MSP Business School

Carrie Simpson launched Managed Sales Pros in 2013 as a call center serving the MSP market. Starting with a contract in her native country, Canada, the operations quickly grew. A contract opportunity was presented to her and almost overnight she launched operations in the U.S. 

Managed Sales Pros hit a market need that is large in the MSP community, customer acquisition through cold calling.  With many of the MSP's being Technologist led  organizations, sales can often be a foreign process.

Sometime acquisition comes quickly and without the intention to sell.  Carrie speaks of how she reached out to a company to help her with her strong pipeline and staffing needs.  With more business than people she could hire in the Las Vegas market, she approached EB Quckstart for assistance with overflow.  Their response was how about we just buy your operation, and before you knew it the deal was done.

Post-acquisition Carrie still operates Managed Sales Pros in Canada, but has her eye on the next chapter as she shares her plans for the future (hint...a one-stop shop for webinars).

Jeff Grande and Mike Paone launched TBNG Consulting started their company as many MSP's have, bootstrapping the business while working full-time jobs, in their caae from different states. They accelerated the growth through grit and determination knocking on neighborhood doors and working evenings to kick off the company.

One growth hack that they learned was truly engaging the channel and making investments to become the local leader in newer channel entrants and building long term relationships. Mike shares how he grew those relationships, but does add you "have to sleep with one eye open". n It is also about having clear boundaries with the vendor on what they are willing to sell.

In sharing how they grew TBNG Jeff shares that no growth comes without peril. IT was a constant reinvestment into the business and hiring quality people that they trusted then helping them learn their role.

They also talked about understanding where your deficiencies personally are. In 2012 they reflected on their business growth and while growth has been steady they needed to accelerate growth to make the business what they wanted it to be.

They looked into the family and brought Jeff's brother Michael into the team so they could focus on growing the business while Michael who runs the administrative side of the business so Mike and Jeff can continue to build the sales team. It was a big transition and came with swallowing some ego along the way, but it has extremely accelerated growth.

Jeff Grande and Mike Paone launched TBNG Consulting started their company as many MSP's have, bootstrapping the business while working full-time jobs, in their caae from different states.  They accelerated the growth through grit and determination knocking on neighborhood doors and working evenings to kick off the company.

One growth hack that they learned was truly engaging the channel and making investments to become the local leader in newer channel entrants and building long term relationships.  Mike shares how he grew those relationships, but does add you "have to sleep with one eye open". n It is also about having clear boundaries with the vendor on what they are willing to sell.

In sharing how they grew TBNG Jeff shares that no growth comes without peril.  IT was a constant reinvestment into the business and hiring quality people that they trusted then helping them learn their role.

They also talked about understanding where your deficiencies personally are.  In 2012 they reflected on their business growth and while growth has been steady they needed to accelerate growth to make the business what they wanted it to be.

They looked into the family and brought Jeff's brother Michael into the team so they could focus on growing the business while Michael who runs the administrative side of the business so Mike and Jeff can continue to build the sales team. It was a big transition and came with swallowing some ego along the way, but it has extremely accelerated growth.

Today we turn the tables and interview two of MSP Business Schools Co-Hosts, Robb Rogers and Tim McNeil. Robb and Tim started OSR Manage. Originally started as an MSP Lead Generation company OSR has morphed into a Virtual Sales Management juggernaut.

The OSR Manage team focuses on helping Tech Founders build winning sales teams. Their approach which is a mix of Executive, and Sales coaching coupled with peer groups for the individual reps has helped 100's of companies succeed in s

Today we turn the tables and interview two of MSP Business Schools Co-Hosts, Robb Rogers and Tim McNeil.  Robb and Tim started OSR Manage.  Originally started as an MSP Lead Generation company OSR has morphed into a Virtual Sales Management juggernaut.

The OSR Manage team focuses on helping Tech Founders build winning sales teams.  Their approach which is a mix of Executive, and Sales coaching coupled with peer groups for the individual reps has helped 100’s of companies succeed in s

Leigh Wood Owner and Director of Node IT Solutions in Biggleswade, England joins us today and shares a story of persistence in the face of adversity. We learn how when faced with a crisis that can cause a company to cease operations, Leigh and his team rose up and met the challenge head on.

Leigh starts with a conversation of his companies rise from its roots as an IT consultancy and its ultimate migration into becoming an MSP. Having formed Node IT Solutions with a co-founder, Leigh initially served as the lead technician. Soon his partner left the business and Leigh began the transition from technician to the business leader holding the main responsibility for Node IT's sales.

We then moved to a discussion of the biggest challenge that Leigh faced as a small business owner. Returning from vacation, Leigh stepped off the plane to a text none of us would ever like to receive, a client who owed 50,000 pounds announced that they had gone out of business and that debt will never be collected.

Leigh then shares his story of the how this event forced him to look at the weaknesses in the business and his own leadership. He discusses the steps that he and his team took to get Node IT Solutions back on track and strengthen the operation. He also shared what he did in seeking the help he personally required (and the mentor that came into his life) so he could become a stronger leader.

We close his story with a discussion of the progress that he and his team made in recovering from this loss, and how this event prepared the company to be poised for long-term success.

Leigh Wood Owner and Director of Node IT Solutions in Biggleswade, England joins us today and shares a story of persistence in the face of adversity.  We learn how when faced with a crisis that can cause a company to cease operations, Leigh and his team rose up and met the challenge head on.  

Leigh starts with a conversation of his companies rise from its roots as an IT consultancy and its ultimate migration into becoming an MSP.  Having formed Node IT Solutions with a co-founder, Leigh initially served as the lead technician.  Soon his partner left the business and Leigh began the transition from technician to the business leader holding the main responsibility for Node IT’s sales.

We then moved to a discussion of the biggest challenge that Leigh faced as a small business owner.  Returning from vacation, Leigh stepped off the plane to a text none of us would ever like to receive, a client who owed 50,000 pounds announced that they had gone out of business and that debt will never be collected.

Leigh then shares his story of the how this event forced him to look at the weaknesses in the business and his own leadership.  He discusses the steps that he and his team took to get Node IT Solutions back on track and strengthen the operation. He also shared what he did in seeking the help he personally required (and the mentor that came into his life)  so he could become a stronger leader.

We close his story with a discussion of the progress that he and his team made in recovering from this loss, and how this event prepared the company to be poised for long-term success.

Jason Schaller joins us in today's episode to discuss the importance of regular assessments and compliance reviews. Anderson Zurmuehlen started as a traditional audit and accounting firm and ultimately added technology as a division of their business. Leveraging their existing relationships where trust was established it only made sense to move into IT where trust of private information is also required.

Jason is responsible for both internal security and serving as the vCISO for the AZTS technology clients. AZTS has built a strong advisory firm focused on IT governance and performing audits like SOC2 and CMMC..

Jason tells us how there is a huge opportunities for MSP's to provide security based resources to the small to mid-sized business community.Accountants have long been conversing with clients about risk management and in his role he is able to use that common language and extend it to IT.

We then discuss how many MSP's are changing their models to MSSP, but most are falling short in the areas of governance and maintaining security policy and controls. While tools are being brought in to support security the talent hasn't often caught up to really identify vulnerabilities.

We talk about how the industry and how the MSSP community mirrors how the early days of the MSP world got started, a number of proven premium security players and a large numbers of upstarts that may not be qualified (yet) to truly be an MSSP and opening up risk to themselves.

One of the biggest black holes for many MSSP's today is a proven incident response team. Jason speaks of the key to mitigating that risk is having a good front end and build a quality prevention program.

We close with that MSP's that are unsure if they are conducting assessments and evaluating risk prevention appropriately they can engage Jason and his firm by visiting Anderson Zurmuehlen and engaging with their firm.

Jason Schaller joins us in today's episode to discuss the importance of regular assessments and compliance reviews.  Anderson Zurmuehlen started as a traditional audit and accounting firm and ultimately added technology as a division of their business.  Leveraging their existing relationships where trust was established it only made sense to move into IT where trust of private information is also required. 

Jason is responsible for both internal security and serving as the vCISO for the AZTS technology clients.  AZTS has built a strong advisory firm focused on IT governance and performing audits like SOC2 and CMMC..

Jason tells us how there is a huge opportunities for MSP's to provide security based resources to the small to mid-sized business community.Accountants have long been conversing with clients about risk management and in his role he is able to use that common language and extend it to IT.

We then discuss how many MSP's are changing their models to MSSP, but most are falling short in the areas of governance and maintaining security policy and controls.  While tools are being brought in to support security the talent hasn't often caught up to really identify vulnerabilities.

We talk about how the industry and how the MSSP community mirrors how the early days of the MSP world got started, a number of proven premium security players and a large numbers of upstarts that may not be qualified (yet) to truly be an MSSP and opening up risk to themselves.

One of the biggest black holes for many MSSP's today is a proven incident response team.  Jason speaks of the key to mitigating that risk is having a good front end and build a quality prevention program.  

We close with that MSP's that are unsure if they are conducting assessments and evaluating risk prevention appropriately they can engage Jason and his firm by visiting Anderson Zurmuehlen and engaging with their firm.

Today's Interview Series guest is Todd Whitley, CEO and Partner for Brightwire Networks. Brightwire started as the traditional owner-led sales organization, and has since completed the transition to a mature sales team. Todd sees 5-year business cycles within his business. They key is being adaptable and focusing on growth.

A key to Brightwire's success is building trust with clients and the sales team to drive the sales relationship. We talk about the responsibilities an MSP and its ownership has to supporting staff, clients, family and community.

One of the biggest challenges Brightwire faces is the pace of change within the technology sector and helping the team keep up with new tech. Todd explains that Brightwire's mentality as a Business first service provider has given them the ability to control the pace of new technology and when their clients will implement new services.

Through consultative advice, business alignment, and strong client relationships, Brightwire is not forced to allow technology to rule the team.

To keep morale with the team, Brightwire doesn't become a slave to their customer. He encourages MSP's develop a process to support your team, leverage business conversation to keep the customer focused, and this drives successful digital transformation. This is critical to a strong, partner relationship with each client.