How this MSP Transformed their MSP with a Proven Growth Strategy (Success Story)
19 Nov 2024 · 9 min
Jim Reichard grew All Tech IT Solutions from one location to three with nationwide coverage, adding roughly $1M in recurring revenue within 18 months after an acquisition. He credits a growth program, strategic M&A, and better marketing and sales processes for scaling his MSP since 2004.
Questions this episode answers
2004
Around 2021 (possibly 2022) — he recalled it as "I believe we started with 7 figure in 2021, maybe 2022, but I think it was 21."
About $65,000 in MRR when they started at seven-figure revenue.
He acquired another company about 2.5 years prior to the interview.
He added $1,000,000 in revenue (all in MRR) in the first 18 months after the acquisition.
My name is Jim Reichard, I'm from Birmingham, Alabama. Our company is all tech IT solutions. We've been in business since 2004. I believe we started with 7 figure in 2021, maybe 2022, but I think it was 21. So we were not in a terrible place. We were growing. I was in a weird situation because we had had a pretty good bit of success and I was in a place where I was kind of bored and I wanted to do better. Like, I knew I could do better, I knew I could go further. I just wasn't exactly sure how to get there or you know, what recipe, if you will, that I could use to kind of take it to the next level, you know, level up our business, bring us further down the road. So that was kind of where we landed there. We signed on immediately after the first time we came. I looked at it as an opportunity and it was kind of one of those things where we looked at it and I just immediately saw opportunity and potential. And it was one of those scenarios for me where I was like, I can't afford not to do this. This is something we need. This is a good recipe for adding value to the business, for converting clients, gaining new clients and having a really good plan for how to go forward. Kind of a pre built template, if you will, on how to grow your business and how to capitalize on your current client base, cross sell up, sell opportunity type things. So really, really good opportunity was, was presented and I just looked at it and kind of just jumped on and never looked back. And you know, peer group opportunities, things like that was just really great. So you always have doubts and fears, right? You know, Chris says no fud, right? I, I'm a big one for no fud, you know, fear, uncertainty and doubt. You know, don't I try not to dwell on those things. Right? Because if you dwell on that negative energy, it's just going to drag you down. You got to stay positive, latch onto the positive things and go, what can I do with this? You know, what's, where's the power? Where are the things that I can do to make this a positive thing? And you know, it's not if it doesn't work, it's what if it does work. You go into it that, with that mentality and just kind of grow and go forward and, you know, just do the things and execute. We've seen some pretty tremendous results from, from doing this. And we have another segment of our business where we have grown through mergers and acquisitions. I've bought I think three other companies now in our grace. And it's not just a recipe to, to grow, but it's. It allows you to take that kind of run, run that play. And like in emergent acquisition opportunity, we. We were able to, to acquire multiple other companies and then run the play on those companies and then capitalize. When we started with 7 figure, I think we were about 65k in MRR. And shame on me for not knowing what the number is now, but I just kind of give you a rough estimate. I acquired another company two and a half years ago. In the first 18 months of buying that company, I was able to run the play on the entire customer base and I added a million dollars in revenue in 18 months, all in MRR. So not counting all the revenue that we added, by running the play on all our existing client base and just showing them the opportunity, showing them the risk, the vulnerabilities, learning how to better present that to the customer so that they understand their risk. Being able to prescribe, if you will, what they need in a way that they can understand it and show value for what we do is really important. And that's been something that this program's really been helpful with to show us how to be able to present that to a client and win those deals. So the results have been fantastic. Right? It's taken our business from one location to three locations. We're now a nationwide company. I've got a whole bunch of engineers, we've developed and created our own security team where I've got a group of certified ethical hackers that are actually on staff for us that, you know, help us to make decisions and go forward, but also help to secure our clients and keep our client base safe and. But, you know, for me personally, it's kind of given me purpose to go back and dig in, you know, and to find joy in what I do and be able to go back and provide what I feel is a good quality service to my clients and be able to protect them, keep them safe, make them aware, and, you know, have that knowledge that I'm doing something positive for the world. And, you know, the extra revenue is awesome because I can give back to the community. You know, we can donate, we can hire more people. I mean, I've added, you know, probably seven, maybe 10 employees since we've started this journey. So I'm able to give back to the world by creating those job opportunities and be able to, you know, help grow my family and, you know, do things that I wasn't able to do before, you know, things like that. So it's been, it's been great. Really. Just execute and know your numbers, do things, move forward, right? Don't just analyze things. Don't try to get wrapped around the axle with a stack or a, you know, whatever, whatever's bothering you, just execute on something. If it doesn't work, fix it. That's been one of the things for me, just personal development, trying to be a better leader, peer groups, things like that. So I don't know, I can't say it's been any one thing. I think it's been a collaboration of things that really just help me be a better owner, be a better CEO, be a better dad and husband. So it's really been great. So we do a lot of things for marketing. We changed a lot in our marketing program. We're in all the leads mastery things. I've got a BDR rep, we've got a full time, I've actually got two full time callers. So there's, there's a lot to be done there, right? Anybody who thinks you don't need that, you absolutely need that, you need as much of that as you can't afford. Because you have to have inbound leads. You've got to have, you know, if you're not growing, you're shrinking, right? So you have to have inbound cold calls, leads, whatever you want to call them, lead generation. It, without that, it's, it's going to be organic growth and you're just going to have, you know, if you have steady growth, you might have some, you know, short growth. But if you want that hockey stick growth and you really want to, you know, just climb and climb, you're really going to have to do those things from a marketing perspective. So that was another thing we looked at. You know, you can't afford not to do it. If you don't do it, you know, you're, you're not, you're going to be where you're at, you know, do what you always do. You get what you always got. So you've got to, you've got to grow and go forward and do those things. Man. If you're on the fence about joining, I would tell you, stop thinking and start doing. I would tell you if you're in this space, this is definitely something you absolutely need in your tool belt. If you, if you look at this as, as an expense, you're looking at it wrong. This is a tool that you need to go forward and grow and to run your business. You're you're not going to be. You're not going to be competitive without this tool. It will change your life. It will help to change you, how you. How you think, how you function as a company, how you compare yourself to your peers and yourself. It really helps you to grow and go forward and be able to just be better in all aspects of what you're doing. Peer groups, things like that. You know, accountability is a big one. There's so many. There's so many parts and pieces to this program that are just absolutely fantastic. There's no reason to not do this. I guarantee that if you do this, you'll be successful, and it will help you in more ways than you can fathom at this very moment.
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