had built for myself, and be able to stand up above the company and look into it and see what needed to change, and make those hard decisions to make those changes.”

That’s what it’s all about, folks – getting out of the daily grind and assuming your rightful position as the visionary leader of your company.

It’s VISION Time!

If you enjoyed this piece, look out for the next installment in our 4-part blog series, Golden Rules for MSP Excellence. And don’t forget to register for VISION ’24, taking place next month (Aug 27-30) in sunny Dallas, TX.

The MSPs you’ll encounter at VISION are some of the most motivated, process-driven, and business-savvy companies in the game. Want to know what it takes to make it in this competitive industry? Come hang out with the best of the best at VISION ’24!

Beyond the Buyout

How The 20 Nurtures MSP Growth While Respecting Ownership Boundaries

Chances are, you’ve caught wind of The 20’s M&A activities. We’ve certainly been busy, acquiring several MSPs each month as we pursue our mission of building the first premier MSP with coast-to-coast reach.

But with all the press surrounding our rapid expansion and unique consolidation strategy, it’s easy to lose sight of what The 20 is really all about: not acquiring MSPs, but helping them grow and find success in our hyper-competitive industry.

In this blog post, we want to clarify a few things about our M&A strategy, and address a question that’s been coming up: Do we recruit MSPs to join The 20 simply because we want to buy them?

The 20 MSP vs The 20 MSP Group

The first thing to make clear is that The 20 MSP and The 20 MSP Group are distinct entities – and not just legally speaking, but conceptually as well.

The 20 MSP is an individual MSP. We want The 20 MSP to become the first MSP with extensive, coast-to-coast reach and premier service delivery.

The 20 MSP Group (aka simply “The 20”) is, on the other hand, exactly what it sounds like: a group of MSPs, all of them independently owned and operated. When MSP owners become members of The 20 MSP Group, they sign on to our way of doing business, but retain complete ownership of their companies.

There is, however, a strong connection between The 20 MSP and The 20 MSP Group. While The 20 MSP has recently expanded its acquisition candidate pipeline to include non-member MSPs, consolidation efforts have been focused primarily on member roll-ups. MSPs join The 20 MSP Group to conquer their biggest pain points and achieve new growth. When these MSPs reach a certain level of operational maturity and revenue, we offer them a proven exit route – selling to The 20 MSP!

This strategy helps us circumvent problems associated with a more traditional approach. More specifically, acquiring MSPs that share our tools and processes helps us all but eliminate attrition and post-deal friction – two notorious impediments to a smooth integration. We’re not interested in bringing together MSPs with disparate business models and operations, as we firmly believe that alignment is the key to long-term growth, and that The 20 MSP’s success hinges on preserving a single standard of excellence across the board.

This raises an important question: Do we recruit MSPs to join The 20 MSP Group simply because we want, at some point, to acquire those MSPs and integrate them into The 20 MSP?

Let’s talk about that.

To Acquire or Not to Acquire? – That is the Question!

Let’s start with the short answer. Do we recruit MSPs to join The 20 MSP Group simply because we’re looking for acquisition targets?

No!

A slightly longer answer: While the 34 acquisitions we’ve completed (at the time of this writing) might seem like a lot, the number pales in comparison to the 150+ MSPs that belong to The 20 MSP Group – and a good number of these businesses’ owners are interested in selling to us. In short, there’s no shortage of quality MSPs in our acquisition pipeline – especially now that we’re casting a wider net to include non-member MSPs.

To keep things clear, just remember that only the first of these two statements is true:

• TRUE: The 20 MSP is particularly interested in acquiring MSPs that belong to The 20 MSP Group.
• FALSE: The 20 MSP Group only accepts MSPs that want to be acquired by The 20 MSP.

The first sentence is one-hundred percent true. We’re definitely looking to acquire MSPs from our group for a very simple reason: We know these MSPs! They use The 20’s tool stack and business model, which makes integration relatively seamless and minimally disruptive for end clients. But, more importantly, we know the people at these MSPs. When we roll up a member, the question of cultural compatibility isn’t even a question.

Sentence #2 is, on the other hand, completely FALSE. In fact, when MSPs approach us about joining The 20 MSP Group, we’re not even thinking about M&A. For one thing, we have, as previously mentioned, plenty of MSPs ready to roll up.

Secondly, when an MSP first joins The 20, we often have no way of knowing if they will grow into an MSP worth acquiring.

And thirdly – and most importantly – creating acquisition targets just isn’t the point of The 20 MSP Group. The purpose of The 20 MSP Group is to help small and mid-sized MSPs grow, scale, and get to that next level – faster and more easily than they could on their own. We’ve worked extremely hard to create a formidable ‘MSP blueprint’ – a suite of tools and proven processes that reliably help small and medium-sized MSPs supercharge their growth and scalability. We don’t want to undermine years of effort by abandoning that core purpose.

OK, but what if an MSP becomes a member of The 20 MSP Group, and, as a result, achieves remarkable growth? Once an MSP gets big, do we start applying pressure and pushing them to sell?

Let’s talk about that.

Your MSP, Your Call

MSPs that become members of The 20 MSP Group tend to find success. That’s not a boast, just a fact. Our industry-leading tool stack, battle-tested business model, and above all else, our awesome community of supportive MSP owners – these things all feed into our members’ growth.

So, what happens when an MSP joins The 20 MSP Group and grows into a large and profitable company? Do we start hassling the owner about selling?

In a word – well, two words – H*LL NO!

In fact, it’s the opposite. We let MSP owners come to us. We keep our members in the loop about our M&A activities and intentions, because we want to know that selling to us is an option – if they’re interested in going that route.

But the most important word in the above sentence is if. We’re not interested in pressuring our members to sell – nor is it worth our time. Again, we have no shortage of acquisition targets, and if an MSP wants to remain a part of The 20 MSP Group without ever selling and joining forces with The 20 MSP, that’s A-OK.

In fact, we wouldn’t want to acquire all of our members as that would mean the end of the The 20 MSP Group! We’re incredibly proud of what the group has become – a genuine community of peers who actively support and help each other win.

Do we want to build a premier national MSP? Yes. Do we also want to keep growing The 20 MSP Group and providing small and mid-sized MSPs with the tools and resources they need to succeed? Yes! We aim to keep both projects going, and have no interest in sacrificing one for the other.

The Bottom Line

If you become a member of The 20 MSP Group, you’ll get an awesome tool stack, powerful processes for everything from sales to service delivery, and the warmest and most supportive community in the MSP space. What you won’t get is pressure to sell.

If you decide you want to sell your MSP, we have a proven process in place to acquire and integrate your company. But if you decide you don’t want to sell, we won’t try to change your mind. It’s your business, your call.

Discover the Gold Standard at VISION ’24

Our industry is at a turning point. Forces like AI and M&A are reshaping the managed services landscape. Some MSPs will thrive. Others will fall behind.

This year at VISION ’24, hundreds of top-performing MSPs are getting together to tackle the most pressing challenges MSPs face today. What does achieving the gold standard as an MSP look like in 2024? Find out this August at the MSP event of the year.

You don’t need to be a member of The 20 MSP Group to attend, but you do need a ticket – secure your spot at VISION ’24!

Should I Sell My MSP Now or Later?

Making Sure You’re Ready to Sell

In the first installment of this two-part series, we discussed the favorable market conditions that make now a GREAT time to sell your MSP. But market timing is only one piece of the puzzle.

It’s also important to establish whether your MSP business is ready to sell. Is your MSP ‘sellable’?

The short answer is that your MSP is sellable if someone’s willing to buy it. And no, we’re not being glib. It’s all too easy to forget that success in the world of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) boils down to one thing: connecting with the right buyer (or partner, in the case of a merger). Without this crucial piece of the puzzle, everything else is moot.

That said, there are some general factors that strongly influence an MSP’s appeal as an acquisition target. Let’s start with the obvious one: size.

Size Matters

So, what size MSPs are typically sold in today’s M&A landscape?

There’s no simple answer to this question, because different buyers have different requirements – sometimes markedly different.

Some buyers focus on growth and immediate profitability; this type of buyer will be on the lookout for MSPs that bring in serious revenue (at least $2 – 5 million annually), strong EBITDA margins, and a history of consistent expansion.

Other buyers might be more interested in acquiring smaller, less growth-oriented MSPs if they see strategic value, such as access to a new geographic market, unique talent pool, or specific client base.

Bottom line – Even if your MSP falls on the lower end of the revenue spectrum, your unique strengths can help you attract strong offers in the M&A landscape. So, don’t let the fact that you haven’t hit such-and-such a revenue threshold prevent you from even looking into entering the M&A arena.

But whatever your MSP’s size, the following characteristics are sure to impress any potential buyer of your business…

You ≠ Your Business

Your MSP is yours, sure, but that doesn’t mean you and your MSP should be essentially synonymous. You shouldn’t be your business. Wait, what? Let us explain…

A lot of smaller MSPs are more or less dependent on their owners to run smoothly. This can stem from insufficient documentation, or from the owner’s own inability to let go and delegate. Whatever the case, this high level of dependence is something potential buyers don’t want to see – in fact, it’s a huge red flag.

Think about it. If you are your MSP – i.e., if your clients’ loyalty and the integrity of your processes all depend on your direct involvement and presence – there’s a greater chance things will fall apart in your absence. Of course this is going to scare potential buyers!

Bottom line – To get your MSP ready to sell, make sure you have robust documentation and comprehensive processes in place, as doing so will help assure buyers that your MSP will continue to run smoothly under new ownership.

A Relevant Link

Looking for a shortcut to becoming an operationally mature, process-driven company? Consider joining The 20 MSP Group! We take small and mid-sized MSPs and equip them with proven and scalable processes that not only unlock serious growth, but also, impress potential buyers when it comes time to sell your company.

Get in touch to learn more about The 20 and how we help MSPs standardize, scale, and grow like crazy.

Good-Looking Books

Potential buyers will scrutinize your books to evaluate your business’s health and potential, so make sure everything is in order. And we’re not talking in ‘pretty good’ shape either; we’re talking pristine.

Clear, accurate, and up-to-date financial records will not only help you secure a fair valuation, but also build trust with buyers and facilitate a smooth transition. So make sure your books are meticulously organized, as it will help lay the groundwork for a seamless sales process.

Diverse Revenue Streams

This one is straightforward. Buyers not only care about how much revenue your MSP pulls in, but also, where it comes from. More specifically, you don’t want all your revenue – or even most of it – to come from just one or two places.

It all comes down to risk. The more tied your MSP’s income is to just a few clients, the greater risk it poses to any potential buyer of your business. What happens if you lose one of your core clients? Potential buyers don’t want to find out.

For a more detailed, quantitative breakdown of ideal ‘revenue composition,’ download The 20’s free guide to MSP acquisitions: Sell Your MSP the Right Way.

Talented Team

People matter. Your MSP business isn’t just a collection of tools, processes, and revenue streams. It’s also a team of human beings who work together each day to bring your clients exceptional support.

If you’re thinking about selling your MSP, it’s important to keep in mind that your team – what they know and how they work – can be a major draw for interested buyers. Talented technicians are especially valuable in today’s market, where there’s a notable shortage of skilled labor.

Bottom line – If you have a talented technical team with great work ethic and a high level of dedication to client success, it can significantly enhance the value and attractiveness of your MSP to potential buyers.

Summing Up

While there are a number of qualities that make an MSP appealing to buyers, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all ‘profile’ for a sellable MSP.

Different buyers have varying criteria and strategic objectives, so what makes one MSP attractive might not apply to another. Factors such as operational independence, diversified revenue streams, and clean financial records are important, but the unique

strengths and strategic value of your MSP can also play a significant role in its marketability.

At the end of the day, our advice to MSP owners is to err on the side of exploration. Market conditions are so favorable at the moment, with an abundance of hungry buyers on the lookout for quality MSPs to acquire, that it’s worth investigating your options and assessing your MSP’s potential for sale.

Looking for expert feedback on your current exit strategy? Book an hour with Tim Conkle, The 20’s CEO and the visionary behind our unique M&A strategy.

The 20 MSP Honored with Pax8 2024 Top Global Non-Profit Partnership Award 

Plano, TX – The 20 MSP today announced it has received the 2024 Pax8 Beyond Partner Award in the Global Non-Profit Partnership category during Pax8’s 2024 Beyond conference. The awards program recognizes partners who drove significant revenue growth, cloud adoption, and the success of companies worldwide by leveraging their relationship with Pax8 and its innovative Marketplace. 

“We are thrilled to be honored with the Pax8 2024 Top Global Non-Profit Partnership award. This recognition is a testament to our team’s dedication and commitment to empowering non-profits. Thank you to Pax8 for this incredible honor,” said Tim Conkle, CEO of The 20 MSP. 

Held in Denver, CO, from June 9-11, Beyond 2024 provided Pax8 partners with three days of immersive learning, community, and innovation. Attendees gained critical business insights through keynote presentations from industry leaders, custom-built breakout sessions, and an expo hall with over 100 sponsoring vendors. 22 awards were presented during the final day of the conference, showcasing the incredible transformation, impact, and success these partners are having on the channel ecosystem through their partnership with Pax8.  

“Our partner community advances the channel through their dedication to enabling small and midsized businesses worldwide with cloud technology solutions,” said Rob Rae, Corporate Vice President of Community and Ecosystems at Pax8. “These awards recognize their continued focus on empowering customers with advanced solutions in order to drive their business and transform the industry.”  

About Pax8 

Pax8 is the world’s favorite cloud marketplace for IT professionals to buy, sell, and manage best-in-class technology solutions. Pioneering the future of modern business, Pax8 has cloud-enabled enterprises through its channel partners and processes one million monthly transactions. Pax8’s award-winning technology enables managed service providers (MSPs) to accelerate growth, increase efficiency, and reduce risk so their businesses can thrive. The innovative company has ranked in the Inc. 5000 for six years in a row. Join the revolution at pax8.com.  

About The 20 MSP 

The 20 MSP has been helping businesses succeed through better technology since 1986. As a leading provider of managed IT services, The 20 MSP serves thousands of businesses nationwide, providing each one with white glove service, secure and streamlined IT infrastructure, and 24/7/365 support. We believe in building lasting relationships with clients founded on trust, communication, and the delivery of high-value services for a fair and predictable price. Our clients’ success is our success, and we are committed to helping each and every organization we serve leverage technology to secure a competitive advantage and achieve new growth. To learn more, visit the20msp.com. 

Should I Sell My MSP Now or Later?

Making Sense of Market Trends

Let’s say you’re thinking about selling your MSP. You’ve put quite a few years into it, along with some blood, sweat, and tears, and now you’re thinking about getting out – ideally, with a nice paycheck in hand for all your efforts.

But should you sell your MSP now? Or, should you wait it out? Bide your time. Grow a little more…

This is a terrific question, and it couldn’t be timelier. M&A activity is once again on the rise. Actually, it has risen – and quite dramatically! MSP owners are approaching the table in droves in search of lucrative deals, driven by a large pool of interested buyers.

You’re of course tempted to get in on the action. But you’re not sure if it’s the right time. It’s such a big decision. You just don’t know –

Relax. Take a breath. And keep reading. You deserve some clarity, and while we can’t make the all-important decision for you, we can give you the information you need to make the right choice for your business and your clients.

In this first article in a two-part series, we’re examining the question of ‘now or later’ through the lens of market conditions. In part two, we will zoom in on what makes an MSP ‘sellable.’ Let’s dive right in!

Seize the Moment

Should you sell your MSP now? Assuming your MSP is ‘sellable,’ is now a good time to enter the M&A arena in search of a deal?

The short answer is unequivocal: All things being equal, now is a GREAT time to sell your MSP. The main reason comes down to basic economics and a little thing called demand…

After cooling off briefly in 2023, we are in the middle of another M&A hot streak projected to match if not surpass the buying frenzy a few years ago, which saw nearly 2000 deals closed! Right now, the market is flush with PE firms and large ‘platform MSPs‘ who are all salivating at the prospect of purchasing quality MSP businesses. MSPs make attractive acquisition targets for a number of reasons, which we go over in our free MSP acquisitions guide (get your copy).

Bottom line – Selling your MSP right now means taking advantage of near-perfect market conditions. Simply put, it can make you a pretty penny.

But what about…

You may still have some reservations. This is only natural. After all, you’re thinking about selling your MSP business, not lemonade on a street corner. Market conditions might be ideal, but what about…

What about, well, waiting? If M&A heated up in 2021 and 2022, cooled off in 2023, and once again heated up in 2024, can’t you just wait a little longer – till the next surge in M&A activity?

In theory, yes. But in practice, things aren’t so simple. For one, markets are inherently unpredictable. How many years will it be until you see an opportunity like this again? Do you have the energy to continue running your MSP for three more years? Five? Ten?

More importantly, M&A activity is so rampant, it’s literally changing the competitive landscape. As more and more MSPs get rolled up, we’re seeing larger and larger MSPs emerge – platform MSPs with never-before-seen resources and capabilities. And as these ‘super MSPs’ get bigger, so too will the MSPs they target for acquisition (in fact, this has already begun to happen). This means you will likely need to continue growing steadily to remain an attractive acquisition target further down the line.

You might be thinking, So what. I can keep growing. No problem…

While we admire your confidence, it’s important to know what you’re up against. Remember those super MSPs we mentioned a second ago? They’re your competition from here on out. That means if you want to sustain your current growth rate, you’re going to have to work twice as hard just to keep pace with these multi-state and even national enterprises.

This article does a terrific job of summarizing the challenges MSPs will face over the next ten years. Doing things on your own might have worked until this point, but times change, and making your exit now could be a timely way to avoid a very tough road ahead.

There are also your clients to think of. Is grinding things out on your own really what’s best for them? Getting acquired by a larger enterprise can mean getting access to crucial resources, better tools, more talent – all good things that can help your clients find success.

Does this mean you should sell to the first buyer that comes a-knockin’?

Absolutely not! Thoroughly vetting potential buyers is vital to securing the right deal for your MSP business. At the very least, a potential buyer should…

• Demonstrate a track record of successful MSP acquisitions
• Share your company’s values and vision
• Offer a fair valuation and proof of financial backing
• Commit to supporting your employees and maintaining operational continuity

Check out our free guide to MSP acquisitions for a more detailed discussion of evaluating potential buyers.

The Heart of the Matter

Let’s talk feelings. Maybe you’ve determined that your MSP is worth selling. Maybe you’ve got a few interested buyers. Maybe you’ve even received an offer. But nevertheless, you’re not sure you’re ready. You don’t feel all that ready…

Look, we get it. Selling the company you built from the ground up is an emotional experience – and one of the biggest decisions of your life. You’re going to feel things. A lot of things.

But the truth is, you’re likely never going to feel completely, one-hundred-percent ready to sell, the same way most parents don’t ever feel totally ready to send their kids off to college. But when the time’s right, the time’s right.

This isn’t to say you should ignore your feelings. If you feel profound doubts about a particular potential buyer, for instance, listen to your gut! You don’t want to sell your MSP to the wrong buyer, because it could leave you with a raw deal and your clients up a creek.

But general nervousness about the prospect of selling your MSP is completely natural and to be expected. You’re only human! So let yourself feel – just don’t let your feelings stop you from seizing a golden opportunity.

A Unique Opportunity to Talk Strategy

It’s no secret that we’re involved in M&A here at The 20. In fact, at the time of this writing, we’ve completed over 30 MSP acquisitions – and we’re looking for more quality MSPs to join our growing team!

The secret to our M&A success is no secret – our approach makes things easy and brings unique benefits to MSP owners and their teams.

Want to learn more? Book a 1-hour meeting with Tim Conkle, CEO of The 20 and the visionary behind our unique consolidation strategy. Tim can walk you through what makes The 20 unique among M&A players, as well as provide you with feedback on your current exit strategy.

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Stay tuned for the second installment in this two-part series, where we’re tackling the question of what makes an MSP ‘sellable.’ Till then, browse our freshly launched MSP acquisitions page for free resources and no-nonsense guidance.