Professionalism Pays in a Competitive MSP Market

Managed Service Provider (MSP) owners are often former IT practitioners who capitalized on their passion and turned it into a business. Good on them because, as it turns out, the MSP market is thriving—growing at an estimated 13.6% CAGR from 2023 to 2030 (1). Once their businesses are off the ground and generating revenue, it’s time to ask: is it growing alongside the market or is it missing a competitive edge?

Although there is no doubt MSPs know their stuff when it comes to tech, a solid solution offering is not enough to be competitive. The interpersonal skills of running a business are just as, if not more, important to growth. Purchasing is tied to an emotional response and should be factored into how MSPs market, sell, and build relationships with existing and future clients. Behavioral experts like Phillip Adocock highlight that emotional reactions occur three thousand times faster than rational thought, with emotion surpassing reason by a ratio of 24:1 in terms of persuasiveness.

What does this mean? People skills are vital to success, especially in the MSP market. The problem is, education around soft skills is not widely available, but can have a massive impact on client success. That is where Blackpoint University steps in. Blackpoint University is a community-driven initiative with one goal: to make MSP business education accessible and user-friendly, ultimately leading to tangible business growth when applied.

Culture matters. When building a winning team, everyone needs to be all in on one mission. Blackpoint University now includes seven 20-minute courses that highlight fundamentals needed to not only create a success-oriented environment, but how to manage the values that come with it, to scale and retain top talent. In this chapter, MSPs and their employees will learn about the fundamentals of communication, hiring for longevity, and mastering meeting management. Mastering these skills benefits not only the MSP but also enhances client satisfaction, optimizing everyone’s time—because let’s face it, time is money.

Courses covering culture and management include:

1. Character Counts
2. Business Etiquette
3. Communication 101
4. Hire the Best
5. Mastering Meetings
6. Face-to-face communications
7. Working Remote & Hybrid

With the cultural and conversational fundamentals established, the next step towards success is to refine your sales strategy, or rather, your relationship-building strategy. As mentioned previously, purchasing is tied to emotions. That’s why the next chapter added to Blackpoint University covers the synergy of sales and service. This set of six courses covers best practices for creating a sales strategy that will resonate with prospective clients. Walking into a meeting armed with the right knowledge, you will be able to outsell, outmanage, outmotivate, and outnegotiate your competitors – simply because you paid attention to what matters most: the client.

Courses covering sales and service include:

1. Solving NOT Selling
2. Service Standards
3. Experience Bookends
4. Client Knowledge
5. Hit Your Targets
6. Strategic Engagement

Blackpoint University is an evolving platform designed to serve the growth of the MSP community with education on topics you may not have considered as priority. This course release includes 13 courses that are sure to equip your team with the tools and tactics to increase retention, build stronger relationships, and close more deals. Yes, we are in the business of tech, but we are also in the business of trust. If you put relationship building first, the dollars will follow.

Sign up today, at no cost and no commitment.

1. Managed Services Market Size, Share, & Trends Analysis Report By Solution, By Managed Information Service (MIS), By Deployment, By Enterprise Size, By End-use, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2024 – 2030