Today, we will discuss the challenges of choosing the right portfolio of services and products for your IT Managed Service Provider Business.
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Challenges on How to Determine your MSP Portfolio of Services
One of the things on top of every MSP owner's mind that I talked to is how to add more revenue to their business and grow their business while providing better IT support. Nine times out of 10 that is top of mind. So what we're going to do today is talk about how to add revenue to your portfolio by focusing on those computer and technology services and products that should be part of your portfolio.
So what are some of the challenges?
Why is it so difficult to get the right ingredients and the right amount of products and services for your business? Well, sometimes it is because we do not have enough time to research all the options. It is just too much in the day-to-day between, you know, you might be still running out in the field, maybe talking to clients, so you do not have enough time.
And you know, part of the reason is that the founders of Managed IT Service Providers are too embedded in the day-to-day. Not taking time to work on the business can lead to not staying up to date with technology or having technology that is not yet proven or proven by you in your company.
Also, not having a good way to track what is working and what is not working can result in you spending too much time on the wrong things. Instead, you could be working on doubling down working on what is working. In addition, you might not have a test environment in-house to get all of that done.
So we've all been there. And one of the reasons this does happen is that you are still running the day to day, you know, in a, in a startup business, if you're small, you might still be running around and putting out fires and don't have the time actually to look at the products and services.
That is one of the difficult things about starting your own company. You have to come up with the right mix of ingredients, as opposed to if you were, you know, if you were going into a franchise, or that type of business, where many of these things are provided for you.
But this is what makes you unique.
What is the breakdown of all the things that you are going to offer your clients? And yes, a lot of times, it feels like you don't have enough time to step away from the office and but this is one of those things that you need to bring in-house.
So we're going to show you five lessons that we learned over the years.
These are both while running an MSP and now as a voice provider through the channel.
I know a lot of my friends do already. Still, if you're not attending industry conferences regularly, I would say at least as a minimum, twice a year, you're missing out on a few things you're missing out on the incredible keynotes and presentations that top leaders in the industry give.
Also, there are vendor presentations at these IT Conferences where industry leaders talk about the latest and greatest technology and how you can incorporate them into your business. They also cover how you can make money with those technologies and make your clients happy, more secure, streamline their processes, and be the hero you want to be for your clients.
There are breakout sessions in many of these conferences, and my favorite part besides walking around and grabbing some goodies from the booths is the networking that happens in many of these events.
We've made so many friends over the years, that shared information with us and vice-versa. When issues occurred, we would call a friend and say, "Hey, I'm having this issue; how are you dealing with this?"
By attending Information Technology conferences focused on Managed IT Service Providers, I have had years and years of excellent relationships that I've built over the years, and some of our staff members have done the same.
So go to the conferences, meet at the bar, make friends, you know, schedule recurring calls with the people you meet and connect the most, you'll reach a lot of success that way.
Think about a new server; it is not just about installing the new server to have a warranty and run faster; think about the business processes that can be changed and improved with this new server rollout.
And is this product or service going to enhance the life of your client? That is one of the things that I am always looking for.
And what do I mean by going deep?
It means it is not just signing that partner agreement with a vendor or selling the product. Take advantage of everything that this vendor has to offer.
And that might be beyond the product. It might be the marketing materials they've put together for you or their assistance available to you to put together a webinar or set up giveaways online.
They might have marketing in a box or sales support so that if you're rusty about pitching the service or its benefits to that new client, one of their sales support team or partner support team members will come and help you.
Another important thing is to think about the training for your staff, so that way, when you're supporting this product, your team is ready and you're able to bring and deliver that service as intended.
I am talking about vendor partnerships but think about the affiliations you can develop with other MSPs, even to deliver additional products and services through your portfolio.
I'll give you an example: back in the days, we partnered with a team of virtual CIOs that take a deeper look at businesses with a focus on efficiencies, on the financial side, on the human resources side, and even the IT side, trying to find ways to streamline it.
And they would make recommendations about what type of IT resources to bring in-house and what kind of MSP they wanted to work with, and through that relationship, we often received requests from this group to come in and help those businesses with their IT.
So look at maybe another MSP that services an area where you do not have the staff or an MSP that focuses on cybersecurity, cloud services, virtualization, or any other area that you do not have the expertise or resources. This presents an opportunity to partner up and add those services to your portfolio by leveraging the MSP. You could also partner with somebody that does office leasing, or maybe they do copiers and bring all those services to your business.
Other services could be, you know, what I call secondary or additional services. Voice over IP or VoIP is one area of expertise for us. Still, there's also backup and disaster recovery, risk assessments, cloud computing, cybersecurity, training, and other services you can add to your business.
It's all about: being that central resource, being resourceful for your clients, so that way they come to you for anything that's technology, you gain a seat at their table as part of the board and, you know, you're who they're reaching out for anything that they need.
I hope this blog post and video have been beneficial for your MSP journey, and this is the first of many more to come.
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