Running an MSP can be a lonely endeavor. You are constantly balancing the needs of your team, the demands of your clients, and the ever-changing landscape of technology. This is where peer advisory groups become invaluable. These groups bring together non-competing MSP owners to share financials, solve operational hurdles, and provide honest feedback.
When you join a peer group, you stop guessing and start measuring. You see what a healthy margin looks like for a company your size. You learn which marketing channels are actually producing leads and which are just wasting money. Similarly, msp coaching can provide the outside perspective needed to identify blind spots in your leadership or sales process.
- Financial Transparency: Members should be willing to share P&L statements to benchmark performance.
- Accountability: The group should hold you to the goals you set for your business.
- Shared Maturity Level: You want to be in a room with people who are slightly ahead of you, as well as those at your level.
- Operational Focus: The discussion should move beyond "which RMM is best" and into "how do I increase my EBITDA."
The enemy of profitability in an MSP is variety. If every client has a different firewall, a different backup solution, and a different email security stack, your engineering team will never be efficient. Every time a ticket comes in, they have to spend 15 minutes remembering how that specific client's environment is built.
Standardisation allows you to build "the way." This is the set of tools and processes your MSP uses to deliver service. When you standardise, you can automate. When you automate, your cost to serve decreases, and your margins increase. This is a core piece of msp advice: don't be afraid to tell a prospect that you will only support them if they switch to your stack.
- Core Infrastructure: Standardise on one or two hardware vendors for networking and servers.
- Security Stack: Use the same EDR, MFA, and email filtering across the entire client base.
- Onboarding Process: A repeatable, documented sequence for bringing a new client into the fold.
- Communication Cadence: Set expectations for when and how you will meet with the client (QBRs).
One of the most significant challenges Luis Navarro identified while building Totality Services was the inconsistency of Security Reviews. Many MSPs treat these reviews as a "technical check-up" rather than a strategic business meeting. This leads to long, technical reports that clients ignore, and missed opportunities for the MSP to provide genuine value.
MSP Agenda was built to solve this exact problem. It’s designed to help MSPs run consistent reviews, communicate risk clearly, and turn recommendations into action. The goal is to create accountability. If a client understands a risk and chooses not to invest in the solution, that decision should be documented. This protects the MSP and ensures the client is making an informed business choice.
A recommendation that a client doesn’t understand is unlikely to become a project. To improve your project win rate, follow these rules:
- Explain the Risk: What happens if they don't do this? Use real-world examples, not jargon.
- Quantify the Impact: How much would a day of downtime cost their specific business?
- Provide Options: Give them a "good, better, best" approach so they feel in control of the budget.
- Connect to Strategy: Show how the project supports their business goals for the coming year.
If your goal is to eventually sell your MSP, you need to build it with a buyer in mind from day one. Buyers aren't looking for a list of clients; they are looking for a reliable, recurring cash-flow engine. They want to see high levels of Managed Service Recurring Revenue (MRR), low client churn, and a team that functions without the founder's daily intervention.
Luis Navarro’s journey to an eight-figure sale was paved with a relentless focus on these metrics. By building a business that was commercially sound and operationally disciplined, he created an asset that was highly attractive to acquirers. MSP advice for those seeking an exit often centres on "cleaning up the house"—standardising contracts, documenting processes, and ensuring financial records are impeccable.
| Factor | Low Valuation Impact | High Valuation Impact |
|---|
| Revenue Mix | High percentage of hardware/project sales. | High percentage of MRR (70%+). |
| Client Concentration | One client represents 25% of revenue. | No single client is more than 10% of revenue. |
| Operational Maturity | Founder is the primary salesperson/engineer. | Leadership team in place; documented SOPs. |
| Retention | High churn; no long-term contracts. | 95%+ retention; 3-year evergreen contracts. |
Scroll the table horizontally to see all columns →
Even with the best msp advice, mistakes happen. However, most of the "company-killing" errors fall into a few predictable categories. Recognising these early can save you years of frustration and hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost profit.
Early on, it's tempting to say yes to every request from every client. You support home printers, personal cell phones, and legacy software that hasn't been updated since 2005. This kills your efficiency. Scaleable MSPs learn to say "no" to things that fall outside their standard offering. If it doesn't fit your model, it shouldn't be on your plate.
Many MSPs price their services based on what they think the client will pay, rather than what it costs to deliver the service profitably. If you aren't tracking your Effective Hourly Rate (EHR) per client, you might be paying to support your largest, most demanding customers. Don't be afraid to raise prices if a client is no longer profitable.
It's easy to stop selling when the service desk is busy. But because of the nature of the MSP model, your sales cycle can be three to six months long. If you stop filling the top of the funnel today, you will see the impact on your revenue two quarters from now. Consistent marketing and sales activity are non-negotiable, regardless of how busy you are.
Once you have mastered the basics of standardisation and account management, the next level of msp advice involves optimising your financial performance and exploring new revenue streams. This is where you move from a successful business to a top-tier market leader.
Top-performing MSPs typically aim for an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) margin of 20% or higher. Achieving this requires a microscopic focus on your largest expense: labour. By improving your ticket-to-endpoint ratio through better tools and automation, you can serve more clients with the same number of engineers.
As the threat landscape evolves, clients are looking for more than just a tech support company; they need strategic security leadership. Offering Virtual CISO (vCISO) services allows you to charge for your expertise and strategy rather than just your hands. This elevates your relationship with the client's board and cements your position as a business advisor.
It’s easy to read msp advice and feel overwhelmed by the number of things that need to change. The key is to pick three areas of focus and execute them flawlessly before moving on to the next. Here is a structured approach to improving your MSP over the next 90 days.
- Calculate your Effective Hourly Rate (EHR) for every client.
- Identify your three least profitable clients and create a plan to either increase their fees or offboard them.
- Review your current security stack and identify where you have "client-specific" tools that should be standardised.
- Standardise your Security Review template. Ensure it focuses on risk and business outcomes.
- Schedule QBRs for your top 20% of clients. Focus these meetings on their business goals, not your ticket stats.
- Join a peer advisory group or engage with msp coaching to get an outside perspective on your numbers.
- Update your pricing model to ensure you are hitting a minimum 50% gross margin on managed services.
- Develop a "Ideal Client Profile" (ICP) and stop wasting time on leads that don't fit.
- Implement a referral programme for your existing happy clients.
Security is no longer a technical "add-on." It is the core of the MSP value proposition. However, many MSPs struggle to sell it because they present it as a list of features (EDR, SOC, SIEM) rather than a business necessity. Luis Navarro’s experience at Totality Services proved that when you make security understandable, clients are more than willing to pay for it.
Your job is to act as a translator. You take the complex requirements of frameworks like CIS or NIST and turn them into a prioritised list of actions for the client. By using a tool like MSP Agenda, you can demonstrate progress over time, showing the client how their risk posture has improved thanks to your partnership. This is the ultimate way to prove value and ensure long-term retention.
Even the best msp advice won't stop a client from occasionally pushing back on your recommendations. The way you handle these objections determines whether you remain a trusted advisor or become just another vendor. Usually, objections stem from a lack of understanding or a lack of perceived value, not just a lack of budget.
When a client says it's too expensive, they are really saying they don't see how the cost outweighs the risk. Reframing the conversation around the cost of a breach—including lost productivity, legal fees, and reputational damage—usually puts the price into perspective. If they still refuse, ensure the refusal is documented in their security review.
This is the classic "survivor bias." Just because a company hasn't been breached yet doesn't mean their current defences are adequate. Use real-world examples of similar businesses in their industry that have been targeted. Explain that attackers aren't just looking for high-value targets; they are looking for easy targets.
Finally, the best msp advice focuses on the people within your organisation. A high-performing MSP requires a culture where everyone—from the dispatcher to the senior engineer—understands the commercial impact of their work. They should know that a quick ticket resolution isn't just about the clock; it's about the client's ability to generate revenue.
Luis built MSP Agenda with this mindset: that everyone in the MSP should be able to contribute to the client’s success and the MSP’s profitability. When your team sees that their work leads to projects, recurring revenue, and stronger client trust, they become more engaged and productive. Accountability isn't just for the clients; it's for your own team as well.
