Gear Up to Win! MSP Service Manager Guide 101

Greetings, Autotask Warriors! I know the last few weeks have been pretty heavy on profit-making, reports, and KPI’s.  That’s why, as a wrap-up this week, I’m giving you the CliffsNotes version that you can hand out to your Team or use as a reference to go back and look at articles you missed or want to review again.  I am also speaking directly to the Service Manager as your responsibilities are overwhelming! You are saddled with so many tasks: 

• Managing the largest Team in the Company. 

• Making sure all Client expectations are being met. 

• In most MSPs, you’re also responsible for making sure Projects are completed On Time and On budget. 

Not to mention that the profitability of the Company hangs on every decision you make. 

You are likely in this position because “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished,” meaning you were a top-notch Tech and now find yourself promoted to managing a bunch of Techs that are not as good as you are – or they would have been promoted before you.

It is an honor to be promoted from Lead Tech to Service Manager, but doing the job right and managing people to do the job right are two very different things.   

It is like NASCAR’s Elliot, F1’s Verstappen, or IndyCar’s Palou putting me in their car and then going to the radio booth and calling out directions on how to drive. Needless to say, the first time I touched the gas pedal, I would lose it in turn one, wreck half the field, go airborne, and land in a flaming pile of wreckage. Not because I don’t know how to drive, but because I wasn’t trained to manage so many inputs while driving fast with no simulations or practice on the track. 

So, what do you do? How about some of the well-known resources? Ones like:  

• ITIL 

• PMBOK 

• Pink Elephant  

Truth is, they will all lead you down the wrong path. And few, if any, of the MSP academies speak Autotask. So, what can an overwhelmed, hard-working, and resourceful Service Manager (like you!) do TODAY to show he or she deserves to keep that job? 

If I were in your shoes, I would quickly realize that: 

1. 63% of the Client Request were going to close as expected without any intervention, so stop wasting my time looking at all open tickets. 

2. As a Service Manager, I cannot do everything. The best I can do is monitor the Team’s performance and the 37% of Client Requests not meeting expectations. 

3. I need to develop an arsenal of Coaching/Mentoring conversations and messaging to guide the Team in the right direction (to improve individual performance and drive the 37% of Client Requests needing intervention from “New” to “Complete”). 

While this is great, it does not get you out of the woods on day one. The road ahead requires a lot of work: 

1. Focusing on the Intake Process resolves the majority of the Service Delivery Issues – If a Client request is reviewed and assigned within 20-30 minutes, then the Techs have a better chance of meeting expectations and closing the request as expected. 

2. Having processes in place and a Coordinator taking responsibility to drive the 37% of Client Requests that need intervention goes a long way to meeting expectations 95%+ of the time and driving chaos out of the work environment. 

3. Monitoring Tech performance, making sure they appreciate the soft side of IT, and provide the same level of quality as you did (whoa now, here is a problem – if they had the same level of quality as you did, they would be in your seat, not you- so, how do you adjust your expectations?)** 

** Note: Sit back and think ideally what you would do in their situation, think of ways to have a conversation with them, expressing what you would do or like for them to do, and then agree with them on a reasonable performance goal. My gut is they will do the rest, but I would continue to monitor the performance goal. 

As a Service Manager it may seem like you are one person against many people (Coordinator(s), Techs, Owner(s), Accounting folks, Sales personnel, etc.), always having to keep your eye on the ball.  

Being the smart cookie you are, you also know this is, well…impossible. How do you know where to focus your energy? If you’ve read our articles over the last few weeks, then the answer instantly comes to mind - Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). With KPI reporting, all Client Requests are monitored, the 37% identified, and Individual and Team performance is known. 

Easy enough, right? 

The trick here is to know out of the 100s of KPIs that are talked about, which ones are important. It is also important to know: 

“Out of this sea of information, which ones should a Service Manager pay attention to?” -John S, System Engineering 

The answer is in monitoring a combination of Widgets (Real-Time data that is changing on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis) and Advanced Live Reports (snapshots in time, audits (weekly, monthly, six months), and trend reports. FYI: in case you had not noticed, there are three underlying groups when it comes to Service Manager responsibilities: 

1. Coordinators 

2. Techs 

3. Profitability 

We’ve talked about each group in the past weeks: 

Coordinators: 

Managing Service Coordinators: a Service Manager’s #2 Responsibility (agmspcoaching.com) 

Managing Service Coordinators: A Service Manager’s #2 Responsibility (agmspcoaching.com) 

Techs: 

Manage Your Techs Right to Improve Service Delivery (agmspcoaching.com) 

Why Autotask Reports Are a Service Manager’s Best Friend (agmspcoaching.com) 

Advanced Autotask Live Reports: Your #1 Weapon Against MSP Chaos (agmspcoaching.com) 

Your #1 Weapon Against MSP Chaos: the Autotask Live Report (agmspcoaching.com) 

Profitability: 

How to Boost Profitability, a Service Manager’s #1 Responsibility (agmspcoaching.com) 

Leveraging SLAs to Boost Profits, a Service Managers #2 Tool (agmspcoaching.com) 

Mean Time to Resolve, Another Tool for the Service Manager (agmspcoaching.com) 

RHEM at Last, RHEM at Last, RHEM thank Autotask, I’m RHEM at last (agmspcoaching.com) 

Bonus article: 

IT MSP Service Manager Roles, Responsibilities & Barriers (agmspcoaching.com) 

Summary: 

There you have it: A Service Manager’s job is not easy. You have lots of responsibilities and very little management training. Plus, the performance of the Company - in the eyes of the Clients, Staff, and numbers - depends on you. With the information above, however, you have a fighting chance. 

Good luck, and should you fail in your impossible mission, we will disavow any knowledge of you or this conversation. Before it comes to your demise, please reach out to Advanced Global for help, and we will be happy to guide you to managing a Zen Environment - one that is very profitable and has many raving fan Clients. So, what are you waiting for? We’re here for you. Gear up to Win! 

Until next time, Autotask Warriors. (By the way, if you want to go from being an Autotask Warrior to an Autotask Gladiator and get access to way more cool stuff like this and special access to me, check out our Autotask Community.) 

The elephant in the room:   

Who is Advanced Global, and why should we listen to them?  

1. Advanced Global MSP Coaching is the Autotask Service Delivery Authority. 

2. We Guide MSPs to use more of the Autotask Software to drive Operational Improvements.   

3. The first step is a FREE   

Get started today. Waiting is costing you $600 per Tech per Week, and we can help you recoup that loss, Guaranteed or your Money Back. For more information, email us at info@AGMSPCoaching.com