Most MSPs hit a breaking point where tickets, renewals, and new enquiries all land at once. The default reaction? Hiring a salesperson and hoping they’ll fix it.
However, sales problems aren’t solved by one heroic hire. Instead, they’re solved by building a system that works whether you’re in the room or not.
The truth is, high performing sales teams don’t appear out of luck or personality. They’re built through structure, clarity, and a culture that makes good people better.
With that in mind, this playbook, based on lessons from the ScaleUp Podcast with Michael Johnson (MJ), Founder of Sereno IT, breaks down how to build that system. Along the way, you’ll learn who to hire first (and why it’s rarely a traditional salesperson), when to add account management, how to run QBRs that actually deliver value, and ultimately, the daily habits that make sales predictable instead of chaotic.
Contents:
FREE Download: What Every MSP Gets Wrong About Sales
Build the Structure Before You Build the Team
Most MSPs decide on hiring a salesperson way too soon. Instead, before you add another headcount, build the foundation that makes selling easier for everyone. For example, start by hiring a sales operations or admin role to handle quoting, procurement, renewals, and follow ups. In turn, that frees time to document your process, embed it into your CRM, and create rules around pricing and handoffs.
Once that structure exists, every new hire ramps faster and performs more consistently. At the same time, it connects your technical and sales worlds, processes are clear, communication flows, and clients get a smoother experience. With this in place, proper onboarding, defined expectations, and peer accountability, sales stops being chaotic and becomes a predictable part of growth.
When to Hire Your First Account Manager
Hiring your first account manager is a turning point for any MSP. Specifically, it’s what allows the owner to step back from day-to-day account handling and focus on winning new business.
As a rule, start planning once you reach around thirty clients. Beyond that point, no owner or single salesperson can maintain the same level of service or relationships. The key is to hire before you feel desperate.
In practice, account managers take up to nine months to reach full effectiveness, so recruit six months early. This gives them time to shadow, learn the service, and build trust without pressure.
- As MJ puts it: “You need a solid pair of hands to look after your existing clients”
At this stage, new business should stay with the owner. The account manager’s role is to protect what you’ve already built and strengthen relationships that drive referrals and renewals.
So, how should you approach growth?
Plan Growth Like an Engineer, Not a Gambler
Planning isn’t exciting, but it’s the difference between sustainable growth and controlled chaos. Without structure, expansion creates pressure across delivery, procurement, account management, and sales.
To avoid that, build your plan around clear revenue targets and back into the hires, systems, and resources you’ll need to hit them.
- Work backwards from goals: Set twelve-month targets, then map the people and tools required.
- Let sales planning lead: Hiring and operations should follow the revenue plan, not guesswork.
- Stay realistic: New hires won’t perform like founders overnight, so allow ramp up time and buffer capacity.
Ultimately, growth should feel controlled, not lucky. When you plan it properly, every new role amplifies what’s already working instead of creating new chaos.
Why a Sales Admin Is Often Your Smartest First Hire
- “Before you look to hire, you need to really make sure that you understand your sales process from start to finish.”
As your MSP grows, sales activity quickly outruns your capacity. The smartest first move isn’t a “closer”, instead, it’s a sales admin.
This isn’t a sales role. It’s about structure, detail, and momentum. In practice, a great sales admin:
- Follows up on meetings and quotes
- Processes renewals and add-ons
- Creates orders and purchase requests
- Tracks agreements and key dates.
Early on, they’re the glue that keeps deals moving. As a result, nothing slips, quotes go out fast, and the process feels professional. Over time, that person can evolve into a senior operations lead who knows every part of your pipeline. Get this hire right, and you build the discipline that makes scale possible.
Why More Salespeople Rarely Means More Sales
On the surface, more heads don’t equal more revenue. In fact, adding salespeople too soon usually creates confusion, weaker pipelines, and burnout. When that happens, accounts are spread too thin, motivation drops and clients feel neglected.
Instead, real growth comes from maximising the value in the accounts you already have. Each salesperson should have enough clients to stay engaged but not overwhelmed.
The better strategy is building a self-sufficient sales culture. That means:
- Structured onboarding with clear KPIs and defined outcomes
- Regular sales meetings focused on ownership and accountability
- A culture where everyone knows their numbers and takes responsibility for results
The outcome is a team that performs without constant management. It’s not about propping up underperformers; it’s about creating clarity, high standards, and a culture where accountability drives performance.
Building a Sales Leadership Layer as You Scale
Once your MSP reaches around £5 million turnover, and when it has a few account managers, that’s when it’s time to build real sales leadership.
Account management and new business are different skill sets. To address this, creating a middle layer, often a lead or senior account manager, brings breathing room, maintains standards, and develops your next generation of leaders. Alongside this, add a junior salesperson to shadow meetings, chase actions, and learn the ropes. That creates a talent pipeline and frees senior people to focus on strategy.
At this stage, training becomes critical. As the MSP landscape changes fast, relying on the owner for every bit of sales coaching is a bottleneck. Instead, a structured leadership layer spreads knowledge, builds consistency, and removes single points of failure.
Why Account Managers Are Advisers, Not Sellers
In reality, the best account managers don’t “sell.” They advise, guide, and help clients get the most from their service stack. As a result, their value lies in strengthening relationships, improving security and efficiency, and earning long-term trust.
However, they need structure to succeed. That means clear onboarding, defined expectations, and time to understand networks deeply enough to spot risks and opportunities.
This is where Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) are key. When done right, they’re not sales pitches but strategic discussions that highlight progress, challenges, and next steps.
Finally, hiring from outside IT can work brilliantly when the process supports it. In those cases, strong communicators with curiosity and empathy often make the best advisers, provided they’re backed by training and structure.
- “Training and development is just so important… that creates a big demand on you if you’re the only one doing it.”
Building the Right Culture
Charm doesn’t make a great account manager. Discipline does. The best people listen more than they talk, think critically, and structure conversations that move clients forward.
When interviewing, skip the generic questions. Use role-based scenarios. Give candidates a client challenge and watch how they respond. The right ones ask smart questions, guide the discussion naturally, and focus on client outcomes, not product lists.
Once you’ve got the right people, culture takes over. Balance individual goals with shared team targets so everyone’s accountable for results. Remove silos, reward collaboration, and build a rhythm where the team drives performance, not management pressure.
- “If you are keeping someone on the team that isn’t performing… you’re not spending time on the people that are overachieving.”
Handling Leads When You Don’t Have Many
For smaller MSPs, every lead counts. Don’t waste them by letting untrained people handle the first contact. Instead, map exactly how leads enter the business, who receives them, and what happens next. Above all, the goal should always be clear: book a meeting fast, ideally face-to-face.
When it comes to warm inbound leads, use a simple process:
- Initial call: Qualify properly and be upfront about pricing.
- Second meeting: Show your service, your process, and what sets you apart.
- Final follow-up: Handle objections, confirm fit, and issue a proposal.
Speed wins deals. After all, most prospects are talking to multiple MSPs, and the first one to respond sets the tone. Quick follow-up gives you the chance to shape the conversation and build trust before competitors even reply.
Fast, consistent lead handling isn’t just good service, it’s a competitive advantage. When done well, a clear, repeatable process turns a handful of leads into a dependable pipeline.
Top Tips for Winning New Business
Winning new business isn’t about flashy presentations or perfect slides. It’s about showing you understand what matters most to the prospect. The best sales conversations feel like problem solving sessions, not pitches.
To do this, start by asking smart questions. Listen first, play back what you hear, and ask for permission to fix it. In turn, that shift from “selling” to “helping” makes your offer instantly more credible.
Practical tips:
• Lead with questions. Let the prospect talk, their answers shape your proposal.
• Tailor your approach. Focus on solving their real business problems, not showing every feature you offer.
• Keep it human. Meet in person where possible, or use video to keep the connection personal.
You don’t win business by talking more. You win it by understanding faster.
Making Strategic Customer Meetings Count
Strategic reviews aren’t admin. They’re where relationships are won, renewed, or lost.
The best QBRs have structure. Talk roadmaps with business owners, not ticket stats. Keep technical detail behind the scenes and use the meeting to show clients where their investment is taking them.
Turn service data, licence reviews, and security checks into insights that help clients make better decisions. Never assume budget limits – raise what’s relevant, back it with evidence, and document every recommendation and decision.
Follow up with short video recaps. They’re easy to share, cut through inbox noise, and remind clients you’re proactive, not reactive.
- “There’s no point talking about ticket stats to a business owner, they don’t care about that.”
Key Takeaways
High performing sales teams don’t appear because someone writes a process doc or sets a KPI target. They’re built slowly, through trial, repetition, and a culture that rewards people who take ownership instead of waiting to be told what to do.
The MSPs that get it right treat sales as a system – one that improves a little every week. The goal isn’t to “close more deals.” Rather, it’s to build a team that understands clients deeply enough to make those deals inevitable.
- QBRs aren’t a box to tick – they’re your best sales tool:
When you stop treating QBRs as admin, they become your most valuable meeting. In doing so, they show clients you’re paying attention, that you understand their world, and that you’re helping them make better business decisions. Done well, they strengthen trust more than any discount ever could. - Onboarding shapes your culture:
If you throw new hires into the deep end, they’ll either drown or copy bad habits. That’s why you should take time to train them properly. To do this, walk them through how your business thinks, sells, and serves. It’s not about scripts; it’s about alignment. After all, people can only perform at the level they understand. - Empowerment is practical:
The moment your team stops relying on you for permission, growth accelerates. As a result, ownership creates momentum. The best teams aren’t led by constant supervision but by shared standards. When everyone knows what good looks like, they hold each other to it.
Ultimately, high-performing MSP sales teams aren’t about luck, charisma, or one superstar hire. They’re about structure, repetition, and small improvements that compound over time. Do that consistently, and sales becomes the most predictable part of your business.
FREE Download: What Every MSP Gets Wrong About Sales
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Build the System, Not a Hero
Sales success doesn’t come from one superstar, it’s built on structure, clarity and consistent processes. -
Hire Smart, Not Fast
A sales admin or account manager early on builds lasting momentum, not just short-term wins. -
Make Growth Predictable
Planned structure, clear QBRs, and empowered teams turn chaotic sales into a scalable, repeatable engine.
scaleUP Podcast: Building Sales Teams That Don’t Fail
In this episode of Scale Up, Darren Strong is joined by Michael Johnson (MJ), founder of Sereno IT, to tackle one of the toughest challenges in the MSP world: building a sales team that actually performs.
Drawing on experience, from choosing your first hire to running QBRs that clients value, MJ shares 12+ years of experience leading sales at MSPs and scaling his own. Along the way, expect honest lessons, common mistakes, and practical steps you can use right away.
In this episode, we explore:
- The first sales hire every MSP should make (and it’s not a salesperson)
- Why training takes 6–9 months and how to do it properly
- How to structure account management so it drives growth
- Turning QBRs from “boring updates” into strategic client conversations
- Using video to win trust and stand out from competitors
- The culture and accountability practices that make sales teams stick
To go deeper, watch the full episode here:
