#49 – From the Trenches: Cold Calls & the Financial Wake Up (Alan Moon - Integritech)

In this episode of From the Trenches on the BMK Vision Podcast, Josh Peterson sits down with Alan Moon (co-founder of Integritech in Northwest Arkansas) for a grounded conversation about the part of MSP growth nobody brags about: the long, quiet stretch where you’re doing good work, building real capability, and still not winning consistently in the market.

What makes Alan’s story useful is that it’s not framed as a “marketing breakthrough.” The turning points are operational and financial. First, Integritech had to confront the uncomfortable math behind early pricing models (device-based fees, underpriced agreements, and a growing stack of tools without corresponding price increases). Then they had to build a sales motion that could reach the two-thirds of the market that will never find you through referrals. Cold calling—done with process, feedback loops, and persistence—became a lever. But the real wake-up call was learning to stop “feeling” profitable and start proving profitability with segmented revenue, margin clarity, and agreement-level performance.

If you’re an MSP owner who has strong recurring revenue but still can’t explain where margin is created—or lost—this episode will resonate. And if your financial reporting feels unreliable because the underlying time and ticket data isn’t disciplined, pair this conversation with BMK’s guide on accurate time tracking, approvals, and audits in ConnectWise and BMK’s breakdown of the “magic number” behind GPM. For a structured system that connects execution discipline to financial visibility, explore Vision.

How do you make MSP sales repeatable when referrals aren’t enough?

Short answer: you build a deliberate sales motion that reaches people who don’t know you exist—and you keep it running long enough for the process to compound.

Alan describes the mental trap many MSPs fall into: referrals validate your competence, but they don’t create a controllable pipeline. That’s when the whiteboard becomes a strategy tool. If one-third of your clients come from “people we know,” you still have two-thirds of the board left—buyers who will never “stumble across” you unless you choose to pursue them.

• Referrals are a channel, not a strategy
• Outbound creates coverage, not just activity
• Repeatability comes from feedback loops and persistence (not hype)

The MSP problem this episode solves

Many MSPs hit a confusing stage: revenue grows, work feels nonstop, and the owner is still unsure whether the business is getting healthier or just getting bigger.

This episode addresses three common growth constraints that show up right as an MSP starts to mature:

• Sales is “working,” but it isn’t predictable—and cash flow still feels fragile
• Pricing is based on what feels acceptable, not on what the business must earn to scale responsibly
• Financial reporting is too blurry to drive decisions because time, tickets, and categorization aren’t clean

The takeaway is simple: the moment you want to hire intentionally, pay well, and build leadership layers, you need financial truth—not financial hope.

The “financial wake-up call” that changes how you run the business

Alan’s turning point isn’t a new tool. It’s a new relationship with the numbers.

He and Josh unpack the difference between revenue and profitability in the MSP context: not just “what we billed,” but what each service type produces after real delivery cost. That’s where segmentation matters—recurring managed services behaves differently than projects, and licenses behave differently than labor. Without structure, MSPs blend it all together and end up arguing with their P&L because the categories can’t explain the story.

• Segment revenue so margin can tell the truth
• Measure agreements like products, not like relationships
• Stop confusing “busy” with “profitable”

Why time entry is not admin—it’s governance

This episode also makes a point that mature MSP owners learn the hard way: your financial reality is only as good as your operational data.

If time isn’t captured consistently, you can’t trust agreement gross profit, you can’t trust effective hourly rate, and you can’t know whether you’re understaffed or underpriced. Alan describes the practical difficulty of changing culture after years of “being lax,” especially when growth and onboarding mask what’s really happening inside service delivery. That’s why time discipline is a leadership function: define the standard, inspect it consistently, and treat it as non-negotiable operating hygiene.

• Time entry integrity enables agreement-level profitability
• Utilization without clean time is an illusion
• Culture shifts require inspection, not reminders

Pricing confidence is stewardship, not bravado

One of the most useful leadership moments in the episode is Alan’s framing of pricing pushback: “You’re not the cheapest.”

His response isn’t defensive. It’s principled. A well-run MSP is funding reliability, talent, and long-term outcomes—not selling a commodity. If you price like a commodity, you eventually deliver like one. And the irony is that cheap MSP contracts often cost the client more in downtime, turnover, and operational drag than they ever saved on the invoice.

The best part: Alan notes that the 13-month prospects who chose the cheaper option often come back—because “not great” becomes visible once they live in it.

A practical checklist MSP owners can apply this quarter

If you want to turn the lessons from this episode into execution, here’s a simple checklist to work through:

• Segment revenue (services vs. projects vs. licenses) so margin analysis is accurate
• Review agreement performance monthly using clean time and ticket data
• Define a time-entry standard (8 hours/day, daily entry, weekly submission) and inspect it consistently
• Build a repeatable outbound motion (internal or partner-led) with structured feedback loops
• Raise prices with a stewardship narrative: what quality costs, and why it protects outcomes

These are not “growth hacks.” They are governance disciplines—the kind that make growth sustainable instead of exhausting.

Episode highlights

• 00:00:11 – The 8-month dry spell before closing the first MSP deal and what changed to make sales repeatable
• 00:24:59 – The pricing breakthrough that shifted Integritech from guessing to building intentional margins
• 00:38:20 – Why revenue segmentation matters and how different service types create different profit realities
• 00:42:30 – Agreement-level analysis and the pull toward effective hourly rate thinking
• 00:48:00 – The operational reality of time-entry culture and why “reminding techs” fails
• 00:58:36 – Outsourced cold calling done well: process, feedback loops, and long-cycle follow-up

About the guest: Alan Moon

Alan Moon is a co-founder of Integritech, an MSP based in Northwest Arkansas. With a background spanning the U.S. Air Force and large enterprise IT environments, Alan brings a disciplined, data-driven approach to service delivery, operational finance, and scalable growth. His work focuses on building repeatable sales motion, strengthening MSP financial fundamentals, and aligning teams around the metrics that drive healthy margins and long-term client outcomes.

Connect with Alan on LinkedIn →

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take for MSP outbound sales to work?
Long enough to become a process. Outbound often feels “broken” right before it becomes reliable—because it requires repetition, iteration, and follow-up cycles measured in months, not days.

Why do MSPs grow revenue but still feel unprofitable?
Because revenue mix, agreement performance, and delivery costs aren’t segmented and measured cleanly—often due to unreliable time entry and inconsistent categorization.

What is agreement gross profit and why does it matter?
Agreement gross profit measures the profitability of managed services agreements after real delivery cost. It’s the clearest way to identify underpriced contracts and margin leakage.

What is effective hourly rate (EHR) in an MSP?
EHR is a way to translate agreement revenue and delivery hours into a single reality check: what you actually earned per hour after service delivery—based on trustworthy time data.

How do I improve MSP time-entry compliance without constant nagging?
Define the standard once, then inspect consistently in the short term until behavior changes. Time entry is governance, not “admin.”

How should an MSP respond to “you’re not the cheapest”?
Explain what quality funds: talent, process, reliability, and reduced risk. Cheap contracts often create hidden operational costs that exceed invoice savings.

Related resources from Bering McKinley

• MSP consulting services that help you lead, scale, and win
• Managed service provider consulting: your partner for MSP excellence

Want to continue the conversation?

If you’re building an MSP that can scale without margin leakage—and want help connecting sales motion, delivery discipline, and financial truth—explore Vision or apply to be a guest on the podcast.

👉 Apply to be on the BMK Vision Podcast
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