Don’t Lose the Big Game: Prioritize Client Requests
The Lack of Prioritizing Client Requests is the Root Cause of Chaos
How many of you like Chaos? Love it? Thrive on it? How many of you think your MSP is better running around putting out fires all the time? Do your Clients like Chaos?
Get Smart
When I think of Chaos and MSPs, it is hard not to think about that 1960’s TV show Get Smart and bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart running around trying to fight the evil forces of KAOS (think James Bond’s SPECTRE). Yes, he wins in the end, but it’s not pretty. If you have ever heard the phrase, "missed it by that much,” it came from that show. Go Google the show and watch 5 minutes and tell me if your MSP looks like that to your Clients.
If you love living in Chaos and think that is best for your MSP, your Clients, and your Team, then you are dismissed to go back to your sports betting app and try to win it big on Sunday’s game.
If you are sick and tired of Chaos, or just want to improve and grow the MSP so your team gets vacations, your Clients are happy, and next year you can ACTUALLY BE SUPER and attend that game, then I welcome you Autotask Warriors to our little corner of the Internet where we talk about using the PSAutomation of Autotask to improve your life.
I am going to try and be brief and to the point this week so you can get ready for the Game (whether you like football or just the camera shots of Taylor). For those of you who aren’t into football, cheer up, as Daytona racing is upon us.
Huddle Up
Okay, huddle up and let’s try and work ON your MSP business instead of worrying about the 137 tickets you need to clear before the Eagles....well, anyway, I know you do Root Cause Analysis for Client issues, so let’s do one for MSP issues.
MSPs never prioritize Client Requests. Proof in point: Most tickets come in with a Medium Priority and stay that way for the life of the Client Request Journey. Yes, some change to Critical if someone wants to create a noise and call attention to the request, or we tell the Client they are a low priority so we can push the request out to its first birthday.
But why do we do this? The #1 reason is that a Priority Level of Critical to Low does not meet our needs. It does not even meet our needs to Prioritize Incidents on an Urgency and Impact Matrix because it does not consider all the categories of Incident Client Requests: MSP Operational Transformation: The Best Path to Growth — Advanced Global
Beyond Critical to Low not meeting our Incident Severity Level needs, it also does not take into consideration all the other factors that go into knowing “What is the Right Next Ticket”:
Service Requests (I/M/A/Cs & Projects)
Client Relationship (Non-Managed, Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum)
Where in the journey from the Cradle to the Grave (New, Tech Engagement, Resolve)
So, the solution is to Prioritize the list of tickets assigned to the Techs on a multi-dimensional level, AUTOMATICALY, and WITHOUT AI.
Leveraging the Power of Autotask
In 2015, the MSP I was working for decided to create its first remote support team. Crazy, right? All work for the past 30 years had been scheduled with an on-site visit. (Between you and me, what really happened is it was scheduled on-site, but the Techs figured out that most of the time they just needed to call the Client and engage remotely.)
What they did with all the excess non-used travel time, I have no idea – but the backlog of tickets was just as high as ever, so they were not repurposing the time for Client Engagements as far as we could tell.
Moving from scheduling on-site to using worklists (queue view or widgets) was not as easy as it sounds. How do you organize the worklists when so many things must be considered? For example:
Urgency and Impact (Incidents only)
Client Reasonable Expectations (Service Requests)
Contractual Obligations (MSAs)
Relationship with the Client (T&M or MS)
Where in the journey from Cradle to Grave was the Client’s request
Introducing Pillar #3
(Note: We started talking about the Pillars of Mindset Change 3 weeks ago.)
For those of you that have been following along the last few weeks, this is Pillar (Mindset Change) #3: We need the Techs’ worklist prioritized on a multi-dimensional level. It just so happens that this prioritization can easily be automated with Autotask.
For the Techs to know what the Right Next Ticket is, an MSP needs to configure the PSAutomation to sort the tickets via:
Urgency and Impact
Relationship with the Client
T&M vs Managed Services
Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum
Where in the Journey from the Cradle to the Grave the Client Request is
(Did I mention you can do this inside Autotask without AI Automation?)
The How
How do you do it? Quite simply, you leverage all three clocks in the SLA automation by building out SLAs for each Client Request Category, and a different SLA level for Non-Managed, Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum, and leverage the Next SLA Event Due Date to track the Journey from New to Complete.
Once the SLA Automation is configured, leverage the Next SLA Due Date Field to Prioritize the Worklist, Queue Views, or Ready to Engage Widgets that the Techs are using. Of course, at the same time, do not forget to Categorize Client Requests during the Intake (Triage) process and to schedule the four types of Client Requests that require scheduling the work in the Calendars.
By now the fog of Chaos should start clearing, but we have one more Pillar of Operational Optimization to get through before things are Clear as Day.
Summary:
MSPs are not prioritizing Client Requests today, we just dump the tickets into the queue and ask the Techs to figure it out. Techs are using their grey matter to figure out the Right Next Ticket, but not considering Urgency and Impact, a Reasonable Client Expectation, the Relationship with the Client, and where in the journey from the Cradle to the Grave the Client Request is.
They have learned this information from Hard-Knocks-U, which creates a very stressful work environment, burning out the Techs before their time and creating Chaos until they learn to go into the Server Room, Shut the Door, and tell everyone to leave them the he** alone (perhaps, that is a habit they came to the MSP with, but your of Lack of Prioritization is the reason they continue this bad habit).
So, back to my opening question about Chaos and how much You, Your Team, and your Clients enjoy Chaos. If you thrive on danger and excitement, go become a fire fighter or a Navy Seal. If you want to go home at 5 o’clock every day, solve problems while making good money, and enjoy seats on the 50-yard line, you need to get your Priorities in order.
For help Finding the Freedom to Grow by Categorizing, Allocating, and Prioritizing Client Requests, Schedule a Call with Steve – Free, No Sales, Strategy Call, I promise. Your Super Life starts with an email to info@agmspcoaching.com.
Steve & Co
At Advanced Global MSP Consulting, we are committed to helping you grow your MSP business by improving your service delivery experience and eliminating Chaos. We understand the unique challenges you face in the MSP industry, including the mental health struggles that can come with the territory.
Resources:
Unshackled e-book: https://www.agmspcoaching.com/unshackled
(Learn how to apply the 6 keys to MSP Service Delivery Optimization)
Richard Tubb: “Mental Health Resources for MSP Business Owners”
Our most recent blog post on MSP Mental Health
Our YouTube channel
Service Delivery Gladiator’s Community: Home - The Service Delivery Gladiators (agmspcoaching.com)