067: Are You Making Connections or Missing Opportunities?

Building meaningful relationships in business isn't just nice to have—it's essential for growth and sustainability. When we make connections with people, we open doors to unexpected opportunities, friendships, and partnerships that transcend immediate business needs.

The MSP industry has been stuck in a price-focused mindset for too long. We need to shift toward being prescriptive advisors, similar to how doctors diagnose and treat patients. Your customers don't just pick the "white pill" from a selection of medications—they trust their doctor's expertise. Similarly, MSPs should diagnose business technology problems and prescribe comprehensive solutions. This approach positions you as a trusted advisor rather than a commodity service provider.

Going beyond technical solutions creates even more value. Sharing your own business improvement methodologies—whether it's implementing Traction or other operational systems—helps clients optimize their entire operation. This makes you "sticky" as a partner and ensures that as they grow, they'll need more of your services. The relationships become mutually beneficial: their success fuels yours.

The same collaborative approach should extend to vendor relationships. Before rushing to complain on social media when problems arise, reach out directly to company representatives. Every negative post creates ripple effects that can't be undone, potentially harming your reputation and the vendor's business. Remember that vendor relationships should be 50-50 partnerships where both sides contribute to improvement.

Our MSP community stands apart in its willingness to support each other despite competition. When we attend industry events with intentional networking plans, we create connections that often yield surprising benefits. Sometimes the person you meet at a vendor booth might become your next employee, partner, or even liver donor—you simply never know!

Ready to transform your approach to business relationships? Focus on building authentic connections, providing prescriptive value, and engaging positively with the broader ecosystem. Your business—and our entire community—will be stronger for it.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Value of Building Connections
• 3:37 Value vs. Price: The Prescriptive Approach
• 7:25 Building Stronger Customer Relationships
• 10:50 Fixing Vendor Relationships
• 12:20 Avoiding Social Media Negativity
• 14:25 The Power of Community Connections

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Make relationships and connections, because you never know, that person could be your next liver donor.

Speaker 2: 0:06

I mean you just don't know right.

Speaker 1: 0:08

Make connections with people and, by the way, you don't have to make connections with people you don't connect with. That's fine. But I mean, you don't know, you could hit it off with someone and become best friends. You could hit it off with somebody and you know they know someone that can connect you up with something that you need down the line. And, and you know they know someone that can connect you up with something that you need down the line. And again, it's not about what you need, but I'm just saying don't pass up on opportunities to meet great people.

Speaker 1: 0:37

Value instead of price right, that's the best way to do it is. You know, obviously. You know, when I talk to people too, it's always about it seems like it's always price. Hey, it's this price thing, this price, price. I can't match their price. We got to get away from that. We got to start talking about value. Where's the value?

Speaker 1: 0:51

And why are we not talking more like doctors do? Why are we not being more prescriptive? That's the piece that we're missing. You know, and you know folks like Matt Lee and Paul Redding out in the space. Those guys talk about this, but I don't think enough people are listening. You know, my doctor doesn't come to me and you know my doctor comes to me and says hey, you got high blood pressure, you're overweight, you got diabetes, and, you know, shows me my pills and I don't go. Hmm, I just want the white one. So why do we allow? Why does them? Why do MSPs let their customers do that to us? Right, it's because we were always born to just take the sale, take the money. We need it, we need the customers, we need the customers. And we got to break away from that. We got to start to be more prescriptive and explain like a doctor here's what's wrong with your business, which, by the way, is the second most important thing other than their health. Right, because it feeds their family. It does so.

Speaker 1: 1:44

It's the same idea, dear I said I dear the same idea as a doctor we can tell, we can do a scan and we can tell them what's wrong with their network and how to fix it. And here's your prescriptive. This has nothing to do with tech talk that says these are the things that we're going to do to fix your business. Here's your business problems. These are your business outcomes, this is how we're going to fix you and when. You can do that, coupled with doing some other things that are not technical. One thing that I started to do was every time I found a way to fix my business internally, I would show my customers how to do that same thing Traction, anything that I was doing. I would talk to my customers about that and they would be like, wait a minute, this has nothing to do with technology. No, I want to help you Right and if I help them, be better businesses and they grew. That helped me.

Speaker 2: 2:33

Sure.

Speaker 1: 2:34

So it's not like it's not helping. So doing things that are not all about the tech and helping them be better, first of all, it makes you a hell of a lot more sticky because now you're an advisor to them. You're not just some tech guy or girl out there fixing their tech stuff. You are showing them how to be better in their business. So if you can find ways that you're doing, you're learning and working on your business to do that with the business owners you work with as your customers, it only makes that relationship that much more stronger. And if you make them better and they're not going out of business because of something crazy and they've actually found a way to double and triple their business, well, when that happens, who do they need for technology? Well, of course it's you.

Speaker 1: 3:15

So taking that business approach and that prescriptive approach works light years ahead of just going at it and trying to sell, sell, sell and you know how that model works out. Right. Then you end up with 10, 12 really bad customers that you can't get rid of. Your culture gets crushed and culture is everything in your business, your culture, your people have to believe and row in the same direction you are. So, yeah, it's been a little while since I was actually running, actually running an msp, and I just keep coming up with these new ideas and I always say to myself, oh, maybe I'll go back and do it, and then I then I think about all the security crap you guys gotta do. I'll stay over here and just help, right well, because it's a total different game.

Speaker 2: 4:01

right, it's right. I mean, there's so much more involved and it is only getting more complex, complex and more things we have to do, and let alone talk about all the change with the vendors we deal with and the things that they're implementing, it becomes a lot Well there you go and, mark, you just hit it on the head.

Speaker 1: 4:19

The other part of this is most MSPs like to complain about the vendors, right, and it's so funny because it's this trickle effect. So, as MSPs, we complain about our customers and we complain about the vendors, the two people we rely on the most right.

Speaker 1: 4:36

And we complain, complain, complain, complain. But what are we actually doing as MSPs to fix that? Well, the first one is what I said be more prescriptive. Make the connections with your customers and show value and they'll do more, they'll buy more and it'll be more natural. You're not trying to push a sale, but for those same reasons, why do you act like your vendors are supposed to kiss your butt and fall all over you for your little bit of business? You got to help. It's a 50-50 relationship. Be a part of their pack. And if you're a part of their pack and you're giving them stuff and they're not doing anything with it, then you have a legitimate gripe if they're not doing that. But I got to be honest. Lately I've been seeing vendors doing more with their packs than ever before. People who are on those advisory boards are bringing back feedback, real feedback, and the vendors do seem to be more open to the change that's coming right from the MSPs. So be a part of that change.

Speaker 1: 5:31

Don't sit and complain If your vendor's not doing what they're supposed to do. First of all, don't go right to social media and stop blasting off. That's the worst thing you can do, and remember I was at PAX 8 dealing with that very thing where people would just go out to social. And then I got to be honest, mark, 98% of the time it was the MSP, not Pax8. It was the weirdest thing.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Now there are those times where it would be some stupid Pax8 thing, but Pax8 would step up and fix it right. So how is that a problem? And I say that there's a lot of vendors doing that now, because nobody's perfect, everybody's going to have problems. So why are you going to go right to social media the minute that something bad happens? That's the part that I don't like. It's like and I actually made one of my members well, I said this to one of my members. I said, mark, go to the kitchen table, grab a tube of toothpaste and squirt it all over the table and then try getting that toothpaste back into the tube.

Speaker 1: 6:26

That's what typing on social media is like. You can't take it back. It doesn't matter what you do, it's out there. Whether you delete it, there's no way to fix it. So why would you do that much damage right out of the gate before you've talked to someone from the company or tried to push for help inside there? And I get it. If you've gone everywhere, all the way up to the CEO, and you're getting blown off, sure, go to social media and tell your story. I get that.

Speaker 1: 6:51

But that's what's happening most of the time. Most of the time, msps get angry and they just start typing away and boom, and it's out there. And when I talk to them they would say, yeah, man, I'm sorry, I was having a bad day. I'm like, yeah, but your bad day just basically compounded and went out into the world and made a whole bunch of other bad days. And, by the way, whether that was a real problem or not, somebody who was just starting out and was looking at Pax8 to maybe try to use them might have not made that decision because of your bad remark on it. It wasn't really meant to do that. What is what you say? And it's not what it meant to do, but it did that, it has that effect Right, and that's for all vendors.

Speaker 1: 7:28

I'm just telling you my experience with doing this was, if you have, if you have champions out in the space like Pax8Now, you don't think Rob Ray responds to every post that gets. Every time someone posts, rob Ray says hey man, let's connect and talk about this. Hey man, let's connect and talk about this. You have somebody. Reach out to the Rob Rays. Reach out to Tracy Arisco at Huntress or Becky Teal at Huntress, you know. Reach out to Shane at ThreatLock. Write this. Every one of these companies, larry Maderat and FEMA, like there's all these companies. I could go on and on. I have the Super Ops hat behind me Juan and Nancy at Super Ops. There are champions at almost every one of these vendors. Go to them first. You don't need to go to social and cause this negative romping, and that's what happens. You say it, then someone else says it. Then there's the people that out there. That that's what they live for. They jump on and start saying bad things.

Speaker 1: 8:21

That's the one thing we really need to stop. Mark is the negativity.

Speaker 2: 8:24

Well, that negativity, and not when we talk about the vendor aspect, but let's just talk about life in general, right, right, Everything we're touching, doing I mean, there's so much negativity. So, and we're in this thing now where everyone goes, first thing you need to do is go to social media. It doesn't matter if they're on an airline, right, have a delay or whatever it is, you know, no matter what restaurant, instantly. People. And we had a recent experience, I think it was last week, if I remember correctly you know, we use a, obviously a c-sat mechanism with our tickets, when they're when they're completed, and and we had one come back as so-so instantly.

Speaker 2: 8:59

So I'm picking a phone, like, wait a second, this is coming from a client that has never given us anything in two years, but today gives us a so-so right, pick a phone, hey, what's going on, you having a bad day. You know like, yeah, well, customers, this customers that employees, this like yeah, it sounds horrendous. Right, like, what did we do? Right, you know like, well, you know, really it was, and then it, you know that kind of aspect is they going hey, I want the feedback. But if you have an issue, call me. Right, happy to talk through with you.

Speaker 2: 9:33

When you hit that, that instantly went to our website and now show dropped. Our score shows it. You know, like you don't know who's going to see that next. Right, like going and hey, at least get the opportunity to talk about it. We want that feedback, yeah, yeah, oh, I had no idea I can take it back. Well, it's not about the take back or let's fix the problem. The problem is it looks like there was some communication misunderstanding, whatever. Um, we can fix that. You know, we'll walk you through what we did. Um, but yeah, like out through social or put those things out there. It's out there.

Speaker 1: 10:07

Right, like and you know what it's. It's uh, it ties into you know. So, from a vendor perspective, if you're an MSP out there, what you should be doing is trying to find ways to make those vendors better. They're your partner, they're working on stuff that that directly relates to what you're doing for your customers, right? So have the same respect for it. You don't like it when your customers do it to you but then you go and do it to your vendor, right? It doesn't make sense. So I've been saying this a lot lately too If you haven't talked to a vendor even in three months, go talk to them, have a conversation.

Speaker 1: 10:42

It doesn't mean you're going to buy their solution, but damn, if you don't know what they're doing now, you could miss out on something very good. So you know, people always say vendors, vendors, vendors, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, do I think you should change your stack out all the time? No, do I think you should change your stack over price? No, but there is so much changing out in the world and there's so many things that are going on and you should be taking the time to hear out every vendor that is relevant to what you do.

Speaker 1: 11:14

And if you haven't talked to them in three months, go have a conversation. Why are people so afraid of conversation, mark? I mean it doesn't make sense to me that people are getting nervous about stopping and talking to a vendor. Listen, if I walk up to a booth as an MSP and they immediately pitch me, I'm like you can say, thanks, have a nice day. That's okay, but that's not happening all the time. And if you walk up to a booth, how do you know that you don't have a conversation with someone at that booth that turns out to be your next employee or your next employer, like?

Speaker 2: 11:42

whatever, very true, the relationship aspect.

Speaker 1: 11:45

Right, make relationships and connections because you never know that person aspect. Right, make relationships and connections because you never know that person could be your next liver donor.

Speaker 1: 11:54

I mean you just don't know right, Make connections with people and, by the way, you don't have to make connections with people you don't connect with, that's fine. But I mean, you don't know, you could hit it off with someone and become best friends. You could hit it off with somebody and you know they know someone that can connect you up with something that you need down the line. And again, it's not about what you need, but I'm just saying don't pass up on opportunities to meet great people and and know great people. I I talked to the competition at every company I was ever at, including my msp, and people used to think I was crazy because remember, back in the day, it was that castle mentality I can't give up my, I can't give up my secret sauce or they're going to steal my stuff. And it's like no, what we call it nowadays and Bob Coppedge coined the phrase it's co-op petition. It's not competition. You know it's what it's. We're friendly, we help each other. There's plenty of business to go around and we should be connecting with the vendors especially, and also other MSPs.

Speaker 1: 12:48

When you go to an event, you should be meeting other MSPs. You should put it on a plan. You should write a plan anytime you go to an event. By the way, you know what happens when you go to an event Ah, you end up over here, you end up over there, you're at a bar somewhere over here, and that's all cool if you have a plan. But you should always write a plan going to an event.

Speaker 1: 13:13

If I hit these things, all the rest of the stuff is gravy. I'm going to be okay and I've made some great connections over the years. People always talk to me about oh, you know everybody. Well, yeah, because I took the time to do it. I stopped at a conversation, had a conversation with people, then I got to make my own decision. Let them make their own decision of whether or not they like me, right, and you can move on. But these relationships are so important and I got to be honest. I think our community, as crazy and messed up as it is, it's still the best community in the world. I don't see communities pulling together the way we do. You know, we have a friend in need. We come together as a community and pull and pull together and make stuff happen and it's. That part is really cool. But you can't do that if you haven't made those connections if you're not connecting with people.

Speaker 2: 14:00

Hi, I'm Mark Thomas, founder and CEO of Current Tech Solutions and CyberGuardians. We know business owners like you want to focus on growing your company, not worrying about IT problems or security threats. That's where we come in. Our team uses AI to protect your business from cyber risks and keep everything running smoothly. If you're ready for peace of mind and a stronger future, reach out to us today. Let's secure and elevate your business together. Oh oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.