Stop Running Your MSP on Hopes and Dreams

All right, so what's next? Justin had two interesting conversations at PAX8 Beyond, one with Baxter from Alternative Payments about getting paid, and another from Christopher, uh, from Impeller, about getting customers.

And I think there's a common thread here that every MSP owner should think about.

We're really good at running technology

technologyBut are we just as good at running the business? And I'll even take that a level deeper and ask, are we good at building business processes? Let's start with Christopher.

How many times have you heard an MSP owner say, "I need more leads"? But when you ask what they're actually doing to generate those leads, there's no real process, no consistent activity, no accountability.

Christopher made an interesting observation.

It's not necessarily that MSP owners don't know how to sell, it's that they're uncomfortable doing it.

Building a repeatable process removes the fear of where to start and how to continue with the sales process.

So here's your first takeaway.

Treat sales like any other technical process.

Document it, establish repeatable steps, measure the results, and get your entire team involved because growing your business shouldn't depend on the owner suddenly becoming a great salesperson.

Now let's talk about Baxter.

Getting new customers is great, but what happens after you've done all the work? Are you chasing invoices, manually reconciling payments, absorbing credit card processing fees, spending hours doing administrative work that could be automated? Baxter's point is pretty simple.

Getting paid should be a process, not a project.

Now, when I owned an MSP, one of my most important processes was billing.

While most of my peers were sitting down once a month to invoice, I was doing it every single week.

I created a process, we ran that process weekly, and it improved my cash flow dramatically, which really improved the overall health of my business.

Here's something to think about.

If you're processing $100,000 in credit card payments a year and absorbing a 3% fee, that's $3,000 coming straight out of your business.

That's money you worked hard to earn.

So takeaway number two, audit your billing collections process.

Look at automatic payments, late payment reminders, payment processing costs, and how well your PSA and accounting system communicate.

And make sure any changes to fees comply with applicable rules and your customer agreements.

Now, here's where I think these two conversations really come together.

Sales brings money into the pipeline.

All right, so what's next? Justin had two interesting conversations at PAX8 Beyond, one with Baxter from Alternative Payments about getting paid, and another from Christopher, uh, from Impeller, about getting customers.

And I think there's a common thread here that every MSP owner should think about.

We're really good at running technology

technologyBut are we just as good at running the business? And I'll even take that a level deeper and ask, are we good at building business processes? Let's start with Christopher.

How many times have you heard an MSP owner say, "I need more leads"? But when you ask what they're actually doing to generate those leads, there's no real process, no consistent activity, no accountability.

Christopher made an interesting observation.

It's not necessarily that MSP owners don't know how to sell, it's that they're uncomfortable doing it.

Building a repeatable process removes the fear of where to start and how to continue with the sales process.

So here's your first takeaway.

Treat sales like any other technical process.

Document it, establish repeatable steps, measure the results, and get your entire team involved because growing your business shouldn't depend on the owner suddenly becoming a great salesperson.

Now let's talk about Baxter.

Getting new customers is great, but what happens after you've done all the work? Are you chasing invoices, manually reconciling payments, absorbing credit card processing fees, spending hours doing administrative work that could be automated? Baxter's point is pretty simple.

Getting paid should be a process, not a project.

Now, when I owned an MSP, one of my most important processes was billing.

While most of my peers were sitting down once a month to invoice, I was doing it every single week.

I created a process, we ran that process weekly, and it improved my cash flow dramatically, which really improved the overall health of my business.

Here's something to think about.

If you're processing $100,000 in credit card payments a year and absorbing a 3% fee, that's $3,000 coming straight out of your business.

That's money you worked hard to earn.

So takeaway number two, audit your billing collections process.

Look at automatic payments, late payment reminders, payment processing costs, and how well your PSA and accounting system communicate.

And make sure any changes to fees comply with applicable rules and your customer agreements.

Now, here's where I think these two conversations really come together.

Sales brings money into the pipeline.