Locknet: It’s About Trust, Not Technology

Peter Kujawa, division president at Locknet Managed IT Services, an EO Johnson company, says trust is king.

Kujawa sat down with us this week to share his tips and insights on building an MSP from scratch, but one stands above them all.

“Ultimately, the decision to select an MSP is all about trust, not technology,” says Kujawa. “Always be honest and transparent with your clients. If you make a mistake, own it and make it right.”

Locknet’s Peter Kujawa

Kujawa says that if you build trust through your actions with your clients, they will stay with you even when things go wrong. But if you lose trust, it’s very difficult to ever regain it. As it is in life, eh?

Here are more of Kujawa’s deep wisdoms.

1. Keep your eyes on the prize. A lot of MSPs start off selling to any type of business, of any size. When you first start out, it’s easy to get sales tunnel vision, so casting your net as wide as possible seems like the best plan.

It isn’t.

Focus up. Early on, find a vertical or two that you can truly focus on. This way, you will be experts in your customer’s business and will therefore deliver better, more tailored service. Also, stick to your targeted customer-size ranges.

2. Invest in tools early on. When you are starting out, cash is tight and it can be difficult to justify spending that cash on automation technologies. But by investing early, you can build a more efficient, higher-margin MSP and your ROI on those tools can be months – not years – compared to adding more staff. Those efficiencies will be even more impactful down the road after you have grown.

3. Dare to be different. This is not just something the motivational poster on the wall of your third-grade classroom told you (you know the one). Or something your mother said to you when you chose to play the tuba. It applies in the MSP world as well.

Dare to be different than everyone else. Don’t spend time comparing yourself to your competition; instead, listen to the marketplace and build an MSP that aligns that market feedback with your own capabilities and your passions.

Even further, focus on something that will set you ahead of your competition. As you grow, that will build your identity.