If there's one thing that we all know about marketing what you do, it's that managed services has a very, very, very, very long sales cycle!

There are lots of reasons for this and unfortunately there's no easy shortcut. In the long term you have to build audiences, grow relationships, and convert relationships. That's the only way to set up a genuine pipeline of hot prospects that will serve you for years.

But I know you have had moments, sitting at your desk or driving in your car, where you feel deep frustration about playing this long game... because the results seem to take ages to arrive.

Let's explore that in today's Monday Motivation.

Paul's 5 min Monday Motivation for 18th May 2026.

Now and again members ask me what metrics they should be focused on and the answer is definitely not vanity metrics such as the number of likes you have.

Instead the two that matter the most are MQLs and SQLs. These stand for Marketing Qualified Leads and Sales Qualified Leads.

I explain what they are and why they're so important in today's Monday Motivation.

Paul's 5 min Monday Motivation for 11th May 2026

If you want to win co-managed IT clients in your area, you have a decision to make by this coming Sunday.

Hopefully you've heard by now that we've launched a second membership. What you currently get from us is now known as the B2B membership. We've launched a second membership aimed at helping MSPs win co-managed IT plans.

That's because the kind of marketing you need to reach and influence IT directors is fundamentally different from the kind of marketing for business owners. It's a different buyer psychology; you need different positioning and different messages.

Right now, you're in a month's free access where you can test drive the co-managed IT marketing. Log in here using your regular MSP Marketing Edge login details: https://cmportal.mspmarketingedge.com/

• If this isn't for you, then you don't need to do anything. You'll lose access to it on this coming Sunday, the 10th of May
• If this is for you and you want to lock your area so it doesn't go on sale to other MSPs, then visit this page and fill in the short form: https://cmportal.mspmarketingedge.com/lock/
  
  

You'll pay nothing now. Then after the 10th of May, we'll add this to your subscription on the date you normally get charged. Remember, there's no contract, and you can cancel any time.

Let me explore this with you in a bit more detail in today's Monday Motivation.

Paul's 5 min Monday Motivation for 4th May 2026

I'm sure you already knew this: There's more profit to be made today selling extra stuff to your existing clients than there is in bringing in new clients.

Sure, new clients are essential to really grow your MSP, but WOW are they expensive! If you added up every penny you spent on marketing, you're probably spending five figures to acquire a new client. That's a high cost of sale.

The beauty of upselling existing clients is that the cost of sale is almost zero. You're leveraging an existing relationship where you can discover their needs, wants, fears, and goals... and match those up with items they'd love.

I've got three unexpected things you could sell your existing clients. Let's explore them in today's Monday Motivation.

Paul's 5 min Monday Motivation for 27th April 2026

You know when an ordinary business owner or manager is thinking of switching MSPs, they have a series of tick boxes that sit in their heart. You must tick all of the boxes before they'll feel comfortable talking to you.

Things like:

• They need to know you TICK
• They need to like you TICK
• They need to trust you TICK
• They need to see social proof TICK
• They need to feel comfortable TICK

This tick box sits in their heart because it's all about their feelings and how they feel about you, versus your competitors. Let's explore that in today's Monday Motivation.

Paul's 5 min Monday Motivation for 20th April 2026

I'm sure you've heard by now that we've launched a second membership designed to help you win co-managed IT clients. Marketing that works well on business owners actually THREATENS IT directors. That's because the psychology is different, as is the language and marketing materials you must use. Hence our second membership. Right now, we're giving you free access to the new co-managed marketing for a month. Have you looked at it yet?

Paul's 5 min Monday Motivation for 13th April 2026

I've started tracking my time again, but only within three categories. Red tasks are things I shouldn't be doing, such as admin. Yellow tasks are things that are OK to do, but in limited quantities. Green tasks are things that grow the business, so I should be doing them all the time. I'm currently running at about 70% green tasks, which is great! Although I'm pushing to increase it to 80%. What percentage of your time do you think is spent on green tasks?

Paul's 5 min Monday Motivation for 6th April 2026

There are very few true crises that you will remember in ten years' time. But when you are in the middle of them, they seem like the biggest headache ever, right? Whether it's cash flow, an upset key client, or something else, it's very easy for us as business owners to obsess and worry and let our thoughts be dominated by the crisis. Let me see if I can help give you some perspective on this.

Paul's 5 min Monday Motivation for 30th March 2026