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In this episode, our geeks talked about:
✅ 5 strategies to start right now to prepare your business for the next recession
And MUCH MORE!
Running an MSP or IT Service Provider is incredibly hard 😖
(yet also VERY rewarding at the same time 😁)
Join Pete, Scott, Richard, and Andrew for this light-hearted, entertaining show full of lessons, mistakes, stories, & craziness from the trenches of running and selling our own MSPs.
Each week, we'll dig into the latest MSP news of the week and we'll then deep dive into a HOT topic that's super relevant to the MSP space.
(including Marketing, Sales, Pricing, Packaging, People, Service Delivery, Mindset, and more).
Andrew Moon: All right.
All right.
Welcome to episode.
Number two of the, not an MSP show.
It's not, not I'm Andrew
Moon, orange nomad.
I got my partners in crime with
me today and I will let them
introduce themselves today.
Pete Matheson: hello.
Should I go first?
I'll go first, I guess, in the middle.
Next in, next in line.
Hello.
I am Pete.
Um, and yeah, yeah.
I'm Pete and I used to own an MSP and
now I'm not an MSP owner and, um, I run a
whole brand called not a business coach,
which I guess is where they're not an MSP.
Ashley, whether not an MSP came
from, I guess, is because I, I
don't feel like MSPs or MSPs.
First of all, the word
MSP is only known by MSPs.
Like customers don't care
about what MSP means.
And secondly, MSPs are so much more
than MSPs nowadays, cuz all the other
stuff that needs to take care of.
So that's the, that's the reason
thinking behind the name over to
Andrew Moon: Perfect.
go.
We'll do that next week.
We'll put that in there.
I always get confused by the sides.
I'm like, I always do the wrong side.
Go ahead, Scott.
Didn't mean interrupt you, bro.
Awesome.
Scott Riley: No, you're all good.
You're all good.
It's nice to be here.
Cuz last week I was on a plane, uh, and
I, I wanted to join live from the plane.
Um, and I couldn't cuz there was no
wifi and also EE um, our cell phone
provided, decided to just have a
total outage, uh, across the UK.
So I had like no internet, it was actually
quite cathartic to just have no internet.
Ah, I could just put the device down,
although I didn't, I picked the device
up and I just played Crossy road for like
two hours until we got some internet back.
Um, but sorry.
Hey everyone.
I'm Scott Riley.
I do run, um, I guess a managed,
uh, service provider, an MSP.
Um, I would honestly say we're more
of a consultancy business that works
with, you know, small businesses
and helps them make the most of what
they need from their technology.
Uh, but yeah, that's me.
It's great to be here.
Great to see everyone and thanks everyone
for commenting on where you are today.
Uh, we're looking forward to
getting into today's topic.
Andrew Moon: Welcome Jess.
It still shows up as LinkedIn user.
I don't know why that is.
He and I actually did connect last week.
So he's a first level
Pete Matheson: might be, cause he's coming
through my LinkedIn stream maybe rather
Andrew Moon: Ah, that's possible.
Yeah.
So we're gonna work all that
out next week, guys, just to let
you know, we'll Preem to that.
Um, we're gonna stream everything
from our new brand spank,
a new, uh, YouTube channel.
So if you haven't subscribed, we're
at 103 subscribers already this week.
So if you haven't
subscribed, please do so.
Um, we may be in a 30 day probation.
Pete Matheson: name.
I think
Andrew Moon: And I think the comments show
up a little quicker too on live streams.
Cuz there is with LinkedIn, there's
like a 20 to 32nd delay in some
of the comments, uh, at times.
That's probably it, man.
Scott Riley: Oh.
Andrew Moon: maybe they'll get faster.
I don't, I don't know.
We'll see.
So said he's actually on
Pete Matheson: okay.
Andrew Moon: I was like, go,
go see, now it's showing up
as a third level connection.
So I don't know.
It's it's Microsoft.
It's it is all.
I'm gonna say it's Microsoft sh
well, we will leave that to debate.
So since you didn't get on last
week's live stream, Scott, you, you
missed a special gift to you and
especially since you were on a plane.
So here's what we played
a little gift for you.
that
Scott Riley: Oh, it's so good.
Oh yes.
Oh yes.
That film.
Oh, chef's kiss.
It's such a good film.
Oh,
Andrew Moon: all right.
You gotta tell us we
go
Pete Matheson: Have you looked
at the, um, the YouTube, uh,
stats in the, the YouTube studio?
Cuz the, the last, the last
live stream we did got copyright
Andrew Moon: I've gotta connect.
I've gotta connect.
Pete Matheson: I don't, I
don't think it was that way.
Andrew Moon: no, I've
gotta connect our epidemic.
Sound.
I, I checked that.
I have, I have to link my epidemic sound
account to our new YouTube channel.
So no, I was good.
Good catch though.
So all right.
J Jess, uh, he looks like he
joined the party over on YouTube,
so he, he said enough LinkedIn.
So
Scott Riley: we can see him.
Yeah.
And I wanna say I've been seeing all of,
uh, Jess's videos that he's been putting
out on LinkedIn in the last week as well.
Absolutely.
Smashed anybody.
I've yeah.
I've seen so many, I've never
seen so much of your face.
Um, but that is a good thing, right.
It's it's really nice right.
To see you and hear you.
So, no, it's awesome.
And keep it up.
I love it.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
Good.
So you'll have to tell us how was top gun.
Don't give any spoilers away.
Cause I do wanna go see
it, but tell us how it was.
Scott Riley: Like it's, it's
simply, it's a love letter
to the original top gun film.
So if you like 1986 top gun it's
it's just that, but more it's.
Oh, it's so good.
It's so good.
Like me and my wife sat there
and like every now and then we
would just look at each other and
giggle about how much fun it was.
It's just, it's just the same.
It's just more of the same.
It's so good.
They didn't try to fix anything.
They didn't try to modernize anything.
It's just, yeah, it's just top gun.
Love it.
Andrew Moon: gotcha.
Yeah, I know they haven't been
super flattering with some of the
pictures of Val Kilmer and how us,
how we all, we all age, nobody ages
as good as Tom cruise, I guess.
So.
Scott Riley: Well, yeah, but
you you've gotta bear in mind.
I think now, because of his, I
believe he does have throat cancer and
because that he doesn't act anymore.
And so for him to even be in the
movie at all was just awesome.
And, and they made a really good, they,
they used him in a really good way.
I think it's really.
Andrew Moon: Good.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
I always liked that character in there.
The Iceman.
Jess said he gets copyrighted
twice last week on TikTok.
And remember to connect his account.
Yeah.
I always missed that part.
So forget that step.
right.
So, uh, Jess says, yep.
He appreciates the
compliment on his videos.
Uh, you have to keep people familiar.
Huh?
So
Scott Riley: yeah, gotta stay top of mind.
That's what it's about.
Andrew Moon: some of us have
faces for radio.
Scott Riley: we, you know, we found
that just we were looking for something
else and we were like, oh, what is it?
Remember when, and then we realized,
like, we never showed anyone that video.
So we were like, yeah, let's, let's share
it because it had us all in stitches in
the office this morning when we found it.
So we were like, just put it on
LinkedIn that there was one swear.
So we, we put a little bleeping
noise over, but oh, so much fun.
Andrew Moon: Get, get one of these.
I just need to get the little
E cam bubble, like over,
maybe over, over your mouth.
yeah, my wife's like the
sensor button doesn't work.
She's like, we know what, you know
what we know what people were saying,
so she's like, you already thought
it, so it kind of ruins it anyway.
All right.
Let's jump into our hot topic this week.
We wanna talk all about strategies
to prepare for recession, and we are
not here to bring gloom and doom.
So first off, I think
you guys agree with me.
That's not what we're about.
Um, so I'm gonna pop over here to a couple
LinkedIn post just to kind of preempt
and the discussion is going on right now.
This was an article four
days ago on LinkedIn.
The risk of global recession is on
the rise and this one was like the.
Not even half hour ago, uh, the gross
domestic product here in the United
States, the data was released today
and the data points to recession.
So rather than put our, our, our
heads in the ground and pretend
that it's not coming or not already
here, I figured we would talk
about just ways to prepare for it.
And that's really what we wanna do
today is just figure out ways to
prepare for what the inevitable is.
So, uh, first off I wanna ask you guys,
have you guys gone through a recession
in any of the businesses that you
currently own or have owned in the past?
Pete Matheson: I did as an employee,
Scott Riley: yeah, I was gonna say not,
not in like where I've owned a business.
This is like my first, my first go.
And hopefully I feel young and
spritely enough to do this again.
Uh, but no, this, this is the first time
that it'll be a recession and yeah, I
think, um, somewhere from, is it right?
Computers, white computers, uh,
says we're already in one in the UK.
We, yeah, we are.
Andrew Moon: Yep.
Yeah.
And it's, like I said, it it's
here, you know, we're already on
the, the, the front lines of it.
Um, but what we wanna do, I've been
through a few, um, the last one that was
really in the MSP world for me was 2008.
Um, I had a four year old kid
at home and a four year old MSP.
So yeah.
Do the math.
I started my MSP the year my son was born.
Um, yeah, it was not pretty pretty times.
Yeah.
So I remember rolling change in my
living room to get in that business
started so I could make a car payment.
So, yeah.
anyway, you know, so I've been through
several, I've been through the.com
bust with a different business.
I've been through, uh, the 2001, right
after nine 11 here in the states.
I've been through quite a few.
So we wanna just kind of share some
things that we have learned in dealing
with recession, um, things of gearing
your business up and gearing your mental
state up for being able to be prepared.
Cuz I think that's the worst thing
we can do is pretend that it's
not coming and be unprepared.
Um, so we're gonna talk about just,
just different ways, different
tips and techniques today.
Um, the, the, the first one that I
come up with is I just kind of made
a, I usually try to keep it to five or
six, cuz yeah, there could be a million
different tips in, on how to do that.
But the, the first one that I go back
to and, and for me rolls all the way
back to 2008, where this became vital
for me was maintaining, improving,
and nurturing business relationships.
Um, so what do you, what would
you guys give as far as advice
on how to do that right now?
Before it, and maybe during the
recession, maybe should your strategy
change or how, how should you react?
Scott Riley: Yeah, definitely.
I think, um, Yeah.
Yeah.
I was gonna say one of, one of the
key things here is, um, it's, it's the
relationship side of things, but from a,
from a business perspective, like helping
you get through the recession as, as an
MSP owner is to look at those customers
that you have and look at the services
that you currently provide to them and
figure out you should have a really simple
matrix if I have these customers and
I have these services and these people
take these services so that you can have
that opportunity to have the discussion
with each of them say, Hey, you know, you
currently take this and this from us, but
we also did, you know, did you know, we
also did these things, so you wanna be
starting to build out that communication
that says, Hey, you know, an awareness
campaign of the other things that you're
able to offer and help with, um, the other
services that you provide and it's gotta.
Communicating with them.
We've gotta improve our communication.
Now, now is not the time to go
quiet now is the time to be seen.
Um, and so if we can, and, and it'll,
you know, we'll come down to these other
things that you can do, but if, again,
if you, as if you're a player manager,
one of these agile MSPs, or if you have
someone whose role is, is to be like
service delivery manager or account
manager now is the time to really start
getting in and talking to your customers,
what's happening in their industry.
What's happening to them specifically,
you know, are there any ways that you
can help to reduce costs, you know, by,
you know, better use of technology or,
you know, better licensing something
simple, but are there things that you
can do to really help make a difference?
And that might actually then lead
to more of this cross, sell up, sell
of other things in your portfolio.
So you're strengthening your revenue
line, you're strengthening your
relationship, but also you're taking
that time to stop and listen and
see what's affecting your customer.
And then that's gonna help both of you
figure out a great way that you can
work together through the next period.
Pete Matheson: I think
very, very similar things.
And, and it is the key time when
you stay in touch with clients.
And that, that, that's the thing.
Like most people will, will just
nail down, they'll get their
heads down, they'll focus on
whatever they need to focus on.
And they'll kind of forget the customers
are there kind of, because you're just
so busy doing the day to day stuff, but
that is the time when you wanna be vocal.
When you wanna be speaking to
your clients, to your prospects,
you wanna be checking in with
them, making sure they're okay.
As much as you are.
Okay.
And, and also just from like a, from
a marketing perspective as well, I
think it's, um, it's good to be sharing
what's going on in your business.
So like the public kind of forums,
and I know not everyone else is kind
of okay with that, but I, I love.
Sharing and being very open of, you
know, how, how you're doing basically.
Are you winning clients?
Are you losing clients?
Have you had a tough month?
Like whilst being the crap that's
been thrown at you this month
and how have you dealt with it?
Like that kind of stuff from like a, from
a marketing perspective and certainly
on LinkedIn performs really well.
Um, so it can do quite well to be
sharing that kind of stuff and, and
get your reach out a bit further and
potentially even get, you know, get
some new prospects in through that way.
Um, Yeah.
Now is the time to be reaching out to
clients booking in those catch up calls,
those QBR, the TBR, and just making sure
you're in communication with them because
I'm sure everyone knows, but when a
client goes quiet, that's the worst thing.
Like you just have no idea and you can
only assume the worst at that point.
If they reply back at least
and say, Hey, it's okay.
Or we're struggling at least, you
know, and you can deal with things,
but it's certainly my experience.
The ones that go quiet are the ones
that normally end up like liquidating,
falling through whatever it might be.
So just try and get that
communication, uh, and going and,
and just look at it an opportunity.
So for, for me, yes, I
wasn't running a business.
Um, when the last recession happened
in like 2008 side of things, but I
actually started my business in 2011.
So it was like the very tail.
Of that recession.
And it was a really good opportunity
because that's some great time to be, you
know, starting a business, trying to grow
out of it, taking on some new clients
that have been through some tough times.
And someone comes in that's, you know,
got that level of expert knowledge.
It's perhaps not as expensive
as other people are.
It's a great opportunity.
So I think that's really good time
to be able to go out there and
start really pushing your services.
Like Scott said, assess and
have a matrix of what you've
got, know the services you sell.
Um, there are really,
really fantastic ways.
There's tools built into all your PSA
tools, um, that allow you to get the
data out, um, tools like bright gauge.
We'll be able to allow you, I, I did
this with my MSP, so we use ConnectWise.
We have bright gauge that we could do
a, a matrix in exactly like a matrix
with ticks in that said the services
we sell, the clients we offer them to.
And literally you could just
look across and go, oh, okay.
Those, that client they've got it sport,
but they haven't got a lease line.
They haven't got a phone system.
So.
Andrew Moon: Yep.
Pete Matheson: The first thing it did
for me was that I could show my staff.
So there was no awkward conversations
of, oh, Hey, your lease line's down.
You need to go and phone
your lease line provider.
Yeah.
That's that's us.
You need to do the work um, that
was kind of what it, firstly fixed.
And then secondly, it was a
fantastic tool for like yeah.
Account reps to actually know
where they could upsell and, um,
and just approach the clients.
Cuz no matter how many times we would
say, do you know, we also do lease lines.
Do you know, we also do phone systems.
We would still have the phone calls that
come in saying, Hey, so we've just signed
up for this five year deal with this, this
like telco company for a new phone system,
they've installed a new broadband system.
Can you come and set it up?
It's like, Hey, if you'd have told
of us, told us about it, we could
have done that without the additional
cost of a broadband line for a start.
And it's just, it, it always happens.
So there's, there's never too many
times to remind them that you also do
other things than just like the things
that they're doing at the moment.
Andrew Moon: Exactly.
And it it's, that was one of the things,
especially like during 2008, I was
still kind of new as an MSP and I did
what everybody else I was looking for.
New leads.
I was looking for new business.
Then when that all dried up, when
the referrals stopped, because
nobody was spending money.
That's what I did.
Okay.
Now let's go back.
How do I take care?
Better care of my clients.
And I started too late when I had them.
I, I, I got too far behind in that
process, but the thankful thing
is everybody that was a client
in 2008 was with me in 20 2014.
When I sold every single one of 'em,
I didn't lose a single customer.
And one of 'em, I went from,
you know, $75 to seat to 2014.
I was at $563 a seat.
And that's a whole different episode
there, but it's about selling your value,
selling more than just managed services.
You know, there's a lot more to that.
And, and yeah, that was not a
standard managed service contract.
So for the others of you are
ready to throw stuff at the screen
saying that, you know exactly,
I took you advantage of clients.
There was a lot more to that.
And it was a lot more than the
typical managed service offering.
So yes, a lot of customization, a
lot of handhold, a lot of things
that we did that it's funny.
No other MSP, since we sold has done that
for them, they've gone through three other
MSP since 2014, because nobody's willing
to do the extra things that we did.
And I charged for it.
I made money on it.
I provided value, but yeah, it
doesn't have to be complicated.
Your TBRS these, these, you know,
catch up meetings, don't have to
be a formal process with numbers
and graphics and where you're
trying to sell anything to them.
I think, you know, Scott and Pete, you
touched on it's about that relationship.
Um, so one of the things I did
is, is, Hey, we're we're we wanna
provide lunch for your staff.
We're gonna bring in, you know,
pizza or salads, whatever it is.
And we just wanna sit and have lunch
with you and just talk about things.
Just doing those types of things ahead
of time like that you, you hear a lot
more in those conversations than you
would in a formal TBR QBR meeting.
And that's what I was looking for.
How, what are some other things that
I might be able to solve problems
for them, not just in their business
life, but it's work life that's it's,
there's no work slash life anymore.
It's just work life.
So, um, anyway, so let's welcome.
A couple,
Pete Matheson: think to be?
I've always had this like thought in
the back of my mind or saying maybe
I'll put it picks up from somewhere,
but like an MSP is a recession proof
model because in a recession, people
are gonna pay you to fix the stuff.
When you're out the recession, people
are gonna pay you to buy the new stuff.
What do you do?
Do you, do you agree with that?
Andrew Moon: I don't think it's
necessarily recession proof.
I think, you know, I think the difference,
at least my take going into this next.
That seat at the table that we've been
striving to get for years to be seen as
a legitimate, you know, part of business
and a critical part of a business.
I mean, it like, that's
what COVID gifted us.
I mean, people realize we,
our business literally cannot
survive without technology.
Um, so I think in one sense there
isn't anything that's gonna, I,
I, you know, cuz that's what I
changed the title of this show.
Um, you know, I initially was talking
about that, you know, I think you and I,
you know, had a recession proof your MSP.
I don't think you really can, but
I think it's gonna be easier this
time around if you're prepared,
like if you're taking these steps,
things that we're talking about right
now, I think that will help you.
But I think the seat at the table
that, that, that it has be undermined
or shoved under the rug anymore.
Um, so I think that that is one gift.
That
Scott Riley: Yeah, it, it, it's back
to what, uh, a point that JE made
earlier, just when we were talking about
video, we say, you've gotta, you've
gotta stay in front of people, right?
You've gotta stay front and center.
Um, a lot of this, you know, a lot
of times I think QBs can get missed.
TBRS can get missed, uh, because
Hey, the service is running great.
And you know, the support tickets are
being handled and, and everything's great.
And we can, we can go
quiet on the customers.
And I think we shouldn't, you know, we
shouldn't be, uh, afraid of, of keeping,
sending out those reports, those while
you were sleeping reports, you know,
whilst, you know, this month we've,
you know, done so many tickets, we've
blocked so many threats, but what,
whatever it is that you have in your
kind of monthly reporting, but just make
sure that it's getting there and it's
getting read, because the reason why
people turn off services like it support
is because they don't see the value in.
And so you have to keep showcasing
that value and it's not, you know, I,
I talk about tickets and, you know,
protecting from viruses, things that
like, that's, that's the small stuff,
but building this relationship and
keeping that communication open is
gonna evidence, you know, to that
you do have an actual partnership.
You are really there to understand what
does their business need from technology.
And yeah.
Do you know what it's gonna be a lot of
heavy lifting maybe than, than we've done
before, because it's easy to fight and
fight and fight to win the customer, get
the deal, get the, the managed service
contract sold and then have them handled
by the service desk and all those tickets
getting handled really well within SLA.
But is that really the partnership and
relationship that we, we wanted to build.
And so, you know, for some, uh,
MSPs, this is gonna be, you know,
a lot more effort to put into that
relationship management over time.
And, you know, in, in the smaller
businesses, that's gonna put more
strain on the, the owner operator.
And so it's gonna force you to look
at well, how again, can I offer it?
And we always talk about this, how
can I offload my tasks so that I can
spend my time on the important things?
And you know, this business relationship
with your customer is, is number one.
I think as, as we're in this, you
know, heading into this recession,
Andrew Moon: yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
And I think that, you know,
like Pete mentioned, it's
gonna be, you've got the tools.
I mean, so don't get stuck in the tools.
We have the tools, uh, it's gonna
be about just carving out the
time and making ourself visible.
So, so Sean lardo welcome,
uh, to the broadcast.
We appreciate having you today, brother.
So speaking of ConnectWise,
um, so he is with ConnectWise.
Uh, let's get welcome
Robert Gibbons to the show.
We didn't give you the, the, the
proper heads up there as well.
Robert, so gotta give
you the DJ airhorn there.
So, uh, so white communication
said like Pete, I started the, my
business at the end of the recession.
Great timing has lots of other
startups needing it formed too.
So.
I think that is an opportunity.
That's what I saw out of 2008.
A lot of businesses started
during that recession.
Um, so I think, you know,
that's an opportunity.
We'll get to that in a minute,
about a different point, uh, that
we have on that Marco Hernandez
catching us again this week.
Appreciate your Marco said,
uh, catching up with the live
broadcast greetings from Toronto.
And let's see here, Simon Carlo.
We appreciate he's got the man flu,
Scott Riley: Oh, man.
Andrew Moon: uh, sorry man.
Scott Riley: Sorry.
Andrew Moon: nobody likes being
sick when it's nice outside.
No.
So, you know, we, we entertain.
So that's what we're here for.
We'll provide some entertainment
while we're here, Simon.
So all right, let's go back up here.
Sean.
Sean did have a question.
Let me make sure I didn't miss it.
So we'll try to cover questions as we
go to, what was the percentage of total
revenue between your service offering?
And products you resell.
I I'm assuming that was probably
directed at my, uh, MSP practice,
uh, Scott with my $563 seat customer.
was a mix of everything.
We did everything.
We provided hardware as a service.
We did their website unlimited
support on their website.
We did, I, I owned everything on the
network, uh, routers, switches, phones,
monitors, mice, like everything.
And it was anything broke.
They'd never had to worry about it.
We just put in a new one, their contracts
stayed the same and they loved it.
Um, but I didn't do a
lot of product sales.
I, I made sure that when we
did product sales, that it was
included in an MSP pricing.
So if it was new hardware, obviously
they would be charged for that.
But everything after that went into,
you know, hardware as a service at the
end, we were doing complete hardware as
a service, um, and standardization made
that really key for us to get to that.
$563 a seat, uh, because every single
client we had had the exact same servers,
exact same monitors, exact same computers.
The computers were, if it was a
desktop, it was only one of two.
If it was a laptop, it was one of two.
So we knew every single thing
in our customers was the same.
So we were able to streamline so much.
And I learned that in 2008, that was
one of the things we started doing.
It is very difficult to maintain
networks when everything is different.
When you're doing one-offs in every
network, it is very hard to grow that way.
Um, but that's what I did
during that recession.
I got good at the processes we
figured out, okay, what hardware are
we going to supply to our customers
to make this easier to grow?
Um, so that was my, my game
plan going forward with that.
Uh, Jess did have a question too.
What are the top tools for keeping
in touch with your customer?
Um, I'll let you guys kind of comment on
this, you know, since you're more recent
with some of the tools that are out there.
Pete Matheson: I mean,
JE is already there.
He's on TikTok.
he's doing well.
actually that was very timely because
there was a, a, a message I sent out
this morning on LinkedIn and, and had
an email this morning or yesterday, um,
HubSpot have just changed their, um,
pricing plans to go from, used to have
spend like six or 700 pounds a month
to get their marketing automation,
which is like, if this happens, then
send these emails or do this thing.
Um, they've now brought that down to
the, the basic kind of starter pack,
which is 40 bucks a month, 50 pounds
a month, someone on those lines.
Um, and it's the reason why I started
looking towards, uh, active campaign
because they did have those features
in that lower, lower down package.
So, um, yeah, if, if you were looking
at HubSpot and just thought it was too
expensive, then it might worth revisiting
again, but just making sure, uh, yeah.
Tools like your email.
Reaching out through phone calls,
like E like manual process of
pick up the phone and phone them.
Those kind of things can
work really, really well.
Um, I love the whole
video marketing thing.
Cause again, it's a great way to
stand out from the crowd from everyone
else that isn't doing it already.
Um, and even tools I've, I've started
using the, I think I said last week, the
Bonge, um, thing that Nigel users from the
tech tribe, just to be able to send video
messages to, so anybody that signs up for
my newsletter through any of the lead gen
materials that I've got, uh, set up now,
they get a Bon Jo video sent back just
to say, Hey, thanks for downloading it.
What else can I do to help you?
And it's a really nice way to, and
I've had a few repli back saying, wow,
that's I wasn't expecting that at all.
That's the kind of stuff that helps you.
Not, not, not just kind of do the thing
and reply back and stay in touch, but
really stand out from the crowd as well.
So, um, yeah, a big fan of, yeah,
anything video related just really helps.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
Don't don't over complicate it.
So super simple tools there.
Any other tools that you could think of?
Be, I know we could sit here
and talk about tools all day.
We love, we just, we love
to talk about our tools.
Scott Riley: I think, um,
I, Pete, you nailed it.
I was also thinking loom instead of,
Bonura just that nice way of putting
your face in front of things that
asynchronous, uh, video messaging
that like, I see my wife and her
family do all the time on WhatsApp.
They're they just sending each other
one way video calls and like, I
dunno what it's, but they always seem
to be like one step ahead of what
I then see happening in business.
I'm like, oh, I can, yeah, this, this
really should be more of a thing.
Um, But I think, you know, Robert,
uh, makes the exact point pick up the.
It it's that real human to human
communication that people want.
Um, and yeah, you might
phone at the wrong time.
So I love the idea.
Like we have things like growable
now, when you look in, in tech tribe,
so we're sending out like regular
newsletters, we're sending out
what's happening in our business.
We're putting things on LinkedIn to
showcase, you know, wins and personality
and you know, what we do and how we help.
So I think all of these different
ways that we're, that we're doing
this kind of one way communication,
that just keeps going out there.
That just shows we're still here.
We're real people.
You can like us and you can
get to know us that way.
And we do the right things that can help
your business, but then it's really gonna
be like some of those while you were
sleeping, reports showcase your value.
What have we done for you this month, Mr.
Customer?
So that, and, and not in a
boring long-winded 20 page report
PDF that no one's gonna read.
Right.
Find a nice way.
It's a simple email.
It's a simple, Hey, you know, we did
some cool stuff for you this month,
but just keep it lightweight so
that people have got the time to go.
Oh, cool.
Wow.
Yeah, they've done some
great stuff this month.
Okay.
Move on.
But it just it's there
you sewed that seed.
So when the, the monthly invoice comes in.
Yeah, I know these guys
are doing good stuff.
When the renewal comes in,
these guys do good stuff.
I know that they do.
But picking up the phone and
saying, Hey, you know, how's, how's
things going, how's your business?
Are you growing?
You know, how are you finding
things in the recession?
One of the biggest things that I can
think we'll probably talk about this
shortly is, is like, you know, what,
what are the offerings that you have?
One of the big things that we're
gonna see in our customers is
gonna be merges and acquisitions.
So have you got a set of consultancy or
tools or proven methods that say, Hey, you
know, you're buying another business or
you're being bought by another business
because if, if they are buying another
business, you wanna give them a really
nice way to integrate that business.
Those two sets of technologies together,
maybe 3, 6, 5 tenants, you know, pull
all that stuff together and make life
easy for them so that you can extend
your it support over the business.
They just bought.
If it's the other way round and your
customer is the one that's being bought.
Hey, you still wanna keep the
it project it services, right?
So how can you showcase your
value that you are the best people
to pull these two organizations
together and help manage it ongoing.
Now that's gonna be tougher in
that way round, but you can still
have this opportunity to have
that conversation, showcase your
value, have a proven way to do it.
Pete, go, go.
Go.
Andrew Moon: Go
Pete Matheson: So I put my hand up,
um, one, one thing to add to that.
Cause I mentioned it to a guy this morning
when I was speaking to him that exact
scenario, if, um, your client's getting
bought out or something's happening and
you don't really know what's going on,
that's one of the exact reasons why you
should be credit checking your customers.
Because if you are credit checking and
monitoring your clients, it will tell
you if the whole board has resigned and
a whole new board has being appointed.
And it's at that moment, you can go,
oh, hang on, something's changed here.
Let's pick up the phone, let's phone
the customer and say, if we can
get, you know, can we get a meeting?
Can we just catch up again, just drop in,
get pizza for the whole, you know, the
whole staff make a reason for, to visit.
So you are first and proactively in
the doors rather than kind of being the
one that finds out three months later,
uh, by which stage it's like, oh yeah,
well, we've worked with these, these it
people for the, or the last two years.
So we're just gonna bring them in
and they're gonna deliver our it
now, which has happened a few times.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
Link LinkedIn, by the way,
we'll do the same thing for you.
If you have LinkedIn sales navigator.
Uh, because I monitor that I still
have a lot of, uh, legal clients.
So I'm starting to see a lot of that,
whether or not they're slowing growth.
And they will, that will is, is a lead
up to a couple things that we're gonna
cover in a minute, what you can do.
But when you start to see that they
know it's coming too, and that's
one of the things that they're
doing is to get ahead of it.
So when you see people
Pete Matheson: how does
that work in LinkedIn?
Sorry, Andrew does it.
It tells you that their, their
staff numbers aren't increasing,
like they normally do or.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
If you have them, like, uh, if you're
connected to people inside certain
companies, um, it will actually tell
you whether or not those companies are
slowed growth or accelerating growth.
Um, cuz I've actually seen a couple
that are accelerating growth right now.
Um, because that's the other
thing a recession opens up,
it opens up opportunity.
Um, because unfortunately there
are gonna be people that aren't
gonna be with us on the other
side of the recession in business.
So there's opportunity there.
Um, but yeah, if you set that up in sales
navigator, I don't know whether you have
to set it up as a, like an account lead.
You can mark them as a lead, but I
don't think I, I generally don't.
Um, but it just, when I go into
sales navigator, it tells me these
companies have slowed growth.
These companies have accelerated growth
and it's based upon job offerings.
That they have posted through
their LinkedIn company page and
also people who maybe worked for
let's just say, worked for LinkedIn
are now working someplace else.
So when people make those updates, they
can see that there's, there's an Exodus
and it will tell you, um, so that's,
that is again, another trigger thing.
If we were talking tools, um, that
can come to the rescue for sure.
So, all right.
So, uh, let's see here.
Make sure we didn't miss any questions.
Did I miss any guys?
Uh, before we move on to the couple?
Scott Riley: Eric's point, Eric says,
Hey, you know, phony BBL is easy for us to
say, um, his kids 17 and 20, they weren't
even big up the phone toward a pizza.
I , yeah, I, I totally get that.
Um, so again, in the same way though,
but like a quick teams chat message,
you know, across your client, pretty
much we have open Federation on teams.
So again, just a quick message.
Hey man, how's things going, you know,
can we have a quick catch up and, and
even just having that catch up over
teams, just having that quick chat, um,
and again, that can be asynchronous cuz
they can see your messages and then they
can reply when they have five minutes.
Cuz again, getting hold of people,
you know, might be difficult or they
just don't want to chat that way, but
actually chatting through them with them
on teams, just text to text, you can
still kind of build that relationship.
You can still get the
essence of what's happening.
And if it turns into a longer
conversation, you're like, Hey,
why don't we catch up for a coffee
or some pizza, you know, at a
lunch, um, and arrange it that way.
But you can get that first communication
in through teams as well can be a
really nice way or, or other instant
messaging platforms are available.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
So welcome Eric.
Uh, rejoining us has been a
while since I've seen him.
Uh, my fellow Ohio CBU
compatriot, uh, let's see here.
Uh, Marco also said the bubble on
his website sends an SMS through
ably has been amazing for him,
allows him to respond immediately.
So that's good.
You're improving sales process
communication and embedding ly on
his website has helped referral
partners send me more referrals.
Great just closed the sale this morning
because of a prospect only had my U URL.
Excellent.
So those are definitely ways.
So, uh, let's see here.
One last comment before
we get into the other one.
So Marco said, wow.
It very interesting, low
hanging fruit right there.
If you have identify growing
company, I equals it needs.
So that kind of goes back what the,
the initial one, we were talking
about maintain relationships.
That's when I started my
LinkedIn journey was in 2008.
I've been on LinkedIn since 2006,
but I started going through and just
building relationships in fields that
may not ever become customers because
they can, they can refer people to you.
So, um, so perfect there.
All right, so we we'll
get to the second point.
Now we're gonna know.
We've got lots, lots more.
We got man.
We could talk about
that first one forever.
The second one I had here was diversifying
our offerings and I think we've kind of
touched on a few of those, uh, already.
Uh, one of the offerings that we
started providing after 2008 was
website services, website hosting.
We started with, I know a lot
of it folks, for some reason.
I don't know why that is.
A lot of it.
Companies will not even
host their own website.
Like they're relying on
somebody else to do that.
And I'm like, why do I wanna do that?
It's not, it's really not that hard.
And you just go, there's lots of
WordPress developers out there.
There's lots of WordPress guys who
can do tickets if for WordPress.
And that's what I did.
I went and found somebody
that when a ticket came in, it
would go automatically to him.
He solves the problem close,
the ticket moves on, but you
provide that as a resource.
And I was able to charge money on,
on our managed service contract
for providing managed web hosting.
Now you've got managed
security managed backups.
Nobody's backing up their WordPress site.
Nobody's watching to make sure
stuff's not getting in there.
You guys can all charge money for that.
So you guys have any other ideas
on, on, on, on that, that you might
wanna maybe throw in the, the arsenal
that people could think about?
Pete Matheson: I definitely think, yeah.
Diversification.
Absolutely.
And I'm, I'm kind of diversify
what I'm doing a lot at the moment.
Um, I wonder if there's anything
out there, like kind of like
Scott's doing at the moment with
building the course, cuz I, I, I
love having like a digital product.
That's.
Low maintenance, low overheads.
I'm not quite sure what that could entail
from an MSP to an end user, but there's
gotta be something like that that you
could develop that's that's useful to, to
an end user or, you know, an end prospect.
Scott Riley: I think, uh, I mean,
for me, when I look at, you know,
diversification, I, I look at it,
especially in a recession model with how
do I do that and stay lean the whole time.
How do we keep the business
lean, keep the staff low.
So if I'm gonna diversify the portfolio,
I'm probably gonna do that through
a partnership with someone, through
someone who can provide a great service
that I can, you know, integrate our
system so that the ordering process
and the billing reconciliation is easy.
So that it appears transparent
essentially to our customer that,
Hey, we provide this service to you,
but it's backed off to somebody else.
And, and, you know, we've talked many
times that, you know, I do that with our
service desk, but are there other services
like that, like 24 by seven managed
security operations, cuz cybersecurity's
gonna continue to be one of those huge
things that MSB either have to build
in house and, and do well in house or
partner up with someone who's gonna,
you know, deliver that in a really
great way that you can just kind of do.
Like, I look at it and go, I wanna
take that as cost plus margin and
sell it through to the customer.
I can diversify what I do.
I can keep up with, with other
organizations who do what I do, but it
means I don't have to try and get more
and more expensive staff, more and more,
you know, people on the payroll, how do I
do it in a great way that keeps us lean.
And I think that's gonna be really
important, you know, to help, you know,
push through the, the recession as well.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
So just, you know, just you think of
anything else that MSPs aren't offering.
Pete Matheson: Yeah, I'm just thinking out
loud, this might be a really stupid idea.
Um, but why doesn't
someone already offer this?
So as an MSP, you have a service
where, um, you just basically vet
other people's quotes or you vet
other people's it support kind of
services and plans that they're on.
So basically if, if I'm a client
and I'm kind of not sure if what I'm
paying is is right, or maybe it's too
expensive, or maybe it doesn't include
everything or it includes too much.
Then there's a service where
I pay a, a low fixed, flat
fee, whatever it's gonna be.
If 50 bucks, a hundred bucks,
200 bucks, something that, and.
The MSP takes it on reviews.
Everything goes, no, that's all fine.
You're paying about right.
There's a couple of errors you
could do is improvements or changes
on, but gives them an idea on kind
of what, what they're paying for.
And maybe you have as a rule,
like we will not quote you.
Like if you approach us and buy the
service from you, we will not quote you.
Um, because there's always that worry
that, of course, you're gonna just try
and use it to show your own services and,
and use it as a prospecting tool as well.
Um, which perhaps there
are ways of, of doing that.
But yeah, I dunno if, if that,
is that a stupid idea or just
why doesn't that exist already?
Cuz that sounds like it would be a
great potential lead generation as well.
If you worded it and got it,
got the structure, right.
Scott Riley: go.
I was gonna say, I feel like we need
a, uh, an independent website that has
like, you know, um, unbiased reviews
that it's almost like the trip advisor.
Like it's, it's this much, this is
service and this is how good it is.
This is how much they charge.
Uh, cuz you can get that
for all kinds of software.
I feel like if you were to do it as an
MSP, it would naturally just feel slanted
towards you or perhaps a partner that
you work with who, you know, you can
recommend, oh, you're paying too much.
Maybe if you work with these guys, I mean,
we're not gonna quote you, but perhaps
you could work with these guys over here
and then there's a rebate scheme now.
I'm not saying that that is the
case, but I think that's how the
buyer is gonna perceive that.
Um, but I love the idea.
I love, I, I wish there was an independent
place where people could kind of go, Hey,
let me benchmark what this looks like.
Um, I had a call, uh, a couple of weeks
ago from, uh, someone who was, they
they're starting up a business and they
were just trying to get an idea of what
do managed it services cost in the market.
And I was like, well, you know, I know,
um, there's, there's some organizations
that will charge between this and
this seat, you know, for, for basic,
you know, reactive, almost like that.
Good, better, best.
And just giving them some
steering price points.
Absolutely no intention of, you know,
buying from us or me selling to them.
But I was like, I'm happy
to give that advice.
I just think customers
would be suspicious of it.
Like if we were to say,
Hey, we have this service.
Yeah.
Andrew Moon: I, I think I kind of agree
with you there, but I think that is
one of the things that I would clarify.
It's a question mark, that if people
aren't happy with their it services
right now, a coming recession
is going to make them jump ship.
Just for if it's cost savings or whatever.
So there is going to be, I think, more
opportunity during that recession where
people knuckle down and actually figure
out we need to get what we're paying for.
So I would love to see somebody just do
a live stream like this and say, what is
in a typical managed service contract?
And what does it mean?
So this is if even if he
just gave that away for free
and just that way,
Scott Riley: an education piece, right?
Andrew Moon: at least people
know what those terms mean, and
they know what to look for and
how to compare apples to apples.
Pete Matheson: On next week's show
Scott Riley: Just now,
now writing down idea.
JE will beat me to it.
He'll have it on TikTok
in like 20 minutes.
Um,
Andrew Moon: again, it doesn't
gotta be super, I mean, you
could actually split that up.
You could do it in one, one live stream.
And like I said, it doesn't even need
to be live, just sit and record it, snip
it up and make repurpose your content.
We talked a lot about that.
Um, But yeah,
from
Pete Matheson: that, that could be a
perfect lead gen for like MSPs to work
on across like the recession, like to
have that kind of material and content.
You just have to be very, very
careful, like Scott said that
it's not, oh, Hey, come and buy it
services from us at the end of it.
It needs to be as independent as possible.
Um, even if you have like, bring
someone else on to do that piece and
just use that as you know, delivered
by this completely independent
third party, here's the information.
So it's completely attached,
but, um, the other think that's
a fantastic kind of it alleg.
Andrew Moon: I, I think
it's, it's brilliant in that.
Like that's how we did
our lunch and learns.
I didn't sell anything.
All I said, I would just cover
points and I would say, make
sure your it guide is doing this.
Make sure your, it company's doing this.
I would companies doing this
and it wasn't selling anything.
And for my customers that were sitting
in the audience, it was, if you're
already our customers, we're already
doing that for you, by the way.
So you don't need to worry about.
But if you wanna check us out, you know,
at least, you know what you're paying for.
So, and again, multiple things there,
but yeah, just think about some
things you can, you, you can do there.
I love this comment from Sean automate,
automate, automate everything.
So yeah, you, you may have some downtime.
It may get slow.
There may be less leads.
That's the time to do these things.
Um, and that's when I knuckled
down in 2008 and that's, we started
building those systems in ConnectWise.
Everything was super dead, simple
for text to log time so that we could
track it to make sure we're profitable.
Every single thing was automated
that we could automate.
Um, so yeah, for sure.
So, uh, Robert said, sorry
guys, he's gotta jump off.
So go ahead, Scott.
Scott Riley: I, I, I just had
an idea and I think it's great.
And I think I should do it myself,
but I'm just not that kind of
greedy person to keep it to myself.
So I'm gonna be stupid and say, look,
um, This, this idea of, um, like a
nice recorded webinar or something like
how much should you pay for outsourced
it services and give people some real
examples, like, you know, 50 person
business, a hundred person business,
what can they expect to see in the market
from like good, better, best offerings?
And what are the typical price points?
And what's included then go and update
your website, have a landing page on
your website that helps someone just
get a rough idea of how much managed it
services costs from you with sliders.
How many people do you have?
Do you want us to work eight by five?
Do you want 24 by seven?
Do you want like our, you know, standard
package that includes these things?
Or is, are any of these
things important to you?
Tick, tick, tick.
And as it's doing that, it's just
adding a price to the right hand side
per seat to give them an estimate.
It's a, it's a rough estimate.
It's not a, you know, set in stone quote.
But it helps someone who's
never worked with you before,
look at you and go, oh, right.
Okay.
And I can see the variables.
If I add this, it's, it's
increasing the price.
If I take this out, it's
decreasing the price.
I can now get a rough idea.
And then there's a button that
says, Hey, do you want a chat?
Cool.
You know, get in touch.
Maybe it's a ably link or it's a chat
now on one of the chat bots or, you know,
it's an opportunity to just book in with
your calendar to say, Hey, you know, I'd
like to have a chat about it services,
but again, it's just that, you know,
really easy way for someone who isn't
an it expert to do a couple of sliders,
get a couple of these are, these are
things that are important to my business.
You know, I work in a
regulated industry tick.
Okay, well, you know, this is
probably gonna be important to you.
Couple of check boxes, couple of
sliders, not asking for their email
address, not trying to harvest any
data, just let them make the decision
and get a rough price themselves.
And I know we talk
about this all the time.
Should you put your prices
on your website or not?
Well, this is down to your
comfort factor, right?
Here's an opportunity for someone
who's never worked with you to watch
that webinar, go to your website,
play around with some sliders.
If they see, you know, they like what they
see, and you are the guys that are being
out there and putting the prices out.
And we all know like Marcus Sheridan,
this is, this is how he started, like,
make the prices available, right?
Andrew Moon: Yep.
Scott Riley: If they're interested,
they're gonna come to you.
That's that's them doing the research.
It's that zero amount of truth.
They find out the price, they figure
out what's included in the service.
They can compare it to what they're paying
today, service and price, and then they
can decide they might wanna buy from you.
I'm stupid for saying this is something
I, I, I immediately gonna go and plan
with our dev team for the website.
Someone's gonna beat me to it.
Right.
Pete Matheson: This is like the exact
thing that I've been looking at.
Um, yesterday, I, I, I'm looking at some
coaching for like improving courses and
cause obviously I've got a course, I
run, um, and coaching side of things.
So I'm looking for coaching to help
me do better coaching and courses.
And I, I know cuz someone else
has told me it's about like 12
grand worth, uh, to invest in.
But when I went to sign up for
their course or like look at the
website, the only thing it had
me me do was apply for a place.
There was no pricing
at all on the website.
There was no like this is what's included.
It was just like a, a really long
and annoyingly long application form.
I couldn't be bothered.
Like I I've got bored.
I'm now looking at other courses.
Cause I kind of wanna know exactly how
much it is, how long it owes on for like
what I'm gonna get included within it.
And, and like by now, like it's on them
to prove the value that I'm gonna get.
It's not on them to vet me first.
Um, and if pricing's hidden, it
always just feels to me like.
Um, they're gonna, they're gonna
speak to me first to find out
how much money I've got, which
then is gonna dictate the price.
They quote me, cuz they know
I've got some money to spend.
They're gonna quote me a little bit more.
If they know on a budget, then
they're gonna quote me a little
bit less and it'll be cheaper,
but basically get the same thing.
So yeah, just, it, it applies to IBI
also applies to other areas, even
though it's a high ticket price.
I think that's the argument.
A lot of the time is, oh,
I MSPs this, this bespoke.
It's very expensive.
It doesn't matter.
Like it applies in all
sorts of industries.
You can spend a lot of money.
There's no reason why you can't show
your pricing and it's on you to yeah.
Explain and dictate and show what
dictates prices, what controls the
price going up and down and how can the
price come down if we always did this,
when we, um, when we quoted clients
in the like AHS a bit too expensive,
like, can you do anything on price?
We literally take the project
plan, show them project plan, say,
well you just tell me which ones
of these tasks you'll be doing.
And then we can reduce
the price and then went.
Oh, okay.
There's quite a lot to it.
Let's no, that's fine.
You, you just crack on
Andrew Moon: and, and by the way,
Scott Riley: like, um,
Andrew Moon: There's a
WordPress plugin for that.
There's a WordPress
plugin that we'll do that.
It's like 60
Scott Riley: I, I, I I'm on it.
Um, I like Simon's comment.
He says, Hey, we've had our
prices on the website since 2012.
Um, and I like that.
I'm looking at your website right now.
Um, and I can see you've
basically got good, better, best.
I love it.
It's perfect.
Um, my challenge, I think to you and
to me, right, cuz this, this is the
idea that I just had for, for our site
is to go, how, how can we make that?
More accessible to the, to the customer
who doesn't really understand it services.
How can we, you know, have them like
check a couple of boxes maybe and
give them a total price per month?
You know, things like, say like
I'm in a regulated industry.
Well, do you know what this is?
Probably you need more
of these types of things.
Um, I'm in this type of organization.
Okay.
Well, you probably need these types.
Is, is this type of business
issue important to you?
Cuz then it'll help them differentiate
between those three packages there?
Um, I might be way off I've I've taken
two seconds to look at your kind of good,
better, best, but I'm just trying to
think more, you know, for ourselves, how
do we make it super accessible to people
who don't, you know, they, they look at
your website, they look at my website and
they go, I don't know, you know, this,
these it guys all talk the same language
and it doesn't mean anything to me.
How do we make it more accessible?
That's that's what I'm asking myself.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think it, that, it, again, it
goes back to why nobody's doing it.
Everybody's afraid.
Sorry.
I mean, it's just, people are scared to do
it, but you don't know until you try, but
guess what it, you know, what you talked
about Scott, if I go through and I watch
watch that recording and I, by the way
that recording of that webinar, it can be
on the same landing page with your slider.
So you can actually explain
those things to them.
Have it bookmarked in the video,
um, just saying where you could walk
through those things, what they mean.
So if you're not sure what
this is, click this up here.
This part of this chapter in my YouTube
video, we'll explain what that is.
So they don't have to watch
the whole thing, but it's.
It's there, but get, guess what you have
if somebody's gone through that process
and then they actually book time on
your calendar, that's the holy grail of
what we want as an MSP is a hot lead.
who's ready to do something that is clear.
They have a problem.
It's clear that they don't,
that what they've tried, isn't
working, they've gotten clarity.
Now you need to give them the
confidence that you're the right person.
So if I'm gonna book time on
your calendar, I obviously
think you're the right person.
Now I need to get 'em committed
to actually making that change.
So you you're working through
those three CS of marketing.
Um, but again, everybody's
afraid to do it.
So, uh, yep.
Simon says the same thing.
It, it is a great starting point.
Um, and I think if we do that again, that
what, that's, what makes you different.
Every, I get that question all the time.
How do I, how do I differentiate
myself from everybody else?
Doing the things that
people are afraid to do.
Sorry, that's the easy
you want the easy button.
That's the easy button.
Is the, is it hard work?
Yeah.
Is it uncomfortable?
Sometimes things we're
not comfortable doing.
Yeah.
Is it gonna be worth it?
Only time will tell, but I can
tell you it will be, um, all right.
Let's move on.
We're kind of running out of time.
So we, we, we covered that.
Maintain, improve your
relationships, diversify your
offerings, protect your cash flow.
We've kind of talked about that.
Go through your own expenses, figure out
what you need, what you can cut, help
your customers to do the same thing.
Um, and that way again, if you're, if
you have friends that are accounting
firms, that might be a great webinar,
things that you can do to, you know,
help your business plan for the
coming recession, do a webinar with
an accountant for your customers.
Just say it.
Pete Matheson: One thing that I've,
um, I I've actually kind of scrapped
the idea of doing on my channel.
Cause I don't think it fits on in like my
particular YouTube channel on my niche.
But, um, something that MSP could
piece could focus on is trying to
educate people around telecom's costs.
Cause there's a load of posts going
around on LinkedIn right now about people
that have been stung for like seven year
long, um, telephone contracts that tie
them into ridiculous, like thousands
per month for like only like 10 seats.
So just reeducating your, uh, you
know, just reeducating businesses
in general on this is what a phone
system should cost kind of what
Scott was saying, but just on phone
systems, this is what it should cost.
This is the cost per seat.
Do you need voicemail?
Do you need any attack?
You know, add-ons a price
calculator, no contracts or short
term contracts or year contracts.
Absolutely fine, but there should
be no reason in today's world while
you're signing up to a seven year
term at, you know, thousands per
month, uh, for a phone system.
So just something like that
could work quite well to, um,
just try and reduce costs.
So on, on that kind of aspect,
Uh, just educating again.
Yeah.
Andrew Moon: Exactly.
And if you're, if you are wanting to
produce content, that's different,
you have to do exactly what Pete said.
You're giving me context at
this point with your content.
now know, okay, how, how
do I make this fit for me?
And that's what that education does.
So I, I felt bad because somebody posted,
Hey, I've been putting out content for
a year and getting nothing out of it.
But I went and looked at his content and
it was the same as everybody else's this
company got hacked today, this, this,
this company got hacked, uh, you know,
yesterday or this you're just giving me
a bunch of random content and not giving
me the content to how do I use that?
How does it benefit me?
So people will, they, I turn it off.
Like I, well, if I'm scrolling
through my feed and I don't see
something that's going on in
my head, I just keep scrolling.
Um, but that
is
Pete Matheson: think to me with
video, if it looks like someone else
has produced it as in like, Paid
for someone to make it for them.
That kind of thing.
It just looks like a generic kind
of what we say about websites.
Like if it's just full of stock
things like stock videos, stock
photography, I just generally ignore it.
I, I know it's probably
not gonna be very good.
It's gonna be generalized.
And yeah, I, I, I think personality
what wins above all else?
Like personality.
Exactly.
What exactly why it worked for JS?
It was him literally holding up his mobile
phone, talking to the camera for like a
minute and everyone's seen it and it's
it picks up like two clients from him, I
think in the last month or the last, last
two weeks it's been, yeah, it been nuts.
Andrew Moon: And that's what proves it.
I went to his LinkedIn page, by
the way, went through his bio.
He owns two pet rescues.
So the guy's into dogs.
So I'm like, that's what you
need to be talking about.
Occasionally sprinkling
that in on LinkedIn.
That's what people want.
You're, you're bonding over something
that you're both have interest in.
And then, oh, by the way, in
addition to two running two
pet rescues, I also have an it.
That's how you create content.
That is different.
You're giving
Pete Matheson: also loves his
Tesla, which is nicknamed as JE,
Andrew Moon: perfect.
And again, it's, it just allows
us to relate to you as a person.
So, um, let's see here.
What else we got to keep debt and
expenses to a minimum kind of goes
in with, uh, protecting cash flow.
And again, that's something you can
help your customers go through kind
of what you said, Pete, look through.
What are the things, you know, they're
spending on that are tech related
that you could offer help with?
Hey, can we look at your telecom bill?
We don't really, even if you're not
doing VoIP, you could pass that.
Have somebody look at that and
say, Hey, you know, I think
you're probably paying too much.
I can have somebody over here that
maybe can take a look at that and,
and just kind of verify that for
you, you're offering to help me.
So
Pete Matheson: The main one
I have with that is, um, it's
normally broadband connections.
If they've got a telecom service, they've
probably sold them a broadband line.
They don't need cuz had you been part
of the discussion you could have just
put in the one line that you've got
and just V land it and segregated
it and done all the clever stuff.
Saves them 40, 50 pounds a month.
Maybe they've got that
again in another office.
So you can save 'em a lot of money
by just doing small tweaks like that.
Andrew Moon: Yeah, by the way, Eric
Steffy who's on the call today.
Me and him go way back.
He was, he was one of my telecom,
broad broadband connections,
and that's what I would do.
Yeah.
So he knows, but that's
the connection I had.
I like, I didn't sell resell.
BroadB broadband connections.
I didn't wanna get into
that end of things.
But every single customer has a broadband
connection they're spending money on.
So I wanted to have contacts where I
knew that the customer was getting helped
people like Eric allowed me to do that.
Um,
Pete Matheson: But, but I would, uh,
reducing cost just literally just go
to your zero print out P and L take
all your expenses and just literally go
through line by line, all your expenses.
And, um, we did a process where we
would put a green or we, we know,
know exports by Excel, highlight the
stuff in green that you can't change.
It just needs to stay as it is,
highlight the stuff in orange that you
think is worth trying to negotiate.
If you can do, um, even things like
your RMM tools, PSA tools, there's no
reason why you couldn't go back to,
to, you know, your RM vendors and just
ask if there's any way to reduce it.
Cause in some cases
there are silly things.
Like if you buy more licenses, you hit
a new pricing tier, which then drops the
price, things like that, that you don't
know until you ask the question and then
anything that you can, um, just kill off.
Cause you don't need it anymore.
Just, just put it in red.
You know, maybe you've got like
a Spotifys subscription when
you used to have an office.
Now you don't have an office
so you can kill those off.
Just, just things like that.
So yeah.
Excel, spreadsheet green and Amber
red, and then run, run that every
like three months just to make
sure you're not missing anything.
Andrew Moon: And I guarantee you, there
are tech tools that you're probably
paying for that you're not using.
Just saying I had a bunch of them.
Pete Matheson: I am.
I, I keep signing up to these monthly
services and I, I keep thinking I'd dread
to think how much I'm spending a month.
So one of the things I've put on my
list is to, uh, review my monthly
cost now, like, oh, shiny new toy.
A
Andrew Moon: exactly.
And I
know those of you who are
watching and listening are
going through the same thing.
I guarantee you there's
probably two or $300 a month.
You're paying for tools that
you're probably not using them
or not using them to the full.
So,
Pete Matheson: Yeah.
Andrew Moon: So the last one, I always,
we leave the best for last and it, I, we
should have carved out a little more time
for this one, uh, continue marketing.
And I know that's kind of the, the trigger
when people wanna start saving money.
That's usually the first
thing that gets cut.
What would your recommendations
be to somebody in that spot?
Pete Matheson: So, so this.
Scott Riley: Oh, my gosh.
Don't don't stop.
Yeah,
Pete Matheson: This, this particular
one is, is, um, concerning to me
because with my half of my life now
being in the YouTube marketing world,
um, there is a lot of information going
around now about what to expect from,
cause I know I've never lived through
a recession with a, like a, a media
company or, you know, a YouTube channel.
And, um, the last times it's happened.
Everyone expects your views to go up,
cuz people are out of work and they're
stuck at home on their couch again.
But the, the ad rates just drop it
drop by half marketing companies,
stop spending or not marketing
companies, marketing departments
stop spending money on campaigns.
So they cut their budgets.
So people are sponsorships,
affiliate, marketing, those
kind of things drop down again.
And it is completely the wrong
thing to do because as an MSP.
You need, you need new clients, you
need to be putting yourself out there.
Exactly what we said at the
very, very beginning of this.
It is the opportunity to be out
there, standing in front of all
the other kind of people that are
being quiet and not doing anything.
And they will be the people that struggle.
It's, it's, now's the time to put the
extra money into marketing budget.
Um, and, and kind of like the, um, the
stock market kind of thing, which is
horrendous looking at it now, because
every time you look at it, it's your
money's getting less and less and less.
Uh, but you invest now
and you invest the money.
Now you pick up the clients and
then you ride the clients, you
know, recruitment companies.
It's gonna suck for recruitment
companies, cuz they're gonna
really struggle because people are
gonna be doing a lot of layoffs.
But if you can pick up those recruitment
clients amongst that recession, they
can go from very quickly having like
five or 10 people on their, their
team to 30 or 40 as they kind of grow
out the recession as they're getting,
getting staff, uh, into their clients.
So there are opportunities there,
but you won't see them unless
you're doing some marketing.
Um, so yeah, just it's it's bad try it.
It's really difficult because of
course when things are crashing and
you don't wanna spend more money on
things that you know are crashing.
Um, but it's why it's it is that, I
dunno, there's, there's a name for
it, but um, it's it's the time you
do, because those are the people
that, that win at the end of the day.
Andrew Moon: Yep.
Pete Matheson: Also I've heard
Scott Riley: but we.
We've also said like this, this
doesn't have to cost a lot of money.
Right.
You know, we, we always think of marketing
as this big, expensive thing, but
we've, we've already talked about jazz.
He's, he's making videos on his
phone and uploading them straight to
LinkedIn and he's winning clients.
Because again, he's just being present.
He's being top of mind, he's talking about
things that are resonating with people and
it's that continual feed of information.
That's gonna win clients.
It, you know, you, we
we've talked about this.
I think I feel like many times now where
you can, you can spend 20,000 pounds and,
and get a video production company to
make a really slick video for you with
stock footage and those whirling clocks
in London and great sound and cool, but
like nobody watches it or it just lands
at the wrong time or it's long and boring.
Whereas, you know, if you
look at what Jess is doing.
He's making short videos,
they're easy to make.
He's using a phone.
There's no, you know, additional
lighting or cameras or
microphones or anything like that.
He's getting a short and
sharp message across and he's
capturing someone's attention.
And if that one video doesn't catch it
well, do you know what he's made three
more since I saw that one and he's kind of
doing this, I don't think it's daily yet.
Jazz.
You tell me if I'm wrong, but like it's
at least every other day, I think that I'm
seeing videos from him pop up on the feed
and that chance of just being out there,
being visible, being friendly, you know,
giving away value, he's gonna win clients.
And that isn't a cost.
So when we say continue marketing,
we're not saying, Hey, you have to
continue like a big, huge spend on
marketing, simple tactics like that.
When we talked about diversify
your offerings, but look at
your marketing strategies.
And I know video is scary.
I get it.
Or look at my bloopers
that we sent out today.
Like it, it can go wrong, but also
it doesn't have to be super polished
for you to start winning clients.
Andrew Moon: Yep.
Yep.
And I, and that
Pete Matheson: Um, I've got a coaching
client that's, um, or a coaching client,
or he is on my course, uh, Marcus who runs
a cyber security firm and he messaged me.
I'm just trying to find a message.
He messaged me last week to say,
um, I dunno what happened on my poor
neglected YouTube channel, but I just
got four paying new customers through.
It goes to show you spending some time
on video marketing does actually work.
This is from a guy that hasn't
actually uploaded a video.
I know like two months, um, but he picks
up four paying clients and, and I hate
like banging on about video all the time,
but just that, that goes to show that
yeah, the time and effort you're putting
into a property, mark, proper marketing
budget, or from my point of view, I
always think like going to networking
meetings and taking that time out to spend
an hour or two in a networking meeting
full of people who probably don't care
or even want to know you or what your
services are versus spending that same
amount of time, just sat in front of a
camera, feeling really awkward, hating
your voice, hating what you look like.
Um, but you can actually
do something with it.
And, you know, someone else was,
um, talk about this recently
with, um, filmmaking, like people.
It is quite, you know, the film
festivals trying to get a film, um,
on a film festival is such a big
challenge for those big filmmakers.
And you can do that and you can
put all the work into doing that
or, sorry, I still on my, my
screen's kind of phrasing a bit.
Andrew Moon: Yeah, it's doing, yep.
Pete Matheson: Okay, cool.
Um, they put all the effort and
go to a film festival and they'll,
they'll, they'll get through and
they'll get it in front of like
5,000 people at the film festival.
Huge amount of work involved, or they can
put the same amount of work, probably a
lot easier because they're not having to
try and push through all these barriers
that are put in front of them all the
time, create the film, put it onto YouTube
and 20,000 people can see it 50,000.
And not just, just like one off there
is constantly there for people to
view and, and build traffic for you.
So, um, yeah.
So sorry to bang on about video
again, but exactly what Scott
said is just, just, it works.
There's a reason why there's a reason
why the three of us are sitting on
a, a YouTube video live right now.
And, and people are probably gonna
listen to us on a podcast in their cars
in the next week or sale on replay.
There's a reason why we do it, cuz it, it
bloody works and it's, it's difficult to
get over the barriers of looking and sound
and, and technical challenges behind it.
But like, like we've seen with, uh, with
Jess mobile phone, bloody TikTok for God's
sake, like , I just read his messages.
Like it's starting TikTok, like of
all places to pick up clients it's to,
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
Pete Matheson: it works.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
I
love
Pete Matheson: people
shouldn't at least it.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
His last comment, what I've found is
people who don't normally engage with your
content have started engaging and sending
him DMS every other day or so is the plan.
So for his videos, so yeah,
keep up the good work.
Pete Matheson: perfect smash.
That's a see trick
Andrew Moon: do you guys have anything
or I think we'll, we will end it here.
I wanna be respectful of everybody's time.
Who's listening, uh, watching us live.
Um, but yeah.
Any other parting thoughts that you would
have as far as re We'll have to think
Scott Riley: I would
Andrew Moon: we go.
I always see, I told you
I always get it wrong.
Scott Riley: got actual dollars.
Yeah.
I would only have pound notes.
Um, I have one, technically two, um,
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
Scott Riley: Mo move your
clients to pay in advance.
If you're doing professional
services, um, get people on direct
debit, because again, your cash
flow is gonna be super important.
And so if you're still on 30 day terms
getting paid after 30 days or later
than 30 days for a piece of professional
services work or hardware, no, but if,
if that's still happening to you and
your MSP, you need to get it paid sooner.
Okay.
So Tate, that bold move to get paid to.
I'm having to go through that journey
myself of, of, of going, no, we need
to get paid in advance or we need a
50% deposit on this piece of work.
It's, it's been a tough mindset to break
through, but if you are still there
where I was, you need to change that and
definitely get people on direct debits
so that you, you are automatically
claiming that money, um, from their
bank each month for those invoices.
Andrew Moon: For sure.
Pete Matheson: On on the flip
side of that, I'll also add just
to vet your suppliers as well.
Um, I've seen a few, um, people have
messaging, the groups I've got where
they've, they've bought something from a
potentially new supplier because they had
stock where, and it was like impossible
to get us hold of stock in or else.
And they've, they've lost the money
because the suppliers basically.
Done the whole like sold it before
they actually had it kind of thing.
They don't have it in stock.
Oh, now I'm sorry.
I'm waiting for stock to come in now.
And in the meantime, they're
just holding onto their money
and won't give 'em a refunds.
So yeah, just, just vet
Andrew Moon: Dangerous
dangerous world out there.
So, all right.
I think that's all.
Yeah, that's all we've got.
Uh, I'm gonna plug one more time.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
If you haven't already.
That's where we're, that is gonna
be our new home starting next week.
We're gonna be streaming
strictly from our YouTube page.
Uh, so definitely subscribe hit the
notifications so that you are alerted,
uh, when we put out new content.
Um, but yeah, any other Scott, you have a.
Your webinars tomorrow.
Isn't it?
Your, uh, two hour mega stream?
Scott Riley: Yeah, so
we're doing two hours live.
What could possibly go wrong?
Uh, we are how to secure
your office 365 tenant.
Um, and essentially what
this is we're gonna do.
What no one else will do, I think is
we're gonna go through and show exactly
what we do and how we set things up and
how we secure things, all the stuff that
we charge good money for, um, to, to go
through and just give that knowledge away.
And so I really hope it's valuable.
We've got nearly 200 people
signed up now, uh, which is
phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.
We put the invite out on the 1st of
June and here we are like a month later
and 200 people almost have signed up.
So we're so excited.
Uh, the whole room is like a
jungle of wires in the main office.
that's all.
So we, yeah, we're just, we're excited
to get through it and, and just share
and learn and teach and show people.
Um, and hopefully it's really valuable,
but that'll also be on YouTube as well.
So people can go back and, and
rewatch whenever they want.
Pete Matheson: Yeah.
Andrew Moon: Sorry,
I'm a, I'm a community.
Have you watched that, that show community
Scott Riley: Oh, yeah.
Oh, I love
Andrew Moon: ma magnitude
07 Sound Effects-1: yo yo yo yo pop.
Andrew Moon: had to get that.
That was for my son.
Yeah.
I was like, he's like, you gotta
put that in your show somewhere.
I'm like, all right.
Why not?
So, uh, Gideon said yes.
Uh, good work.
So yes, check out.
Scott's uh, mega live stream tomorrow.
Uh, Pete, you got anything
coming up this week?
Uh, between this week and next week.
Pete Matheson: No.
So I'm, I'm actually going away on a,
um, so I I'm a member of entrepreneur
circle and they've got this thing
called a bootcamp, or is it bootcamp?
No, the implementer, they call it so
Tuesday and Wednesday next week, I'm going
up to see them in Birmingham where I just,
I basically sit with them for two days.
And they've got a team
of experts around you.
People are like Google lads,
Facebook ads, um, website design,
like email campaigns, direct mail.
And you're basically there just put
the work in and, and make some things.
So I'm basically there to, yeah,
some LeadGen campaigns getting some
Facebook ads going, getting some
possibly linking ad ads going, um,
just trying loads of new stuff.
Cuz as with marketing, it always changes.
So keep trying new things, test it,
see what works and take it from there.
So yeah, that's that's my
plan for, for next week.
Andrew Moon: Awesome.
And Sunday night I've actually
got asked to be on E cam live
network, uh, their live stream on
Pete Matheson: that.
Andrew Moon: night.
So I'm pretty excited about that as
you can see, I'm a huge E Camm fan.
So if you're curious what we run this show
on, now it is run strictly through E cam.
Um, so if you wanna, if you wanna check
out E cam PE and I are fans now, Scott
is now a fan as of this week as well.
He's actually gonna be doing his
live stream through E cam tomorrow.
um, we'll have to come up
Scott Riley: really easy.
Andrew Moon: yeah, super simple.
Uh, I absolutely love it,
Pete and I both use it.
I use it for live streams.
I use it for all my video content,
live streams, online courses,
videos, whatever, all done in ECA.
So, all right, guys, that will
wrap up our show for this week.
Thank you again for sharing your earbuds
with me and sharing your screens with us.
Live.
Those who are tuning in live,
and if you're catching us
on the replay, thank you.
Uh, we appreciate you.
Appreciate everything you do, and, uh,
the contributions to the not MSP channel.
So all right.
Any other parting thoughts guys?
Pete Matheson: That's it.
Same time, same place.
See you next.
Scott Riley: an awesome week
Pete Matheson: Oh speaking.
Scott Riley: We'll see you soon.
Oh, oh yeah.
Pete Matheson: So I'll, we'll
figure something out, but
I'm on that course next week.
So, uh,
Andrew Moon: gotcha.
So we'll see maybe Scott and I,
maybe Scott and I will hang out
next week and talk about Pete.
So
Scott Riley: We smashed
wasn't was best and we
Andrew Moon: maybe we'll do that.
We'll plan a whole show on the
things we love and hate about Pete.
So I'm just kidding, man.
All right, guys.
I will see you next week.
Take care.
Be safe out there.