MSP Mentor – Tactical Support Services for Managed Service Providers
Providing advice and consultancy for those MSP specific business issues
Over the 10+ years running, developing, and eventually selling my MSP I faced many challenges, all of which, I not only overcame, but learnt countless lessons from.
Trial and error and failure and success – the struggles I encountered running my business were sometimes hard, but they always provided better understanding, greater resilience, and ensured we curated smarter, more efficient working practices. I grew my MSP business from sole-trader to supporting over 100 large clients at the time of sale in 2020.
I’m delighted to be able to share my experiences, solutions, and knowledge with other MSP owners, and provide bespoke technical and business management consultancy services to MSPs and IT business. Over the last year alone, I’ve worked with many business owners who need guidance and support, for business solutions or strategic advice.
My Services Include
Mentoring
Technical, strategic business management consulting and mentoring for MSPs.
I provide Mentoring, Non-Executive Director Strategic Business Advice, and Consultation to MSPs and technical businesses across the UK.
I also develop business strategies and set in place the tools and processes to achieve KPI focussed business goals.
Datto Autotask
Set up and Management
I’m an expert on Datto’s powerful cloud-based Autotask PSA (Professional Services Automation). This means I can ensure the platform is efficiently configured and maintained to your specific requirements.
I can define and create time saving billing/revenue processes, automations, and bespoke dashboards and reporting to suit your specific requirements.
Zomentum
Solution design and process automation
Currently holding a Product & Solutions leadership position internally at Zomentum, I have unparalleled knowledge across the entire product portfolio, including Zomentum Grow (sales CRM), Zomentum Connect (licence reconciliation), and Zomentum Payments.
I can work with clients to design systems, processes, automation, and workflow integrations beyond what Zomentum’s support team can offer directly.
HubSpot Platinum Partner
Implementation, process design and integration
I can help to achieve better commercials on new HubSpot subscriptions, assist with deployment, and build out workflows and processes across the entire revenue stack.
We can work to introduce levels of marketing and sales automation never thought possible!
Business Process Management
I’m strategically minded and highly proficient in developing a complete MSP ecosystem. Bringing together proven management tools to create your perfect management environment.
My expertise includes – Automation, process definitions, optimisation, reporting and management.
Additional Mentors and Support
My time in the industry has provided me with many well-respected contacts. Through these strong relationships I’m able to facilitate introductions to other complementary services, including:
Proven business coaches, specialised marketing agencies, IT recruiters, professional IT telesales resources, freelance engineers, and community/networking groups.
Further Expertise
I’m highly skilled at sales and marketing pipeline management, able to provide technical implementation and automation of your pipeline and business tools.
I can also define and assist with your:
- Integration strategy
- Lead capture
- Pipeline management
- Sales process
- Pipeline stages
- Client fit assessments & technical pre-sales assessments.
- Billing automation
Referrals
Thanks to my industry knowledge, my networking undertakings, and my experience, I’m able to facilitate strategic and beneficial introductions for business referrals with proven solutions, businesses, technologies, events and contacts.
My Clients Say
Ben has been supporting our business for almost a year. Initially we sought Ben’s support to help with a specific tactical challenge we had around quote to billing workflows through HubSpot, Zomentum, and Autotask. It was clear to me after our first meeting that Ben had a lot more value to add. I found Ben to be extremely knowledgeable, especially when it came to specific systems we have implemented in our company.
Ben was a great sounding board for ideas, and his understanding of designing efficient processes was top draw. Drawing on his knowledge and experience Ben has saved me a number of hours! I have no hesitation in recommending Ben to other MSPs.
Chris Gorman
We’ve been working with Ben for the past few months. His background of actually owning an MSP means he has great insight into what is possible and the technical knowledge to show us how to maximise our investment in the tools we use.
We have learnt a lot about what we can achieve and can see how we’ll be able to enhance what we do as a business over the coming months.
On a more personal note, Ben is a pleasure to work with and both myself and my Team look forward to our ongoing sessions with him and the insights we will gain.
David Nicholls
I met Ben as part of a Zomentum demonstration, and quickly found that he was able to speak the “MSP language” that a lot of vendors can never grasp. Because of this, we were able to engage really quickly.
Since then, we’ve worked closely together and he has been instrumental in helping us implement more automated internal processes within my MSP.
As a previous MSP owner, he clearly understands the practical pitfalls and ramifications of running an MSP. His experience has enabled us to dodge landmines and fast forward to success on a number of occasions.
We’re still continuing to improve our internal stack and grow the business, so having Ben on our side is incredibly helpful!
Harry Boyne
Our first conversations with Ben were in his capacity as a member of the Zomentum team. However, we reached out to him regarding consultancy after hearing him discuss his MSP ownership experiences on a podcast. Having gone through the process himself, Ben understands the pain points of running an MSP, and his help and guidance have been an enormous asset.
More specifically, Ben has been heavily involved in the technical aspects of our Autotask implementation. Working together has meant we have significantly more efficient help desk processes and can automatically bill all our customers out of the system.
It also helps that he’s a thoroughly nice chap to boot!
Anthony Brazier
Ben Spector has been an invaluable partner, not only working with us to improve our own internal systems (he helped us to implement a new PSA and other tools), but also supporting various client projects.
Ben’s guidance was invaluable leading up to and during the acquisition of my previous business in 2021, and I am now working with him again to grow our latest venture.
Matt Hinge
The Bigger Picture
From running my own MSP, I know how easy it is to get caught up in the day-to-day:
– Trying to ensure that you’re delivering best-in-breed service to clients,
– Ensuring your teams are supported, trained and effective
– Managing and developing client strategies and projects ensuring they’re being optimised and developed.
All tasks take tend to take up more time and dedication than initially suspected, and often this impacts efficiencies and other tasks.
Alongside the day-to-day, MSP owners are more often than not also:
– Managing up-sale opportunities,
– Holding client strategy consultations,
– Delivering ad hoc, long-term, and interim support,
– along with much more.
With this added pressure and drain on your time, evolving the growth of your MSP, developing, and implementing your own strategy, can take a back seat.
Losing sight of your personal goals for the business, can be easy to do.
The demands brought about by Covid-19 caused many businesses, MSP’s included, to change how they worked, to define fully-remote working practices and implement them internally while assisting their clients. This has transformed the working world, and as MSPs were addressing the New-Normal needs for their clients, their own strategies and processes also had to be tactically reviewed to ensure best-practice internally. This additional work has meant that many busy MSP owners are struggling to define and attain their long-term personal and professional goals.
As the owner of an MSP, when was the last time you reviewed your business strategy in line with your personal goals?
Ready to grow your MSP and reach your personal goals?
Ready to grow your MSP and reach your personal goals?
Packages
To ensure my mentorship services are right for you, I offer two packages, Standard and Enhanced. Feel free to get in touch to discuss which service would be most relevant for your needs and situation.
If you’re looking for some regular additional support to benefit your business and operations, the entry level support programme is perfect for you.
The Standard Mentorship includes an email advice service and twice-monthly calls to assess, address and review your business.
Comprises
- Twice-monthly scheduled call with summary notes
- Retained MSP Business Advice Service (via email), but would expect most issues to be left for scheduled calls
- Service can be augmented with additional time or fixed-price consulting
- All interactions via video or voice calls
- Initial 6-month minimum, then 30-day rolling commitment
To fast-track your business or, to provide additional strategic support, my Enhanced Mentorship Service would be the most effective solution.
The Enhanced Mentorship Service provides the services in Standard, but with the added advantage of weekly calls, and 24 hr response times for urgent matters.
Comprises
- Weekly scheduled call with summary notes
- Retained MSP Business Advice Service (via call or email) with 24-hour response SLA for urgent matters and 48-hour response SLA for non-urgent matters
- Service can be augmented with additional time or fixed-price consulting
- All interactions via video or voice calls
- Initial 6-month minimum, then 30-day rolling commitment