MSP strategie
Why do many MSPs have no real strategy?
Many MSPs have no strategy, but a budget with good intentions settled in a spreadsheet. Without a sharp identity and ideal client profile, sales capacity burns on clients who will never fit.
MSP Late Night · 20 August 2026
What does make an MSP strategy sharp?
An MSP strategy starts with identity, not with image. Identity decides who you are on the inside, which clients you attract and which you let go. Image is the campaign that comes after. Without that order the business plan becomes a paper exercise, swapped at the first disappointing quarter for short-term polishing of the revenue.
Budget or strategy first?
Strategy belongs first, in practice the spreadsheet leads. As soon as quarterly figures disappoint, the MSP departs from the plan and sales starts chasing everything that moves.
What is an ideal client profile?
A concrete segment you build expertise in, so sharp that you could pick out of a directory which companies you do and do not call. That list only appears after clear positioning.
When do you let a client go?
When the client does not respect your people, structurally pushes your margin down, or no longer fits the profile you are building on. Selling workplace services is zero difference, empathy and sector knowledge are.
Poor positioning burns your sales capacity.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between identity and image in an MSP strategy?
Identity is who you are on the inside as an organisation: values, choices, how you deal with people. Image is what the market sees of that. Identity is the foundation, image the flywheel turning on it. Many B2B companies turn only the image dial and build a house with no foundation, after which every campaign heads in a different direction.
Why is workplace service not a distinctive positioning for an MSP?
Nearly every MSP sells workplaces on Microsoft 365. The platform is designed by Microsoft, the MSP follows the roadmap. That makes the technical delivery a commodity. The difference appears in two directions: empathy and personal contact, or deep sector knowledge in a specific vertical. Without one of the two you only compete on price.
How do you stop a business plan becoming a paper exercise?
A plan rarely survives the year unharmed, because staffing, suppliers, geopolitics or technology can turn. Agility is the deciding factor. That means setting strategy on identity and the ideal client profile, not on spreadsheet targets. When things disappoint you then do not swap the strategy for short-term revenue, but adjust the execution within the same course.
When is it right to let a large client go?
When the client structurally treats staff badly, produces no margin, cannot be serviced at scale or does not fit the segment you want to grow in. The decision comes more easily when identity and values were set down in advance. The small decisions that follow have in effect already been taken on the basis of those choices.
What role does AI play in MSP positioning?
AI accelerates the commoditisation of generic IT services. Generalist MSPs competing on technology alone lose ground. The human part, empathy, authenticity and the personal brand of owners, gains weight instead. Clients who walk away nearly always name lost personal contact as the reason, not the technology. That is where the room for difference sits.