The MSP Sales Podcast

Episode 36 - The 3 Things Every MSP Needs to Grow (w/Guest: Tim Conkle)

34 snips
Mar 16, 2026
Tim Conkle, founder/operator of The 20 and longtime MSP M&A and operations leader, shares how MSPs break past plateaus. Short takes on the three essentials for growth. Talks cover why leadership maturity sets your ceiling. Sales discipline beats flashy tools. Scaling delivery and clear pitches matter more than tech specs.
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
INSIGHT

Clients Hire To Stop Worrying Not To Be Wowed

  • Insight: Prospects hire to remove a problem, not to admire credentials; selling competence is lower priority than reducing customer anxiety.
  • Brian Gillette compares MSP auditions to actor auditions where buyers want reliability, not a talent show.
ADVICE

Stop Selling Fear With Audits

  • Avoid selling fear via audits; sell trust and low-friction onboarding instead.
  • Tim recommends no audits and no onboarding fees so prospects face less friction to say yes to managed services.
INSIGHT

Pricing Shapes Behavior More Than Promises

  • Insight: Traditional MSP pricing still embeds break-fix incentives, which conflict with clients' business outcomes.
  • Tim contrasts break-fix, MSP with out-of-scope charges, and MID flat-fee models that align incentives to uptime.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app