MSP Success recently teamed up with sales and marketing experts from TMT and top industry players like Kaseya, Dell, Pax8, OpenText Cybersecurity, Field Effect, Cytracom, and ThreatLocker to host a free, full-day virtual AI workshop for MSPs focused on leveraging AI to transform their business. The 500+ attendees also heard from eight of the fastest growing, most successful MSPs—all of whom received outstanding partner awards at the inaugural MSP Titans Of The Industry Awards Gala Each of these leaders revealed their MSP business growth strategies and how other MSP business owners could put them to work.
Hands-On Guidance To Harness The Power of AI
The live event took a workshop-style approach, with attendees actively implementing strategies during sessions. One of the standout sessions of the day, The State of AI: Tools You Can Use Today, took a deep dive into the latest AI advancements that MSPs can adopt now. Attendees learned a simple 3-step plan to implement AI effectively, ensuring their business stays ahead of the competition.
Another hands-on session, Step-By-Step System Using AI To Get Traffic, Leads, And Appointments, demonstrated how to create engaging blogs and videos in seconds–all optimized for search engines and designed to capture leads 24/7.
8 Quickfire MSP Business Growth Strategies
Throughout the day, attendees also heard actionable strategies for growing an MSP business from eight MSP leaders who were recognized by their vendor partners at the MSP Titans of the Industry Awards Gala on December 4, presented by MSP Success. In Q&As with Jeff Johnson, president of Big Red Media, parent company of MSP Success, these award-winning MSPs revealed their top secrets for success.
Kaseya Partner Excellence Award: John Guillaume, CEO, Dynamic Quest
Growth advice: “Growth is hard. We’ve all seen businesses hit a barrier. The hardest part is transitioning from that because it requires more capital and staff. The most important thing you can do is set a foundation that is capable of scaling. Think about new ways of doing things that will serve your business and your clients well. Bring in some fresh eyes who have entrepreneurial chops but have also had experience in scale. Mix that with your current team to understand what scale and what great look like … Partnerships are an important aspect of growing and maturing. What’s often missed is the opportunity to create those win-win relationships … Kaseya made us feel valued. Find your relationship. Share what you’re working on and ask a partner how they can help with this.”
Get more advice on scaling and maximizing partnerships from John Guillaume and find out why Kaseya choose the company for the Partner Excellence award by viewing the full conversation here.
Kaseya Community Involvement Award: Will Nobles, CEO, Vector Choice
Growth advice: “Number one, you’ve got to look at your pricing. You need to understand your costs to determine what to charge. Two, know your numbers and understand what metrics you need to be at to be best in class. Three, invest in marketing and sales. And four, give back by mentoring someone.”
To hear all of Will Nobles’ business building advice and why Kaseya recognized him for giving back to the community, go here.
Cytracom Partner Impact Award: Ben Johnson, CEO, Liberty Technology
Growth advice: “Take an outcome-driven approach. Don’t just talk about tech, but ask customers how their business is doing. Also, have advanced security integrated in your main offering. And take a platform approach with fewer vendors and more simplicity. Finally, publicize your success and put yourself out there.”
For more on how Liberty Technology grew to more than $6 million in revenue, and how Cytracom frames the impact the MSP is making, view the full conversation here.
ThreatLocker Cyber Hero: Michael Millhouse, BridgePoint Technologies
Growth advice: We have been able to get our team to embrace a security-first mindset, which helped out with referrals and makes it an easy conversation. Get your folks engaged. Take full advantage of vendor knowledge and relationships. Don’t waste time trying to have your folks figure things out on their own. Then share that knowledge internally with the rest of the team.”
For more from Michael Millhouse, and why he says, “you’re only as good as the tools you put into play,” listen or watch here.
OpenText Cybersecurity MSP Titan Award: Sean and Betsy Wright, Affinity Technology Partners
Growth advice: Betsy: “Our MSP peer group has been crucial, holding us accountable, pointing out bad business decisions, having the hard conversations.”
Growth advice: Sean: To grow you need to leverage your vendors. Another component is knowing your margin and how many people you need on your staff. Make sure you can be sustainable and profitable. Don’t always have your head down. Keep your head up and talk to the community, the vendors, the customers.”
Find out how this 23-year-old business went into fast-growth mode over the last 10 years in this conversation.
Dell Expert Network Top MSP Award: Scott Allen, Partner, Impact Technology Group
Growth advice: “Most of our growth comes from building relationships with our vendors; lean on them and clients for referrals. Treat everyone with respect and make sure they’re taken care of. All the MSPs out there have the same toolset. It’s really choosing the right [vendor] partner to work with. Beyond that, you have to stand out for your relationships.”
If you want to keep your prospect pipeline full, learn how Scot Allen does it by watching here.
Field Effect Industry Transformer Award: Tom Andrulis, CEO, Intelligent Technical Solutions (ITS)
Growth advice: “Get marketing campaigns going in order to get leads on a regular basis, then start practicing sales techniques. Sales in general was a 2-year journey [for us] of learning how to sell and how to manage sales. After that, start building out your leadership team. Then dip your toe into M&A. M&A without that foundation will be chaotic.”
To learn more about how ITS grew both organically and through M&A to reach $50 million, and why Andrulis says the company “is the best version of itself” today, go here.
Pax8 Outstanding Partner of the Year: William Kapes, Director of Technical Operations, Integritek
Growth advice: “Your strategy shouldn’t be stagnant. Early on, we adopted a cloud-first mentality. We really pushed cloud. For everybody now, security is the big push. The cybersecurity portion of the MSP industry is growing the fastest. It’s in your best interest from a business perspective to look at security and what you’re doing—and it’s just the right thing to do for your clients. To be a good partner to your clients, it’s really about how do we enable their business goals.”
Find out how Integritek gets value from its vendor partners to help fuel its growth here.
Boundless Opportunities
The virtual AI workshop hosted by MSP Success and industry giants showcased the boundless opportunities for MSPs to revolutionize their businesses. Through hands-on sessions and invaluable insights on MSP business growth strategies from award-winning industry leaders, attendees gained the tools to harness AI, elevate their marketing and sales, and cultivate meaningful partnerships.