Opening Message: Stop Hunting, Start Harvesting

While most MSPs are out there hunting endlessly for new clients, the smart ones know their richest opportunities lie in the fields they already own.
My name is James Steel and this is Harvest, where MSPs and industry experts share proven ways to grow profitable revenue from your current customer base.
No theory, no fluff, just field-tested strategies that work.
Let's grow.

Orchestrating Solutions to Churn and Misalignment

Customers leave because their pain isn't being solved in what some way, shape, or form.
There's a frustration there that you may or may not know about. Invariably, what happens when you bring humans together? They look for commonality.
Everybody knows there is a problem. Let's just acknowledge it, take ownership of it, and tell the client, I'm going to fix it. And then actually deliver the fix.
To distill it into one word, orchestration.
Orchestrating solutions, bringing the right people, the right tools, the right vendor partners and peer partners together.

Guest Introduction: Amy Luby

Hello and welcome back to this episode of Harvest. Now, let's just get the elephant in the room out the way, shall we?
Yes, I'm a Brit. And yes, I don't know how to handle the sun. So, those of you who are watching this on video, enjoy at my expense the color of my face.
What a mess. Anyway, listen, down to business.

Today I'm joined by Amy Luby, someone who's seen just about every side of the MSP world.
From founding her own practice to driving turnaround at scale and advising vendors on their partner strategy, Amy's got so much deep practical experience.
I can't wait to get into this one.

In this episode, we're going to dig into the hard stuff. Misaligned services, cash flow confusion, how to rebuild trust when delivery is kind of wobbled.
Lots here for MSPs juggling growth with real-world execution. Tactical points, as always.
Notepads at the ready people. Let's get harvesting.

Misconceptions and Misalignment

Hello everyone and welcome back for another episode of Harvest. I'm here with someone who I don't think is probably going to need an awful lot of introduction.
Amy Luby is an absolute channel veteran and has enormous experience when it comes to not only running MSPs but working with vendors and brings real-world insight from the industry.
Welcome along Amy. It's great to have you here.

Amy: Thank you so much. I am happy to be here.

James: Yeah, absolutely. Listen, you have quite a list of accolades to your name. I don't normally do this to people, but it's that noticeable that it's got to be read out.
Forester Top 100, Most Influential in the Global MSP Channel, CRN Channel Chief, CRN Woman of the Channel, MSP Mentor Global 100, MSP Mentor 250, and you've got a CompTIA Industry Leadership Award.
I think it's fair to say you know your stuff.

Amy: I appreciate that. There's a lot of hard work behind that and probably a lot of time and a lot of mistakes made and a lot of learning.

James: That's good 'cause I think we're going to talk about mistakes today. I think that's a nice theme for our chat.
But listen, before we get straight into it, would you like to give us a misconception about you? So when people first meet you, what do they get wrong about you?

Amy: The misconception is that I'm real hard-nosed and push real hard.
I think I come across confident and that might be misconstrued.
I'm really kind of a softy at heart and rely a lot on empathy and getting to know people before pushing them toward where I think their strengths really lie.

Spotting the Early Warning Signs

James: Excellent. You have led some remarkable turnarounds in your time—from your own MSP to some vendors you've worked with—and there's enormous experience there.
But I know you've had a case recently. What are the signs or the first signals that an MSP should look for when actually the top-line revenue looks okay but something below that is wrong?

Amy: The early stages are when you start to sweat your cash flow and you're trying to figure out, “Okay, well, I thought I was making good money,” but when it comes time to pay your bills, you're kind of wondering where that cash went or maybe it wasn't there to begin with.
Coupled with—in a recurring revenue model—probably the top two KPIs that a leader should care about are new business and churn.
So if you don't watch new business or see that KPI increasing on a regular basis and churn decreasing—or they're going in the opposite directions—that's a real problem.

Then it's time to really start to dig in.
Okay, why am I not getting new customers? Or why are they leaving? What's happening there?

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The Margin Illusion and Client Churn

James: This is a really interesting situation and I suspect it's actually more common than we might choose to admit.
Everything looks great on paper, but the bank balance is saying otherwise.
Amy's point about sweating payroll despite having this healthy top-line revenue is a red flag that lots of people choose to ignore.

So here's an idea for you: this week, pull one month's data and compare your top five clients by revenue versus margin. The results will usually point to the problem.

And on that point of churn in particular, we love to focus on what we can do with our existing customer base.
So on the topic of churn, are there any particular topics or techniques that you've used that can reduce that, or any key reasons why that would come about?

Amy: Usually it's customer experience. I mean, on a top level, customers leave because their pain isn't being solved in some way, shape or form.
There's a frustration there that you may or may not know about, but that's usually the underlying issue.

What's causing that pain is where you really need to dig in and figure out:

• Is my service that I'm delivering to them misaligned with their needs?
• Is it just poor quality?

What is it that's causing that problem?

Selling Into Misalignment

James: When you say misaligned, can you think of any examples where services have been misaligned?
Because I guess you maybe you don't know until it's too late, do you?

Amy: Here's a really good example. What's the number one thing we hear right now and that we've heard probably for the last five years at least?
Lead with a security sale. How to build your business by selling security.

Well, does your average small business owner spend their day worried about security? Maybe, but maybe not.
Maybe they're sweating payroll. Maybe they're growing and they need to add a new location.
Maybe they have a customer churn problem for some reason.

So if we go into a prospect or a client scenario and we're not ready to really listen to what they need—and all we really want to do is talk about what we do and how we do it—that in and of itself is a misalignment.
So if you're able to push the contract through and get it signed, you're starting on misalignment rather than solving an issue.

Listening First, Then Delivering

Amy: There's a lot to unpack in that, right? There's:

• How do you sell?
• How do you speak to a prospect?
• How do you uncover those pains?
• How do you assess your service delivery prowess to be able to deliver solutions to solve those pains?

It really comes down to really knowing your customer. Really knowing who they are, what they need, what their pains are, and how you can deliver solutions to solve those pains.

James: This is great. It's so easy, isn't it, when we're totally excited and immersed in our cybersecurity solutions.
We know that's what we want to be talking about.
When you walk in with a cybersecurity-first pitch and your client's stressed about headcount, location moves, other matters around the business, you're not on the same page.

Creating Real Discovery Conversations

James: So here's an idea for you, something tactical for your next discovery call.
Lead with one question only: “What’s changed in your business lately?” Then just shut up and listen.

How would you go about doing this if you were back in your MSP hat again, going into a client meeting or just maintaining the relationship?

Amy: Two things:

1. Asking good questions
2. Actually listening to the answers

Being able to hear—really hear—what that person is saying and come back with good questions to continue to uncover what they're saying.
What do they care about? What are they staying up at night about?

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Connecting on a Human Level

Amy: It’s the same way that you help any business owner.
It's how you help MSPs. It's how you help vendors. Ask:

• “What are the top three problems that you're having?”
• “Tell me about them.”

They don’t have to be technology problems.
Just tell me your top three things that you're worried about with your business today.
And then ask those questions that relate to that.

Follow-up example:
Problem A — “What would it look like if we were able to solve that problem together? What would you benefit?”

You're listening to their pains and making sure you're qualifying each of them and just letting them talk.

James: And what are you fundamentally doing?
You're really connecting on a human level.

And who do people do business with?
They do business with people they’ve connected with and that they trust.
People who understand what their issues are and can deliver a valuable solution.

Listening at Scale — Is It Possible?

James: Let me ask you a question then.
If I’m an MSP owner and I’ve got 50 to 100 clients and I want to make sure I’m listening to them, can I do that at scale? Or do I need to be in those individual conversations every time?

Amy: You absolutely can do it at scale.
But it’s a cultural thing. Curiosity must be a core value of your organisation.

As an owner, I need to be curious about whether or not my organisation is delivering what my clients need.
I need to be curious about the employees I hire: what motivates them, why they’re here, whether they can deliver that experience.

Then that value trickles down—to sales, to engineers on-site.
They might have been sent there for a project, but they should still be asking questions, engaging with the customer, understanding what they really need.

Embedding Curiosity as Culture

James: Culture can be so difficult to permeate through the business, can’t it?
Many MSPs say they’re client-focused, but curiosity doesn’t always get past the account managers and execs.

Amy's suggestion here to embed curiosity across all roles is bang on.

Tactical tip: Ask your delivery leads to each bring one client insight to next week’s team meeting.
No scripts—just exactly what they’re hearing.

Using Peer Groups as a Growth Tactic

James: You’ve done work with community peer groups and roundtables.
Is there a place for that as a tactic in MSP land?

Amy: 100%.
You could call it an MSP peer roundtable, an executive roundtable—whatever.

Bring together people who are similar, meaning they have similar problems or challenges.
As an MSP, I could invite one of my best clients—maybe the owner—and six prospects. Invite them out to dinner.

It could be more creative.
One MSP took clients to a shooting range.

What happens when you bring humans together? They look for commonality.
They talk about challenges. If there’s a good client in that room, they will naturally talk about how they solved those problems with you.

Just create that space.

The Turnaround: $33M to $11M

James: Let’s talk about the turnaround story.
You mentioned one company going from $33M down to $11M. How did you identify what was wrong, and what did you do to fix it?

Amy: This was a business that used to be a VAR and was trying to move to recurring services.
They wanted to be an MSP, but their people and processes were still geared toward fulfilment and selling gear.

Making that transition is hard:

• New services without cannibalising existing business
• Shift in marketing, messaging, delivery, people, operations

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Where Do You Start?

James: That’s my next question. Where do you even start with that? Because they are polar opposites.

Amy: Start with the fundamentals.
Cash flow is king.
You can operate without profit for a little while, but you can’t run out of cash. And they were running out.

Clients were cancelling. That was the immediate issue. We were losing at least one contract a month.

James: Was that because of the move from big CapEx hardware to smaller recurring revenue payments?

Amy: Partly. But also a false sense of security from volume.
If you're pushing 1,000 devices a month, it looks amazing. But the margins on hardware? Not so much.

Think of what it takes:

• People to stage all those devices
• Shop space
• Delivery, installation
  It’s labour intensive.

And then you’re trying to run a service desk that’s meant to be proactive and standardised? You’re serving two masters.

Rebuilding from the Bottom

James: So you’ve got your product income shrinking and your MSP income struggling. What then?

Amy: First, we had no standards.
The contract was basically: “Yeah, we can support you for X per month. Let’s go.”
Huge mistake.

No standard stack. Every client had different hardware, software, expectations, response times. It was chaos.
We had no idea when people added machines. That caused frustration and misalignment.

Then we had to talk to the clients.
“We know we’ve been screwing up. We know you’re frustrated. We’re fixing it. Can you give us a little time?”

Own it. Be honest.
That buys you time—and more importantly, trust.

Triage Like a Nurse, Fix Like a Pro

Amy: I went back to my nurse days—triage.

Assess the situation:

• What’s broken?
• What’s critical?
• Fix those properly. No duct tape fixes.

Communicate with the client all the way through.

Simplify Your Stack

James: You also mentioned portfolio sprawl. Why is it important to streamline what you offer?

Amy: Because you have to know your own identity.
If you’re offering things you can’t actually deliver, you’re breaking trust.

So maybe you shrink. Focus on what you can do well.
Deliver on that consistently. Then you can grow again.

James: It’s so easily done. You bolt on services reactively and suddenly it’s confusing and you’re stretched.

Amy: Better to deliver five things brilliantly than 15 badly.

Start with the Why

James: Where should an MSP start if they realise they’re doing too much?

Amy: Start with the leadership.
Take a step back. Ask:

• Why did we start this business?
• What was the vision?
• Are we close to that today?

If not—start realigning.

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The Real Fundamentals of Customer Experience

James: You're a big advocate of customer experience. Any tactical tips to improve it?

Amy: Number one: Don’t lose sight of what your client needs or wants.
They will literally tell you. Just build services around that.

It’s not complicated.

Also, the skills of your frontline team are more important than the tools.

James: You’re going to have people falling off their chairs! Tools more important than people? Surely not!

Amy: No, really. Tools matter—but people deliver the experience.

Most MSPs deal with 20+ vendors. That’s a lot of admin.
If you're buried in that, you’re not focused on the client.

Where Are MSPs Going?

James: Final question before our next segment—where do you think MSPs will be in 3 years?

Amy: One word: Orchestration.

From break-fix to managed outcomes, and now to orchestration.
MSPs will evolve into orchestrators of people, tools, vendors, and solutions.

Industry Manure: Best Practices Are BS

James: Alright, next segment: Industry Manure.
What advice gets bandied about that really grinds your gears?

Amy: Best practices.

James: Oh wow—controversial. Go on...

Amy: We’re putting entrepreneurs in a box and telling them, “If you want to be an MSP, do it this way.”
But entrepreneurs win by doing it differently. That’s what makes them successful.

We should be enabling that curiosity and differentiation—not crushing it with formulas.

What Makes an MSP Stand Out?

James: Can you think of an MSP who does stand out?

Amy: It’s always in the little things.
They’re fundamentally curious.

They ask questions constantly—to prospects, vendors, staff.
They’re relentlessly pursuing how to solve problems. That’s the real superpower.

Pass the Pitchfork: AI in Sales

James: Last segment—Pass the Pitchfork. A question from our last guest, John Humphrey from Co-Point.
He wants to know: Will all this investment in AI and datacentre infrastructure really impact MSPs?

Amy: Yes. But let’s remember—AI isn’t new.
It’s been around 50 years. What’s new is access. That’s the game changer.

It’s like when the internet hit the mainstream. AI can now traverse different databases and consolidate that knowledge—far better than humans.
It’s already transforming industries like healthcare. It will impact MSP delivery too.

What Would You Ask the Next Guest?

James: Can I ask you for a question for our next guest—a sales leader?

Amy: Sure. I’d love to know:
Are you actually using AI sales tools today?
If so, how? Are they part of your core process, or just experimental?

There’s great tech out there—what’s working in the field?

Wrapping Up

James: Brilliant. Amy, thank you so much for your time. That was a wide-ranging and deeply practical conversation.
Where can people find you?

Amy: If you’re an MSP or vendor tired of spray-and-pray tactics that don’t convert, hit me up on LinkedIn.
I help MSPs build real sales engines and vendors build partner engagement strategies that actually work.

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