Recently , we decided to add junior marketing admins to our Fractional Marketing Manager ( FMM ) team to assist our more senior FMMs with client support and service delivery . Doing this accomplishes a couple of things . First , it frees up our more expensive talent ( the FMMs ) to handle more clients , making us more efficient and profitable . Second , it gives us a feeder to the FMM team as we grow it . Finally , having an admin who knows a client account gives us coverage if the FMM leaves , gets sick , or goes on vacation . In sales , I ’ ve always said that IF you have a good outside salesperson ( or if you are the primary salesperson ), you ought to hire an SDR ( sales development rep , telemarketer , appointment setter ) to sift , sort , and call through lists and follow up on marketing campaigns to book appointments , follow up on leads , and handle the administrative work of sending out pre-meeting materials , confirming appointments , moving appointments , rescheduling , etc . That way , your senior sales rep is freed up to spend more time talking to people who can give you money . That makes the SENIOR rep far more efficient .
With techs , make sure your higher-paid engineers are not doing the low-level work you can get cheaper talent to perform . You don ’ t need them doing admin work or fixing printers . Another way to increase efficiencies is to standardize your entire tech stack and get your clients on board . A lot of your profit is eaten up by the complexity of tools you use and lack of integration . Anything inefficient in your service department needs to be carefully evaluated , given that lowering your tech ’ s salary is not an option right now . The more clients your techs can handle , the more profitable you will be .
4 .
Bill Correctly And Collect . Another big
area of lost profits for MSPs is incorrect billing and not collecting money legitimately owed . Specifically , they don ’ t bill the clients for ALL services delivered due to time not being documented , licenses for software installed ( but not billed ), all new users added to support and services added , etc . A while back , a client asked me for advice on how to handle a situation where a tech was not entering their hours properly , causing them to not bill over $ 750,000 in project fees . They discovered this mistake nearly 10 months after it had been going on with multiple clients and projects .
They went back to their clients , hat in hand , asking them to pay , but NOBODY likes a surprise months-old IT bill . One client whose bill was over $ 100,000 refused to pay the entire bill , citing they didn ’ t believe they owed that much . Some paid , but it destroyed their client relationships . Some flat-out refused to pay , and my client was forced to eat the losses . While it seems like an extreme situation , this happens more often than not . So , one area to take a hard look at is billing accuracy and using a tool like ConnectBooster to ensure you ’ re not doing work for free .
As we enter into this fresh new year , I strongly encourage you to not play “ blind archery ,” waking up every day to run on a treadmill to nowhere . STOP confusing activity and business with accomplishment , and start getting clarity on your financial freedom goals and numbers , accepting nothing less than your desired outcomes .
It ’ s up to you to decide — keyword being DECIDE — how much growth you need to have , how much profit you want to make , and accept nothing less . This isn ’ t a hobby , it ’ s a business . Yes , it ’ s easy to wander from true productivity and profit , get foggy , and lose sight of your intentions for having a business — but if you ’ re going to take on ALL of the headaches , problems , frustrations , and RISK of running a business , at least make sure you have a little money to show for it . n
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