Meet Fred Portman. Fred is a fictitious leader of a ten-employee MSP on the outskirts of New York City. He’s a busy guy and has a steady income from the fifty-three clients he’s signed. He’d like to scale the business, but just doesn’t ever seem to have the time.
Down the road about twenty miles is another MSP CEO, named Bob Jaques. (He’s not real either.) Bob is part of a popular, industry-sponsored peer group, and his business is doing only marginally better than Fred’s.
So, when Fred looks over at Bob’s business, he has to ask himself, “Are MSP accountability groups worth the time?”
So, to answer Fred’s burning question and to help him make the best decision for his MSP’s future, let’s dive into the conversation.
What is the Value of an MSP Peer Group?
Matthew Abrams, a Forbes Councils member, wrote about peer groups in a November 2019 article. He stated,
“One commonality of the leaders, founders and CEOs I work with who identify as both happy and successful is being part of a high-functioning peer group. Peer groups are one of the only places where leaders can show up in ways they can’t anywhere else. In these communities, they can remove their armor and be the flawed humans they are — humans who are doing their best as leaders, spouses, parents and friends amid the fast-paced, often high-pressure world of leadership.”
In a recent podcast on the power of community and peer groups, Arlin Sorensen, a long-time facilitator and advocate of accountability groups, talked about how an MSP peer group helps focus a leader’s attention on the right services and steps for their company.
“You can’t pick them all,” said Sorensen. That’s what a lot of folks want to do is do a little grab here and a grab there and not really go after one or two things and build their company around it. That’s really a key to success.”
So what is the value that MSP peer groups bring to you and your IT services firm?
- A place to get help
- Accountability around execution
- Benchmarking financials – What good looks like
- Best practice sharing
- Education
- Exploring Trends - MSP 2.0 - Where is it going next?
- Inspiration
- Networking
- Not alone – People to talk with on the same journey
- Planning and budgeting – Know where and how you are going
- Professional/personal improvement
- Referrals
- Sounding board for new initiatives
- Support
- Vendor evaluation
The Four Kinds of MSP Peer Groups
As we look across the industry, there are four types of accountability groups, which one you choose will, on many levels, determine the experience you have.
- Organic Peer Groups
- Sponsored Peer Groups
- Independent Peer Groups
- Agency-Specific Peer Groups
Organic Peer Groups
For the purpose of this article, let’s define “Organic Peer Groups” as voluntary, regular meetings between MSP leaders without organization by any outside entity. If a few guys that came up through the ranks together and now own their own companies meet each quarter to check-in, collaborate, and trade ideas, that’s an organic peer group.
Organic Peer Groups are both the best option and the worst at the same time. They are the best because they are local, the individuals involved trust each other and are willing to be transparent, and there is no outside agenda at play.
The flip side of the coin is that the “new ideas” in an Organic Peer Group can get played out quickly, expertise for learning and training is usually limited, and without new members joining regularly, the entire group has the tendency to become an echo chamber.
Sponsored Peer Groups
By far, the most prominent accountability groups out there are those that are sponsored by channel players. There is a lot of money invested in getting you to sign up for their accountability groups, and for good reason! With great materials and positive goals, the aim is always to direct you back to their product. If your goals for your MSP line up with the sponsor’s objectives the experience with that Sponsored Peer Group will be positive. A few of the more well-known channel Sponsored Peer Groups are:
But Sponsored Peer Groups are certainly not all about the product. Because of the financial and organizational heft behind these peer groups, you can take advantage of more resources and better/more comprehensive training than is often afforded in the other peer group options.
Independent Peer Groups
Some MSP accountability groups are above the fray of the channel noise and agendas, but they are few and far between – the unicorns of the MSP peer group world. Independent Peer Groups have usually been established by an industry professional as a sort of “group consulting” gig and grown from there.
The lack of obvious agenda is a plus for the Independent Peer Groups, but with that independence does come a one-step removal from key channel players as well and often a niche approach to the group topics.
Agency-Specific Peer Groups
Agency-Specific Peer Groups are second only in popularity to the channel-driven Sponsored Peer Groups. The biggest chunk of Agency-Specific Peer Groups is run by marketing or coaching agencies geared specifically to serve the MSP community. Robin Robins of the TechnologyMarketingToolkit and Stuart Crawford of Ulistic are two of the more common names in this sub-section of peer groups. In relation to the obvious agenda of Agency-Specific Peer Groups, Stuart Crawford is not shy. In an interview on the topic in 2020, he said, “Sure, many of them (the channel-sponsored peer groups) have agendas associated with them. We're not different, the goal of our client-only peer groups is to create stickiness with our clients, get them onto more of our services...the others are they same way.”
Outside of the conversation about agendas, Agency-Specific Peer groups often offer the advantage of a more personalized approach for each MSP leader/owner in the group.
Why?
Because in a client-only style of accountability group, you have an existing partnership with the marketing agency and the agency, in turn, has a vested interest in your growth and success. The Agency-Specific Peer Group usually knows more about your business and regional business culture than the Sponsored Peer Group or the Independent Peer Group would.
Evaluating MSP Peer Groups
Now that we have discussed the value proposition of MSP Peer Groups and the pros/cons of the different types of peer groups out there, let’s look at how to decide what peer group to join – and whether they are worth your time. Here are some things to consider.
The Makeup of the Group
How many members are in the group at one time? – Too many is a problem.
Are they in the same or similar verticals as you are? – It could help you with ideas/strategies.
What is the service area of the group members? – Are they your direct competition?
How are members assigned to groups? – Do you get some choice in the matter?
What is the average business size represented? – Too big or too small will make much of the conversation irrelevant for you.
The Cost of the Group
Time Investment – How often are the meetings? Where are the meetings? (travel time) How long are the meetings?
Financial Investment – What will you spend for fees? What about travel costs to quarterly/annual meetings? Are you expected to host meetings at your facility?
Lost Productivity – What won’t get done while you’re interacting with the peer group?
The Metrics
What is their cancellation policy if it turns out that the group isn’t your “cup of tea”?
What is the expected “homework” level and how much of your time is it going to absorb?
What is the payoff? (more leads, education, higher sales, personal/professional growth) – Can it be documented and measured?
What is your estimation (or the group’s assertion) of the ROI of what you will learn vs. what you could earn in the same timeframe?
What is the reputation and public track record of the group?
Summary:
Your business is certainly worth taking the time to learn and grow but finding the right MSP peer group in which to do that can be daunting. By taking the time to understand the value proposition of an MSP peer group and comparing that to what you expect to get out of a peer group, you can measure your own interest in the idea.
After you have firmly established that you want to get involved in an accountability group, then you need to take a look at the four different kinds of groups out there, weigh the pros and cons of each, and determine which is the best fit for you.
Only after you have taken the first two steps in the process can you narrow the field of vision down enough to look at the makup, cost, and metrics of a specific MSP peer group to determine if it’s the right fit for you.
EGNYTE salutes all of the MSP leaders and CEOs out there who work each day to improve personally and professionally. We are also grateful for the MSP accountability groups at every level that aspire to help MSPs learn and scale to their next plateau of growth.