plus “ grill ” sessions where I left no stone unturned and no questions unasked . CEOs of IT services businesses that are generating north of $ 10 million in gross sales to as high as $ 400 million all have at least 10 – 25 % EBITA and consistent upward growth . All but a few started their businesses from nothing — a garage or a basement — with zero cash , customers , or advantages .
Throughout these interviews , I found commonalities they all share , and they ' re not the ones you might think . For example , some were NOT selling managed services or were just entering into that service model . Many were in small towns of under half a million people , others were in big cities with heavy competition , and everything in between . Markets ranged from general small business to banking , medical , construction , manufacturing , and more . Some didn ’ t specialize by industry vertical but by solution delivery ( Office 365 migrations , for example ).
Many had opposing points of view about how to market their business , how to structure their service offering , and even on pricing . HOWEVER , there are , in fact , over a dozen common characteristics I ’ ve discovered from these interviews that were CONSISTENT across the board . In this report , I ’ m going to discuss the three vital characteristics that show up time and time again .
Factor No . 1 : Building Your ‘ A-Team ’
Do you remember the TV show “ The A-Team ”? I might be showing my age here , but this was a very popular series in the ’ 80s about an ex-military team that was framed and sent to prison . They escaped and banded together to form a “ heroes for hire ” group , calling themselves the A-Team .
If you ’ re familiar with the show , you know that each person was an expert at something . Hannibal , their leader , was an expert at strategic planning and disguises . Face was the team ’ s con artist . BA ( aka Bad Attitude ) was the team ’ s mechanic . Murdock was a certified lunatic they sprung from a mental hospital for his expertise as a pilot . Independently , they were random misfits , but working together , they pulled off the impossible , which brings me to my point .
One of the single most common characteristics all successful 5 % formula CEOs cited as a reason for their success was their ability to find , hire , and keep their own “ A-Team .”
Having a highly competent team you can TRUST to follow your lead FREES YOU to invest your time into improving your business and conducting market- and customer-facing activities to drive your company forward . Here ’ s a COMMONALITY of those struggling to grow and make money : They attempt to do EVERYTHING themselves . To that end , they ’ re part-time CEO , part-time tech , part-time salesperson , part-time office manager , part-time accountant , part-time HR , part-time customer service , etc . Is it any wonder they can ’ t get ahead ? They simply cannot get it all done , so they fail on multiple fronts .
Read This Next Paragraph Carefully
WITHOUT that “ A-Team ” in place , you ’ re forced to constantly spend your time firefighting , fixing problems , correcting mistakes , and watching over employees ' every move to prevent all hell from breaking loose . You become fearful of growth because you know your current “ B ” team ( or “ C ” or “ D ” team ) is certainly going to screw it up , putting MORE work on YOU . Every day is filled with anxiety and drama . Your culture stinks . Employees start taking advantage of you , showing up late or not at all , making excuses , pissing off customers , and not following any of your processes , even though you ’ ve told them a million times how something should be done . You ’ re constantly amazed at how they overlook the OBVIOUS . They hide their mistakes , blame others for them , or simply don ’ t care if they ’ re making them . Then , to add insult to injury , they take work hours — hours you are PAYING them to deliver productive work — to infect the few good employees you have with their bad attitudes and personally undo all the hard work and effort you ’ ve put into building your business . And you tolerate it because , as dysfunctional as they are , you NEED them to get work done , and you don ’ t know where in the hell you ’ re going to find their replacement .
If I just described YOU , I know you ’ re spending 95 % of your day watching over , correcting , and cleaning up the messes your employees are making , and you can ’ t drive a car forward safely if you ’ re constantly having to take your eyes off the road and lean back over the seat to keep a bunch of rowdy kids from killing each other . It ’ s more than a distraction ; it ’ s a DANGER . You ’ ll crash because you ’ re too distracted to focus on what you should be focused on : driving the car forward .
Factor No . 2 : A ' Wealth ' Mindset
“ All I want is my fair share .” Have you ever heard someone say that ? Have YOU ever said or thought that about your business and your “ fair share ” of the customers , market share , or money to be made in this business ? How about this : Have you ever lowered your price for a prospect simply because it felt like a lot of money to ask for ? Or have you ever felt intimidated or even nervous when quoting a big , “ expensive ” project ? Perhaps you heard of another IT firm charging two or three times what you ’ re charging and thought , “ My customers would never pay that ,” chalking it up to an exaggeration on their part or some other unknown factor that “ allows ” them to charge as much as they do .
If you want to know why many IT firms struggle with selling their services at a price point that would allow them a healthy profit margin and why they are inept at asking prospects for money ( selling ), I ’ ve just revealed it . Most CEOs have a grossly dysfunctional and irrational relationship with money . They ’ ve had it drilled into their heads since they were little that “ money is the root of all evil ” and have heard terms such as “ filthy rich ” repeated over and over . Movies frequently depict corporations and the CEOs running them as GREEDY villains , such as “ The Hunger Games ,” “ Robin Hood ,” “ The Lego Movie ,” and “ A Christmas Carol ” ( Scrooge ). I often find myself cringing as I watch movies with my 5- and 8-year-old girls at the less-than-subliminal messages about rich people being evil in Disney movies .
There are a LOT of MSPs that have the same problem : They feel very uncomfortable asking for , handling , or making “ large sums ” of money , which is a repellent to money and wealth . I put “ large sums ” in quotes because that is different for everyone . Some people start feeling uncomfortable asking for $ 150 per hour or quoting a $ 10,000-per-month service because they wouldn ’ t be able to pay that or simply feel like it ’ s “ a lot of money .” Others may have much lower thresholds .
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