Most MSPs don’t. We didn’t either, for a long time. We winged it. Sometimes it went fine. Sometimes it didn’t. Eventually we realized that winging it on something this important wasn’t acceptable, so we built a process.
Your operational POC is the person you interact with most. The office manager, the controller, the executive assistant, whoever handles day-to-day IT decisions at the client. When that person leaves or moves into another role, the relationship doesn’t pause. Most of the time, it resets. The new person might not know you, might not know the history, and in some cases came from somewhere else and already has a relationship with a different IT firm.
What our process looks like in our MSP
The moment we hear a point of contact is changing, we run an internal meeting, which we call a war room. The account manager, vCIO, service manager, and director of client success are all in the room. The agenda is simple: is there anything lingering at this account? Any open issues, unresolved tension, things the new contact is going to hear about the second they walk in? We want to know before they do.
Then we handle the administrative side. This sounds basic, but it’s easy to miss. Your point of contact shows up in more places than you think: emergency contacts, billing approvals, maintenance notifications, monthly reports, portal access, on-site authorization. We go through the full list and make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
After that, we set up the introductory meeting. This is typically the account manager. Sometimes the vCIO joins. It’s one or both, depending on the account. The goal is to introduce ourselves, walk through our processes, set them up in our portal, and brief them on anything going on they should know about.
If they’re willing, we invite them to our office. We love to have them come see us, get a feel for who we are, and we’ll take them through an office tour. Not all of them come, but we always make the offer.
Then we make sure they’re caught up on the IT plan. We present the last roadmap and budget we put together for their company. The goal is to make sure this person understands the direction we’re heading together, and what we’ve presented to their executives, so they’re not walking in blind when the next project comes up for approval.
Finally, we set recurring meetings. Frequency depends on the account and what’s happening. A client going through a lot of change might need weekly or biweekly check-ins. A stable client might be fine monthly or quarterly.
If you don’t have a process yet, here’s a starting point
Step 1: Internal war room. Who needs to be in the room? What’s lingering? What could surprise us?
Step 2: Administrative update. Emergency contact, billing contact, approval workflows, report distribution, portal access. Go through the full list.
Step 3: Introductory meeting. Account manager leads, vCIO joins when needed. Introduce the team, walk through your processes, set expectations.
Step 4: Office visit invite. Optional but worth offering every time.
Step 5: IT plan briefing. Walk them through the current roadmap and budget. Make sure they understand the direction you’re heading together.
Step 6: Set recurring meetings. Agree on cadence based on the account.
The new point of contact will form an opinion of your MSP very quickly. If you’re organized, responsive, and proactive about bringing them up to speed, that opinion is going to be very different than if you just send a welcome email and wait for them to call with a problem.
A point of contact change is a great opportunity to reset an account. Take it seriously. Show up organized and proactive, and you’ll earn their trust faster than you think.
Simon is the President of S3 Technologies, a leading Canadian MSP he co-founded in 2003. He built and scaled the vCIO team which eventually lead to him co-founding Propel Your MSP in 2018 to help MSPs with their vCIO services.
