#18 – From the Trenches - MSP Sales Engine & Direct Mail (Alek Pirkhalo)

Alek Perhalo, Co-Founder at SafePoint IT, joins Josh Peterson to unpack the unglamorous truth of MSP sales: persistence beats one-off sprints. Alek shares how starting as a break/fix shop, learning business fundamentals on the fly, and clearly dividing partner roles (service vs. go-to-market) set the stage for steady growth. The conversation moves from early missteps to practical systems—budgeting, tooling, and touch patterns—that make results predictable. ✅ Enjoyed this episode?  Like, subscribe, and share your biggest takeaway below.  https://beringmckinley.com/bering-mckinley-podcast-blog  👉 Why persistence wins: treating sales/marketing as an ongoing system, not a 90-day experiment 👉 The 10% rule: setting aside ~10% of revenue for sales/marketing—and how to bank it ahead of initiatives or M&A 👉 Tooling lessons: outgrowing SharpSpring and standardizing on HubSpot to centralize email, calling, and integrations 👉 Multi-channel prospecting: pairing cold call, email, LinkedIn, live events, and automated direct mail for more “at-bats” 👉 Thought leadership that converts: using education-first events (AI, automation, data) to spark projects with existing clients You’ll leave with a simple, durable playbook: commit the budget, pick the stack, design the touch mix, and keep showing up. Visit https://beringmckinley.com  for more MSP resources. 🔗 Resources & Links • Alek Perhalo - Safe Point IT: https://safepointit.com • Bering McKinley MSP Consulting: https://beringmckinley.com ⏱️ Chapters 00:01 – Intro & show setup 00:46 – Guest name & SafePoint IT 01:03 – Alek’s trip to Russia (personal backstory) 03:28 – Immigrating at 16 & language learning 04:59 – From engineering to entrepreneurship 08:30 – Partner roles: service vs. sales/finance/ops 11:09 – Product development mindset applied to business 12:45 – Break/fix to MSP (meeting BMK, packaging services) 14:49 – Sales attempts, setbacks, and persistence 17:09 – Budgeting ~10% of revenue for sales/marketing 19:10 – Tooling changes: SharpSpring → HubSpot 21:17 – Fixing DIY mistakes with expert implementation 23:02 – Building a multi-channel plan (outbound + events) 24:36 – Live events for credibility & client expansion 28:01 – Why direct mail still works (automated, cost-effective) 29:23 – Where to find SafePoint IT 29:34 – Wrap-up 🔍 Primary Keywords msp sales strategy, msp marketing, direct mail for msps, hubspot for msps, outbound prospecting msp, msp live events, msp growth playbook, partner roles msp 🔍 Secondary Keywords referral to outbound shift, sales budget 10 percent, appointment setting lessons, sharpspring vs hubspot, pipeline building, thought leadership events, ai automation talks, multi channel outreach #️⃣ Hashtags #beringmckinley, #bmkvisionpodcast, #msp, #managedservices, #mspsales, #mspmarketing, #hubspot, #directmail, #outbound, #leadgeneration, #thoughtleadership, #liveevents, #connectwise, #serviceleadership, #aiinautomation, #smbit