The IT Experts Podcast

In this episode of The IT Experts Podcast I sit down with the brilliant Heather Macdonald-Alford from Counting Creators to explore how MSP owners can move from cash flow chaos to real clarity. This is a subject close to my heart because so many great MSPs work incredibly hard without truly understanding what their numbers are telling them. Heather Macdonald-Alford brings a level of honesty, energy and practical insight that cuts through the noise and helps owners see their finances in a completely fresh way.    As we open the conversation I share a view that I see often inside The MSP Growth Hub. Most MSP owners do not really have a finance problem, they have a visibility problem. They look at their bank balance and assume it reflects performance. They tell themselves the numbers will make more sense when they have more time. They hope that the year end will reveal something encouraging. Heather Macdonald-Alford explains how this pattern keeps people overwhelmed and how clarity is always closer than they think when they start looking at the right information.    Throughout the episode I hear again why so many MSPs believe they are doing well when the detail tells a different story. Heather Macdonald-Alford works with MSPs every day and sees the same issue repeating itself. Busy owners who care deeply about their clients still find they are undercharging, over delivering and carrying clients who take too much time for too little return. When she talks about profitability by service it becomes obvious why this is such a powerful starting point. When you know the true performance of each service, you can see instantly where the pressure sits and where value is being eroded. It changes the way you think about growth.    One of my favourite sections in this conversation is when we talk about time tracking. Many MSP owners treat it as a chore and some even resist it. I have seen this in my own clients and I know how quickly it can become a cultural issue. I share exactly how we approach it in our own business and Heather Macdonald-Alford reinforces the point with real clarity. Time tracking is not about checking up on people. It is about giving the business the insight it needs to make good decisions. When your team understand that it protects them as much as it protects the business the entire dynamic shifts.    We then explore the difference between profit and cash which is something that catches MSPs out repeatedly. I have had many conversations with owners who believe they have had a strong month then realise they have large commitments that sit outside the profit and loss. Heather Macdonald-Alford explains why so many owners look at the numbers mid-month, see more money than expected and start making decisions that create stress later on. She gives a clear and simple habit that every MSP can adopt straight away. Review your numbers to the most recently closed month. Not to date. Not part way through. Once that habit forms the risk of being blindsided drops dramatically.    There is also a moment where I offer a long overdue apology for a comment I once made about bookkeeping. I share openly that it was a mistake and Heather Macdonald-Alford brings both humour and depth to the correction. Bookkeeping is not a low value task. It is a growth lever. When the right people manage the numbers the business gains clarity, rhythm, and confidence. When the wrong people manage the numbers, the business loses visibility, and the owner loses control. Heather explains how to spot the difference and what good financial support should look like.    As we bring the episode to a close, I ask Heather Macdonald-Alford for the three actions she recommends every MSP owner takes. Her answers are simple and powerful. Block time every month to review your numbers. Ensure the right people are doing the right financial tasks. Be selective about events and ideas so you stay focused on the actions that genuinely move the business forward. These principles echo what we teach inside The MSP Growth Hub and they create structure around financial clarity that helps owners grow with confidence.    For any MSP owner who wants more control, more insight, and more confidence in their numbers, this episode will give you practical steps that you can use straight away. When you understand your numbers, you lead your business with greater certainty and you create a path that supports both growth and quality of life.   Connect with Heather Macdonald-Alford through her LinkedIn by clicking HERE.       You can also visit their website and learn more about Counting Creators by clicking HERE.    Make sure to check out our Ultimate MSP Growth Guide, a free guide that walks you through a proven process to take your MSP from stuck to scalable, without working even more hours. It's 44 pages rammed with advice, insights and inspiration to help you decide what support is available to you now if you want to grow and scale your business. Click HERE to get your copy.  Connect on LinkedIn HERE with Ian and also with Stuart by clicking this LINK  And when you're ready to take the next step in growing your MSP, come and take the Scale with Confidence MSP Mastery Quiz. In just three minutes, you'll get a 360-degree scan of your MSP and identify the one or two tactics that could help you find more time, engage & align your people and generate more leads.  OR   To join our amazing Facebook Group of over 400 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! 

In this episode of The IT Experts Podcast we explore why transparency in leadership plays such an important role in creating a confident and high performing team inside your MSP. The conversation opens with the truth many owners recognise. Leaders often hold information close because they feel unsure about what to share. When you move from the early survival stage of running your MSP into a growth stage, you realise that the team need more clarity, more context, and a clear view of how the business works. This is where transparency in leadership becomes a genuine accelerator for engagement and performance.    Ian and Stuart explore the common fear that many owners experience when the subject of financial openness comes up. There is a feeling that people might judge you for the revenue or the bank balance or even assume you can offer pay rises every time numbers increase. When transparency in leadership is missing, the owner ends up carrying most of the weight alone. The team remain in the dark and make up their own stories about how the business is performing. When you introduce a simple rhythm of sharing the right information with the team, the atmosphere changes. People understand how the business works, why certain decisions are made and how their daily actions influence the results.    Stuart talks about how many MSPs begin with a lifestyle mindset and then evolve into a growth focused business. As this shift happens, the owner needs greater leverage across the team. The only way to create leverage is to help your people understand what they are contributing to. They do not need a detailed profit and loss. They need clarity. They need to understand the vision, the values, and the purpose of the business. They need to see how their role supports the goals of the company. Transparency in leadership helps them see that connection clearly.    A key point raised in the episode is the importance of education. You cannot walk into a Monday stand up and announce that you are suddenly talking about numbers. You ease the team into it. You tell the story of why the business exists and what it is there to deliver. You explain why profitability matters for job security, growth, bonuses, new equipment, and new opportunities. When you frame your message through a story rather than a spreadsheet, people lean in. Transparency in leadership creates a sense of belonging rather than pressure.    The conversation also highlights the practical side of sharing numbers. You pick three or four simple metrics that matter. These could be customer satisfaction scores, service gross margin, the value of monthly quotes raised by the service desk or age debtors. You then update the team regularly and show them how their work influences these figures. When people see progress, they feel motivated. When numbers slip, they understand where focus is needed. This rhythm of transparency in leadership builds accountability without creating fear.    Ian and Stuart share examples of how service desks often create thousands of pounds worth of quotes without recognising that they are contributing to sales. When you show them this, they sit up straighter because they realise they are part of something larger. That awareness strengthens culture, confidence, and teamwork. It also encourages healthier conversations about how projects deliver margin, how time is used, and where improvements can be made. Everything becomes lighter because the team understand what success looks like.    As the episode closes, the message becomes clear. If you hold all the numbers close, the business slows down. People guess what is important. They guess what success looks like. They guess what they should prioritise. That kind of guesswork never scales. When you embrace transparency in leadership, you gain momentum. You create clarity. You show people how they can help move the business forward. This opens the door for stronger culture, aligned behaviour, and a shared sense of progress.    Make sure to check out our Ultimate MSP Growth Guide, a free guide that walks you through a proven process to take your MSP from stuck to scalable, without working even more hours. It's 44 pages rammed with advice, insights and inspiration to help you decide what support is available to you now if you want to grow and scale your business. Click HERE to get your copy.  Connect on LinkedIn HERE with Ian and also with Stuart by clicking this LINK  And when you're ready to take the next step in growing your MSP, come and take the Scale with Confidence MSP Mastery Quiz. In just three minutes, you'll get a 360-degree scan of your MSP and identify the one or two tactics that could help you find more time, engage & align your people and generate more leads.  OR   To join our amazing Facebook Group of over 400 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!   

In this episode of The IT Experts Podcast, we explore one of the most common questions MSP owners face, how to charge more without losing clients. Ian is joined by Justin Neale from Value Alchemists, a specialist in value-based pricing who works closely with MSP leaders who want to increase margins, strengthen client loyalty and feel more confident about the prices they set. This conversation brings a welcome sense of clarity to a topic that often feels heavy for business owners, and it explains why price increases can become a natural and healthy part of running a modern MSP.    Ian and Justin Neale begin by unpacking the fear that stops many MSPs from reviewing their pricing. Many owners worry that even a small increase will shake client relationships or trigger a wave of cancellations. Justin Neale explains that this feeling is normal for business owners, although the reality is far calmer than the story they tell themselves. He highlights how remaining static with prices can damage credibility, weaken perceived value and make an MSP look like the budget option without ever intending to. He walks through the idea of the premium pricing paradox, a pattern he sees across the industry where higher prices often result in stronger client loyalty because the shift signals confidence, quality and leadership.   Ian and Justin take the discussion into the world of value. They explore why MSPs struggle to move away from selling deliverables and why so many owners feel attached to long lists of tools, subscriptions and platforms. Justin Neale explains that MSPs are experts in their craft, so they naturally focus on technology. Clients do not make decisions this way. Clients want outcomes, protection, time savings, security and clarity. When MSPs step back and look at what a client is really trying to achieve, the entire pricing conversation becomes simpler. The MSP begins to position a complete solution rather than a menu of choices, and the client feels understood rather than overwhelmed.    A key part of the episode focuses on confidence. Ian shares a story about belief and how vital it is for an MSP owner to feel certain that their service improves the lives of their clients. This leads to a powerful section in which Justin Neale explains how MSPs can build internal confidence by digging deeper into the value they already create. Many MSPs have clients who have scaled successfully, saved money, increased productivity or avoided significant risk because of the work done behind the scenes. When an MSP reconnects with these stories, they often gain the certainty they need to approach pricing with more structure and leadership.    The conversation then moves to practical action. Justin Neale introduces the idea of customer scoring, a method that removes emotion from pricing decisions and helps MSPs understand which clients value them most. By using a simple scoring model, MSP owners can identify the clients who love working with them, spot those who are price sensitive and plan price increases with confidence. The aim is never to keep every client forever. The aim is to build a client base that aligns with the service, values and direction of the business. Healthy attrition is part of this process, and both Ian and Justin reinforce that stronger clients create stronger margins, which in turn create more stable and meaningful long-term relationships.    Ian and Justin then explore how client journeys shape value. Many MSPs operate in a reactive cycle where they solve issues as they arise. Justin Neale encourages owners to look at the complete customer journey and identify patterns that signal a deeper problem or a chance to improve the client experience. When MSPs understand the journey from the client's perspective, they make better decisions, improve service flow and create opportunities to add value without increasing workload. This mindset also helps owners feel more comfortable with premium positioning because the service becomes clearly aligned with outcomes.    The episode rounds off with a practical summary. The message is clear. MSPs who want to charge more need to stop selling lists and start selling outcomes. They need a pricing rhythm that feels calm, confident and predictable. They need to understand their ideal clients and build their service around the problems they can solve. And above all, they need the courage to lead the conversation on value rather than waiting for clients to raise it.    Ian closes the show with the reminder that every MSP can take steps to increase margins without creating disruption when they approach pricing with confidence, clarity and a focus on outcomes. With guidance from experts like Justin Neale, the path becomes much clearer and far more achievable.   Connect with Justin Neale through his LinkedIn by clicking HERE.       You can also visit their website and learn more about Value Alchemists by clicking HERE.    Make sure to check out our Ultimate MSP Growth Guide, a free guide that walks you through a proven process to take your MSP from stuck to scalable, without working even more hours. It's 44 pages rammed with advice, insights and inspiration to help you decide what support is available to you now if you want to grow and scale your business. Click HERE to get your copy.  Connect on LinkedIn HERE with Ian and also with Stuart by clicking this LINK  And when you're ready to take the next step in growing your MSP, come and take the Scale with Confidence MSP Mastery Quiz. In just three minutes, you'll get a 360-degree scan of your MSP and identify the one or two tactics that could help you find more time, engage & align your people and generate more leads.  OR   To join our amazing Facebook Group of over 400 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! 

In this episode of The IT Experts Podcast, Ian Luckett and Stuart Warwick explore why getting to "no" faster strengthens the way you grow your business. This conversation brings real clarity to the habits that shape confident decision making, especially when you want to build a cleaner and more focused MSP sales pipeline. You will hear why many owners feel weighed down by slow moving leads, how that drains energy, and how simple shifts in the way you qualify can transform the shape of your growth rhythm.    Ian and Stuart open with a truth that every MSP will recognise. Sales always sounds simple from the outside, yet the reality feels very different when you are the one carrying the pressure. The MSP sales pipeline often feels full, although most owners know it is filled with names that are unlikely to convert. The desire to keep every lead alive comes from a natural fear of scarcity. When you have a smaller base of clients, each opportunity feels precious. The irony is that this mindset creates friction and slows you down, because you spend time speaking to the wrong people for too long. Ian and Stuart talk about the emotional weight of this and how freeing it can be when you learn to release poor fits earlier.    Stuart shares a story from early in his career which shaped the way he thinks about conversations. He describes reading every sales book he could find and learning one lesson that has stayed with him for decades. The quicker you reach a clear decision, the easier sales becomes. When someone is not the right fit, the next suitable opportunity is already on its way. The MSP sales pipeline becomes stronger when you remove those who do not align with your pricing, your standards or your approach. This mindset gives owners permission to be open, direct, and decisive. It also removes the fear of missing out, because clarity creates space for better prospects.    The conversation moves to confidence. Both hosts explain how confidence is one of the most attractive qualities in any sales process. Prospects want an expert who stands tall, explains things clearly and leads with structure. Ian talks about how this shows up at events and networking conversations. When you know your value, you ask better questions and you guide the discussion in a way that respects your time and theirs. The MSP sales pipeline works best when you feel comfortable enough to ask whether the person in front of you is a right fit now, rather than keeping them in the wings hoping they return one day.     Scripts and prepared questions play a powerful role here. Ian and Stuart highlight how simple prompts can uncover intent quickly. Asking whether something is a now decision or a later decision helps you avoid months of soft chasing. Many MSP owners avoid clarity because they fear hearing something they do not want to hear. Ian compares this to checking your financials. You may feel anxious about seeing the detail, although seeing the truth always helps you make stronger decisions. The MSP sales pipeline becomes healthier when you know where each conversation sits.    The episode also explores how targeting sharpens every stage of sales. When you understand your ideal client profile, you know who you serve best and why. This shapes your questions, your positioning and your confidence. Stuart talks about specialists who focus on accountants or professional services and how this improves every conversation. When your targeting is precise, you get to yes faster without forcing anything. The MSP sales pipeline fills with people who already understand your relevance, which shortens the sales cycle and lifts conversion rates.    Toward the end of the episode, both hosts underline the importance of consistency. When you have a steady rhythm of leads, qualification feels lighter. You feel less attached to every single conversation. This freedom helps you sound clearer, gain trust, and hold stronger boundaries. You say no with ease when someone is not right. This shapes a high-quality MSP sales pipeline that contains engaged prospects who value your advice and want to move forward.    This episode equips you with a practical and confidence building way of thinking about sales. It encourages you to take control, ask better questions, and give your future clients the experience they need from the moment they meet you. When you embrace this approach, you create clarity, shorten your sales cycle and grow with far more ease.    Make sure to check out our Ultimate MSP Growth Guide, a free guide that walks you through a proven process to take your MSP from stuck to scalable, without working even more hours. It's 44 pages rammed with advice, insights and inspiration to help you decide what support is available to you now if you want to grow and scale your business. Click HERE to get your copy.  Connect on LinkedIn HERE with Ian and also with Stuart by clicking this LINK  And when you're ready to take the next step in growing your MSP, come and take the Scale with Confidence MSP Mastery Quiz. In just three minutes, you'll get a 360-degree scan of your MSP and identify the one or two tactics that could help you find more time, engage & align your people and generate more leads.  OR   To join our amazing Facebook Group of over 400 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!   

In this episode of the IT Experts Podcast, I sit down with the brilliant Marcus Sheridan to unpack one of the biggest questions on every MSP owners mind how to attract endless customers into your MSP in a world that has completely changed the way it buys. This conversation is all about practical action. Marcus and I explore what is really going on in the heads of your buyers, why they now arrive eighty percent of the way through their buying journey before they ever speak to you, and how you can position your MSP as the firm that AI tools and humans are both recommending. If you are serious about growth and you want to understand how The MSP Growth Hub thinking lines up with the They Ask You Answer and Endless Customers approach, this episode will keep you thinking for a very long time.    Marcus starts by calling out what most MSP owners already feel, even if they have not put words to it. Your prospects are now digital first buyers. They want to feel informed, confident, and in control long before they ever book a call. They research on their own, they consume content at volume, they use AI tools, and they are desperate to avoid making a poor decision. The key insight is simple. You need to win the eighty percent of the journey that happens before the contact form. If that learning happens on someone else's site, or inside someone else's content, then that other provider will gain first contact, first conversation and very often the client. At The MSP Growth Hub we see this play out all the time when owners tell us that new clients feel like they already know us, because they have listened to the podcast, downloaded the Ultimate MSP Growth Guide, or spent time inside our content before any sales conversation takes place.    From there Marcus shares the five subjects that every serious buyer researches and that very few MSPs address clearly enough. Pricing and costs, problems and fears, comparisons, reviews including the negative ones, and who is the best at solving a particular problem. Every time a business leader searches for things like best MSP for professional services or reviews of local IT providers, AI and search tools are looking for helpful, honest content that actually answers the question. The MSP Growth Hub approach lines up with this perfectly. Your content has one main job. It needs to educate, de-risk and build trust. We spend time in the episode on the topic that makes most MSPs uncomfortable, the money conversation. Marcus explains that the first question any buyer has is roughly what is this going to cost and that this question acts as the gateway to the rest of the journey. When a website hides pricing, visitors feel frustrated, click away within seconds and carry on searching until they find a provider who will help them understand the drivers of cost and value. That insight alone, if applied with a bit of courage, can transform how your MSP generates leads.    Marcus then shares examples from his own swimming pool company, where a single pricing article that explained what affects the cost of a pool, without giving a rigid one size fits all number, has generated tens of millions in revenue. The lesson for MSPs is clear. You do not need to publish a fixed price list for everything, you need to educate. Explain what drives the investment up or down, why some providers appear cheaper, why others charge more, and what a typical client might expect over the life of the relationship. When you do this openly, you stop commoditising your services, because somebody who reads that kind of content now understands value properly. Tools like pricing estimators and self-service assessments are going to become standard in the MSP space. Marcus talks about how adding a pricing estimator to a site can multiply inbound leads and why early adopters in our industry will gain a massive advantage before this becomes normal. Inside The MSP Growth Hub, we are already seeing appetite from MSP owners to build these types of tools into their marketing and sales funnels, as they realise that buyers expect to get useful answers without needing a call every time.    We also explore how AI will shape who is recommended and who gets ignored. For years the game has been about keeping Google and the human buyer happy. Now AI tools are becoming the layer that sits between the question and the supplier. If your MSP is not producing clear, honest, useful content that addresses the real questions buyers are asking, there is a risk that AI simply does not see you as the expert to recommend. Marcus shares a practical tool at aitrustsignals.com that scores how likely AI is to recommend you, and this lines up perfectly with The MSP Growth Hub philosophy that your digital presence is no longer optional. It is a core asset in your valuation and your growth plan.    For MSP owners who feel overwhelmed at the thought of producing content, Marcus strips away the complexity. He explains how his custom tools inside ChatGPT can generate powerful customer focused titles for your blogs and videos and then gives a very simple rhythm. Take one title a day, pull out your phone, open with a natural question that your client would ask, and answer it in the same way you would if you were sitting with them in a cafe. One take, no over editing, then hand it to someone who can upload and post it across your platforms. Ten minutes a day used in this way can position you as a trusted voice in your niche. At The MSP Growth Hub we are always reminding clients that they do not need television studio production to build trust. They need consistency, clarity, and a focus on the questions that actually keep their clients awake at night.     We round off the conversation by talking about team involvement and the link between content, sales, and leadership. Marcus reinforces a message that we share regularly inside The MSP Growth Hub. Everyone in the business is part of sales and marketing. Subject matter experts on the service desk, in projects, security and account management all hold knowledge that your buyers need to see and hear. A simple monthly rhythm where marketing interview these experts, record short sessions, and turn them into articles, videos, and posts can transform your authority in the market. We also touch on the health of sales cultures in MSPs and why regular sales training, strong discovery skills, and a consultative approach will always matter, even as AI and self-service tools advance.    If you want to take the ideas from this episode and apply them to your own MSP, The MSP Growth Hub has a suite of resources designed to help you build trust, educate your market and generate more of the right leads. Start by grabbing the Ultimate MSP Growth Guide which helps you decide what type of support you need and when. Then take the MSP Mastery quiz which will give you a rapid scan of your business and highlight the one or two areas that will unlock more time, more engaged people, and more high-quality opportunities. As Marcus says in the show, your responsibility as an owner is to stay forward thinking, lean into these changes and lead your market rather than sit on the sidelines.    You can connect with Nicola Moss on her LinkedIn HERE.    Make sure to check out our Ultimate MSP Growth Guide, a free guide that walks you through a proven process to take your MSP from stuck to scalable, without working even more hours. It's 44 pages rammed with advice, insights and inspiration to help you decide what support is available to you now if you want to grow and scale your business. Click HERE to get your copy.  Connect on LinkedIn HERE with Ian and also with Stuart by clicking this LINK  And when you're ready to take the next step in growing your MSP, come and take the Scale with Confidence MSP Mastery Quiz. In just three minutes, you'll get a 360-degree scan of your MSP and identify the one or two tactics that could help you find more time, engage & align your people and generate more leads.  OR   To join our amazing Facebook Group of over 400 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!