Streamline Your Document Processes with airSlate SignNow's Msp Sales Funnel in Legal Agreements

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what is a MSA or Master service agreement for an MSP we are covering what it is why you need one the importance of it and ultimately how to cover your rear end because it is a very important piece of paper that you probably need to start including in a lot of your agreements with your customers if you don't already have one I'm covering if you need one if you don't need one what's included in it and what it actually does for your MSP my name is Harrison Baron from gr- generators. we help msps with sales training and marketing before I get into today's video as always there's a link down below for the master class go check it out I promise you if you haven't been through it already it is amazing and depending on when you watch this it might be a new one from what you've seen in the past so you're probably going to want to go check that out and number two join the free Discord it's completely free I don't even ask for an email address come join us hang out with us it is an amazing Community we are about to touch 200 people I say these numbers not for you guys but for me so when I can look back I can see the growth of it but it is really really incredible it is a growing community of msps that are helping other msps grow their business so come check it out so what is a managed service agreement now there is a difference between a manag service agreement and an SLA a service level agreement that is in the next video so you're going to want to like And subscribe to that but the MSA or Master service agreement is something that you're prob going to be providing to a client right after you get that contract signed and if you don't already have one it's okay you can still make one no stress there now when you're first starting an MSP you don't you need either an MSA or an SLA in most cases some people like to go all out with an MSA or some people like to use a service level agreement totally up to you when you're first starting out but you have to have one or the other they both do something different now a master service agre agreement the most important thing in my opinion is it defines the services that not only your client is going to get but that you are going to provide for that customer it's in writing which in my opinion is really important because not everyone either thinks to put things in writing and hey when at the end of the day you're like well who's responsible for this I don't know not me not you who knows that's the nice part about your master service agreement it's quite a bit more than your service level agreement it's got a lot more content really defines exactly what you are going to be providing to that customer and this is not something that you are going to build in one night this is probably something you're going to be working on on a fairly regular basis until you have it right where you want it to be at least right now and then you could always revisit it down the road and I do recommend revisiting every 3 to 6 months depending on how often or how big your company is growing the second most important thing is it establishes the terms and conditions of the service it I know that sounds kind of silly but terms and conditions we all hit the little check mark on our computers and we just try to get that little box away but those are really really important you need to have some level of terms and conditions this could literally be anything from how often you're going to get paid when you're expected to get paid additionally what happens to a client if you don't fulfill what you're required to fulfill there's a lot that really goes into those terms and conditions and this is probably the time where I tell you I am not a lawyer but you probably want to have a lawyer look over this and that's why I'm saying if you're a brand new MSP you could probably just get away with an SLA for quite a while but as you progressively hit the $100,000 $200,000 Mark you're going to want to spend a little bit of money and hire a lawyer just to review it and help you write that up but it also helps manage the client's expectations because once again it's in the terms and conditions they don't really have a reason not to know what they're actually getting number three is it helps minimize legal risk ironically enough I just mentioned lawyers you don't want to you want to cover your butt you got to cover the rear end you got to be careful owning a business is the best thing in the world in my opinion but there are some things that you have to be careful of now you can also make your MSA as tight or as open and Broad as you possibly want once you do and you think you have something that you're proud of read it over read it over again read it over again ask a friend to read it over and then once everybody reads it over bring it to a lawyer and ask them to just double check it to make sure that they can understand what you do and how you do it and you might even find a very specific technology or MSP lawyer out there and they're probably going to be able to help you out tremendously easier in that way so you're not you just just cover the rear end that's all I can say at the end of the day you don't want to go through and not protect yourself number four is it's going to help streamline your negotiations because in your MSA unlike an SLA and this is not that video that I should be comparing the two but in your MSA there's a lot that goes into there like who is responsible your future agreements how projects are going to be handled turnaround time for projects the list goes on and on and on non-existent in an SLA SLA service level agreement the level of service that you're going to provide MSA Master service agreement has the it's the master essentially it's going to cover everything in there but it helps streamline these negotiations because it's not like well how are we going to get paid well okay so when are we going to expect a check okay when is the project going to start it's all there that's the beauty of it it's all predefined in your MSA so having that there already is just a weight off your chest but once again once you're at the $100,000 plus $200,000 a year mark then you're probably going to want to spend a little bit of time on your MSA it is an important piece and on top of that if you're not just doing your level your your your help desk your kind of entry level type work you're going to have to do some major overhauls at some point or another you're going to deal with bigger clients they're going to have bigger switches Poe all the sexy words that we like firewalls lands WS all the buzzwords there you might have to do a major major project well who's floating the is the client responsible for 50% up front are they not is it a third is how how are you going to get paid when should you get paid after the Project's completed all of these things defined in the MSA so it removes that uh tearing your hair out of your head and I was trying to come up with a hair joke because you know why not I have no hair but it just makes your life a lot easier yes it will hold you two things because once again it's a legal contract but it does help and a benefit of that number six is it increases your client relationship because at the end of the day yes you have your service level agreement which is your quality of service but your master service agreement is really something that somebody can actually read fully understand and it defines everything in there so your client is going to be happy when they just you know oh well what's actually required or what can they do or if I do a project hey this is Project work it falls into the MSA and then they know it makes it so much easier for you to grow your MSP believe it or not and hey slap that sucker up in the wall right next to your SLA and look at it on a regular basis you're going to see it all the time and just drill it into the back of your mind this is what you're agreeing to and a little spoiler and a pro tip if you do update your MSA try to get all of your customers to sign it so that way you only have to worry about one version of an SL of an MSA instead of 1 2 3 four five versions of an MSA say once again client by client basis and sometimes you might have to tweak a couple things in there but it is really really really important and because it's so important and your client can expect certain things and you can expect certain things it allows for some flexibility there is information in there that your client might need to know or you might need to know and it allows for future growth with your business and last but not least in my opinion is risk management I know I've already said it a couple times but at the end of the day we are working in people's environments it is not like you're just running a social media account where if you make a bad post okay you could take it down and it's not the end of the world if you take down somebody's server or if you accidentally shut down the cloud or if you I don't know accidentally unplug the switch the whole company goes down operations go kaput there is nothing no nobody's making money nobody's happy you have employees standing ground they're angry that things aren't working the way that they were supposed to you have management who's pissed at you because things aren't working the way you're supposed to you might have business owners that are angry that things aren't working the way they're supposed to it stinks but having something in place hey when we do Project work you can expect downtime for this amount of time or we're going to take you down on these certain days of the week if we do a project all of that in the MSA it covers your rear end it covers the client's rear end it is something that you need to have it is not the most fun document to build I'm not going to sugarcoat it I'm a realist I'm honest with you guys it's not like an adrenaline pumping thing where you're going to suck back a Red Bull and say let's do this it's not that you are going to go through this with a fine toothcomb and revise and revise and revise and revise until you get it really really streamlined and either get it tattooed on your arm or up on the wall because it is very very important I have one of my dogs Penny here saying hello at the end of this video but hopefully you guys found some value in this one not the most exciting I know but hey it's it's a real thing that we all got to have for your msps so take your leave it that it is what it is cover your butt don't open yourself up to legal issues have a professional after you've already worked it the way you want it to work look it over cover your butt help your clients be the best MSP on the planet I love you guys I appreciate it hit that like button hit that subscribe button hit the notification Bell and if I missed anything about an MSA the most adrenaline pumping document that an MSP can give out please let me know down in the comments below I love you guys see you guys later bye