MSP Success Magazine Volume 1

MAGAZINE

Mont Phelps’ Secret Ingredient For Success MILLION From Failure $400 to

ONE CEO’S WILD ACCOUNT OF A REAL-LIFE IT CIRCUS!

Page 7

Page 24

THRIVE NETWORKS Our Vision Of An MSP Grand Slam

Page 18

The Honest Truth About Marketing

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VOLUME 1

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GROWYOUR BUSINESS and Your Bottom Line with IT Complete by Kaseya

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2 | MSP SUCCESS • VOLUME 1

©2019 Kaseya Limited. All rights reserved. Kaseya and the Kaseya logo are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Kaseya Limited. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

5 John Barrows on Sales-Ready Messaging Knowing the Difference Between Market Messaging and Sale Messaging Makes All the Difference in Your Ability to Gain New Prospects

CONTENTS

7 Business Is a Team Sport

Mont Phelps Explains How He Built a Team of Winners and How You Can Too!

12 The Private Equity Boom in Managed Services ConnectWise Becomes Latest Big-Name MSP to Be Acquired 13 5 Tips on Building a World-Class Sales Organization Advice From Author of ‘Hyper Sales Growth’ Jack Daly 14 What’s More Important Than Landing the Right Customers? Attracting and Hiring Excellent (and Strange) Team Members 18 MSP Success Spotlight: Thrive Networks 20 Advice on How to Grow a Business With More Success and Less Sweat Dr. Geoff Smart Wants to Know: Are You Running Your Business or Is Your Business Running You? 22 Why Do Most MSPs Fail to Grow in Revenue, Profits, and Stability? Take a Look at This Industry Survey to Compare Your Own Levels of Growth

10 A Lesson with Robin Robins: What IS Marketing and How Do You Know If It’s Working?

The 12th Annual IT Sales and Marketing Bootcamp The Week That Shaun Buck, CEO of The Newsletter Pro, Went to the Circus! 24

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L E T T E R F ROM THE ED I TOR

CAN THERE REALLY BE A SYSTEM FOR SUCCESS? WE ALL WANT FOR SOMETHING. Some want for more money, a bigger house, a luxury vacation home, or a hot new car. Some want more growth in business or power and prestige in their career. Some want to be thinner, fitter, younger, and better-looking. Some want a happier marriage, a deeper connection with their kids, or simply someone to love. Some want more freedom, fun, and experiences. Then there are some of us who want it ALL. Ever since I was exposed to a series of old Zig Ziglar VHS tapes in a dusty, minimally furnished sales breakroom that smelled of stale coffee over 25 years ago, I’ve been hooked on the concept of “success.” I’ve zeroed in on the idea that personal development can take control of your life and manifest anything you want to have, achieve, or become. That drive to constantly improve, win, and for- ever seek a higher level of excellence, discipline, strength, and skill is a passion I’ll never tire of. This is largely why I’ve designed my business the way I have; I make a lot of money doing what I love with people I love, which is my very definition of success in business. To that end, this magazine is for those individuals who, like me, have a deep, genuine desire to improve. It’s for those who have honest ambition and are willing to take full, complete responsibility for their own personal development, life, and income. MSP Success is for the driven ones who treasure the “slight edge,” and know that little hinges swing big doors. Far too many IT industry publications focus on vendor news and the technical and operational aspects of running a business. While there is value there, I wanted to create a publication that focuses exclusively on what drives real, lasting success in any organization: strong leadership, effective marketing, a robust sales strategy, a commitment to excellence, and the highest standards in customer service and operational brilliance, all with applications to you and your IT services business. Why me? For starters, I’ve built the industry’s largest C-level peer group that continues to grow year over year. I see a lot of what works, what doesn’t, why some succeed, and why most fail. I’ve also started and built the largest, most successful marketing firm in the IT services industry, and my business stands in the top 5% of firms across the nation. That means I actually run a business and deal with the same stress, anxiety, and soul-crushing problems you deal with on a daily basis. What I write and what I bring to you is NOT an “empty suit” delivering a book report; I’m the war-torn, battle-weary general running on caffeine, delivering a field report on what I’ve personally done and acquired deep knowledge of. I’ve also had the distinct pleasure of connecting with, interviewing, and spending time with some incredibly successful people: Mike Rowe, Buzz Aldrin, Steve Forbes, Richard Branson, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Bill Gates, all the Sharks on Shark Tank, and sports legends Mike Ditka, George Foreman, and Peyton Manning. That list also includes high achievers, like Tony Robbins, General Stanley McCrystal, John Mackey (CEO of Whole Foods), and Dr. Nido Qubein (President of High Point University). I’ve also engaged with people who have overcome incredible adversity, such as Lou Ferrigno, Michael Oher (“The Blind Side”), and Diana Nyad, the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage. And, of course, many on the list, while not as famous, are simply incredible entrepreneurs, like Mont Phelps, founder of NWN Corporation and our featured cover story.

Through all my experience, I can confidently say that successful people work in similar patterns — and so do people who fail. Successful people have a system for success. And while being a success in professional sports requires different skills than building an IT company to half a bil- lion dollars, the fundamentals of personal development, preparation, discipline, prac- tice, skill development, and a commitment to win are shared. Another fundamental aspect of success is having a continual desire to learn from other successful peo- ple and invest in resources to grow your knowledge base. At MSP Success magazine, we give you our promise to deliver those crucial tools to you every month so you can use them to grow a more successful business, a more successful team, a more successful sales and marketing effort, and a more successful YOU, Inc. I hope you enjoy this inaugural issue. I welcome input and ideas from you, our readers. Please write to me at robin@ MSPsuccessmagazine.com.

Founder And CEO, Technology Marketing Toolkit, Inc

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SALES-READY

MAKE IT HAPPEN!

JOHN BARROWS Sales Training Contributing Columnist

hen I first started selling, I had a lot to learn. My first

There’s a difference between sales-ready messaging and marketing messaging. Unfortunately, too many MSPs and VARs still don’t under- stand the distinction. The unintended consequence is that they hurt their sales team’s prospecting efforts. Marketing Messaging vs. Sales Messaging Marketing messaging typically focuses on the overall features and benefits of a solution, including requisite buzzwords like “transpar- ency,” “synergy,” and “leading provider of.” Sales teams then take this messaging and put it into their emails and call scripts. As a result, sales communications often sound like regurgitated marketing speak. The easiest way to explain the difference between marketing and sales messaging is that marketing messaging usually sounds like, “On average, our clients see a 32% decrease in downtime on their co-located servers.” Sales messaging is more specific. It should con- vey something like, “We showed other offices in your building how to have a truly diverse co-location set-up, providing greater security.” See the difference? Marketing communicates a broader message. Sales-ready messag- ing should be specific and focused. Think of a direct-mail campaign versus a personalized thank-you note to a prospect. To break through the noise, sales reps need to be as precise and targeted with their messaging as possible. This doesn’t mean templat- ed communications aren’t useful, but a little personalization goes a long way. SalesLoft — a SaaS company focused on sales engagement

sales role was for a growing MSP, and I was making 400 cold calls a week. If I had been smarter about

testing different approaches, I would have found success a lot faster. That’s why I even- tually got into the business of sales training; I wanted to help others learn the lessons I wish I had learned earlier. One of the first things I learned was the difference between sales-ready messaging and marketing messaging. I left voicemails that said, “Hi, this is John Barrows. We’re the leading provider of managed IT … blah, blah, blah.” My calls were so bad. I then realized I saw more success when I messed up the script and said “We fix computers.” What I learned from those mistakes was that, while being a leading provider is an accomplishment worth mentioning, it’s not what your prospects care most about. Instead, we had to find a true pain point, which was usually their IT infrastructure.

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A Real-World Example Let’s use my time at an MSP as an example. The typical value prop or elevator pitch is “We provide outsourced managed IT solutions from last mile to switch.” That’s

— did a great study on this topic (SalesLoft.com, “Sales Email Personalization Research Reveals Key to 2x Reply Rates”). For the sake of effectiveness, sales teams must find the right balance between effort and reward. SalesLoft’s

20%

is the optimal amount of personalization in an email to maximize performance.

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