#23 – From the Trenches - MSP Sales Leadership (Rafi Cohn)

In this episode of From the Trenches on the BMK Vision Podcast, Josh Peterson sits down with Rafi Cohn—Head of Sales & Marketing at IntelliComp—to unpack a reality most MSP owners feel but rarely name: the business cannot “scale into sales” by accident. If you’re still selling between tickets, proposals, and escalations, the problem usually isn’t effort—it’s the absence of a repeatable system. If you’re wrestling with your first dedicated sales hire (or whether you should make one), start with how to hire the right sales manager for your MSP and the top indicators your MSP needs a sales consultant.

Rafi’s perspective is unusually practical because he isn’t describing an idealized playbook—he’s living the constraint set. He runs a one-person sales function, carries a bag, and is simultaneously building the blueprint he’d want to hand to the next hire. That tension—produce results today while designing a machine for tomorrow—is where most MSP sales initiatives break down. Owners either stay trapped in founder-led selling forever, or they hire too early and hand a new salesperson a blank page and a quota. Both paths create the same outcome: inconsistent pipeline, inconsistent forecasting, and a constant sense that “we’re busy, but growth is random.”

What emerges in this episode is a leadership model for revenue: stop treating sales as personality and start treating it as governance. Governance means choosing an ideal client profile you can actually list-build against, designing pipeline stages that force decisions (not just “follow-ups”), and aligning marketing with sales so your MSP becomes memorable before the trigger event occurs. MSP sales cycles can be long—yet retention can be measured in decades—so the winner is the MSP that can stay present with discipline, without becoming noisy or desperate.

How do you build a real sales function inside an MSP?

Most MSPs talk about “growth” as if it’s primarily a marketing problem: more leads, more awareness, more content, more conferences. But the constraint in managed services is usually much simpler: you don’t have a sales operating model. You have intermittent selling—often by the owner—performed in the leftovers of the week.

Rafi names two hard truths that many MSPs avoid because they sound discouraging, not energizing. First, the median MSP is small enough that it rarely supports a dedicated salesperson. Second, even when the MSP wants sales capacity, it often can’t articulate a blueprint for success—so it either under-invests and stays founder-led, or over-corrects with a hire that is forced to invent process while being judged on outcomes.

This episode is about replacing improvisation with structure—without stripping away the relationship-driven nature of the work. In managed services, deals are rarely “closed” by a clever pitch. They are earned by credibility, timing, and persistence—supported by a system that keeps you showing up consistently.

The MSP problem this episode solves

The core problem: MSP owners are asked to run two companies at once. One company delivers IT outcomes (service). The other company creates future revenue (sales). In the early years, the same person is expected to lead both—yet each requires different energy, different rhythms, and different measurement.

Rafi describes why IT sales is uniquely difficult: you’re often displacing a trusted incumbent, the switching cost feels high for the buyer, and the decision rarely belongs to a single stakeholder. Even when one person is unhappy, another person may be loyal, related, or simply conflict-averse. That’s why “better pricing” or “more features” rarely moves the needle. The sale is usually a leadership decision about risk, trust, and operational disruption.

The implication is strategic: if you treat pipeline as a casual list of names, you won’t survive the long cycle. You need defined stages, documented next steps, and a discipline that keeps you from mistaking activity for progress. The MSP that wins isn’t the one that talks the most—it’s the one that can follow through the longest without becoming desperate or disorganized.

The hidden economics of MSP sales cycles

In many industries, a long sales cycle is a warning sign. In managed services, it’s closer to a feature. Buyers don’t want to change IT providers often; when they do, the relationship can last a decade—or two. Rafi shares an example of a 20+ year client relationship, which is not unusual for healthy MSPs.

That longevity changes the economics. It means the right question isn’t “How do I close faster?” It’s “How do I build a pipeline and a brand that can stay present until timing unlocks?” Conferences, for example, can be expensive and psychologically reassuring—yet the ROI is often unclear unless you have a point of view and a follow-up system. Speaking slots create leverage; random attendance often creates hope.

Cold calling, by contrast, remains blunt but effective—if the list is right. The hard part is rarely dialing. The hard part is building a list grounded in an actual ideal client profile. A tight ICP turns sales into a process; a vague ICP turns sales into wandering.

Sales leadership when you are still the operator

One of the most useful tensions in this conversation is that Rafi is both the salesperson and the architect of the future sales org. He refuses to hire until he can hand a new rep a blueprint that makes success predictable. That’s a high standard—and it’s the right one.

For MSP owners, the leadership lesson is uncomfortable: you can’t delegate what you haven’t defined. If the owner cannot describe the stages of the sale, the target market, the qualification criteria, and the handoff into operations, then “hiring sales” is really outsourcing uncertainty.

There’s also an operational boundary worth naming. The MSP must decide when technical resources join the sales process—and why. If engineers are pulled into early calls too frequently, you burn delivery capacity. If they are never available, a qualified prospect can’t get the confidence they need. The answer isn’t more meetings; it’s a deliberate, repeatable sequence that respects both sales momentum and delivery economics.

A practical MSP sales system checklist

If you want a sales function that survives the owner (and scales beyond a single charismatic rep), you need a checklist. This episode implies one:

• Ideal Client Profile: Define a target you can actually list-build against (industry, geography, employee range, complexity, compliance environment).
• List discipline: Curate a list you can work repeatedly, not a database you “touch once.”
• Pipeline stages: Use a CRM (like HubSpot) to define stages that force decisions and next steps—not vague statuses.
• Multi-stakeholder mapping: Identify who feels the pain, who owns the relationship, and who signs the check.
• Outbound cadence: Combine cold calls, email, and relationship-driven touches that fit your style (authentic matters).
• Conference strategy: Don’t buy the badge unless you can name the outcome—speaking, introductions from clients, or a clear follow-up plan.
• Creative top-of-mind: Use memorable, human outreach (direct mail, handwritten notes) as a conversation starter, not a magic trick.
• Technical support boundary: Decide when engineering joins a sales conversation and what “good use of their time” means.

The point isn’t to copy someone else’s tactics. It’s to build a system that matches your market, your resources, and your leadership capacity—then run it long enough for compounding to show up.

Episode highlights

• 00:03:10 – The uncomfortable truth: most MSPs have zero salespeople, and many firms are sub-$1M.
• 00:08:26 – Conference ROI is often unclear without a point of view, introductions, or a speaking strategy.
• 00:13:27 – Why IT sales is uniquely hard: incumbents, switching cost, and multi-stakeholder decisions.
• 00:16:32 – Long sales cycles can still be worth it when retention becomes measured in decades.
• 00:19:39 – Pipeline discipline: using CRM stages to manage reality, not just “follow-ups.”
• 00:29:05 – Cold calling still works—if your list and targeting are disciplined.
• 00:42:17 – Creative outreach (espresso pods, handwritten notes) as a top-of-mind opener, not a magic trick.
• 00:46:32 – The “donut crumbs” follow-up: earning a response with humor and persistence.

About the guest: Rafi Cohn

Rafi Cohn is the Head of Sales & Marketing at IntelliComp, a Baltimore-based MSP, where he leads revenue generation as a one-person sales function. Coming from a non-IT sales background and joining the MSP world as a former customer, Rafi brings an outsider’s clarity to a notoriously difficult selling environment: long cycles, high trust requirements, and complex decision-making. He focuses on building a repeatable pipeline and a realistic sales blueprint that can eventually scale beyond founder-led selling.

Connect with Rafi Cohn on LinkedIn →

Frequently asked questions

Do MSPs really need a dedicated salesperson?
Not always—but they do need a dedicated sales system. If the owner is the salesperson, the system protects consistency, measurement, and follow-through.

Why are MSP sales cycles so long?
Switching IT providers carries risk and disruption, and decisions typically involve multiple stakeholders. The cycle is long because trust is the product.

Is cold calling still effective for MSPs?
Yes—when it is paired with a strong list and a clear ideal client profile. The hard part isn’t dialing; it’s targeting the right prospects consistently.

Are conferences worth it for MSP lead generation?
Sometimes. They become far more effective when you have a defined outcome (speaking slot, client introductions, or a disciplined follow-up plan) instead of relying on chance encounters.

How do I hire my first MSP salesperson without wasting a year?
Build the blueprint first: stages, qualification rules, handoffs, and activity expectations. Hiring before definition often turns into outsourcing ambiguity.

How should sales and service interact inside an MSP?
Sales must respect delivery capacity, and delivery must support sales credibility. The right model defines when technical experts join calls and what “good use of time” looks like.

Related resources from Bering McKinley

• How to hire the right sales manager for your MSP
• Top indicators that your MSP needs a sales consultant
• Pairing your sales and service team together is the best of both worlds

Want to continue the conversation?

If you’re an MSP owner trying to move from founder-led selling to a repeatable revenue system—and you want that system to coexist with excellent delivery—we’d love to connect. Explore Vision, our execution operating system for MSPs, or apply to be a guest on the podcast.

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