More Than a Peer Group: How The 20 Helps MSPs Shine
Your MSP can’t survive on an island. Or maybe it can. Maybe, just maybe, you can, without strategic partnerships, without peer groups, without industry events, without any of that, hang in there and eke out a living long-term. Maybe.
But you don’t start a company because you want to be like ninety-nine percent of people, struggling to make ends meet. If you’re like most of the MSP owners we encounter – including the 150+ MSP owners in The 20’s tent – you want to build something great.
We started The 20 because we know most of you small and medium-sized MSPs out there have big dreams – but not necessarily the means to achieve them. But just what is The 20? It’s a “peer group,” yes – or if you like fancy terms, a “business consortium,” but it’s much more than that. So much more…
The Pain Points of the Lone Wolves
MSPs working alone ‘on an island’ face a litany of challenges that can severely limit their growth. Let’s talk about some of the most common pain points plaguing standalone MSPs.
Not-So-Smooth Scaling
MSPs working alone struggle with scale (i.e., the ability to adjust to increasing/decreasing demands effectively). Whether it’s scaling up services to accommodate more/larger clients or scaling down services during a slow period, smaller firms have trouble finding the ‘sweet spot’ between two extremes:
- Fully reactive scaling where you scramble to adjust your services to meet a change in demand.
- Fully proactive scaling (aka the ‘if you build it…’ approach) where you build out capabilities to handle more/larger clients before you’ve even landed them.
These approaches are fundamentally flawed for obvious reasons; fully reactive scaling leads to inefficiencies, stress, and poor service delivery, while fully proactive scaling can easily result in wasted resources. Finding the happy medium between these two ineffective approaches is extremely challenging for a smaller MSP that relies primarily on hiring as a method of scaling.
Sales & Marketing Blues
Sales and marketing have been – and continue to be – weak points for MSPs, especially small and medium-sized firms with limited resources. But from our vantage point, the reason for this has changed somewhat.
In the early days, MSPs’ sales and marketing efforts were lackluster for two reasons. One, the initial ‘gold rush’ in managed IT services meant that MSPs could achieve a burst of growth on the back of demand alone, without needing to sell and market their services in a savvy manner. Second, many MSPs are run by technical-minded individuals who often overlook the value of sales and marketing, resulting in minimal time and effort devoted to these areas.
But times have changed. As our industry became more competitive, even the more stubborn and marketing-averse MSPs came to accept the necessity of both sales and marketing. So, why are MSPs still underperforming on these fronts?
The new answer to this question is that MSPs – especially small and medium-sized ones operating on an island – simply don’t have the time or resources to sell and market effectively.
This all ties back to scale. When your operations lack scalability, keeping pace with client needs is a full-time job – and then some! MSPs operating in isolation are typically drowning in day-to-day work; there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to keep up with end client requests and sell/market services effectively.
Trial-and-Error (Emphasis on Error!)
We see this all the time: MSPs that come to us for help are stuck in the ‘experimentation phase.’ To be clear, experimentation isn’t a bad thing per se, as growing a successful company, regardless of industry, takes risk-taking, experimentation, innovation, etc. However, it’s a question of degree.
The truth is, the one thing that sabotages an MSP’s growth more than anything else is endless tinkering. Tinkering with tools. Tinkering with processes. Tinkering with team make-up. The tinkering isn’t the problem, but the amount of tinkering certainly is. Perhaps it’s a product of a ‘technical’ vs. a ‘business’ mindset. Or maybe it’s more of a matter of not knowing the alternative. But the bottom line is clear:
MSP executives often undermine their company’s growth by experimenting endlessly with different combinations or tools and processes.
This endless quest for ‘the perfect stack’ comes from a good place – the desire to be excellent – but that doesn’t make it any less detrimental to growth. Why? Because it’s a gigantic time-suck!
The 20 to the Rescue!
The 20’s business model is built around helping small and medium-sized MSPs overcome their primary pain points. We’re not the only peer group/growth platform around, but we are unique in several respects. And what makes us different makes all the difference…
Scaling Made Easy
When you become a member of The 20, your scaling problems quickly become a thing of the past. How do we help your MSP become more scalable? Two ways:
First, we give you standardized – and well-documented – processes. These processes are efficient, clear, and repeatable, all key ingredients for scalability. If you’re intent on doing things your way, The 20 isn’t right for you. The strength of our group comes directly from the strength of our individual members’ buy-in. We need everyone under a single operational umbrella and service delivery model for our Support Desk to do what it does, which is deliver speedy and stellar support to all our members’ end clients.
The second way we make your MSP more scalable is by giving your clients unlimited access to our acclaimed, 100% US-based, 24/7/365 Support Desk and Network Operations Center (NOC). With our large team of experts at your back – answering the phone and resolving your clients’ issues swiftly and efficiently – you can confidently expand your client base without the headaches of hiring and training additional staff. It’s a beautiful thing.
Moreover, you can take on bigger clients with full confidence that you have the bandwidth to support them. One of our current members, Mark Adair of Adair Technology, recently spoke about this particular benefit of membership, and its relationship to sales:
“Being a member of The 20 has helped us operate bigger than we are really. Coming from a small team where we handled every issue, it created problems for us when it came time to scale. We’d do sales and then be afraid that we couldn’t support the sale…With The 20, we’ve been able to utilize the help desk. We can sell and know that we can service it after the sale.”
This is music to our ears, as our primary goal is to allow MSPs to be ‘bigger than they are.’ While standalone MSPs can’t take on larger clients without having to worry about scaling services accordingly, our members can approach companies with hundreds of endpoints and say: We’ve got you!
But what makes Mark so confident that The 20 will take great care of his clients and preserve his MSP’s pristine reputation? Let’s talk about that!
Not Outsourced – Extended.
When you become a member of The 20, you are, in a very basic sense, choosing to outsource a significant portion of your ticket load to our 24/7, US-based Support Desk. In fact, we can take on 90% of your tickets, freeing you and your team up to tackle higher-value projects.
But ‘outsourcing’ can imply handing over your business to some distant third-party that doesn’t really understand your team, your clients, or your MSP business. It can also be associated with underwhelming service.
That’s why we prefer to call ourselves an extension of your team, as we believe that better captures the role we play for our MSP members. For one, we get to know you and your MSP business through in-person events like Propel and VISION, close collaboration, and dedicated account managers.
Second, our MSP members are operationally aligned, and so, even though we take time to learn how your MSP works, this learning curve is greatly reduced by the simple fact that we largely standardize our members’ operations. MSPs that belong to The 20 are singing from the same sheet of music, which means our Support Desk doesn’t have to juggle a bunch of disparate workflows.
Finally, we have a robust national footprint with boots on the ground in nearly every state (soon to be every). That means we can provide onsite assistance to our MSP members’ end clients, just like – that’s right – an extension of your own team.
Many Heads > One
This one is huge. Simply put, MSPs in The 20 tend to be smarter, faster, and more adaptive than standalone MSPs. Why? Because they have each other!
When Tim Conkle founded The 20, he had a hunch that a bunch of competitors could become each other’s greatest resource. Turns out they can – and then some. We are time and again amazed by how much our members talk and help each other out. In an industry as big and fast-moving as ours, having a group of people who are…
- Trying to do what you’re trying to do (grow a successful MSP business)
- Approaching things in a similar way (using the same service delivery model)
- Willing to share what they know
…isn’t just a nice thing to have; it’s a game-changer! One of our current members, Seana Fippin, shared how much this community’s commitment to collaboration has helped her MSP, Red Box Business Solutions, reach new heights:
“We’ve been a 20 partner for about six years now, and have grown with the organization significantly. We think that the community here is really remarkable – there’s something magic about that collaboration and strength in numbers, both from working with vendors, with partners, working on best practices and strategies.”
Well said, Seana!
The Whole Kit and Kaboodle
While the competition continues to ‘tinker,’ our MSP members hit the ground running with a battle-tested stack and business model. After our recent acquisition of Collabrance, we can now support MSPs on either a Kaseya or a ConnectWise tool stack, but here’s the key: whatever tools you use, we will bring your operations into alignment with our single service delivery model.
This means you and your end clients can expect a seamless, integrated experience across all essential services like RMM, cybersecurity, backup and disaster recovery, and more. No more trial-and-error – just smooth sailing and smooth scaling!
Additionally, with our network’s size, we can get your MSP access to the best pricing through economies of scale, while also taking on the responsibility of managing vendor relationships. One of our members, Chris Engler of Engler IT, commented on how much joining The 20 has helped him with vendor management:
“There’s always technology providers knocking at my door…It’s a whole full-time job to try to sort through these guys, so that you can find good technologies – you have to vet them, make sure they’re going to do what they say they’re going to do…The 20 helps us do that very efficiently.”
That’s the name of the game, folks – efficiency. When you join The 20, your MSP gets a fully integrated and optimized business model: everything you need, all in one place. This prevents major operational hiccups while allowing you to sidestep the decade (or more) of trial-and-error most MSPs have to endure before achieving operational maturity.
Time to Shine
All of the above brings us to our last – and arguably most important – benefit of becoming a member of The 20: you get your time back!
As previously mentioned, most MSPs are severely hampered by a lack of time. They’re bogged down by everyday tasks, and as a result, don’t engage in those high-impact and strategic initiatives which really drive new growth. Yes, we’re talking about sales and marketing, but we’re also talking about enhancing operational efficiency, strengthening client relationships, and investing in new technology.
In essence, we lift MSP owners up from the ‘muck’ of the daily grind, so they can view their businesses more clearly as a whole. Just ask Greg Padgett, a current member and CEO of Eagle’s Wings Technologies:
“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 the long and the short of it right there: getting away from working in your MSP so you can start working on it – and start growing it.
Stronger Together
Our motto here at The 20 is “stronger together,” because that’s exactly what we are. Compared to the competition, the MSPs in our group can do more with less, scale faster, and grow bigger.
We’re a peer group, sure. But we’re also a community, a growth engine, a winning and scalable business model, a knowledge factory, and your MSP’s ticket to the next level.
Get in touch today to learn more about our approach and to see if your MSP meets our requirements for membership.
MSP Acquisition Spotlight – Kevin Peterson
Discover firsthand experiences from Kevin Peterson, a former MSP owner, on adjusting to life within a larger organization, finding the right buyer, and embracing a new work-life balance after selling his business to The 20 MSP.
1. What’s it like not being your own boss anymore? Did that take some getting used to?
It took a while to learn that I didn’t need to or get to make all the decisions. It’s been freeing knowing that I respect my boss, Ken Pecot, and knowing that he is doing what is right for The 20. He help keeps me accountable and moving in the right direction.
For the first time in my life, I have a team of peers that I am learning from and growing with. We have some reallllly smart people that I love working with.
2. Selling your MSP is a big decision. Where did you go for guidance and advice?
My wife and I talked and prayed about the decision to sell. I also talked to a few close advisors that understood the M&A process intimately. I looked at the goals we had in life and for our company and realized that it was time to make a big decision to sell and go in a different direction.
3. How difficult was it to find the right buyer? What made you choose The 20 MSP in the end?
I had a few other companies inquire about purchasing my MSP but they weren’t the right fit. I had very close relationships with Tim, Ken, and other companies that were rolling up at the same time. We were able to talk together about the benefits of rolling up and doing something amazing together. Being in business with people I know and trust is very important to me.
4. How did you approach sharing your M&A plans with your team and clients? Were you surprised by any of their reactions?
We shared with our team about a month before the acquisition. We shared with all of our clients day 1 of acquisition. They were very supportive after explaining the reasons for our rollup and the extra benefits to them.
5. What’s changed the most in your life since selling your MSP?
My wife, Barb, and I travel a lot more.
6. Since selling your MSP, is there something – inside or outside of work – that you’ve been able to focus on more?
I’m able to focus on enabling the National Project Team to execute on projects for our clients. I don’t have to deal with constant interruptions and changing priorities. The ability to focus makes our team and me much more effective.
7.What do you miss most about running your own business?
The sleepless nights, wondering if a major client would leave and drop our revenue by 20%, being afraid of a key employee leaving and taking other staff and clients with him, and thinking I had to do it all.
Wait, did you say what I miss or what I don’t miss???
8. What’s your best advice for someone thinking about selling their MSP?
Figure out your medium and long term goals in life, for your company, & your family. Then see if your current company and direction will get you there. If not, make a change.
9. Can you talk about your current role? How has your day-to-day changed since selling your company?
As VP of the National Project Team my job is to set priorities, drive metrics, and hold the team accountable for our results. This is done by working with our team members, making sure they have the resources to succeed, and helping them to focus and prioritize. My days are about my team and what they need. Our job on the NPT is to execute on our projects right the first time, communicate well with our clients (both internal and external), and deliver a great client experience.
10. In your opinion, what’s the most important quality for success?
The ability to juggle 12 running chainsaws at the same time for 3 minutes straight. It’s either that or perseverance.
11. What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I was a Top 40 radio DJ right out of high school and I tried a radio name of “Kevin Thunder.” That ,and I am the “Eye Candy” of The 20…
12. Describe your dream vacation in 3 words…
Barb, a cruise, food
Ready to explore more about M&A? Visit our M&A tips page for valuable insights and guidance!
The 80/20 Rule: What’s in Our Name
We are The 20! When you tell someone that, they tend to look around for the other nineteen. But the truth is, our name doesn’t refer to our number.
We have more than twenty employees. We have more than twenty MSPs in our membership-based growth platform and peer group, The 20 MSP Group (at the time of this writing, more than 150). These MSPs serve A LOT more than twenty clients, and let’s not even get into the number of endpoints our national network looks after!
So, what does our name mean? Why twenty? The answer might surprise you…
The 80/20 Rule
Consider the following statements. What do they have in common?
- 80% of health problems stem from 20% of lifestyle choices
- 80% of the time people wear only 20% of their wardrobe
- 80% of traffic accidents are caused by 20% of drivers
Besides all being plausible (even if the exact percentages are a little off), these statements are all illustrations of the Pareto principle or “80/20 rule.”
Over a century ago, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 20% of his garden’s pea pods produced 80% of the peas, and that 20% of Italy’s population owned 80% of the land. Later, in the 1940s, Joseph Juran applied Pareto’s ideas to quality control, finding that roughly 80% of defects stem from a 20% of production factors.
Others followed Juran’s lead, and it wasn’t long before the “80/20 rule” was recognized as a powerful principle across various fields. OK, but what does any of this have to do with us – or the managed services industry more generally?
The Vital Few
The most obvious and important application of the 80/20 rule to the MSP world pertains to the distribution of market share.
We don’t have the data to say that exactly 20% of MSPs – the top 20% – control 80% of the MSP market. But there is plenty of data pointing to a marked disparity between top-tier MSPs and everyone else – between ‘the best’ and ‘the rest.’ We’re talking about less of a smooth and linear gradation from the bottom to the top, and more of a sharp divide.
One study of IT providers’ performance in Q1 of 2023 found that best-in-class MSPs averaged 23% profit, while an alarming 31% of MSPs lost money. Another study from Service Leadership something similar: 28% of MSPs aren’t profitable.
Putting exact figures aside, this much is obvious to anyone with eyes on our industry: The MSP space is dominated by a relatively small portion of MSPs. Borrowing a term from Juran, we’ll these top-performing MSPs: the vital few.
Why are we called The 20? Because we want to help your MSP get to the top! We believe there’s at least one well-defined path toward industry dominance, and we’ve built a business model around it to help MSPs join the vital few.
Our way might not be the only way to launch an MSP into the highest echelon – but it is one way, and we have a full stable of thriving MSP members as a testament to our model’s effectiveness. Now, for the really fun part: the how.
How The 20 Powers MSP Growth
How does The 20 help your MSP grow? Let us count the ways – well, some of the ways; we’d need a whole book to go over every single thing we do to help our MSP community get ahead!
Systematicity
Is that a real word? Doesn’t matter. What matters is that The 20 helps small and medium-sized MSPs become systematic. This is one of the biggest adjustments our newer members have to make: trading in a trial-and-error, seat-of-the-pants approach for a process-driven approach enshrined in impeccable documentation. The difference this makes for an MSP struggling to break $1M in ARR can be enormous.
Scalability
An MSP can grow and grow until…things start to break. Your breaking point is largely determined by the scalability of your processes, or more simply, how well they adjust to changes in workload. Scaling up is taking on more work, and scaling down is dealing with less. A truly elite MSP can scale up without breaking, and scale down without incurring unnecessary costs.
We help our MSP members become masters of scale through our acclaimed 24/7, US-based support desk and suite of battle-tested business processes.
Great Operations
Your MSP’s operations might be good, but are they great? Do you have a brilliant COO dedicated to relentlessly improving your service delivery model? Does that COO draw on Japanese business philosophy to make things as lean and mean as possible? Is your support desk 24/7? Even on Christmas? Does your support model reflect the ongoing efforts of hundreds of MSPs, all collaborating and working towards one goal: raising the bar for MSP excellence?
Here at The 20, our answer to each of these questions is a resounding yes! Operational excellence is often what separates a great MSP from a merely good one, and we wouldn’t be called The 20 if our goal wasn’t to help you achieve greatness. Your business is built on your client relationships, and our operations are designed to make sure that we don’t just keep your clients happy, but blow them away with our excellent service.
Time to Shine
Most MSPs owners are bogged down by busy work. This is a sad state of affairs, since there are intelligent ways to delegate tasks and carve our more time to work on your business instead of just in it. Becoming a member of The 20 is one such way. We can take on up to 90% of your MSP’s tickets, allowing both you and your technical team to focus on higher-value projects.
Another way we give you more time is by streamlining your processes, bringing us back to the first benefit listed – greater systematicity. When tasks are standardized and repeatable, you can spend less time on keeping day-to-day operations on track, and more time on corporate strategy, sales & marketing, and other high-impact, profit-driving activities.
Stronger Together
Finally, we want to shine a light on the community aspect of being a member of The 20 because, make no mistake, our member MSPs are exactly that – a bona fide community. They hang out in person. They reach out to each other out of the blue. They trade jokes on Teams. They celebrate each other’s wins. They share knowledge, resources, even labor. We might not be the only MSP peer group around, but we challenge you to find another with our level of camaraderie.
So, in an industry as fast-paced as ours, what’s it like being able to plug into the collective knowledge of hundreds of MSPs to solve any problem you encounter? We’ll let one of our current members tell you…
“We’ve been a 20 partner for about six years now, and have grown with the organization significantly. We think that the community here is really remarkable – there’s something magic about that collaboration and strength in numbers…I think what really sets The 20 apart versus others is the authenticity and the transparency and that dedication to collaboration…Everybody is real approachable, real down-to-earth, and dedicated to that growth and improvement.” – Seana Fippin, Red Box Business Solutions
Authenticity and transparency – that right there tells you what you need to know about how we do business.
Final Thought
This industry is tough. Most MSPs don’t make it to the top, and some simply don’t make it. There’s a temptation to keep grinding – to keep doing things the same way, the way you’re used to. But the truth is, the path to the top isn’t linear. MSPs that grow into elite companies have to make big changes to overcome the major barriers to growth. They have to reimagine their operations, realign their priorities, restructure their teams.
Change is scary – but it doesn’t have to be chaotic. If you want a trusted partner to help your MSP make the jump from good to great, from surviving to thriving, schedule a call to find out if your MSP business meets our requirements for membership.
MSP Acquisition Spotlight – Michael Vu
Discover firsthand experiences from Michael Vu, a former MSP owner, on adjusting to life within a larger organization, finding the right buyer, and embracing a new work-life balance after selling his business to The 20 MSP.
1. What’s it like not being your own boss anymore? Did that take some getting used to?
Yes, it totally did. As with any larger organization, things go much slower and through more process. No more are the days of just whipping out your credit card to “get it done”. That’s just a fact that is going to have to be accepted.
2. Selling your MSP is a big decision. Where did you go for guidance and advice?
We talk about it all the time within our peer groups. But in the end for me, it was “In Tim we trust.”
3. How difficult was it to find the right buyer? What made you choose The 20 MSP in the end?
I wanted to sell to someone I could fully trust. In this industry, I only had two people that I felt that way about: Tim and Ken P.
4. What’s changed the most in your life since selling your MSP?
Life quality is much better now. I actually work harder but on things that are much more enjoyable.
5. Since selling your MSP, is there something – inside or outside of work – that you’ve been able to focus on more?
Being a part of The 20 now affords me to be the primary home care provider for our family.
6. What do you miss most about running your own business?
Expensing everything…
7. What’s your best advice for someone thinking about selling their MSP?
If you want to set up your family for success, platform MSP is the way to go. Unless you can reach 5 million in 3 years, you will have much more stability and gains for your family along with taking a lot of risk off the table.
8. Can you talk about your current role? How has your day-to-day changed since selling your company?
Day to day is much more flexible. Knowing we have a full team for any situation and that you don’t have to be in the middle of it all to make sure nothing gets screwed up – that’s the best feeling of all!
9. In your opinion, what’s the most important quality for success?
The best quality for success is being able to 100% define what success looks/feel/smells like for you. It’s not the same for everyone. Ego must 100% be set aside and bask in the glory of working with the larger team!
10. What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I like to farm and garden.
11. Describe your dream vacation in 3 words…
Japan, hiking, sushi.
Ready to explore more about M&A? Visit our M&A tips page for valuable insights and guidance!
VISION ’24 Awards: Honoring Excellence in the MSP Community
Last week was VISION ’24, our annual conference for growth-minded MSPs and their teams. The event exceeded even our wildly high expectations – and it’s because this MSP community is unlike anything else in the channel. Truly.
This was on full display on Thursday at the VISION ’24 Awards Ceremony. When Tim Conkle founded The 20, the million-dollar question was: Can a bunch of competitors become collaborators? Turns out they can; MSPs can work together – and not only as collaborators, but as friends.
You could certainly feel the love on Thursday – in the thunderous applause, in the big smiles, in the way MSPs celebrated each other’s wins as if they were their own. At the VISION ’24 Awards Ceremony, we recognized top-performing MSPs and channel vendors for their outstanding achievements and bold innovation over the past year (list of winners below). Our CEO, Tim Conkle, shared his thoughts:
“The love and camaraderie that exists between our MSP members was palpable on Thursday evening. When I started this whole thing, I had a hunch that collaboration was a massively underrated and largely untapped resource in our industry. I was lucky enough to be right about this, and I’ll never grow tired of recognizing the achievements of our members, whose tireless efforts and commitment to the dream are what keep this motor running. I personally congratulate not only the winners, but every MSP in our group: the fact that you’re part of The 20 is an achievement in itself, and a testament to your commitment to doing things the right way!”
We couldn’t agree more. Now, without further ado, presenting the winners of the VISION ’24 Awards …
Congratulations, everybody! Your accomplishments are an inspiration to us all.
Finally, we want to say a Texas-sized THANK YOU to everyone who participated in VISION ’24 – MSP owners and industry pros, speakers and sponsors, hotel staff – y’all were incredible, and you helped the ‘vision of VISION’ become a reality. We’re already looking forward to the next one!
VISION ’24 Recap: A Golden Success!
The show’s over, folks. But the memories, the lessons, the energy – in short, that “VISION Magic” remains.
VISION ’24 was your MSP’s path to the gold standard, and we hope you’re excited about the road ahead – about your MSP’s growth and the challenges you’ve resolved to overcome. But it can’t hurt to take a moment to look back at an unforgettable couple of days.
So, we warmly invite you to join us as celebrate the highlights and relive some of the magical moments that defined VISION ’24…
Tuesday – It’s Time!
You could feel the electricity in the room as MSPs from all over the country rolled in and got registered. The Renaissance Hotel provided a beautiful backdrop for the MSP event of the year, and everywhere you looked, there was something or someone to inspire you.
At 5 pm, the Hotel Expo Area filled with attendees as the VISION ’24 Kickoff Party got under way. An electric violinist roamed, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders shone, and first-time VISION attendees got to see for themselves why the unofficial VISION slogan is: This sh*t is awesome!
Wednesday – Let the Games Begin!
Day 1 of VISION started with a bang as Tim Conkle, The 20’s founder and CEO, took the stage for a presentation that entertained, enlightened, and lit a fire under our collective butts. Want Gold? Start Digging. delivered hard-earned insights on what it takes to make it big in this industry.
Tim delved into three key differentiators – pipeline, pitch, and scaling at parity – and shared some hard truths that every MSP out there would benefit from hearing. Judging by the many nodding heads in the room, he got through to a lot of MSPs during those fifty minutes.
After Tim, it was one great session after another, starting with Full Speed Ahead, a special keynote address from author, speaker, and Olympian, Vince Poscente. We knew it was on when Vince started his presentation standing up on a chair and talking faster than an auctioneer after six espresso shots.
Thank you, Vince, for the amazing insights, the gripping stories, and the big laughs. Check out Vince’s book, The Ant and the Elephant, to learn more about his groundbreaking approach to doing the near-impossible.
Rounding out Day 1 were a host of awesome sessions, including…
The Pulse of the Channel – An unfiltered conversation between two industry legends: Tim Conkle of The 20 and Rob Rae of Pax8. One key takeaway: AI is here, and it’s about to start pervading everything. For MSPs, the goal is clear: make sure it’s us managing this new and exciting technology.
Shout-out to Rob for giving us two sessions in one day!
Private Equity POV: Increasing Your MSP’s Value – Barrett Kingsriter of Pinecrest Capital took us on a deep dive into why PE firms love investing in MSPs, what types of MSPs they love the most, and what’s on the horizon as far as industry consolidation and maturation. We learned that the age of MSP platforms is upon us, and that we can expect deals to only get bigger as the big players begin to purchase MSP platforms from each other.
Check out Rich Freeman’s detailed breakdown to catch up on all the M&A insights from VISION.
Inside the Exit: Tales from the Other Side – This panel rocked. Expertly moderated by The 20’s own Crystal Conkle (CMO), Inside the Exit gave attendees an intimate look at the selling experiences of five different MSPs. The stories shared were packed with detailed advice rooted in real-life experience.
A big shout-out to all five panelists – Caleb Brown, Mark Elliott, Bob Falco, Lance Keltner, and Wayne Klug. Y’all were so generous with your knowledge and wonderfully articulate in your responses.
On Day 1, attendees also learned the ins and outs of Kaseya’s game-changing platform, IT Complete, saw the power of AI in action, and heard from three stellar companies and VISION ’24 Gold Sponsors: N-able, Cytracom, and Phin Security.
After a full day of sessions, it was time for a Happy Hour event just down the road at Legacy Hall. Drinks were drunk, connections made, and a great time had by all. Night owls and party animals kept the ball rollin’ at a special Platinum After Party hosted by Chris Wiser of 7 Figure MSP™. No one parties like The 20!
Thursday – A Day to Remember
Day 2 of VISION was PACKED. We were honored to be joined by retired US Army Colonel and entrepreneur, Jeff Ragland, who delivered a terrific keynote address, Leadership and Comparison: Military Perspective. Jeff’s firsthand accounts of his multiple deployments were powerful, and his advice for entrepreneurs invaluable. Thank you, Jeff, for your service, and for helping us all become better leaders.
Tough Choices Unpacked
Day 2 saw multiple speakers tackle tough questions at the very heart of what we as MSPs do…
Tim Conkle kicked things off with Riches or Royalty? The Million Dollar Question, sharing how he learned to put ego aside for his business’s success. From believing he “had to be involved if it was going to be great” to embracing a “right people in the right seats” mentality, Tim’s journey serves as a powerful illustration of the importance of ‘letting go’ to level up.
Tim also participated in a joint Thursday session with Fred Voccola, CEO of Kaseya. When you get Tim and Fred together, it’s ‘all bets are off,’ and The $15 Billion Perspective did not disappoint. The two CEOs broke down why MSP profit margins lag behind industries like law and offered actionable solutions. The bottom line is that MSPs deserve more, because, as Tim put it, “Without us, the world stops turning.”
Tim and Fred were also forced to make some really tough choices in real time, including Cat or Dog? and the perennial pineapples-on-pizza debate. Shout-out to Tim for joining Team Cat!
Will Slappey’s talk, Be Right or Get What You Want?, was chock-full of wisdom for MSP leaders. He reminded us that “there’s no award for ‘best stack,’ ” and he urged MSP executives to reward those who challenge them and to normalize mistakes. Great stuff, Will – and awesome hat!
After lunch it was time for an epic showdown: Titans of Industry: The Ultimate Sales Debate, Rd. 2 between Tim Conkle and Chris Wiser. The hype was real, and the session delivered! We’ll share two of many key takeaways here: (1) In the MSP world. it’s still the case that whoever owns marketing and lead gen owns the space. (2) Focus on what you’re bad at as an MSP instead of endlessly refining what you’re good at already.
Thanks for an excellent discussion, guys. And thank you, Chris, for being a good sport – you owned that Barbie Girl walk-out!
Tough choices might be tough, but you’ve got to make them if you want to get to the top of the MSP industry and join the likes of the panelists featured in 24k Moments in 2024. Moderated by The 20’s CXO, Ciera Cole, 24k Moments featured Eric Kehmeier, Seana Fippin, Scott Meeler, and Eric Emerson – four MSP professionals with a lot of wisdom to share. The discussion wasn’t just a celebration of wins, but a deep dive into the whys and hows. Really awesome, y’all!
Celebrate Good Times!
Capping off Day 2 were two celebratory events: The VISION ’24 Awards and the end-of-conference Golden Bash.
Here at The 20, we’re incredibly proud of everything our community has accomplished this past year, and it was so freakin’ special to publicly recognize specific individuals and MSPs for their outstanding work. Check out the full VISION Awards blog post (forthcoming) to find out who took home prizes. Congratulations to the winners – these awards were well-deserved to say the very least.
The Golden Bash. What can we say? If you were there, you already know – that sh*t was awesome!!! We had walking disco balls, a living statue, a physics-defying acrobat, a red carpet, a live band, and golden decorations up the wazoo. But do you know the best part?
The love! As one of our MSP members pointed out on Members-Only Day (Friday), it is SO cool to want to party till two in the morning with the folks you work with. Thanks for showing out, everyone – and for the pitch-perfect rendition of Happy Birthday for our own Misty Kaufman, without whom VISION would not be VISION.
Stay tuned for pics of the dazzling, gold-themed event…
Friday – “Just Us Chickens”
Friday was a special half-day for MSP members of The 20, or to use Tim Conkle’s preferred phrase, just us chickens. Our MSP community received crucial updates and actionable guidance from The 20’s core leadership team, and had an opportunity to ask their questions during a Q&A session.
We won’t get into the nuts and bolts of what was discussed – that’s just for us chickens – but we will share a very special moment. During the Q&A, one of our members, Brett Fippin of Red Box Business Solutions, caught the mic (yep, we had a throwable mic), and chose not to ask a question, but instead, to simply express his gratitude for The 20. Addressing The 20 leadership directly, he said, “Everybody up here has had an incredible impact on the lives of everyone here.”
Brett’s kind words not only moved us; they also shone a light on what The 20 is really all about. Sure, it’s about helping MSPs conquer their primary pain points to unlock new growth. But that’s not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is helping the people behind these MSPs – MSP owners and their teams. It’s about giving people their time back, their work/life balance back, a sense of control back. It’s about making entrepreneurs’ lives better. It’s this project that keeps us going, and it’s incredibly gratifying to hear directly from a member that we’re making a real difference.
A Texas-sized shout-out to every single member of The 20. Y’all are the lifeblood of this organization, and we couldn’t ask for a better community to take our plans and ideas and make them a reality.
Finally, THANK YOU to everyone who participated at VISION ’24: speakers, sponsors, hotel staff – y’all brought the magic and then some.
Until next time, stay golden, y’all!
Golden Rules for MSP Excellence: Results > Recognition
VISION ’24 is in just a few days! You can view the full VISION ’24 Agenda here. We’ve been exploring this year’s theme – Achieving the Gold Standard as an MSP – in a 4-part blog series called Golden Rules for MSP Excellence. In this fourth and final installment, we’re facing a hard truth square on…
You’re amazing! You rock! There’s no one else like you! What you do for us is invaluable! We can’t thank you enough!
Feels good, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t like getting praise and positive feedback – a big thumbs up, five stars, a juicy referral…
But if you’re an MSP owner, there’s something you should know. It’s a hard truth that many MSPs will never fully embrace. The good news is: If you can embrace what we’re about to share – and we mean embrace, with your whole heart and mind – it’ll be like unlocking a new superpower. Pretty freakin’ cool.
Golden Rule #4 – Results > Recognition
Results over recognition. We’ll say it again because it’s that important: RESULTS OVER RECOGNITION!
This means what it sounds like it means: as an MSP, your focus needs to be on getting results and not on receiving recognition, praise, applause, etc.
Here’s why:
Our Service is Silent
This isn’t entirely true; MSPs can perform large-scale IT projects that make an immediate, obvious and measurable impact on their clients’ work lives.
But let’s face it, the bulk of our value lies in behind-the-scenes work aimed at keeping systems running smoothly and securely.
This type of work is what sets MSPs apart among other third-party services in terms of value added to client businesses; we don’t just fix problems, we prevent them.
But it’s also responsible for something of a paradox: when we MSPs do our jobs really well, we prevent problems from arising in the first place, which can make the fruits of our labor somewhat invisible. In short, the better we are at our jobs, the easier it becomes to ignore us.
Think about it. What would you notice more – a discreet, tiny robot that snuffs out potential fires before you even realize something’s burning OR a crew of firefighters who come storming in when your house is already engulfed in flames?
A Caveat
It’s one thing to accept that your role as an MSP is not to be ‘the hero.’ It’s another to let your efforts go unnoticed entirely.
To demonstrate your MSP’s value and keep clients in the loop about the benefits of your services, communicate results, hold regular QBRs, and don’t be afraid to highlight important milestones. It might not be polite to toot your own horn, but if you’re an MSP, sometimes it’s necessary.
IT’s Complicated
It’s true. What we actually do as MSPs is tough to explain.
On a surface level, it’s easy: MSPs function as outsourced IT departments, remotely managing clients’ IT infrastructure, providing ongoing support, maintenance, and proactive monitoring to keep systems running smoothly and securely. You’ve heard the elevator pitch. Perhaps you’ve even given it.
But explaining what all of that actually involves? Well, it would take hours and hours and hours. Your clients, for the most part, aren’t interested, nor do they have the time. It’s not their job to understand the ins and outs of IT. It’s yours. In fact, it’s why they hired you – so they could focus on stuff that isn’t technology.
What this means, among other things, is that clients won’t typically appreciate just how much work it takes to do what your MSP does – and it’s not at all their fault; the work MSPs perform is highly technical, largely behind-the-scenes, and not inherently flashy.
A Caveat
IT work may be technical work. But that doesn’t mean your MSP has to drown clients in jargon. In fact, keeping explanations crystal clear and translating technical concepts into plain English is a hallmark of a service-oriented MSP (i.e., a good MSP).
If you need some help with this, check out “The Dejargonator” – our handy plain-English dictionary of tech terms (coming soon to The 20 MSP’s blog).
MSPs Bring Ridiculous Value
The value MSPs bring to client businesses is quite literally incredible – it’s hard to believe! That’s because our basic role as MSPs – keeping IT running seamlessly and securely – is integral to practically every single business function. Email, remote work, customer support – it all rests on IT working correctly.
Moreover, performing our role as the do-it-all IT partner has gotten exponentially more difficult over the past ten years, as Fred Voccola touches on in this short but eye-opening video.
Bringing all of this back to our central topic, it’s almost inevitable that clients will underestimate the true value of our services given (a) how hard it is to deliver these services consistently and excellently, and (b) just how many things depend on the successful delivery of these services.
Motivation Matters
The bottom line is that if you’re in the MSP game for recognition and praise, you’re in the wrong game.
So don’t focus on recognition! Focus on results. Focus on doing your job well. Focus on making clients’ technology better and their lives easier. Focus on service.
Actually, that’s not enough. You can’t just focus on results instead of recognition; you also have to align your fundamental motivations accordingly. To put that in plain English: If you want to thrive as an MSP and not fall prey to self-pity and bitterness, be driven by a passion for solving problems and delivering value, and not by external validation and accolades.
If you can make passion your engine and excellence-for-its-own-sake your fuel, you’ll not only go farther as a business owner; you’ll also have a much better time along the way.
Thanks for reading – and if you’re attending VISION, we’ll see you in a few days!
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!
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.
