MSP Success - April/May 2022

MSP Success - April/May 2022

MSP SUCCESS P E S MAGAZINE

The Overlooked Hole In Your Sales Bucket That’s Costing Your MSP Millions In Lost Opportunities

Business Is Booming For MSPs And It Will Lead To Huge Paydays

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Jeff Hoffman, Serial Entrepreneur, TV Producer, Startup Consultant To Priceline.com, uBid And Startup Investor

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Secrets Of A Self-Made Billionaire Who Turned Aging Bananas Into A 10-Figure Company

6 Keys To Hyper Sales Growth

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Page 24

APRIL/MAY 2022

MSPSuccessMagazine.com

CELEBRATING 15 YEARS

JUNE 20 - 23, 2022 MGM Grand Resort, Las Vegas

We are thrilled to welcome these visionaries of the MSP Industry to Connect IT Global’s main stage!

CEO of TMT, Inc., Big Red Media, and the IT industry's largest, most successful ROBIN ROBINS

FRED VOCCOLA CEO of Kaseya, the leading provider of

software for MSPs and SMBs

We are celebrating 15 years of Connect IT all year long. Join us in Sydney or Amsterdam later this year. More details at ConnectIT.com .

SCAN QR CODE TO REGISTER TODAY!

VOLUME 3.3 April/May 2022 CONTENTS

4 Letter From The Editor 6 Business Is

12 How To Create An Emotional Connection In A Digital World 14 Close The Deal With Your Next Sales Presentation

Booming For MSPs, And It Will Lead To Huge Paydays 8 The Overlooked Hole In Your Sales Bucket That’s Costing Your MSP Millions In Lost Opportunities 10 Email Deliverability Killers — 7 Common Mistakes You Are Making That Kill The Deliverability Of Your Emails

21 Hot Tech Tips

22 Expand Your Business By Narrowing Your Focus

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24 6 Keys To Hyper Sales Growth

Secrets Of A Self-Made Billionaire Who Turned Aging Bananas Into A 10-Figure Company Jeff Hoffman

The paper used in the production of MSP Success Magazine includes post- consumer waste and is produced using sound environmental practices, waste reduction, and energy-efficient operations. Our paper has FSC certification and passes the SFI Chain of Custody Standard. Read more at WFPaperCo.com/sustainability.html.

LETTER FROM THE EDI TOR

Lead, Follow, Or Get Out Of The Way Here’s a question I often get from new clients: If you had to go back and do everything all over again, what would you do differently? Candidly, not much. Things have worked out. However, one of the most important things I willfully failed to learn that dramatically slowed down the growth of my organization and was the single source of stress was NOT knowing how to recruit, manage, and build a team of rock stars. Roll back to 15 years ago, and my firm belief was that they “all go lame.” When you say that to small-business owners, they all nod in agreement, sharing their tales of woe about how it’s so damned hard to find someone who will just “show up and do their job.” They ALL show up late and leave early, screw things up, miss deadlines, miss goals, make HUGE, dumb mistakes, and are a general source of angst. And because of that horrible belief, fueled by nothing but my own inadequacies around hiring, managing, and leading people, I paid for it in multiple ways. Today, I wouldn’t say I’m excellent at managing people (it’s always safer to assume you suck), but I’m a heck of a lot better than I used to be, and I have a much more productive and mature approach to leading a company. That’s why I strongly encourage you to read this month’s cover story about Jeff Hoffman, serial entrepreneur, inventor, and founder of compa - nies like Priceline.com. When he spoke to our Producers Club members this past January, his message on how to build (and scale) a business was mostly about this topic — hiring and leading a team of rock stars. Now more than ever, it’s critical to focus time and attention on recruit- ing and leading the ones you’ve got. The “Great Resignation” is, I believe, a half-truth manufactured by the media. Yes, many of the low-wage workers are opting to not work. Some because they are getting government handouts. Some because they are older part-time workers truly afraid of COVID-19. But you and I are not running a restaurant with minimum-wage people. WE are running high-margin professional services businesses. In that world, the battle for talent has always been a factor.

Founder And CEO, Technology Marketing Toolkit, Inc.

Like it or not, your IT business IS about the people you hire — and the lack of leadership of the people in any organization is a surefire path to failure in performance and service, both for clients and for you, the owner. You cannot get inspired results from uninspired people who are allowed to show up and behave like “free-range chickens,” where there are no clear goals, systems, processes, or training, and no measurements and accountabil- ity for work performance. You have to really know that truth and embrace it — yet I routinely hear from MSPs who are trying to grow through marketing who are NOT leading their organization. They have ZERO position scorecards, KPIs, quotas, and standards for work. If you are serious about growing AND delivering services you can take pride in, you must get a handle on being a REAL leader in your organization. Take ownership of the direction and goals — ownership of how people perform, ensuring you’ve given your team clear tar- gets and KPIs to hit, clear standards, clear systems and processes — then INSPIRE them to perform. As part of this month’s issue, we’re posting a portion of Jeff Hoffman’s session so it can reawak - en the entrepreneur in you. Trust me when I say leading people and growing a business are simply a set of skills that can be learned. If someone like me, who was totally and completely anti-employees, can overcome the head trash and shortcomings I had, you can, too. And surprisingly, once you learn the skills, it’s no longer the chore you think it to be now. To see a valuable snippet from Jeff Hoffman’s talk about scaling and building a world-class team, go to MSPSuccessMagazine.com/Hoffman . n

Jeff Hoffman, Serial Entrepreneur, Speaker, And Part Of Well-Known Successful Startups, Like Priceline.com, Presenting On Stage At Our 2022 Q1 Producers Club Meeting

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Business Is Booming For MSPs And It Will Lead To Huge Paydays By Fred Voccola, CEO Of Kaseya

I t’s an ideal time to be an MSP. The pandemic trans- formed the way we work. Companies were forced to go remote, and organizations turned to MSPs to help them navigate their new IT environments. The pan- demic has stabilized, but many businesses opted for hybrid work scenarios moving forward and, in some cases, went virtual permanently. Business for MSPs soared and continues to do so given the current digital transformation. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity is all the buzz in the MSP industry right now. Technology is growing at a fast pace, and investors are paying attention, especially to disruptive, high-growth companies such as large MSPs with 55 employees or more. Smaller MSPs will also continue to do well, but the larger ones are poised for a higher growth

rate and profit margins. The reason is because they tend to have more resources, time, and opportunities to work on the business, therefore improving core functions and processes. What Drives The M & A Movement? There are various factors driving MSP mergers and acquisitions. First, it’s a massive market. Businesses with lower churn, good margins, and a large total addressable market attract private equity interest. The accessibility of private equity, whether it’s venture, capital, growth equity, or buyout equity, has grown to unprecedented levels, providing funding opportunities for growth-oriented technology. Additionally, the tech economy is exploding. Even in the private equity world, there is a labor shortage. The number of professionals with software, technology, and technology distribution experience is still relatively small. As the industry evolves over the next several years and the private equity sector gains experience, more financial experts in the space will come online, and there will be an increase in asset allocation to that category. More funds will go toward software and technology services. Become More Attractive To Potential Investors The top way to catch the eye of investors is to make the revenue stream predictable, and this can be achieved by having customers sign multiyear contracts. Many MSPs are reluctant to go this route because they fear pushback from clients, but the reality is that most customers appreci- ate it because it allows them to lock in prices during times of high inflation. When investors are courting a company, this is among their biggest concerns. They ask, “Will customers leave? What happens with the revenue when the com- pany changes hands?” The predictable revenue stream

GOVERNANCE, RISK & COMPLIANCE FOR ALL

is one of the primary differentiators between MSPs that receive high valuation and financial success and those that do not. Overcome Organic Growth Limitations One of the greatest challenges for MSPs when they think of growth is their focus on acquiring new customers. They erroneously believe new sales are tied to

Compliance Manager GRC helps reduce risk, complexity and costs associated with IT compliance and information security.

6 | MSPSuccessMagazine.com • VOLUME 3 I SSUE 3 Learn more at CMGRC.com

M & A Toolkit what is making the MSP one of the most valuable businesses of our time. Tickets are available at ConnectIT.com. Mark your calendars for Connect IT Global , June 20–23, 2022, at the MGM Grand Resort in Las Vegas. Make sure you attend the M&A Summit on June 20, where you will hear Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola and other MSP leaders, private equity groups, and investors discuss Want to get your MSP noticed? Here’s what you need to do: Make sure you have basic financial statements together and forecast where the business is going. You need to have an operational plan behind those numbers. Run the business separately from your personal finances. Get tight on what your annual recurring revenue (ARR) is. When rolling up, ARR is what investors are looking at. Lock customers into longer contracts — it will help ARR and future projections. Investors look for predictability and growth. Ensure you have a cybersecurity stack in place that protects against all threat vectors.

Fred Voccola Speaking At Connect IT Global 2021

new customers. The truth is that most of the growth for any MSP lies within their existing customer base! However, MSPs are not good at seeing how they can optimize their current customers by selling to them. Tapping your current client list is the best pathway for additional growth — analyze what services your customers may be missing or how you can help them grow their own business and increase profits and uncover a multitude of opportunities to cross-sell. The Top 3 For MSPs When it comes to M&A, there are three things to keep in mind. First, do you have a strategy? Ask yourself this: Are you a buyer, a seller, or neither? Be definitive with your strategy; otherwise, you won’t be making the right decisions. This doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind as your MSP evolves. Just be sure to take regular pulse checks on your business. Next, if you haven’t done so already, plan to dedicate professionals within your organization to sales and mar- keting. MSPs are getting more professional every day on how they run their business. The competition will be better at coming after you, so make sure you have a good offense, not just defense. And finally, lean into the new realities of the global labor market. It will never go back to what it was, so make sure all your technicians are as efficient as they can be and that you are not reliant on one super techie . The tech job market is incredibly competitive right now — there’s more demand than supply, and good people are difficult to find and retain. Ensure your compensation structure makes it challenging for them to leave, and again, don’t be over-re- liant on any one person. Turnover is very real. Given the state of remote work combined with the explosion of tech, it’s an exciting time to be an MSP. It’s only going to get better. By the end of this decade, around 7 out of 10 small IT shops will be outsourcing

About The Author

some, or all, of their IT to MSPs. This will open a market twice as large as the one currently being served. MSPs with people dedicated to the business side who can sell, market, and deliver services will excel. The private equity sector will recognize that and want a piece of it. n

Fred Voccola is the CEO of Kaseya, the leading provider of unified IT management and security software for MSPs and SMBs. As CEO, Fred leads the vision, strategy, and growth of Kaseya and its family of brands.

The Overlooked Hole In Your Sales Bucket That’s Costing Your MSP Millions In Lost Opportunities

After conducting over 1,200 secret-shop- per calls to MSPs, here’s what I know: 11% of MSPs have “bad” phone numbers on their website, which means when you call, you get a fast busy signal, you hear an “out of order” message, it’s a wrong number, or it just rings and rings with no one picking up.

They might be told, “I don’t know if we can help you. The guy who handles that isn’t here,” and then they are put into voicemail. They will be asked ZERO diagnostic ques- tions such as, “Do you have an IT person on staff or do you outsource? May I ask why you’re calling us instead of them?” They will be asked technical specs on the server or other techie questions that most prospects (CEOs) wouldn’t know. Yes, this is bad when you couple it with ZERO diagnostic questions. No one likes to feel stupid, and a prospect in that situation will already be frustrated. They will NOT be asked for name, company, phone, and email. (Example of the proper response: “Well, Mr. Prospect, before we discuss your server issue, let me ask you a few questions and take down your contact information …”) The person who answers will tell them, “We don’t do break-fix. We only do managed contracts,” and hang up. What’s wrong with this? Well, how in the heck are they supposed to get on a contract in the first place? You mean you wouldn’t make an effort to meet with this company and attempt to open the discussion about hiring you to manage their network? You call an attorney’s office and say, “I have a case I need help with.” They say, “Sorry, we only work with clients under contract,” click. Huh? Well, how does one get under contract? If you don’t see how that is a total failed opportunity, there’s no hope. Get a job. Worse: The person who answers will say, “We don’t do break-fix. We only do managed contracts,” and THEN proceed to give the name of a competitor. They will VERY likely let that prospect off the phone WITHOUT closing a sale and WITHOUT booking an appointment (minimum). So, What SHOULD Happen? For starters, the phone should be answered LIVE and within three rings by a professional, trained individual who is either an employee or outsourced answering service and says some- thing similar to “Thank you for calling ABC Computing. This is Mary, how may I help you?” They should be told, “Yes, we can help you with that. May I ask your name? Hi, Bob. I’m sorry you’re having trouble. Before we talk about your server issue, let me take down your contact

56% of the calls go straight to voicemail.

Less than 2% answer properly, know how to ask good diagnostic questions, and do a proper lead intake and qualification. All of this is horribly unproductive, anti-sales, and anti-success. How you answer the phone and interact with a new prospect calling for the first time is one of the MOST important aspects of having successful marketing and generating new sales. It is the FIRST impression a prospect has of your orga- nization and sets the tone for your responsiveness, staff professionalism, training, and preparation (or lack thereof) and is the FIRST example of what it will be like to work with your organization. You SAY you’re responsive, but when I call, I get voicemail. You SAY you have a well-trained, professional staff, but when I talk to someone about my issue, I’m told, “We don’t do break-fix, bubba” (more on this in a minute). Get a local friend or colleague to call your

Try This Yourself! $

office and play prospect when you aren’t there. Tell them to pretend they are the operations manager of an organization in your area with 80 employees that has a down server and cannot get ahold of their current IT company (that sucks). Here’s the script: “Hi, we have a

server down and need help. Is that something you can do, and what do you guys charge?” I can practically guarantee that one of these things will happen IF they can get ahold of someone:

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information. Is your phone number XXX-XXX- XXXX (pulled from caller ID)? Perfect. And your company? Email address? Is your email working right now?” Almost NONE of the MSPs we’ve secret-shopped will confirm cheerfully that the prospects had called the RIGHT place and that you CAN help them. Silly? Not to a prospect who’s desperately call- ing around to find a responsive, profes - sional IT firm to help them and is getting the standard hot mess of a response from most of the MSPs they call. In the case here, this is an urgent matter and should be handled differently than some - one calling your office for a quote (non-urgent problem). So, in the event someone is simply calling or emailing your office to talk to you about outsourcing their support to you, here’s a general list of items that should be asked about in addition to their full contact information: ? WHO is it that you’re talking to? The owner? The operations manager? Someone else? ? How many locations and employees do they have? ? HIGH-level technical details, such as wheth- er they have an on-premise server, what tech they use (Mac, PC, or both), or any other details that are highly relevant to their being qualified.

? What situation or event(s) is causing them to call you? What problems are they having? What are they frustrated with? ? Who currently does their IT? In-house or outsourced? To whom do they outsource now? ? Are they in a contract, and if so, when is it up or when can they cancel? And here’s the MOST important outcome of that call: Get an appointment booked with a sales professional. Never let a prospect call your office without having this as an outcome. Prospects can search and find every IT company in your area in a hot second. If they call you first and get voicemail or they’re told, “I’ll have someone call you back,” guess what they do? They search and call the next company on the list. IF you get an appointment on the books, nearly all of them will stop their search, AND it ensures you get a seat at the table for that opportunity. Various studies over the years have shown that 35%–50% of all sales go to the vendor that responds FIRST, so answering your phones live and THEN getting on that prospect’s calendar FIRST will give you a strategic advantage in winning that deal. Have the same friend play prospect with the three biggest firms in your area and see how they answer the phone. If you’re lucky, they’ll be as screwed-up as you. If you’re not so lucky, they’ll have their act together and will reveal the importance of upping your game on the inbound lead answering. To download a FREE Inbound Lead Intake Form, go to MSPSuccessMagazine.com/leadintake. n Do This! $

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Email Deliverability Killers 7 Common Mistakes That Are Killing The Deliverability Of Your Emails

Evan Samurin, email deliverability expert and founder of Fundamental Marketing, suggests that you take the health of your email status very seriously. When emails are invalid or if they bounce, clean them up or stop emailing to them. Golden Rule: Only send to valid email addresses (keep your email list clean). Erratic Sending Patterns And Frequency Changing up your sending volume and frequency is a red flag to email providers. In addition to this, any drastic changes in your sending behaviors are harmful to your email deliverability. ✓ Whenever you switch to a new email service provider, you’ll want to start with a low sending volume and slowly increase the number of emails sent over time. ✖ Do not send an email broadcast to your entire list when you haven’t sent any emails in quite some time. Choose a smaller segment and throttle (control) how and when emails get sent. ✓ Promote a weekly email series with helpful cybersecurity tips to keep a steady stream of emails going out to your contacts to improve your reputation. Golden Rule: Be consistent with frequency and volume when sending emails. 3

Ever notice that the emails you send bounce or are sent straight into the spam folder? Your clients or prospects tell you, “I never got the email from you” or “Where’s that report you promised me?” It can be incredibly frustrating, but you have to know God’s honest truth. Truth No. 1: Believe it or not, email is not a guaranteed service. Mailbox providers are in it to provide a quality inbox experience for their customers and are doing everything they can to keep spam out. With constantly changing algorithms, machine learning, and advanced filters, it’s no wonder that it’s getting harder and harder to get emails to your intended recipients. Truth No. 2: No matter what platform you are sending from, email deliverability (where an email lands once it hits the inbox) falls on you , not your email service provider. Give yourself the highest chance of not landing in the spam filter — or being blocked — by avoiding these email deliverability killers. Lack Of Proper Authentication When it comes to email deliverability, your email service provider looks to see if you are who you say you are. Here are three methods of authentication you need in place for every system you mail from: • SPF: One SPF record covers the entire domain and pre- vents spammers from sending unauthorized messages that appear to be from your domain. • DKIM: Receiving servers use DKIM to verify the domain owner is the one who actually sent the message. If this is not set up, it can trigger phishing and spoofing warnings and will divert messages to the spam folder. • DMARC: One record covers the entire domain and acts as an umbrella. When set up correctly, DMARC helps senders protect their domain against email spoofing. Golden Rule: Only send from authenticated emails and domains. 1

Sending Emails To Non-Engaged Recipients Yahoo warns, “Sending emails to users who are not reading them, or who report them as spam,

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will harm your delivery metrics and reputation.” Email providers are watching and tracking to see if you are sending emails people open and engage with. ✓ Only email people who want to get messages from you. They are less likely to report messages from your domain as spam. ✓ Set good emailing frequency expectations at opt-in (and stick to them). ✓ Have contacts click to confirm their email address after opting in so emails will be sent from better servers, which means better deliverability of your emails. ✓ Track engagement. Are your contacts opening emails, clicking on links, and replying to your emails? If not, attempt to re-engage the contact or reduce the frequency of how often they receive emails from you.

Sending Emails To Invalid Recipients Whether an email no longer exists or is incorrect, sending emails to it can damage the

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reputation of your domain. You might think, “What’s the big deal if I send an email and it bounces?” The big deal is that email providers will assume you’re not paying attention and that you are a spammer — and they will treat you as such.

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✖ WRITING IN ALL CAPS CAN GET MARKED AS SPAM. ✖ Exce$$ive $ymb0!$ are w@rning indic@tors to fi!ters @s well. Golden Rule: Keep spammy words, phrases, and conventions out of your emails.

✓ Focus on contacts who are interested in what you have to say and create a sunset policy for contacts who do not engage for an extended period of time. Cease sending emails to them until/unless they engage with an email they’ve already received from you. Golden Rule: Only send marketing emails to contacts who have opted in and who engage with your messages.

Sending Irrelevant Messaging Do not take a “one size fits all” approach with your marketing, but instead, send targeted messaging to contacts in your CRM. With proper

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Email Formatting Issues The emails you send need to be carefully and thoughtfully formatted.

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segmentation, you can select a cross-section of your >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28

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