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IT Experts Podcast with Ian Luckett


Jun 23, 2023

Welcome to the second part of The Secret to Building a Pipeline of Profit, a three-part series focussing on the fundamentals of Account Management, designed to help you maximise the opportunity with your existing clients.  

In this episode, Stuart shared his insights into why it's important to strategise first, and then implement tactics. The first step involves stopping and thinking about what you currently have, and where you want to go with your client base. The right strategy underpins how you nurture the key relationships that form the bedrock of your business. Working on this aspect is not just working in your business, but on it, and this strategic approach can pay back multiple times in creating a process that others can operate effectively. 

Stuart shared an example about one of his clients. Despite running a well-structured business with robust systems and excellent client relationships, the profitability was not reflecting the effort. On Stuart's advice, the client started analysing his own numbers, and was shocked to find nearly £185,000 worth of untapped business opportunities within his existing client base The key here was the realisation that his clients' needs were evolving, and by having the right strategic conversations, he could seize these opportunities and generate additional revenue. 

These changes allowed him to invest deeply in the right people, amplifying the capacity of his business. While the net profit didn't change dramatically in the short term, it was used to make the business scalable, allowing him to reap rewards later. When asked what was holding him back at the start of the process, the client admitted it was himself. But once he had a quantifiable understanding of the opportunities in his business, he was able to leverage his great relationships and seize these opportunities more effectively. 

Understanding your client base, analysing your categories, and getting your standards in place can change how you feel about the future of your business. The additional revenue and profit that effective Account Management can bring about can give you the confidence to invest in new resources, staff, or even explore growth opportunities like acquisitions. 

As we conclude this episode, we leave you with the thought that the fear of failure often holds us back. When you start seeing consistent cash flow, strengthened business, and have the ability to invest easily in new resources, you realise that the future holds more opportunities than risks. 

In our next and final episode in this series, we'll share more details and specific tactics that you can apply to maximise the profitability of your MSP. If you're interested in evaluating your capacity to scale, take the MSP Mastery quiz linked in the show notes. It's a quick four-minute exercise that will help you understand what to focus on right now. 

Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to catching up with you in the final part of the series next week. 

Connect with me on LinkedIn and see what I'm up to by clicking HERE 

You can also connect with Stuart and see what he is up to by clicking HERE 

To join our amazing Facebook Group of over 300 MSPs where we are helping you Scale Up with Confidence, then click HERE 

 

Until next time, look after yourself and I’ll catch up with you soon!