Many MSP owners have a tough time stepping away from the technician role. After all, their love of technology is why many started their MSP businesses in the first place. But setting down the toolbox and focusing on sales and marketing can grow your business more than you ever thought possible.
That’s exactly what happened for Securafy, a managed security services provider (MSSP) in Willoughby, Ohio. Randy Hall, CEO and founder of Securafy, credits his growth to the business’s sales focus. “You may call yourself an IT company, but you need to change your perspective. You need to think of yourself as a sales company, which happens to be selling IT services,” he says.
While often an unconventional mindset in the MSP space, this strategy is working for Securafy. The MSSP currently has 14 employees, up from five in late 2023. They started the year at 8% EBITDA and have shot to 48% as of last month, with a 23% ROI.
An Entrepreneurial Mindset
Securafy is Hall’s fourth MSP; after two successful exits from his previous three businesses, he started Securafy in 2020 with his son and brother. With so many years of entrepreneurial experience under his belt, Hall knows a few things about what other business owners—his clients—need. He sees his own mission as ensuring that tech-related incidents never cause passionate entrepreneurs and leaders to lose everything they’ve built. “My dream is to protect these businesses, but I can’t do it alone,” he explains. “I need leaders to know how critical their tech stack is if I’m going to be able to do my job well.”
That understanding is a key component of how Hall qualifies his prospects, and what he considers a quality customer. He also looks for customers who prioritize compliance, have between 20 and 250 users, and are in one of their verticals—manufacturing, legal, medical, and real estate.
Cybersecurity, Compliance, And Widening Margins
As an MSSP, Securafy’s entire business model is built around cybersecurity. “Eight out of 10 businesses that experience a breach are out of business within 18 months,” Hall says.
In an effort to provide robust protection to all his clients, Hall created an essential care program at Securafy. It consists of endpoint detection and response, 24/7 monitoring, mobile device protection, full backup disaster recovery, and more. “When I look at my biggest competitors, most of their top programs don’t even come close to the level of protection we provide with our essential care program,” he says.
Securafy has been able to outcompete other MSPs and widen their margins on their existing clients by prioritizing cybersecurity and switching to Kaseya 365 Endpoint. “We dropped our cost by almost 38%,” Hall says. The MSSP spent a quarter making the switch, to ensure their technicians had time to properly learn the tools. “We booked their onboarding classes and every single technician had to go through intensive training, led by Kaseya.”
Hall then explained Securafy’s cybersecurity and compliance edge: “We revamped our plans; cybersecurity services are now MSSPs. They say 9 out of 10 MSPs have not made that move yet. They’re still just selling managed services and we’re eating their lunch, because every business is getting letters from their bank for PCI compliance. If they sell anything related to the government or defense industry, they need CMMC compliance.”
“You can be secure without being compliant, and compliant without being secure,” Hall emphasizes. “[Compliance is] an all-the-time thing. Layering [compliance and cybersecurity] on top of managed services has given us another 20-23% margin on our competitors.”
The AI Differentiator For Sales and Marketing
Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel with their marketing tactics, Hall and his team at Securafy have been utilizing AI to stay one step ahead.
“What we’ve done differently in marketing this year is hitting all the social media avenues. We are leveraging AI like there’s no tomorrow. AI writes so much of our ad copy and so much of our YouTube videos. We’re using those tools to create all kinds of new avenues and videos. Using video to get these appointments, compete, and sell our services has been so much more successful. It’s a real differentiator,” Hall says.
However, the most important factor in Securafy’s sales success story has been their consistency. When asked for his advice for other MSPs who are looking to replicate his success, Hall says, “Think positively. If you believe you can succeed and you work to succeed, you will succeed. Consistency is the number one thing. Doing the same thing five days in a row only get you five days of success. You need to do the same thing every day. Measure it. Report it. See how you can improve it, but don’t quit doing it. Even if your marketing is flawed. Even if it’s second rate, if you keep doing it, you will get results.”
Put Down The Toolbox To Grow
The biggest catalyst for Securafy’s growth has been Hall’s decision to stop being a technician. “Robin Robins, [CEO of TMT], told me that business owners that keep carrying the toolbox will never grow,” says Hall. “When I started this business with my brother and son, I told them I was no longer going to be the number one tech. I hold so many certifications and have so many years of experience, but none of my current clients know that. I don’t personally do service for any of them. I get one of my technicians.”
The reason for this mindset? “If I’m working a service, I’m not working in sales and marketing,” says Hall. “Put the toolbox away, never pick it up again, and trust that you’ve trained the right person [for the job]. I’m trying to hire great people and keep taking off hats. I think that’s the number one thing that every business owner needs to do if you want to grow in this business—quit wearing all the damn hats. You’re doing every job halfway.”
