December MSP Growth Habit: Reflect, Rinse, & Repeat for 2024

In my first blog post of 2023, I wrote about how difficult it seems to be for the average person to set and stick to their New Year’s Resolutions.  Stats show that by mid-February, most people’s resolutions have been abandoned and have become a distant memory.

I theorized that one of the main challenges with setting resolutions, is that many people try to implement too many changes at once, which can be overwhelming and difficult to commit to.  So I had suggested that instead of trying to make big changes all in January, it might be more rewarding to focus on one thing each month.  Then once that new habit had become firmly entrenched (or at least something you had a good handle on), to then turn your attention to focusing on the next resolution from the list the following month. The idea behind this strategy was, by the end of the year, you would have successfully implemented 10-12 new business-building habits that your MSP can then take into 2024 and beyond.

It was a fun year of writing, covering several topics that are near and dear to my heart like:

Self-education and striving to ‘never stop learning’

I challenged MSPs to build a habit of carving out time in their busy schedule every day to find new podcasts, books, and other training resources that can inspire and offer fresh ideas that could be incorporated into the management of their MSP

‘Finding love’

Here I focused on leveraging your loyal customers and their relationship with you to build a war-chest of testimonials, quotes, references, and case studies that can be used throughout your website and social media feeds—otherwise known as ‘social proof’. According to research by Nielsen, 92% of customers trust peer recommendations, so spending time focused on generating updated testimonials will have a profound impact on future lead generation campaigns you might be planning.

Finding new markets to pursue

While our economy seems to be on a soft upswing in recent months, MSPs should never stop searching for new market opportunities, and one of those potential markets is in the co-managed space. Market-timing for co-managed IT services is ideal as many larger companies are still struggling to find quality technical and security talent to plug HR gaps and technical proficiencies that existing internally, and MSPs are poised well to assist.  So looking at areas where your managed services could be easily transferred upmarket could result in new sources of revenue and growth for your MSP.

Unlock the secrets to Co-managed success with our digital playbook! Discover the ultimate blueprint for creating, selling, and pricing co-managed services with our Co-Managed Digital Playbook. Here’s what one of our partners had to say about the playbook:

“Bravo on the Co-managed Digital Playbook. It is awesome. It’s an actual blueprint of how to create your Co-managed offering, with real useable insights including how to structure your pricing. This is something you never really see with vendor guides. Thanks for all of the content and hard work put into this.” Robby Garon, President Teknertia

To get hold of your copy, N‑able partners should contact Stefanie Hammond.

Non-partners can download the Playbook here.

Setting and regularly reviewing your business goals to help keep your MSP on track

As the great Benjamin Franklin has said: ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’.  For real growth, you cannot run your MSP by just your gut, you need actual benchmarks and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure your MSP by to ensure you are heading in the right direction. Stay tuned for a new #HeadNerd Boot Camp that will be launched in 2024 that will focus on this every important business strategy.

Mastering the art of time management

Are you guilty of forgoing sales and marketing, or neglecting to implement important automation and efficiency improvement tasks because you are ‘too busy’? We are all busy, but the most successful and profitable MSPs are the ones that, despite their ‘busy-ness’, have mastered the art of time management and have been able to prioritize those areas that fundamentally will help drive their business forward and help to make them more competitive in their marketplace.  

Practicing active listening as a means to closing more sales, more quickly!

Sales can be daunting and intimidating for an inexperienced sales person, but this one critical skill can make all the difference in how well a sales professional progresses in their sales career.  And by incorporating a few simple techniques, anyone can increase their sales success. =

Not being afraid to try something new

MSPs struggling to see the growth that they would like, tend to be the ones who opt to play it safe and stick with the status quo; while the MSPs who are experiencing year-over-year growth tend to be the ones who are continually challenging themselves and their team to come up with new and better ways to propel their business forward. And often times these great new ideas stem from some sort of peer network or peer engagement that they are involved with.  Networking doesn’t need to be a dirty word, and the more profitable MSPs that I work with, credit their peer network with helping them see alternative viewpoints and perspectives that they may not have received had they stayed locked behind their desk.

Creating a culture of gratitude and appreciation

We are still in the throes of a talent and tech shortage, so doing what you can to retain your key talent and meet your employees’ needs has never been so critical. Focusing on creating an energetic, respectful, and supportive corporate culture will not only help to attract new talent to your MSP, but will also help to retain crucial talent and keep them from leaving.   

Looking ahead to 2024

So now that 2023 is coming to a close, this is the perfect time to look back and reflect on how well your MSP did in terms of meeting the growth and revenue targets you set a year ago? How much quality time this year did you spend actually working ON your business, verses getting distracted with the daily grind of working IN the business.

If you were able to successfully implement a few of these business-building growth habits I discussed throughout the year, then congratulations! Now take these new habits and set a resolution to carry them forward into 2024. Continued prominence and reinforcement will be critical. And now maybe next year’s resolution list won’t be so daunting!

If unfortunately you weren’t able to make the head-way you were hoping for, then don’t be discouraged!  A brand-new year will soon be here, bringing with it a new beginning with fresh opportunities. Maybe revisit a few of my earlier blog articles and see which business-building habits are do-able. 

Even a small step in the right direction is still progress—and that is something that should be on every MSP’s New Year’s Resolutions list. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all and wishing you a safe, healthy and productive 2024!

Stefanie Hammond is Head Sales and Marketing Nerd at N‑able. You can follow her on LinkedIn and on Twitter at @sales_mktg_nerd.