All MSPs aspire for profitable growth. While this may seem like a relatively straightforward task, actually achieving it can be quite a challenge. The MSP industry is poised for significant growth over the next five years and due to this high growth expectation the MSP space is literally exploding with competition. This competition, however, is only expected to get more intense. In this ever-expanding competitive landscape, most MSPs now face the critical challenge of overcoming various growth barriers and ensuring profit.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at seven ways MSPs can achieve profitable growth.
1. Don’t Hesitate to Walk Away From Bad Business
Not all business is good for your growth. There may be times when you might have to let go of a customer who isn’t adding any value to your business. But this doesn’t mean you should walk away from all difficult clients. Challenges can be met and compromises can be made in a business. However, if a customer is costing you more than what they are bringing in, there is no reason why you need to hold out for their business.
When looking for prospective customers, you need to be absolutely sure they are a good fit for your business. It is essential to check whether their business needs match your offerings. Most importantly, you need to check whether a new client is going to cost you additional resources that could eat into your margins and lower your profitability.
2. Improve Customer Satisfaction
Reducing customer churn is a priority for MSPs since they operate on the recurring revenue model. If your customers feel unsatisfied, they may simply stop subscribing to your service. This is why customer satisfaction is directly related to MSP profitability. Besides, if your churn rate is too high, you will not see any value in bringing in new customers since the size of your prevailing customer base will remain fairly the same.
Reach out to your customers frequently to understand their concerns and address their issues swiftly. By getting regular feedback from your customers, you can incorporate changes that can ultimately result in business growth.
3. Focus on Your Service Margins
The difference between the cost of service delivery and the prices you set is an important metric to understand the growth of your business. The cost of service delivery includes everything from the cost of goods sold (COGS) to other expenses, such as overheads, rents, utilities, etc. You need to find the right balance between prices and expenses to generate sustainable margins for your business growth.
When it comes to boosting margins, MSPs often face the difficult choice of either lowering their prices or losing customers. It is advisable, however, to avoid marking down your prices too low. Instead, focus on other aspects like differentiating your packages, improving service quality or elevating your brand value. To bring down the cost of delivery, you need to streamline your business operations and eliminate wastage in areas where you can save money.
4. Price for Profitability
MSPs have different strategies at their disposal when it comes to pricing their services. Some of the commonly used MSP pricing strategies include per-device pricing, per-user pricing, tier-based pricing, a la carte pricing, etc. There is no one-size-fits-all solution in MSP pricing. You need to find a pricing model that works best for your target market and your business goals.
While competitive pricing is certainly important, avoid lowering the price of your services to such an extent that you may not be able to sustain it in the long run. Customers are certainly willing to pay a premium if they get value from their investment. Therefore, you need to focus on providing maximum value to your customers while charging them accordingly.
If you are struggling to price your services appropriately, you can check out our eBook on Pricing for Profitability to help you achieve higher growth.
5. Track Key MSP Business Metrics
There are dozens of metrics you can track to assess your MSP business. However, it may not be a wise idea to spend too much time tracking them. You need to identify key business metrics that help you track your growth regularly.
There are at least 10 key MSP business metrics you can track to understand how your business is performing in the MSP world. Some of these include net operating income, cost of service delivery, service utilization and profit margin. These metrics help you identify where you are losing money and how you can mitigate this loss to achieve profitable growth.
6. Avoid Expanding Your Team in Anticipation of Future Growth
The best time to bring in additional resources to your team is when an actual need arises. If your technicians remain idle waiting for new customers, your monthly salary expenses will shoot up with nothing to show for it in return. Even over a short time, this could eat into your monthly profits and hinder your growth.
If you are anticipating an influx of new customers, you need to track your sales to reliably forecast when this influx may take place. Based on this, you can make hiring decisions accordingly.
7. Invest in NOC Services
Once you have managed to build a decent customer base, you need to think about investing in a network operations center (NOC). A NOC can help you provide a high level of service to your clients by proactively monitoring and preventing IT issues. With Kaseya NOC Services, you can easily monitor and maintain the endpoints and networks of your clients from a centralized location.
Kaseya NOC is extremely useful when scaling your MSP business. By using a centralized location to monitor all your client endpoints and networks, you can divert valuable resources to focus on other important revenue-generating tasks.
If you are an MSP, you need to be on the constant lookout for new opportunities for business growth. The tips listed above can certainly help you boost profit and achieve sustainable growth. Give them a shot to stay ahead of the competition in a crowded MSP market.
