I opened CMIT Solutions of Atlanta Southern Crescent, an IT franchise, on April Fool’s Day, 2009, as my fat-finger response to the recession. As a former high-paid sales executive, I faced the choice of relocating my family for the seventh time in 12 years or finding a new path. I chose IT services, believing in the industry’s necessity.
I became familiar with Technology Marketing Toolkit when evaluating my business options 15 years ago. TMT president Jeff Johnson validated that CMIT Solutions’ franchise model met my needs.
From Slow Growth To Full Steam Ahead
When my son Nathan decided to join the business in 2022, we collectively decided to ramp things up. CMIT Solutions of Atlanta Southern Crescent had become a true family operation, with Nathan as a partner in a second location, my daughter Kristen managing marketing and my wife, Angie, handling books and HR.
In 2024, we attended TMT’s annual Boot Camp to jump-start our marketing efforts in our second location and provide Nathan and Kristen with non-CMIT perspectives on the MSP space. My impression of TMT evolved from seeing them as just a marketing company to recognizing their comprehensive offerings, which had grown to include sales operations, business development and peer groups. After a thorough evaluation, which included comparing TMT to CMIT’s internal marketing programs, we determined that no other option could compare to TMT. Nathan revealed that he was inspired “to grow this as big as we can make it.” I bought out my partner, Nathan invested in the business and we joined Accelerators Club, attending TMT’s Rapid Implementation Workshop three weeks later, in May 2024.
Eye-Opening Shifts That Added $1.29 Million In 100 Days
Before Rapid, our revenue was $2.7 million. Within 100 days, we added $1.29 million in total contract value (TCV). After five months, we’d increased to $1,564,000 TCV, using only one of the three growth levers TMT teaches.
Three Crucial Strategies That Drove Growth:
- Leverage Data For Decision Making. If you want to be successful, you’ve got to check your ego at the door. Six Sigma methodology, which I’m certified in, is based on data-driven decisions. You do not assume. You gather the data, analyze the data and make data-driven decisions. But I’d gotten comfortable and lazy. Completing TMT’s exercise in preparation for Rapid Implementation was the impetus I needed to assess data I hadn’t looked at in 10 years. The data quickly pointed out our weaknesses and strengths, revealing gaps in my pricing for older accounts vs. newer ones.
- Focus On Client Engagement Over Technology. The renewed emphasis on sales and marketing from TMT was transformative. It was a shift in mindset and a reminder to focus on the fundamentals that actually help MSPs grow – client engagement and communication. We’ve strengthened relationships and enhanced client communication with new products that help us keep clients better informed. Before, if clients were hesitant to spend more, I might let it go. Now, I point out gaps in their stack and the risks for their business, which helps motivate them to invest.
- Automate Where Possible. Automating scheduling, follow-ups and reminders using TMT’s marketing automation platform (MAP) freed up my team to focus on growth. We can now deliver high-quality service and track progress while reducing administrative overhead. Before, our CRM system and marketing system didn’t interact with each other. Everything was done by manual integrations, which broke a lot. Plus, we had to figure things out on our own and do things manually. It was extremely frustrating. With MAP, everything is integrated and customizable, making our processes seamless and productive.
How I Created Client Value And Added Profit To Our Bottom Line Without Client Acquisition Costs
Before Rapid, we were generating $140,000 in monthly recurring revenue. Within 100 days, we added $34,000 in new MRR plus an additional $5,000 by the end of five months, for a total of $39,000 MRR. Of the MRR, $15,000 is from new contracts, and we picked up $160,000 in project work. A TMT contest revealed we were missing out on a ton of business with our existing clients.
Five Strategies That Helped Us Maximize Our Client Value:
- Developing Trust-Based Marketing With Customer Testimonials. We sent out personalized e-mail requests for testimonials to 30 top-tier clients, resulting in 27 testimonials in less than 24 hours. This boosted our credibility and helped fuel referrals. People have said nice things about us over the years, but we have never asked for testimonials. After seeing the response, I thought, “These people love us. Why am I not taking advantage of that?” These testimonials were a game-changer for our marketing materials, such as our new Robinized website, which TMT designed, as it reinforces our client-centered reputation.
- Evaluating Client Data To Justify And Implement Price Increases. We identified our best clients while phasing out our less profitable ones. We ranked our clients by size, longevity and most profitable and best fit to least profitable and not a fit using TMT’s client-evaluation spreadsheet and A, B, C and D ranking system. The exercise motivated us to put new contracts in place with updated language and the right structure that allows me the flexibility for price increases and stack changes.
- Moving Break-Fix Clients To Managed Services Adds Five Clients. We approached our break-fix clients to let them know we would no longer be offering break-fix. The data in the TMT spreadsheet gave me confidence and made those conversations extremely easy. Six break-fix clients were provided with a proposal for managed services with the option of being referred to another provider if they didn’t want to make that change. Five of those six moved up to a managed services contract and told me, “I don’t know why we’d go to anybody else.” Five break-fix clients were too small, so we referred them to other providers.
- Conducting Technology Business Reviews (TBRs) Delivers 85% Growth. After the response of doing our first TBRs, we discovered that these strategic conversations really work, with 85% of our growth coming from these reviews. Before Rapid Implementation, I’d never really done a TBR, as I worried that reaching out to clients might feel like overcommunication. Instead, doing the TBRs allowed us to implement price increases, bill for additional devices, close gaps in needed products and build better client relationships.
The TMT spreadsheet was an instrumental tool in conducting TBRs. It helped prepare me for every meeting, to determine what targeted tools and upgrades clients needed and to adjust our pricing. We used TMT’s automated tools to schedule and manage these touchpoints seamlessly. We initially sent out TBR invitations to our top 20 clients, receiving 18 confirmations for meetings. It turns out our customers were thirsty for this kind of interaction, so we sent an additional 20 invitations and confirmed another 15 meetings. By focusing on TBRs as a recurring engagement tactic, we now have an effective system for regularly addressing client needs, identifying upselling opportunities and solidifying long-term relationships. TBRs also give us the opportunity to educate our clients on why our recommendations are precisely what they need and why our approach is superior.
- Getting Stragglers Off The Fence Creates Validation. We sent the 9-Word E-mail to people who had ghosted us. I immediately got two responses. While they were both “no,” it gave me permission to move on after investing time in sending long, polite follow-up e-mails for eight weeks. It also validated that TMT marketing works.
95% Gross Margin…Reason Enough For Us To Try Everything
I’m up half a million dollars next year before I’ve even started doing any marketing. It’s high profit, 95% gross margin, so it’s over $400,000 in gross profit. The increase in revenue has allowed us to take care of our staff, be less cautious about spending for our 15th-anniversary party and support our second business location. It also helps enable us to continue to provide free IT services to charities in our community.
As my first boss used to say, “Sometimes when you give people the book, they chew the pages.” TMT gives you the book, but executing on the pages is crucial. It’s not guaranteed that everything will work. However, following the process moves you forward. TMT has become our “souped-up truck,” providing the horsepower to get us through the struggles MSPs face. I’m not sure what will drive the most business for us, but maximizing our existing clients’ value has been so profitable that we plan to try everything. Once we’ve finished optimizing our list, we’ll return to Rapid Implementation and activate the next growth lever to drive maximum results.
