Stop Selling Tools, Sell Outcomes (EP 992)
Lewis Pope and Stephanie Hammond from the N‑able Head Nerds team join me live at Empower in Fort Lauderdale to talk about shifting from selling tools to leading with business resilience, governance, and real executive conversations your clients actually care about. We dig into CMMC, compliance, EBRs, and why MSPs need to stop hiding behind tech jargon and start stepping up as advisors.
I sat down with Lewis and Steph from the N‑able Head Nerds crew to unpack what’s really changing in the MSP game: your clients don’t want another tool, they want outcomes and business resilience. We get into the shift from “cybersecurity” as a tired buzzword to a more powerful story around keeping doors open, maintaining revenue, and helping business owners survive their worst day without getting lost in the weeds of MDR, UEM, or whatever the latest acronym is.
We also talk through CMMC, governance, and compliance as real revenue opportunities instead of scary alphabet soup. Lewis shares how he’s building executive‑level tabletop exercises and resiliency pulse checks, while Steph walks through practical ways MSPs can package services, improve their websites, and run profitable executive business reviews without immediately throwing money at another tool. We close by talking about why events like Empower matter so much for MSPs who actually want to grow and not stay stuck in a vacuum.
Chapters
- 00:00 Cold open and conference setup
- 01:15 Introducing the N‑able Head Nerds
- 05:20 What the Head Nerds actually do for MSPs
- 07:40 Training, bootcamps, and CMMC‑ready N‑central
- 10:45 Stop selling tools, start selling outcomes
- 12:35 Building a “resilience‑ready” service program
- 16:00 Governance, GRC, and business resiliency table‑top exercises
- 19:15 Over‑investing in tools vs under‑investing in process and soft skills
- 22:20 Spreadsheets, EBRs, and practical MSP growth tactics
- 26:35 Final takeaways: embracing governance and getting out to peer events
Guests
- Lewis Pope, N‑Able (Head Nerd): https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesecuritypope/
- Stephanie Hammond, N-Able: (Head Nerd): https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanie-hammond/
Shout-outs
- Mike Adler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeadlercto/
- Laura DeBoer, Company: N‑able (GVP of Product) – LinkedIn:
- Craig Fisher: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigfisher23/
Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned
- N‑able: https://www.n-able.com
- N‑able Empower Conference): https://www.n-able.com/empower
- Technica Solutions: https://technicasolutions.com
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🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
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