I founded CW IT Support while in college, after starting it as a side hustle. I hired my first employee in 2010 and sold my first monthly recurring revenue (MRR) contract four years later, after reading the book Managed Services In A Month. Before that, my entire business was break-fix. In 2016, I split my company into two entities, Computer Warriors (retail) and CW IT Support (MSP), and by 2019, I had built a pretty sizable MSP.
However, I had no business experience and did not have a lot of resources. I was making it up as I went along, with no one to bounce ideas off. We had a lot of success but also a lot of failures, challenges, pitfalls and landmines. I reached out to TMT after recognizing Robin Robins’ name in an endorsement she made in a marketing book I was reading by Dan Kennedy. It was a humbling experience. Being coached, speaking with peers and seeing how mature these other companies were, I discovered how little I knew.
The Big Red Reeducation That Led to Doubling My Revenue
In July 2019, we were generating just under $2 million in revenue. We ended 2024 at just over $4 million, an increase of $400,000 over 2023 and double-digit profits.
While I had a fairly successful business, here’s what I discovered:
- I didn’t know how to structure or write contracts correctly. I was missing essential elements in our MSAs (master service agreements) that provide clarity and protections critical to delivering MSP services. If you haven’t watched any of the sessions TMT provides with Bradley Gross or Mike Fafinski, do it TODAY.
- Our security stack was weak, immature and missing security best practices, and this caused issues for clients. We’ve got all of that correct now. If you haven’t watched Will Nobles’ miniseries on packaging and pricing, do it TODAY.
- Our clients were mostly smaller, low-money clients (not the HVCs, or high-value clients, TMT encourages us to seek out).
- I had no marketing systems in place other than wrapping our vehicles and getting leads from a successful chain of computer repair stores.
- We didn’t have an oil well, a process for growth or a truly defining offer.
- We mostly grew due to project sales, not new recurring revenue. Every new sale meant a lot of extra work to deliver it.
- I was managing most of the accounts myself.
Since I began implementing TMT strategies, my operations have improved, and I have a full pipeline. My security stack has improved. Meeting vendors at events, hearing them speak and speaking with other MSPs about their experiences helped us strengthen our technology stack. Now, our company excels in cybersecurity through ThreatLocker-managed zero-trust solutions, a unique offering that sets us apart from local competitors. My income has grown fourfold, and I’ve found freedom from urgent business, allowing me to travel 80 days in a single year, more than I’d ever taken off work before.
Game-Changing 40% Growth In Just One Quarter With One Campaign
My first campaign after joining TMT focused on maximizing existing client value, yielding remarkable results. With Windows 7 approaching end-of-life in January 2020, we leveraged TMT’s Technology Business Reviews (TBRs) campaign. Through targeted e-mail communications and phone follow-ups, we secured $750,000 in project revenue within just three months, driving a 30% to 40% company growth from this single campaign.
Previously, we’d never done TBRs and had no account management process in place. We were extremely reactive, waiting for systems to fail or for customers to suffer security breaches before we proposed upgrades.
Focusing on existing clients proved more profitable than pursuing new customers because we tapped into established relationships. This approach allowed us to:
- Expand our service stack to current clients.
- Generate valuable referrals.
- Maximize return on investment.
- Transform reactive support into proactive solutions, enhancing client satisfaction.
- Modernize client infrastructure, reducing system issues afterward.
- Increase project profitability.
This strategic pivot not only generated significant revenue but also strengthened client relationships. The success of these TBRs also provided extra money to explore external growth opportunities through marketing initiatives.
How We Exceeded Our Aggressive Goal By $6K
In 2023, we surpassed our ambitious $3.6 million goal by $6K through strategic planning and execution. We achieved a 28.57% increase in revenue and 40% year-over-year MRR increase, adding $80K in MRR through $35K in new client acquisition and the remainder from account management and contractual price increases. Working with the Producers Club coaching proved instrumental in achieving these breakthrough results.
Two main initiatives contributed:
- Implementing accountability through KPIs and metrics. By implementing KPIs and metrics with our leadership team, we elevated company performance and accountability. This transformation enabled me to transition from focusing on daily operations and urgent issues to strategic leadership. To build accountability in telemarketing and account management, I developed an accountability scorecard. While this pace led to leadership turnover, we recruited dynamic new team leaders who brought an essential fresh perspective, hunger and tenacity to the team.
- Strategic Canvassing. Our canvassing initiative enhanced market intelligence and local presence despite our challenges to execute it consistently. With weekly targets of 25 visits each for our dialer and sales representative, we generated valuable leads. A notable prospect emerged – a 75-employee manufacturer with a potential $10K monthly co-managed security solution, promising substantial margins.
Doubled Appointments While Cutting Marketing Costs By 50%
In 2024, strategic marketing refinements doubled our quarterly appointments to 33 through a single dialer. Before, we struggled with consistent results, and selling outside our local marketplace was much more challenging than selling locally. Our breakthrough came after a PC captain’s call where Robin revealed that, minimally, she pushed her team for 125 outbound calls a day, twice the number my dialer was averaging. After that call, we implemented the following data-driven changes:
- Increased outbound calls to 400 dials per week.
- Expanded weekly direct mail from 100 to 130 pieces.
- Enhanced call sequence from three to four touchpoints.
- Implemented professional list cleaning (something we’d never done before) with Adam Spencer’s guidance from a captain’s call.
- Streamlined calling process by eliminating pre-call note review, knowing 80% of calls go unanswered.
These optimizations doubled productivity while slashing marketing costs in half, transforming sporadic deals into consistent revenue generation.
10 New Clients In 2024
We had a significant amount of attrition in 2024, but we sold through to new clients and replaced all the revenue we’d lost and came out even with a total of $256,000 MRR and $742,000 project revenue. We added 10 new clients ($31,728 MRR), selling a total of $55,000 MRR between new clients and existing clients.
Successful strategies we use to grow:
Plant The Farm prospecting campaigns. These include the Aspirin, Closer Look, Band-Aid and Bad Date campaigns. We didn’t change these. People are impressed, and we receive compliments about our creative marketing whenever we send these out, so my thought is, why change what isn’t broken?
We did modify the follow-up call script. Using the script from the campaign as a starting point, my dialer experimented to figure out what was comfortable and what elicited positive responses from our prospects.
LinkedIn outreach. We’re using a new tool called Dripify to help with LinkedIn outreach. Although it’s new for us, we’ve already scheduled appointments.
Delegate marketing. Hiring a marketing admin early and collaborating with outside partners allowed me to focus on leadership, operations and business growth strategy.
Systematic canvassing utilizing the TMT marketing automation platform (MAP). Building out custom widgets with our Sherpa helped us systematize canvassing. This was huge for us. Each canvasser received their own widget, uploaded with their spreadsheets. MAP enters them into a calling campaign, doing follow-up sequences like a direct mail campaign, which helps us stay on top of canvassing. We book the bulk of our appointments with follow-up calls rather than first-time canvassing.
Defining who we want as a client. Our average-size client has quadrupled in MRR. We validate prospects before dumping money into campaigns and calling. Plus, I work with clients I want to work with and turn away clients who aren’t the right fit. Before, I took on any customer who had a pulse and was willing to open their checkbook, regardless of how big or small they were. Previously, I had close to 200 clients. Now, I only have 123; however, our revenue has more than doubled.
Coaching. The #1 strategy is business coaching. As a Producers Club co-captain this year, I can attend coaching calls that provide me intel and face time with Robin. The biggest impact comes from volunteering to be on the hot seat despite my usually being a bad example rather than a good one. It’s not always comfortable. However, it’s through that tough love that Robin provides so well, digging in and questioning everything, that I come out the other side of it better.
The most significant contributing factors to our growth are consistently executing, using metrics and having a real plan. Before, there was no plan other than “just to get bigger.” We now have controlled growth and a plan for how to grow. Even more important, we are growing profitably.
