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

Josh Peterson chats with Alek Perhalo, co-founder of SavePoint IT, about evolving from break-fix to a scalable MSP. Alek shares how an engineer’s product mindset, a strong partner divide, and consistent investment in sales/marketing (a hard 10% of revenue) sparked momentum—plus why he’s bullish on live events and direct mail. In this From the Trenches conversation, Josh Peterson sits down with Alek Perhalo of SavePoint IT (https://savepointit.com) to unpack what it really takes to mature an MSP. An immigrant founder with an electrical/mechanical background, Alek didn’t start out “in IT”—but a product-development mindset and a clean partner split (service operations vs. sales/finance/marketing) became his scaling edge. After years as a break-fix shop, SavePoint shifted to a managed model, built financial literacy, and committed to a non-negotiable rule: 10% of revenue is earmarked for sales and marketing—not profit.

Alek breaks down their current growth stack: HubSpot (https://www.hubspot.com) replacing SharpSpring (https://sharpspring.com), integrated calling and email, and a multi-touch outbound program that blends cold calling, LinkedIn, email, live events, and yes—direct mail. Why direct mail? It’s a memorable touch that amplifies follow-ups and lifts response across channels. He also shares how thought-leadership live events (room-filling sessions on AI, automation, and integrations) deepen client trust and spin off monthly integration projects.

You’ll hear practical lessons on partnering (“own lanes” prevent gridlock), pacing sales hires, and even preparing for acquisitions by treating that 10% as a true growth fund. If you’re stuck between referrals and a real pipeline, this episode shows how to operationalize marketing, measure what matters, and persist through the messy middle.

For proven MSP playbooks—pricing, sales comp, service KPIs, and the Vision system—grab resources at https://beringmckinley.com

[MSP sales] [MSP marketing] [HubSpot for MSPs] [direct mail marketing] [managed services growth] [MSP live events] [integration projects] [MSP acquisitions] [break-fix to MSP] [partner-led MSP] [10 percent revenue for marketing] [multi-touch outbound for MSPs] [owner-led sales strategy] [HubSpot migration from SharpSpring] [MSP thought leadership events] [LinkedIn outreach for MSP] [cold calling cadence MSP] [engineering mindset in MSPs] [service vs business partner roles] [building an MSP sales engine]

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