In 2015, Stephen Spiegel, founder of Crewhu, didn’t even know what an MSP was. Today, Crewhu is the only employee recognition and customer satisfaction platform built specifically for MSPs. Crewhu increases job satisfaction and rewards your employees for a job well done to create an environment of teamwork and appreciation that improves retention for both customers and employees.
Spiegel started Crewhu after experiencing a high turnover in his Cold Stone Creamery business. “I needed help to engage my employees,” Spiegel said. “I wanted to see which managers were doing the right things and see which managers needed help. I went to the market looking for a solution and couldn’t find one, so we developed one.”
What he ended up with is Crewhu, an extremely easy way to capture customer service data and automatically recognize your employees when they do the right thing. When they aren’t delivering the right behavior, it gives you the data you need to train them to improve those areas. “When you treat the employee right, a lot of great things will happen,” Spiegel said. “That’s where the magic happens. Your culture gets stronger. Your customer service gets better. And you can identify the employees who don’t fit your organization, causing the culture to erode.”
While originally created for the franchise and food service industries in mind, he discovered there were a lot of similarities with the MSP industry because of the frontline help and customer interaction techs give. “In 2015, MSPs started to sign up organically,” Spiegel said. “So, I called them up to learn more about their business.”
One of the MSPs submitted Crewhu in Gary Pica’s Best Idea Contest, and it won. After speaking with Pica’s peer groups, Spiegel signed up a couple dozen new MSP clients. “I got some advice from the MSPs about what events to attend and met a bunch of sponsors,” Spiegel said. “I retooled Crewhu to the MSP market, relaunched in January 2016, and haven’t looked back since.”
One company he was directed to was TMT, which he partnered with in 2019.
“I go to all the TMT shows to listen to Robin Robins and let my team man the booth,” Spiegel said. “I like to hear what Robin and other thought leaders have to say about the industry so I understand what’s going on in the industry and can pivot with the industry trends.”
After hearing Robin’s industry updates, Spiegel realized that for MSPs to be competitive in today’s market, their online reputation was extremely important. He created a way for Crewhu clients to collect feedback and ask their advocates for reviews. Also, because a lot of partners use TMT’s MAP division to run their marketing, Crewhu created a partnership and integration with Keap, which he launched at the 2022 TMT Boot Camp. “We use the Keap integration to send out surveys and create workflows to get more Google reviews, more testimonials, and more referrals to help grow MSP businesses,” Spiegel explained.
As the MSP rapidly expands and brings out more competition, Spiegel also realized it’s more difficult to stand out. “Competition is bringing a lot of acquisition into this space,” he said. “Now, MSPs need to compete with larger providers with bigger marketing budgets and more resources.”
So, how do you compete when you’re a small- to mid-size MSP? “It’s all about your reputation and what we call your badass raving fans, which will help you differentiate,” Spiegel said. “We recognize and reward the employees for doing things that will help them improve the company’s reputation. A culture of extraordinary customer service will differentiate you from the rest of the pack, not your tech stack. You can have this great tech stack, but all the MSPs around you ultimately have a tech stack that’s the same or similar to yours. One thing competitors can’t duplicate easily is your culture, your processes, and your team.”
Crewhu makes it super easy for customers to give feedback and the MSPs to collect data by integrating with the tools and platforms MSPs use such as Autotask, Connectwise, Kaseya, and Microsoft Teams. Crewhu goes one step further by automatically celebrating the employees who are delivering great service. The MSP can see which employees are delivering the best customer service and coach the ones who need a bit more help to increase that service level. “Recognizing and rewarding employees keeps the team focused on what the company thinks is important,” Spiegel said. “We’ve found that companies with strong cultures far outperform those other companies with weaker cultures, even if those companies with weaker cultures have a better technology stack.”
Crewhu is helping MSPs retain employees, too.
“This is a tough industry,” Spiegel said. “If you are a tech on the frontline, you’re hearing things are going wrong. It’s not fun and you’re getting beat up. With Crewhu, employees get recognized for the work they are doing, and they start to feel appreciated. MSPs tell me this helps save their best techs from leaving.”
When it comes to your growth and success, one of the most important things is your team. Make it easy to create a strong culture and recognize your team daily. “Celebrating the small wins is what it’s all about,” Spiegel said. “By doing things consistently, you create change and good habits that build a terrific culture to differentiate yourself.”
