I started my career at Converging Networks Group, Inc., founded in 2003, when I was 21 years old. After leaving and gaining valuable experience at a franchise MSP, I approached CNG’s owners, Jerry and Brad Kuntz – my mentors – offering solutions to help their struggling business model adapt. Recognizing the challenges faced by the company, I returned as the director of managed services to lead their transition from a VoIP and data networking focus to an MSP model. Within about six months, we generated $20,000 MRR based on what I’d learned at the franchise MSP.
Live Events Propelled Us From $1 Million To $3.1 Million
After that, we completed the 360-degree transformation from the VoIP and networking-only model to comprehensive MSP services. However, we knew we had process and people issues, which led us to join Technology Marketing Toolkit in 2021.
While we had access to the portal and excellent resources, we didn’t fully utilize them at first. Attending TMT events opened our eyes to the true value offered and introduced us to MSPs who struggled with the same business process issues we were experiencing. Hearing how they utilized the TMT resources to overcome those difficulties built our confidence that we could experience explosive growth if we acted on the TMT resources and guidance. In July 2024, we went all in, attending our first Rapid Implementation Workshop.
Twenty weeks following Rapid Implementation, we’d already added $47,106.51 in new MRR for managed services, plus an additional $8,178.35 MRR for VoIP services, for a total of $55,284.86 total MRR. All contracts are three-year contracts except for two one-year contracts totaling $2,650. We also added $299,207 in project work. The total revenue added is $2,225,861.96. We ended 2024 at just over $3.1 million, tripling our revenue in the last five years.
Five key discoveries that launched our growth:
1. Fix marketing processes and sales funnels before spending money on marketing.
Bootcamp proved transformative, helping us overcome our fears and equipping us with the necessary tools, processes, people and confidence to execute a comprehensive marketing strategy.
Before, our business relied solely on referrals. But referrals dry up. We lacked essential marketing foundations and faced obstacles such as:
- No established marketing and sales processes
- Absence of proper tracking systems
- Missing follow-up procedures
- No organized prospect lists
- Limited marketing expertise
- Insufficient staffing
Bootcamp helped us overcome these obstacles while also holding our feet to the fire to get things done. It put us in the right state of mind so we could build a foundation of structured marketing processes, receive the knowledge on how to implement and get guidance on building the right marketing and sales team.
2. Profitability matters more than revenue.
We improved our margins from 28%–30% to 50%–64%, increasing profitability by 66.7% to 128.57%. Before, we underpriced our services due to a lack of proper cost analysis. We’d just slap a price on something based on what our competitors were charging, with no idea how much money we were making or how long it took a technician to handle an issue.
Our epiphany came when we realized we were hemorrhaging money in one area and didn’t know if we were making money or breaking even in other areas. Using TMT’s framework, we redefined our packaging and pricing to maximize margins.
We followed the sales and marketing advice from Robin’s training inside the portal. Will Nobles helped us tremendously with the client management piece. The supplied tools helped us determine how to make our package profitable. Without the packaging, pricing and client management worksheets, as well as the pricing calculator provided to us, this would have been extremely difficult to figure out.
Because we have the margins we want, this year will be the most net new recurring revenue we’ve ever added, and it’s also going to be our most profitable year.
3. Adopting a sales framework closes more deals.
Converting to a comprehensive, structured sales approach dramatically improved our business outcomes, including better forecasting and more consistent results. TMT helped me realize you can have great marketing, but if you are too technical in your sales approach, you’re not going to close many deals, especially with larger organizations.
We had fears around hiring people and outsourcing because we’d hire salespeople who did the bare minimum, despite us basically throwing free money at them. TMT helped us structure our sales bonuses and define the responsibilities for our sales roles rather than blindly trusting the people we hire. We established detailed quarterly targets and year-over-year growth objectives, giving our sales team clear metrics for success.
Adopting Robin’s five-step sales process created a value-focused framework that emphasizes benefits over technical specifications, leading to more successful closures with larger organizations. We added almost $14,000 in MRR from an organization with approximately 200 workstations, and they didn’t even balk at the price. Now that we have a solid marketing foundation and a structured sales process, we have the confidence we didn’t have before to go after bigger deals.
4. Automation accelerates conversions and makes things easier.
We implemented the TMT marketing automation platform (MAP) after hearing other MSPs discuss their successes in generating leads and closing sales through the platform. Initially, we didn’t use MAP even though it was recommended because we didn’t have a designated marketing person and assumed it would be difficult and time-consuming to set up.
It ended up being the complete opposite – the MAP was straightforward to set up, especially with TMT’s support. Now we use this tool and the well-converting campaigns, which we could not have built ourselves, and it relieves a lot of stress. Once we realized how much automation could be done, we discovered we didn’t need to take on the risk of hiring someone, which made it much less scary.
5. Start small and scale.
We started with the TBR (technology business review) campaign, generating $299,207 in project work without requiring additional staff.
We redesigned our TBR campaign using Will Nobles’ recommended tools, eliminating the quote guesswork and increasing sales closure rates. We completed 64 TBRs, which wouldn’t have been possible without MAP. All but a couple of clients responded to the campaign.
Our closing rate increased once we built frameworks into our process and we were no longer afraid to ask tough questions. Asking the decision-makers a series of hard-hitting questions has significantly improved our results. For example, “Could you sleep at night knowing you have a below-average backup solution in the event of a ransomware attack?”
Following TMT’s suggestions, our strategic approach to TBRs evolved in several key ways. We now:
- Educate clients and connect solutions to specific pain points.
- Focus on selling individual components rather than trying to sell the entire package up front. We suggest upgrading their plan when adding tools. Bundles save them money while improving our margins.
- Build trust through comprehensive consultations.
- Focus on cyber liability, compliance and cybersecurity.
We developed a custom scoring system that evaluates client environments and cyber liability insurance requirements. Low scores naturally lead to service upgrades and hardware improvements as clients want higher scores and seek better security.
We’ve also learned to identify and release clients who do not align with our service and value proposition.
Marketing Campaigns That Led To A 52.7% Increase In MRR
Prior to Rapid Implementation, we’d generated $104,892 in MRR. The campaigns that allowed us to add $55,284 MRR in the 20 weeks following Rapid include:
- Robinized Website – We redesigned our website and blog posts to build trust and capture prospects to build our list.
- Drip Tips – A continuous flow of informative e-mails follows up with and educates customers.
- Physical Shock-And-Awe Boxes – Sent to qualified leads, our Shock-And-Awe package includes an MSP Success Magazine featuring one of CNG’s owners on the cover, product information, services, our history and leadership, a list of notable clients and testimonials.
- Social Media – We customized the Done-For-You social media from TMT with our company colors, branding and personality.
- Gift Baskets – For the first time ever, we sent out gift baskets to our customers. Inspired by the Shock-And-Awe packages, we include our new 2025 MSP packages and pricing and offer free risk assessments. Break-fix customers received different marketing material than our fully managed services customers.
- Follow-Up With SBRs (Strategic Business Reviews) – Previously, we sent e-mails with reports following a full risk assessment. Customers were completely overwhelmed with all the information and didn’t understand it. Now we provide a simplified road map and review the information with them.
We are also building campaigns around the customer’s pain points now that we’ve hired an SDR and a marketing person. We plan to run the full TMT campaigns by February 2025.
When I started with TMT, I should have slapped myself for not fully implementing it. While I thought it was gimmicky at the time, I’ve come to realize it’s far from that. We now feel confident in aiming for aggressive goals, which includes 25% MRR growth for 2025.
Our transformation from a referral-dependent business to a systematized, growth-oriented organization demonstrates the power of implementing proven processes. As we look forward, we’re positioned for continued growth and profitability, armed with the confidence and systems needed for sustained success.
