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!