September 26, 2024 • 37 mins
In this episode of Now That’s IT: Stories of MSP Success, we dive deep with Stephen Riddick, President of CSP, Inc., as he shares his unconventional journey from contemplating law school and ski-bumming in Jackson Hole to mastering enterprise sales at Cisco. Stephen knew he couldn’t just walk into his family’s business—he needed to earn his place by proving himself outside the company. Discover how he leveraged his experience at a global tech giant and an MBA from Duke to transform CSP from a hardware-centric company into a thriving Managed Service Provider. Whether you’re an MSP owner looking to scale or an aspiring entrepreneur seeking inspiration, Stephen’s story of growth, leadership, and strategic vision is packed with insights and actionable takeaways. Don’t miss this compelling episode on what it truly takes to earn your leadership in the IT world!
Let us help you unlock your business's full potential.
N-able Business Transformation is Expert led and Peer informed.These valuable executive programs are tailored to provide effective guidance and a faster path to a scalable and successful business.
Book a Call with Chris Massey now to learn what Business Transformation can do for you!
'Now that's it: Stories of MSP Success,' dives into the journeys of some of the trailblazers in our industry to find out how they used their passion for technology to help turn Managed Services into the thriving sector it is today.
Every episode is packed with the valuable insights, practical strategies, and inspiring anecdotes that lead our guests to the transformative moment when they knew….. Now, that's it.
This podcast provides educational information about issues that may be relevant to information technology service providers.
Nothing in the podcast should be construed as any recommendation or endorsement by N-able, or as legal or any other advice.
The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the podcast does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.
Views and opinions expressed by N-able employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the view of N-able or its officers and directors.
The podcast may also contain forward-looking statements regarding future product plans, functionality, or development efforts that should not be interpreted as a commitment from N-able related to any deliverables or timeframe.
All content is based on information available at the time of recording, and N-able has no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
One, two, three, four .
I didn't want to be that kidthat just goes back and starts
working for his family businessbecause of the easy thing I said
.
You know what, if I'm goingback to CSP, I'm going back
because I've proven success atCisco.
I'm going back because I havean MBA from Duke.
If my last name wasn't Riddick,just because I was the boss of
Slime, I could still go and behired here because of my
(00:23):
accomplishments, not justbecause of my last name, and
that was really important for me.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome to Now that's it stories of MSP success,
where we dive into the journeysof some of the trailblazers in
our industry to find out howthey used their passion for
technology to help turn managedservices into the thriving
sector it is today.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Stephen Riddick, thank you very much for being on
the Now that's it podcast.
Great to be here.
Thank you for the invitation.
You're the president of CSPIncorporated, a Raleigh-Durham
managed service provider thatdelivers customized IT services
and solutions to unique businessproblems.
We're actually in the Enableoffices today in Raleigh-Durham,
so thank you for driving so farto get here.
(01:02):
Easy trip for me.
Exactly right down the road yougot it Awesome.
Thanks, bud.
So before we get into your MSP,why don't we talk a little bit
about your start in IT andsubsequently just your start in
business?
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah.
So I actually took a verywinding path, if you will.
I was a liberal arts major.
In college I was a history andeconomics major.
I had IT in my background.
This is actually it's a familybusiness.
So to put the record straight.
So sort of grew up around CSP.
My dad started it, but I had alittle bit of a contrarian
streak, I think, for a whilewhere I didn't necessarily just
want to be that kid who wentstraight to the family business.
So I thought I was thinkingabout law school for a while.
(01:45):
I went right out of college, Igot my real estate license.
I was thinking about commercialreal estate, development, all
different kinds of routes, butagain I had that.
It was a history and econ majorand but I do think deep down I
always knew I had a nagging, Idon't know, somewhere deep down
I think I knew it might've beenin me.
So actually I did hand up againafter I graduated and sorry,
(02:05):
long-winded answer, but after Igraduated.
I graduated in 2004 and I tookthe LSATs for law school.
I took the GMATs thinking aboutbusiness school.
I got my real estate licenseand also I guess I have an
affinity for politics, or I usedto.
Now I'm sort of jaded by it,but I worked on a campaign
through the fall, and it was anelection year, and then, in
November, campaign was over.
So, man, what I'll do now?
Well, I love to ski.
(02:26):
So, uh, I put everything in mycar.
I didn't know anybody out West,but I drove to Jackson hall,
wyoming, and, uh, what was goingto be just a few weeks as a ski
bomb turned into a couple ofyears.
Um, but the reason I tell thatstory, though, is cause still,
even then, deep down, I think, Iknew I wanted to do something
much bigger, so a lot of skibombs might just be waiting
tables.
I actually got a job as aconcierge of the Four Seasons,
(02:47):
and I say that because that wasan incredible learning
opportunity.
The Four Seasons is just theepitome of service delivery and
how you treat customers, andthey charged so much.
At that point it was over$1,000.
So that day was a ton for theserooms, and it's how do you
deliver the customer serviceexperience to justify that rate.
(03:07):
So that really was a foundationthe customer service much more
than the technology.
And then, after that, I cameback and I said you know what I
do think I didn't want to justcome back and start working for
my dad.
But let me see what thistechnology thing's all about.
So I interviewed with Cisco andwas able to get into.
Well, actually, I did not getinto their sales training
program the first year and itsort of frustrated me.
(03:29):
I went to a good school WakeForest and good grades and
everything else.
I don't know if they didn'ttrust me after being a ski bomb,
but I went and worked my tailoff in marketing at Cisco for a
year and then reapplied and gotin and that's sort of how I got
into technology.
That's great.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So your father, as you mentioned, your father has
this business that you grew up.
While he was running thisbusiness, how early on did he
start having a conversation withyou?
Were you in high school wherehe said, hey, I'd love for you,
you're more than welcome to jointhe business?
Or did he know early on thatyou were going to go to college
and sort of figure it out foryourself?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, great question, and I think a little bit of
both.
I mean, my dad and I have anincredible relationship and
actually weren't even in highschool.
Some I would do some shippingand receiving.
At that point it wasn't amanaged service provider but we
did a lot of contracts with thestate, for print would sort of
turn into managed print beforeit was even managed print.
But so I would do deliveries, Iwould do shipping and receiving
(04:25):
and I even was painting theparking lot one summer, I think,
the lines in the parking lot.
So I was around the business.
But then when it came time to goto college, he never put any
pressure on me at all and theneven getting out it was he
really didn't want me to like Isaid I was a contrarian, I he
really didn't want me to like Isaid I was a contrarian, I
didn't want to go right backinto it.
And he really did push me hey,go back, go out, do your own
(04:48):
thing for a little bit.
I want you to come back becauseyou really want to, not just
because it's an easy thing to do, and I think that was really my
mindset as well.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah that's great.
It was interesting.
I had a very similar upbringing.
My father didn't own a business, but he was always pushing me
like, hey, you go into thisbusiness or you should go to
school for this or whatever.
And I felt like getting thatdegree was really, really
important because that was whereyou figure out a good portion
of your life.
I mean, not everybody usestheir college degree, but you
(05:14):
learn a lot of great skills whenyou're in college right
Survival skills, if you will.
And so you graduate from thisfantastic university in Wake
Forest and you have anopportunity again to go work for
your father or work somewhereelse and you decide to pick up
and do something else.
So what were you looking for?
Think about back when you weregraduating college.
(05:36):
The easy decision for a lot ofpeople would have been all right
, I got this great job, my dad'sgot a successful company, Go
work for him, Even with himsaying, no, go figure out your
job.
This is my dad's got asuccessful company and go work
for him, Even with him saying,no, go figure out your thing.
What was, what did you need?
What were you sort of lookingfor coming out of college?
That that maybe you eventuallyfound out in the ski slopes or
(05:56):
wherever it was.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
You know, and I think there there are a few different
angles there and I think onething for me, um, and looking
back, I don't know if this isthe best answer, but I didn't
want to be that kid that justgoes back and starts working for
his family business because ofthe easy thing I wanted to go
back, I wanted to prove myself,prove that I could do it on my
(06:29):
own and not just sort of be theeasy, take the easy path.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, that says something about you, stephen.
I remember you telling thisstory at one of our business
transformation programs and itwas so impactful that I've
always wanted to stay in touchwith you because I feel like
you've got this complexity toyou.
That is like, look, I'mconfident in myself, but I don't
(06:54):
want it to be like it was givento me.
I want it to be earned, and soI always love that, and
everything that I've seen you doin your career has definitely
been earned.
So I love that.
Congrats on that, well done.
So 2006, I think, was thetimeframe.
You're sort of out of college,you've done a couple of things,
and you go and you become, youjoin Cisco.
(07:16):
Right, you become an accountmanager at Cisco, and they
didn't just throw you into thefield, or I mean they put you
through a very extensivetraining program.
You just talked about that.
You had to apply to get intothe training program and so talk
a little bit about that youjoined Cisco and what was that
like, working at this enterprise?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Of course, man, I learned so much at Cisco and I
have nothing but incrediblethings to say about Cisco.
I mean, I think John Chamberswas one of my first heroes of
business and I still yeah, he'san incredible leader and
visionary and so, yeah, I loveCisco.
For me, I think it was reallyunique.
So Cisco sales training programand I can't remember the exact
numbers, but they brought inabout 60 or 80 people and their
(07:58):
whole for the sales side.
They did not want anybody whohad been in technology nor in
sales and, looking back, I thinkit was partly because probably
they wanted to be able to I hateto use the word brainwash, but
they wanted to be able to teachus their way and they didn't
want anybody coming in with anypreconceived notions on what to
(08:19):
know or expect or how toapproach sales.
So it was, you applied and itwas a bunch of you had to be a
year or two out of college and Ithink that's actually why I
didn't get in the first round iscause I had taken that ski bum
route and I think they're likewell, where are his priorities?
But then I again I said, well,hey, what else can I do?
And I got into marketing,actually drove a van around for
a year going to different exposand all that just was full of
(08:42):
Cisco gear and I would demo.
At that point it was phonesystems that were going all in
on phones and I was demoing callmanager in the back of a van.
And so I did that a year for, Ithink, to really show my
commitment to them andunfortunately, with some of the
relationships I was able to getinto the program the next year.
But I think one of the greatthings for me is A.
I think that it was some humblepie for me and I learned the
(09:04):
technology well, but also, Ithink, just having a couple more
years of maturity under me whenI went into that program and I
just have some amazing friendsthat I still keep up with and so
many people have done so manythings.
But I was just about threeyears older.
But when you're 21, three yearsis sort of a big difference.
And plus I lived here.
A lot of the kids who came inall lived in apartments right by
Cisco and it was sort of aparty, candidly.
(09:27):
But at this point I was, I wasliving with some high school
buddies closer to home, but weare a little bit older.
So I went in with the mindsetof man, I want to learn
everything, I want to be theabsolute best that I can be and
because of that they, they dometrics and all, and I don't
mean it's an arrogant way, but Ifinished, I think, in almost
everything near the top of theclass and really I think I
positioned myself for successfrom there.
And so you come in for about ayear and more or less you're
(09:52):
getting paid to get a PhD inselling and a PhD in Cisco and,
uh, it was just an incredibleexperience.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah, so I was just going to say skating by is not,
you know, one of your uhcharacteristics, right?
So you finished at the top ofthe training program.
What did that mean to you?
To be sort of number one inthat class?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
you know I, I don't know I again, I'm not.
Uh, I'm extremely competitive,uh, inwardly, but I'm not an
outwardly uh.
You know I again, for me it wasmore the pride of the stepping
stone to be able to then go outin the field and have great
success in the field as well,more than being able to pat
(10:27):
myself on the back or anythinglike that, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
So I heard that you did very well at Cisco, slaying
it, if you will, on the salesside.
What were some of thosecharacteristics or those habits
that maybe you learned over theyears of working in the field at
Cisco that you were able tocarry with you and to your
company now?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, I mean so many things, I think.
I mean Cisco is just led byJohn Chambers, an enterprise
sales engine, and I mean rightfrom day one you go out there
and my first boss, who was atrue mentor to me when I went
out into the field, you know,sort of said, in lack of better
terms, hey, I see, quote,unquote, hot shots, like you all
(11:08):
the time.
But hey, now in sales, yournumbers, your number you got to
produce and I think just theexpectation that comes with
every single week, giving thatcommit, hey, what are you
committing this week?
Knowing your business, standingup in front of your peer groups
, being stacked, ranked, etc.
Etc.
Was instilled with me from thestart and I just thought that
(11:29):
was some really good skills thatI still take with me today of
just how sales is run in aBitcoin organization.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
That's great, very good.
So what was it like to work foran international enterprise?
I mean, it's a lot differentright than where you're at today
, but what did it feel like tobe, you know, just sort of
spread across the world?
I mean, do you ever feeldisconnected with people that
you work with, or what's theexperience like?
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, you know as big as it is.
Also it's as small as you makeit as well no-transcript.
So again, I think even in thatyou can make it a smaller
experience.
I think one of the things thatI don't think I appreciated
(12:14):
enough, just strictly from asales standpoint it's honestly,
it's easy, because just the nameCisco, they could care less who
I am, but I could call any ofmy clients, even if they had
never bought Cisco, and say, hey, I'm your new Cisco rep and I
could get a meeting.
I could get a meeting with theCIO, with anybody, just because
I was their Cisco rep and theywanted to know what was going on
(12:36):
.
So I think getting your foot inthe door was easier maybe than
an MSP, just because you havethe name recognition at Cisco
Coming to then an MSP side, youdon't have that same name
recognition.
So I think that was one thingthat I maybe took a little bit
for granted initially.
But I think the resources thatyou have because of that again
just an incredible learningexperience, what I was sitting
(12:56):
at night, just not anything thatI did, but just because of my
name, my company and I couldcall in international resources
or take clients out to San Joseto the executive briefing center
or just have all of thesesubject matter experts at my
fingertips and really, in a lotof ways, at that point I'm just
the quarterback.
I'm just trying to get theright resource to talk to the
right person with the client toreally just move things to the
(13:17):
next step of the sales processwhere you just sort of
quarterback it through but youhave an unlimited amount of
resources, which is just veryhelpful.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
That's amazing.
So you spent, I think, almostsix years, or about six years,
at Cisco.
What made you realize that itmight be time to go and work at
CSP with your dad?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, and I think there were a couple of things
going on simultaneously.
One, I just I'm a sponge and Ijust I love to learn and always
yearning to learn more.
And at Cisco I'd had incrediblemanagers, as I mentioned, and
they were both mentors.
And one thing that I reallyloved is that they both
(13:55):
approached sales totallydifferent.
My first manager was agentleman, david Midkiff, and he
was just a relationalsalesperson.
He could connect with anybody,build an amazing relationship,
and that was sort of his salesapproach.
My next manager, matt, was muchmore sort of data numbers
(14:16):
driven deep in the numbers, andthey both worked and they both
worked extremely well and it'slike, okay, well, hey, what are
some nuggets I can take fromDavid's approach?
What are some nuggets I cantake from Matt's approach?
And then I got to the point too, and I was getting my thirties
I'd always sort of had ayearning um to go back to school
.
I intentionally was in college.
I was, like I said, a liberalarts major and one of the
(14:38):
reasons I didn't do businessundergrad cause I think I always
knew deep down I wanted to goback and get my MBA and I said
you know what?
I don't want to just get aundergrad business to then go
back and get graduate business?
No, and I love the liberal arts.
I think liberal arts teachesyou and I know liberal arts are
under assault right now but oneof the biggest values it teaches
you how to think.
It teaches you how tocommunicate, how to comprehend
things, and so I went and tradethat for the world, but I still
(15:02):
then wanted to have some of thattrue business tactical
understanding.
So again, I was probably sixyears in and I had uh, again
fortunately seen some greatsuccess.
I felt like I had learned a tonand just saying, all right, hey
, what is next?
And if I'm going to dosomething, obviously my dad's
getting older, maybe now is thetime.
And so I applied to someexecutive MBA programs, was
(15:25):
lucky enough to get into Dukeand I was still living in
Atlanta and it was a weekendprogram where every other
weekend would come back and do along weekend in Durham, and so
it was traveling back and forthand sort of similar to Cisco.
At this point I was just such adork.
I wish I would have been likethis in undergrad, but I just
wanted to learn as much as Icould and so get all in and then
, as this is happening, I saidyou know what if I'm going back
(15:46):
to CSP?
I said you know what if I'mgoing back to CSP, sort of where
I started a few minutes ago I'mgoing back because I've proven
success at Cisco.
I'm going back because I havean MBA from Duke.
If my last name wasn't Riddick,just because I was the boss of
something, I could still go andbe hired here because of my
accomplishments, not justbecause of my last name, and
that was really important for me.
That's good.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
So you interviewed for the position at CSP.
Was that your decision or wasthat your dad's decision?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
You know, I think it was both, both of us and I think
cause he was, he was the sameas me, nothing was ever forced,
but you know, I think we werealways in alignment.
That hey, he didn't want.
I think he also saw value in,uh, csp, of me going to his
place like Cisco, learning andbeing able to bring new ideas
and not just sort of coming inand sort of doing things the CSP
(16:36):
way, but rather be able to havethat expertise.
So you know, it wasn't aformalized interview but it was
more of a hey, what have youlearned?
What do you think, how do youthink you could impact us?
What are some value you couldbring?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, so you took over.
I think you became VP of salesand marketing there.
Can you talk a little bit aboutsort of where CSP was when you
joined and maybe what you saw asan opportunity to improve with
the sales and marketing thego-to-market size of that house?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, and so actually I came in first, I did it and I
can't remember the exact datesbut a couple of years just as an
account manager, as asalesperson and you know, like a
lot of MSPs, you know I thinkwe've transitioned.
Heck.
We started when we started andwe started in 1995.
So sort of CSP1 data was moreof the hardware, the mainframe,
(17:28):
you know.
Again we were doing a lot ofprinter maintenance, hardware
maintenance, that kind of stuff.
And then we pivoted more intothat VAR mindset.
So again at one point we weredoing a ton of Cisco.
I think we were even a Ciscosmall business part of the year
in the southeast one year.
And then that pivot again tomanaged services.
And I think when I joined, to becompletely blunt, I think we
(17:52):
were trying to sort of do bothand I think we were a little
stuck in the middle and we weredoing both okay, but we hadn't
really.
Again we were going ManningServices but we still had this
sort of legacy VAR and it's howdo you play it together?
And so honestly, when I becamethen sales manager, I mean I
kept seeing the MRR and what wegot to go more MRR, got to go in
(18:13):
, more MRR.
But also we had this legacy wewere trying to protect and we
had some salaries.
That man we had to have theproject business and I'll admit
it got tight there for a fewyears, just because I mean, by
definition the MRR is buildsupon itself, but used to.
When let's just say we wereselling, let's just say, a
classic Cisco phone system,let's say it was a decent size
(18:34):
deal, maybe that's a hundredthousand dollar deal that we'd
be getting right there from thestart, whereas we sell a hosted
solution and you know, maybeyou're getting 3k, 4k a month
and if you figure over a fiveyear period you're going to end
up making more.
But also in the real time andshort term, man, that's a big
hit.
When you're taking a hundred Kthousand dollar deal verse, you
(18:54):
know, uh, just some labor and afour K dollar thousand dollar
deal.
So there were some as wepivoted, it got tight and I kept
just sort of having to tell herhey, trust, hey, as we're
building up this MRR just trustus, we can see sort of that
roadmap, that path out.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
But yeah, it was tight there for a bit.
So but you ran sales for anumber of years and there were
some things that you learned andthings that you sort of
massaged or changed orredirected.
But what were some of yourtakeaways, stephen, over those?
Your time in sales that reallystuck with you.
Your time in sales that reallystuck with you?
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yeah, you know, I think for me, my, I have a
couple mantras for sales, but Ithink the biggest one and
honestly I think it goes back toCisco is that sales is just
such a numbers game and I'm justsuch a believer in the funnel
that you got to just throw asmuch as you possibly can into
the funnel.
And if you just do, let's justdo easy math here.
(19:51):
But you know a salesperson,you're going to have small close
rates and the best salespersonversus the worst salesperson is
by accident.
You're gonna be closing deals.
So let's say that you've throwna million dollars just for
round numbers into that pipe andlet's say you have a
salesperson that is maybeclosing 10% of that.
So let's just say 100k.
Wait, hold on.
(20:12):
Sorry, I'm not giving thatanalogy.
Well, let's say so.
Yeah, let's say, but then allright.
Then let's say that you havesomebody.
Let's say they're an awesomesalesperson.
So let's say they have millionin the pipe.
Let's say they're even at a 20%close rate, which for new
business would be huge.
So 200k First.
Let's say, on the other hand,that you have somebody that
maybe isn't even as good asalesperson, but they're just
out there hunting, they're goingso hard and they've thrown $10
(20:34):
million in the pipe, but they'rea 10% close rate.
That number is going to bebigger at the end of the day.
So it's really just how muchcan you throw in at the top and
then just from there look at thenumbers.
All right, so if we're throwinga lot of top, well, are we
getting a lot of proposals outthe door?
Well, if you're throwing a tonin the top but you're not
getting a lot of proposals outthe door, then hey, let's work
on how we're qualifying, let'swork on the questions we're
asking, let's work on trying toidentify, asking the right
(20:57):
questions, and then, if you'regetting the pipe, the initial
pipeline you're really justbecomes a numbers game at that
point.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, so you already talked about a couple of these
things, but you've worked insales in both an MSP and a
non-MSP.
What's something you think MSPsmight be doing incorrectly when
it comes to sales?
And you talked about a coupleof the ways the activity and
what their pipe looks like.
But you know, maybe just from ageneral sales perspective, what
do you think some MSPs mightnot be considering that you may
(21:35):
have seen at the corporate sideor your MSP today.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I think there are a couple things.
One is I really tried to, as asales leader, tried to lean into
what made that salespersonsuccessful and not just be so
prescriptive of, hey, this isthe way, and obviously we have a
framework and a sales process.
So I'm going to actually taketwo different places.
One, that sales process.
(21:59):
I think that is the biggestthing.
I think understanding yourprocess and realizing that, hey,
when you're making that firstcall, you're not trying to close
a deal.
I've seen so many salespeoplethink that, oh, I'm a
salesperson, so they pick up aphone and they're trying to like
close on the first call.
It's like no, just follow yourprocess, that first call, all
you're trying to do is get ameeting.
You honestly don't want tospend too much time on the phone
with them, because if you'respending too much time on the
(22:22):
phone with them, that's going togive them an opportunity for a
no, don't try to sell anything.
Just listen, just ask a ton ofquestions, try to identify needs
and just keep moving in alonguntil ultimately at the end.
If you have followed thatprocess and you've identified
budget, you know who's signing,you know who the key players are
, you know the timeline, youknow what the blockers are.
If you check all the boxes, bythe time you get to that
(22:43):
signature it's like okay.
Well, mr Client, you know Ilearned all this.
We've checked every single box.
Here you go.
Getting the signatures is aneasy part at that point and I
think a lot of salespeoplestruggle and again, they're just
trying to sell too early,whereas no, just follow the
process.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, that's good, Steven.
So I laugh because this is notyou, but I call this next
section.
I'm kind of a big deal and thisis all about you sort of taking
over.
So at some point in time,either over family meals or
during some meetings, somecompany sessions, your dad had
sort of said, like I want tostep back, I want to move you
(23:19):
into.
You know, take over aspresident.
Were you ready for thatchallenge?
Is that something that you hadsort of seen over the years and
he started to groom you, or wasthat a little bit of a surprise?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
No, I think I was definitely ready for it and even
to me I was ready for itpersonally as well, just because
I love to lead and I don't wantanybody to take this the wrong
way.
I mean I love technology, Ilove managing services, but for
me, I love to build things, Ilove to lead people.
I mean it goes back to, youknow, high school.
I was president.
(23:52):
I was super involved in studentgovernment, I was president of
clubs and president of school.
I mean, in college I waspresident of my fraternity.
So I think I just always I loveleading people and I love
trying to help people, I lovebeing a servant leader.
So from that side of it, I thinkit just sort of fell in.
And then again, with thebackground, some of the things
I've done.
I think that step was just veryeasy and natural for me.
(24:15):
Then, on the family businessside, yes, I think as well.
I think just we got to a pointwhere my dad was saying man, I
want to slowly start phasingback and we have a great
learning system.
He's still involved and I lovethat and I want him to be, but
at least on the day to day he istaking a little bit of a step
back.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
He's a great guy, I've gotten to know him.
He loves his barbecue,definitely critiques the
barbecue when you bring it in.
So when you took over aspresident, obviously you had
been involved in the businessfor a number of years already
and you had made some changes.
But being in that role as sortof I'm in charge now or it's my
call, was there anything thatyou were looking to do, either
(24:51):
right away or over that first,you know, six to eight months?
Speaker 1 (24:55):
So any sort of big changes, or at least you know
changes, just to just torearrange things or anything
like that, anything you couldthink of, yeah, you know, I'd
spent a lot of time thinkingabout that because I really I
love business and again it'ssort of a puzzle to me and how
can we sort of unleash the powerof this?
But also I'm a realist and Ithink that you know so much of
(25:17):
leadership.
I sort of went on a listeningtour.
Honestly, and obviously I'vebeen around for a while, I knew
everybody, but just tried to goyou know, now in a different
role, you know, get a pulse ofwhat's going on.
You know now in a differentrole, you know, get a pulse of
what's going on.
And I think the biggest thingand not that this wasn't
happening, but really justempowering people and listening
and trusting them to go executeand trying to really just set
(25:39):
some big picture, top levelgoals hey, here's what we want
to accomplish.
I think, like a lot ofcompanies, we could and we still
can, get in a tendency oftrying to knock out 10 different
things and maybe doing all ofthem OK, as opposed to that
saying, hey, what are a few bigrocks?
(26:00):
And let's go execute on thosebiggest rocks, let's knock them
out and then let's go on to afew more big rocks, yeah very
good, good EOS reference therefor those view you MSPs
listening that haven't done anyresearch on that.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
So obviously lots of different responsibilities as
president, way more than whenyou were leading the sales team,
and I assume you still haveyour eye on the sales side of
the business.
I know you were on a callbefore this meeting, so you're
as you rightfully should.
You are, you are, they arebuying you now.
Right, You're the face of thecompany.
Your dad was for years and theRiddick name.
(26:35):
You're that face.
So you're still very muchinvolved.
But let me ask you, of all theresponsibilities and the roles,
what's the thing that gets youthe most excited?
What do you wake up every daygoing?
I can't wait to do this or bepart of this.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Oh man, I I'm such a vision strategy guy.
I love thinking where, whereare we trying to get to?
And, um, you know, two, three,five years down the road, where
do I think we need to go?
And again, I'm also competitiveand I love winning, so I love
to be able to see, um us takingsteps to get there.
So I think that that'sdefinitely what excites me the
(27:10):
most.
And then also, though I am aculture, I'm a relationship guy.
I love just making thoseconnections with our employees.
I mean, I'm such a big believerin our vision is to leave a
positive, lasting impact on ourpeople, our clients and our
community.
And to me, in my mind, it's got, it has it's.
It's very deliberate that ourpeople are first and we just got
to leave an impact on them.
And I'm a realist.
I'm not from an age where Iexpect people to work with us
(27:32):
for 50 years and get a Rolex atthe end and ride off into the
sunset after a big, you know,retirement party, but saying,
hey, how can we grow and buildup the individuals in our team?
And if it works for them to beat CSP for a while, great.
But hey, if I grow somebody tothe point, and maybe they've
outgrown us and they go on andhave an awesome career somewhere
else, then I've done my job aswell.
So I just I love that, thoserelationships and trying to
(27:52):
groom success for everyone.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
That's awesome.
I bet you're a really fun guyto work for too.
You seem like you bring a lotof energy and positivity to the
job on a daily basis, so so keepup that that mantra there, that
good work you've got.
So you decided, like many MSPs,to join a peer group with MSPs
that were sort of similarmaturity.
Why was that so important forCSP at the time you did, and
(28:16):
what's that sort of meant foryou over the over the couple of
years?
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Yeah, it's been an incredible opportunity for me
and I mean, we'd been a part ofsome my dad had been a part of
some and got me engaged in thepast.
But again, I was more on theperiphery of those and then I
think when COVID hit, obviouslyeverything sort of blew up and
everybody sort of battened downthe hatches and it's sort of all
right, let's get through thisand that then sort of timed with
then coming out of that.
(28:40):
Then when I became presidentand said, all right, hey, I
think this is something I reallywant to re-engage in and the
value to me has just beeninstrumental.
I age in and the value to mehas just been instrumental.
I think I like a reference.
I'm a sponge, I love to learnand I hope I have a few good
ideas to share with the peergroup.
But just the trust, camaraderie, the accountability that it
(29:02):
brings and seeing what some justincredible MSPs are doing and
hopefully just take no offensebut yes, you know, borrow a
great idea or two whilehopefully I can do the same with
them is been just enormous forus.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
The thing that I loved about you joining the uh,
the in-person peer group that wehave here and enable, was, um,
you were you weren't theoriginal founding member of that
group.
You had to be let in, and soone of the things you had to do
was sort of interview or try out, and you had prepared so well
for that that I think you know Isat with the group afterwards
(29:34):
and they're like yeah, that's a,this is a no brainer.
You had done such a good joband and sort of conveyed what
you were trying to get out of itand I thought it was a rubber
stamp approval, but I stillwanted to prepare, and for me it
was a great exercise though,because, again, it forced me I
(29:55):
think all of us as businessleaders.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
It's so easy to get stuck in the business and that
day to day just responsive inthe business, and I think that
really forced me to come out ofthe business and really think
through.
I wanted to be able to sharewith them.
Hey, here's my vision.
Also, it forced me to befocused on the business a little
bit, and it turned out that,again, I guess it wasn't a
rubber stamp, but I'm glad Ispent the time on it Well, done.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
It stuck with me.
That's how well it was done, sogreat job.
So I've gotten to know you overthe last few years through the
relationship really that you'vehad with Enable and really the
partnership that you have withEnable, and so let me just ask
you talk about how important, orwhy partnerships are so
important to CSP.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Definitely so.
We now go by CSP, but our nameis Computer Service Partners was
our original and we ultimatelywent CSP.
It sounded a little antiquatedlike break fix but partners and
we ultimately went CSP.
It sounded a little antiquatedlike break fix but partners, and
so much.
Again, going back to our visionand our mission, it's
developing partnerships.
One of our core principles ispersonalize it.
You know we're in an industrythat so much of what we can do
(31:00):
can be done remotely, can bedone via an automation.
But I'm still we're in NorthCarolina, I'm still a big
believer that people buy frompeople, that people work with
people and it's all aboutcultivating those relationships.
Honestly and I'm not sayingthis just because you invited me
(31:21):
in today but when I look atwhere Enable's come here in the
past few years, I feel likethere's much more of that the
relationship and the partnershipthat we have.
We feel like it is a truepartnership as opposed to,
candidly, some of the othervendors right now Maybe we don't
feel like that as much.
We feel like we're maybe just anumber or just sort of a
mechanism to go sell.
But yeah, very high on Enablefor that partnership.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Appreciate that and it goes both ways Like it's
incredibly valuable to get yourfeedback on what we're doing,
both through the product as wellas through some of the programs
that we're running.
So it's been great to havefolks like you, partners like
you, really share.
So it's awesome.
All right, so last couplequestions here.
Talk a little bit about thesort of where CSP is today and
(32:01):
maybe the outlook for the future.
Do you have any sort of goalsor rocks that you have
identified that you're hoping totake care of over the next
couple of years?
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah.
So I mean, where we are now is,man, I'm just so proud of our
team.
We've, I think, and nothingthat I've done, but since I
became president, I think we'reup, you know, 30, 35% or so top
line.
So I mean there's been somegreat growth that we're very
proud of.
I mean, our big theme, though,this year, is the foundation,
cause I mean I really want tokeep growing.
(32:33):
I want to keep growing a lot and, um, another expression I love
is what got you here, can't getyou there, and I think you know
we've unlocked a few things toget us here, but now to get us
there, I think we need to unlockmore and really we got to build
more of a foundation forscalability.
I think everyone on our teamcares so much, and I think we've
been able to let hard work getus here.
(32:56):
We will outwork anybody andwe'll build those great
relationships, but I think totruly scale it, there's a lot
more we need to do from anoperational efficiency
standpoint.
Another reason I've loved thepeer group is because they've
given me so many ideas and I seehow great some of these MSPs
are when it comes to theiroperational efficiency.
So, uh, and also sales too, Imean, I think with our sales, uh
(33:17):
, really across the board.
Long story short, we just needto continue to build a scalable
foundation that can really justpush us to even greater heights.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
That's great.
I'm confident you guys aregoing to do that and I wish you
the best of luck there.
So, uh, what advice would yougive to younger Steven?
Maybe ski bum Steven, or oreven before that, now that you
uh have gotten to where you aretoday?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
man, I really think, um, you know, I try not to look
back a ton, I try not to livewith any regret.
All right, here's the oh.
I'm going to go very small andtactical here.
I have a cousin who I'm superclose with and he lived.
He was working with Caterpillarat a school and he was living
(34:02):
in Beijing and me and hisbrother and another one of our
cousins we're going to try totake like a two-week trip, uh,
one summer, to go visit him anddo all of southeast asia.
He was living in beijing so wehad a tour.
He got built in, for whateverreason.
I was 25, I was at cisco makinggood money.
I could afford it.
I think it was honestly likesummer.
So cisco's q4 and I'm just likeguys, sorry, I can't pull this
(34:23):
off and that is a huge.
That's probably the only regretI have.
It's, like you know, lookingback, why in the world didn't I
just get in and go travel.
Exactly, take that trip, sorrythat's not what you're looking
for, but that is one that I'llgo with.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
I think that's good advice, because I think a lot of
business owners, or even youknow folks that are trying to
move up in the world they say noto a lot of stuff that are
missed experiences world.
They say no to a lot of stuffthat are missed experiences, and
so I think that was one of thebest pieces of advice that I
ever got early on is work hardbut play hard, Enjoy your life,
(34:55):
Enjoy the time, because life isshort and you know you never
know that you may not get totake that trip again.
So I think that's good advicefor sure, Stephen, All right, so
we like to ask this question toevery single one of our guests,
and uh, and I didn't tell youthat I was going to ask this
question, so, so I'm hoping thatthis doesn't stump you, but
(35:17):
this is what?
Uh, the name of the podcast isthe now that's it.
Podcast.
So I like to ask everybody whendid you know?
Now that's it?
When did you know?
Now that's it?
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Man, I'm going to take a different direction there
too.
I really I mean, I think, myfamily, having kids, getting
married and having kids, to methat is.
I love what we're doing at CSPand I'm so proud of what we're
doing at CSP, but I truly do.
I work to live and not live towork, and you know, for me
(35:52):
that's it.
When it comes to the family andthose experiences that you
referenced having fun with them,raising that family just
incredible.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
That's important, and maybe the type of father you
are, the type of leader that youare, maybe you inspire them to
work for you someday and takeover the business right.
So this could be the beginningof the next phase of CSP.
So that's great, stephen, thankyou so very much for being here
today.
This is always a pleasuretalking to you.
I love hearing your stories.
(36:19):
I wish you and the rest of theteam your dad.
I wish you guys the best ofluck.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Well, thank you, chris, and thank you for the
invitation and great to spendsome time with you Sounds and.
Thank you for the invitationand a great to spend some time
with you, sounds good.
One, two, three, four .
I didn't want to be that kidthat just goes back and starts
working for his family businessbecause of the easy thing I said
.
You know what, if I'm goingback to CSP, I'm going back
because I've proven success atCisco.
I'm going back because I havean MBA from Duke.
If my last name wasn't Riddick,just because I was the boss of
Slime, I could still go and behired here because of my
(00:23):
accomplishments, not justbecause of my last name, and
that was really important for me.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome to Now that's it stories of MSP success,
where we dive into the journeysof some of the trailblazers in
our industry to find out howthey used their passion for
technology to help turn managedservices into the thriving
sector it is today.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Stephen Riddick, thank you very much for being on
the Now that's it podcast.
Great to be here.
Thank you for the invitation.
You're the president of CSPIncorporated, a Raleigh-Durham
managed service provider thatdelivers customized IT services
and solutions to unique businessproblems.
We're actually in the Enableoffices today in Raleigh-Durham,
so thank you for driving so farto get here.
(01:02):
Easy trip for me.
Exactly right down the road yougot it Awesome.
Thanks, bud.
So before we get into your MSP,why don't we talk a little bit
about your start in IT andsubsequently just your start in
business?
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah.
So I actually took a verywinding path, if you will.
I was a liberal arts major.
In college I was a history andeconomics major.
I had IT in my background.
This is actually it's a familybusiness.
So to put the record straight.
So sort of grew up around CSP.
My dad started it, but I had alittle bit of a contrarian
streak, I think, for a whilewhere I didn't necessarily just
want to be that kid who wentstraight to the family business.
So I thought I was thinkingabout law school for a while.
(01:45):
I went right out of college, Igot my real estate license.
I was thinking about commercialreal estate, development, all
different kinds of routes, butagain I had that.
It was a history and econ majorand but I do think deep down I
always knew I had a nagging, Idon't know, somewhere deep down
I think I knew it might've beenin me.
So actually I did hand up againafter I graduated and sorry,
(02:05):
long-winded answer, but after Igraduated.
I graduated in 2004 and I tookthe LSATs for law school.
I took the GMATs thinking aboutbusiness school.
I got my real estate licenseand also I guess I have an
affinity for politics, or I usedto.
Now I'm sort of jaded by it,but I worked on a campaign
through the fall, and it was anelection year, and then, in
November, campaign was over.
So, man, what I'll do now?
Well, I love to ski.
(02:26):
So, uh, I put everything in mycar.
I didn't know anybody out West,but I drove to Jackson hall,
wyoming, and, uh, what was goingto be just a few weeks as a ski
bomb turned into a couple ofyears.
Um, but the reason I tell thatstory, though, is cause still,
even then, deep down, I think, Iknew I wanted to do something
much bigger, so a lot of skibombs might just be waiting
tables.
I actually got a job as aconcierge of the Four Seasons,
(02:47):
and I say that because that wasan incredible learning
opportunity.
The Four Seasons is just theepitome of service delivery and
how you treat customers, andthey charged so much.
At that point it was over$1,000.
So that day was a ton for theserooms, and it's how do you
deliver the customer serviceexperience to justify that rate.
(03:07):
So that really was a foundationthe customer service much more
than the technology.
And then, after that, I cameback and I said you know what I
do think I didn't want to justcome back and start working for
my dad.
But let me see what thistechnology thing's all about.
So I interviewed with Cisco andwas able to get into.
Well, actually, I did not getinto their sales training
program the first year and itsort of frustrated me.
(03:29):
I went to a good school WakeForest and good grades and
everything else.
I don't know if they didn'ttrust me after being a ski bomb,
but I went and worked my tailoff in marketing at Cisco for a
year and then reapplied and gotin and that's sort of how I got
into technology.
That's great.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So your father, as you mentioned, your father has
this business that you grew up.
While he was running thisbusiness, how early on did he
start having a conversation withyou?
Were you in high school wherehe said, hey, I'd love for you,
you're more than welcome to jointhe business?
Or did he know early on thatyou were going to go to college
and sort of figure it out foryourself?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, great question, and I think a little bit of
both.
I mean, my dad and I have anincredible relationship and
actually weren't even in highschool.
Some I would do some shippingand receiving.
At that point it wasn't amanaged service provider but we
did a lot of contracts with thestate, for print would sort of
turn into managed print beforeit was even managed print.
But so I would do deliveries, Iwould do shipping and receiving
(04:25):
and I even was painting theparking lot one summer, I think,
the lines in the parking lot.
So I was around the business.
But then when it came time to goto college, he never put any
pressure on me at all and theneven getting out it was he
really didn't want me to like Isaid I was a contrarian, I he
really didn't want me to like Isaid I was a contrarian, I
didn't want to go right backinto it.
And he really did push me hey,go back, go out, do your own
(04:48):
thing for a little bit.
I want you to come back becauseyou really want to, not just
because it's an easy thing to do, and I think that was really my
mindset as well.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah that's great.
It was interesting.
I had a very similar upbringing.
My father didn't own a business, but he was always pushing me
like, hey, you go into thisbusiness or you should go to
school for this or whatever.
And I felt like getting thatdegree was really, really
important because that was whereyou figure out a good portion
of your life.
I mean, not everybody usestheir college degree, but you
(05:14):
learn a lot of great skills whenyou're in college right
Survival skills, if you will.
And so you graduate from thisfantastic university in Wake
Forest and you have anopportunity again to go work for
your father or work somewhereelse and you decide to pick up
and do something else.
So what were you looking for?
Think about back when you weregraduating college.
(05:36):
The easy decision for a lot ofpeople would have been all right
, I got this great job, my dad'sgot a successful company, Go
work for him, Even with himsaying, no, go figure out your
job.
This is my dad's got asuccessful company and go work
for him, Even with him saying,no, go figure out your thing.
What was, what did you need?
What were you sort of lookingfor coming out of college?
That that maybe you eventuallyfound out in the ski slopes or
(05:56):
wherever it was.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
You know, and I think there there are a few different
angles there and I think onething for me, um, and looking
back, I don't know if this isthe best answer, but I didn't
want to be that kid that justgoes back and starts working for
his family business because ofthe easy thing I wanted to go
back, I wanted to prove myself,prove that I could do it on my
(06:29):
own and not just sort of be theeasy, take the easy path.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, that says something about you, stephen.
I remember you telling thisstory at one of our business
transformation programs and itwas so impactful that I've
always wanted to stay in touchwith you because I feel like
you've got this complexity toyou.
That is like, look, I'mconfident in myself, but I don't
(06:54):
want it to be like it was givento me.
I want it to be earned, and soI always love that, and
everything that I've seen you doin your career has definitely
been earned.
So I love that.
Congrats on that, well done.
So 2006, I think, was thetimeframe.
You're sort of out of college,you've done a couple of things,
and you go and you become, youjoin Cisco.
(07:16):
Right, you become an accountmanager at Cisco, and they
didn't just throw you into thefield, or I mean they put you
through a very extensivetraining program.
You just talked about that.
You had to apply to get intothe training program and so talk
a little bit about that youjoined Cisco and what was that
like, working at this enterprise?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Of course, man, I learned so much at Cisco and I
have nothing but incrediblethings to say about Cisco.
I mean, I think John Chamberswas one of my first heroes of
business and I still yeah, he'san incredible leader and
visionary and so, yeah, I loveCisco.
For me, I think it was reallyunique.
So Cisco sales training programand I can't remember the exact
numbers, but they brought inabout 60 or 80 people and their
(07:58):
whole for the sales side.
They did not want anybody whohad been in technology nor in
sales and, looking back, I thinkit was partly because probably
they wanted to be able to I hateto use the word brainwash, but
they wanted to be able to teachus their way and they didn't
want anybody coming in with anypreconceived notions on what to
(08:19):
know or expect or how toapproach sales.
So it was, you applied and itwas a bunch of you had to be a
year or two out of college and Ithink that's actually why I
didn't get in the first round iscause I had taken that ski bum
route and I think they're likewell, where are his priorities?
But then I again I said, well,hey, what else can I do?
And I got into marketing,actually drove a van around for
a year going to different exposand all that just was full of
(08:42):
Cisco gear and I would demo.
At that point it was phonesystems that were going all in
on phones and I was demoing callmanager in the back of a van.
And so I did that a year for, Ithink, to really show my
commitment to them andunfortunately, with some of the
relationships I was able to getinto the program the next year.
But I think one of the greatthings for me is A.
I think that it was some humblepie for me and I learned the
(09:04):
technology well, but also, Ithink, just having a couple more
years of maturity under me whenI went into that program and I
just have some amazing friendsthat I still keep up with and so
many people have done so manythings.
But I was just about threeyears older.
But when you're 21, three yearsis sort of a big difference.
And plus I lived here.
A lot of the kids who came inall lived in apartments right by
Cisco and it was sort of aparty, candidly.
(09:27):
But at this point I was, I wasliving with some high school
buddies closer to home, but weare a little bit older.
So I went in with the mindsetof man, I want to learn
everything, I want to be theabsolute best that I can be and
because of that they, they dometrics and all, and I don't
mean it's an arrogant way, but Ifinished, I think, in almost
everything near the top of theclass and really I think I
positioned myself for successfrom there.
And so you come in for about ayear and more or less you're
(09:52):
getting paid to get a PhD inselling and a PhD in Cisco and,
uh, it was just an incredibleexperience.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah, so I was just going to say skating by is not,
you know, one of your uhcharacteristics, right?
So you finished at the top ofthe training program.
What did that mean to you?
To be sort of number one inthat class?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
you know I, I don't know I again, I'm not.
Uh, I'm extremely competitive,uh, inwardly, but I'm not an
outwardly uh.
You know I again, for me it wasmore the pride of the stepping
stone to be able to then go outin the field and have great
success in the field as well,more than being able to pat
(10:27):
myself on the back or anythinglike that, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
So I heard that you did very well at Cisco, slaying
it, if you will, on the salesside.
What were some of thosecharacteristics or those habits
that maybe you learned over theyears of working in the field at
Cisco that you were able tocarry with you and to your
company now?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, I mean so many things, I think.
I mean Cisco is just led byJohn Chambers, an enterprise
sales engine, and I mean rightfrom day one you go out there
and my first boss, who was atrue mentor to me when I went
out into the field, you know,sort of said, in lack of better
terms, hey, I see, quote,unquote, hot shots, like you all
(11:08):
the time.
But hey, now in sales, yournumbers, your number you got to
produce and I think just theexpectation that comes with
every single week, giving thatcommit, hey, what are you
committing this week?
Knowing your business, standingup in front of your peer groups
, being stacked, ranked, etc.
Etc.
Was instilled with me from thestart and I just thought that
(11:29):
was some really good skills thatI still take with me today of
just how sales is run in aBitcoin organization.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
That's great, very good.
So what was it like to work foran international enterprise?
I mean, it's a lot differentright than where you're at today
, but what did it feel like tobe, you know, just sort of
spread across the world?
I mean, do you ever feeldisconnected with people that
you work with, or what's theexperience like?
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, you know as big as it is.
Also it's as small as you makeit as well no-transcript.
So again, I think even in thatyou can make it a smaller
experience.
I think one of the things thatI don't think I appreciated
(12:14):
enough, just strictly from asales standpoint it's honestly,
it's easy, because just the nameCisco, they could care less who
I am, but I could call any ofmy clients, even if they had
never bought Cisco, and say, hey, I'm your new Cisco rep and I
could get a meeting.
I could get a meeting with theCIO, with anybody, just because
I was their Cisco rep and theywanted to know what was going on
(12:36):
.
So I think getting your foot inthe door was easier maybe than
an MSP, just because you havethe name recognition at Cisco
Coming to then an MSP side, youdon't have that same name
recognition.
So I think that was one thingthat I maybe took a little bit
for granted initially.
But I think the resources thatyou have because of that again
just an incredible learningexperience, what I was sitting
(12:56):
at night, just not anything thatI did, but just because of my
name, my company and I couldcall in international resources
or take clients out to San Joseto the executive briefing center
or just have all of thesesubject matter experts at my
fingertips and really, in a lotof ways, at that point I'm just
the quarterback.
I'm just trying to get theright resource to talk to the
right person with the client toreally just move things to the
(13:17):
next step of the sales processwhere you just sort of
quarterback it through but youhave an unlimited amount of
resources, which is just veryhelpful.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
That's amazing.
So you spent, I think, almostsix years, or about six years,
at Cisco.
What made you realize that itmight be time to go and work at
CSP with your dad?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, and I think there were a couple of things
going on simultaneously.
One, I just I'm a sponge and Ijust I love to learn and always
yearning to learn more.
And at Cisco I'd had incrediblemanagers, as I mentioned, and
they were both mentors.
And one thing that I reallyloved is that they both
(13:55):
approached sales totallydifferent.
My first manager was agentleman, david Midkiff, and he
was just a relationalsalesperson.
He could connect with anybody,build an amazing relationship,
and that was sort of his salesapproach.
My next manager, matt, was muchmore sort of data numbers
(14:16):
driven deep in the numbers, andthey both worked and they both
worked extremely well and it'slike, okay, well, hey, what are
some nuggets I can take fromDavid's approach?
What are some nuggets I cantake from Matt's approach?
And then I got to the point too, and I was getting my thirties
I'd always sort of had ayearning um to go back to school
.
I intentionally was in college.
I was, like I said, a liberalarts major and one of the
(14:38):
reasons I didn't do businessundergrad cause I think I always
knew deep down I wanted to goback and get my MBA and I said
you know what?
I don't want to just get aundergrad business to then go
back and get graduate business?
No, and I love the liberal arts.
I think liberal arts teachesyou and I know liberal arts are
under assault right now but oneof the biggest values it teaches
you how to think.
It teaches you how tocommunicate, how to comprehend
things, and so I went and tradethat for the world, but I still
(15:02):
then wanted to have some of thattrue business tactical
understanding.
So again, I was probably sixyears in and I had uh, again
fortunately seen some greatsuccess.
I felt like I had learned a tonand just saying, all right, hey
, what is next?
And if I'm going to dosomething, obviously my dad's
getting older, maybe now is thetime.
And so I applied to someexecutive MBA programs, was
(15:25):
lucky enough to get into Dukeand I was still living in
Atlanta and it was a weekendprogram where every other
weekend would come back and do along weekend in Durham, and so
it was traveling back and forthand sort of similar to Cisco.
At this point I was just such adork.
I wish I would have been likethis in undergrad, but I just
wanted to learn as much as Icould and so get all in and then
, as this is happening, I saidyou know what if I'm going back
(15:46):
to CSP?
I said you know what if I'mgoing back to CSP, sort of where
I started a few minutes ago I'mgoing back because I've proven
success at Cisco.
I'm going back because I havean MBA from Duke.
If my last name wasn't Riddick,just because I was the boss of
something, I could still go andbe hired here because of my
accomplishments, not justbecause of my last name, and
that was really important for me.
That's good.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
So you interviewed for the position at CSP.
Was that your decision or wasthat your dad's decision?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
You know, I think it was both, both of us and I think
cause he was, he was the sameas me, nothing was ever forced,
but you know, I think we werealways in alignment.
That hey, he didn't want.
I think he also saw value in,uh, csp, of me going to his
place like Cisco, learning andbeing able to bring new ideas
and not just sort of coming inand sort of doing things the CSP
(16:36):
way, but rather be able to havethat expertise.
So you know, it wasn't aformalized interview but it was
more of a hey, what have youlearned?
What do you think, how do youthink you could impact us?
What are some value you couldbring?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, so you took over.
I think you became VP of salesand marketing there.
Can you talk a little bit aboutsort of where CSP was when you
joined and maybe what you saw asan opportunity to improve with
the sales and marketing thego-to-market size of that house?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, and so actually I came in first, I did it and I
can't remember the exact datesbut a couple of years just as an
account manager, as asalesperson and you know, like a
lot of MSPs, you know I thinkwe've transitioned.
Heck.
We started when we started andwe started in 1995.
So sort of CSP1 data was moreof the hardware, the mainframe,
(17:28):
you know.
Again we were doing a lot ofprinter maintenance, hardware
maintenance, that kind of stuff.
And then we pivoted more intothat VAR mindset.
So again at one point we weredoing a ton of Cisco.
I think we were even a Ciscosmall business part of the year
in the southeast one year.
And then that pivot again tomanaged services.
And I think when I joined, to becompletely blunt, I think we
(17:52):
were trying to sort of do bothand I think we were a little
stuck in the middle and we weredoing both okay, but we hadn't
really.
Again we were going ManningServices but we still had this
sort of legacy VAR and it's howdo you play it together?
And so honestly, when I becamethen sales manager, I mean I
kept seeing the MRR and what wegot to go more MRR, got to go in
(18:13):
, more MRR.
But also we had this legacy wewere trying to protect and we
had some salaries.
That man we had to have theproject business and I'll admit
it got tight there for a fewyears, just because I mean, by
definition the MRR is buildsupon itself, but used to.
When let's just say we wereselling, let's just say, a
classic Cisco phone system,let's say it was a decent size
(18:34):
deal, maybe that's a hundredthousand dollar deal that we'd
be getting right there from thestart, whereas we sell a hosted
solution and you know, maybeyou're getting 3k, 4k a month
and if you figure over a fiveyear period you're going to end
up making more.
But also in the real time andshort term, man, that's a big
hit.
When you're taking a hundred Kthousand dollar deal verse, you
(18:54):
know, uh, just some labor and afour K dollar thousand dollar
deal.
So there were some as wepivoted, it got tight and I kept
just sort of having to tell herhey, trust, hey, as we're
building up this MRR just trustus, we can see sort of that
roadmap, that path out.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
But yeah, it was tight there for a bit.
So but you ran sales for anumber of years and there were
some things that you learned andthings that you sort of
massaged or changed orredirected.
But what were some of yourtakeaways, stephen, over those?
Your time in sales that reallystuck with you.
Your time in sales that reallystuck with you?
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yeah, you know, I think for me, my, I have a
couple mantras for sales, but Ithink the biggest one and
honestly I think it goes back toCisco is that sales is just
such a numbers game and I'm justsuch a believer in the funnel
that you got to just throw asmuch as you possibly can into
the funnel.
And if you just do, let's justdo easy math here.
(19:51):
But you know a salesperson,you're going to have small close
rates and the best salespersonversus the worst salesperson is
by accident.
You're gonna be closing deals.
So let's say that you've throwna million dollars just for
round numbers into that pipe andlet's say you have a
salesperson that is maybeclosing 10% of that.
So let's just say 100k.
Wait, hold on.
(20:12):
Sorry, I'm not giving thatanalogy.
Well, let's say so.
Yeah, let's say, but then allright.
Then let's say that you havesomebody.
Let's say they're an awesomesalesperson.
So let's say they have millionin the pipe.
Let's say they're even at a 20%close rate, which for new
business would be huge.
So 200k First.
Let's say, on the other hand,that you have somebody that
maybe isn't even as good asalesperson, but they're just
out there hunting, they're goingso hard and they've thrown $10
(20:34):
million in the pipe, but they'rea 10% close rate.
That number is going to bebigger at the end of the day.
So it's really just how muchcan you throw in at the top and
then just from there look at thenumbers.
All right, so if we're throwinga lot of top, well, are we
getting a lot of proposals outthe door?
Well, if you're throwing a tonin the top but you're not
getting a lot of proposals outthe door, then hey, let's work
on how we're qualifying, let'swork on the questions we're
asking, let's work on trying toidentify, asking the right
(20:57):
questions, and then, if you'regetting the pipe, the initial
pipeline you're really justbecomes a numbers game at that
point.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, so you already talked about a couple of these
things, but you've worked insales in both an MSP and a
non-MSP.
What's something you think MSPsmight be doing incorrectly when
it comes to sales?
And you talked about a coupleof the ways the activity and
what their pipe looks like.
But you know, maybe just from ageneral sales perspective, what
do you think some MSPs mightnot be considering that you may
(21:35):
have seen at the corporate sideor your MSP today.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I think there are a couple things.
One is I really tried to, as asales leader, tried to lean into
what made that salespersonsuccessful and not just be so
prescriptive of, hey, this isthe way, and obviously we have a
framework and a sales process.
So I'm going to actually taketwo different places.
One, that sales process.
(21:59):
I think that is the biggestthing.
I think understanding yourprocess and realizing that, hey,
when you're making that firstcall, you're not trying to close
a deal.
I've seen so many salespeoplethink that, oh, I'm a
salesperson, so they pick up aphone and they're trying to like
close on the first call.
It's like no, just follow yourprocess, that first call, all
you're trying to do is get ameeting.
You honestly don't want tospend too much time on the phone
with them, because if you'respending too much time on the
(22:22):
phone with them, that's going togive them an opportunity for a
no, don't try to sell anything.
Just listen, just ask a ton ofquestions, try to identify needs
and just keep moving in alonguntil ultimately at the end.
If you have followed thatprocess and you've identified
budget, you know who's signing,you know who the key players are
, you know the timeline, youknow what the blockers are.
If you check all the boxes, bythe time you get to that
(22:43):
signature it's like okay.
Well, mr Client, you know Ilearned all this.
We've checked every single box.
Here you go.
Getting the signatures is aneasy part at that point and I
think a lot of salespeoplestruggle and again, they're just
trying to sell too early,whereas no, just follow the
process.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, that's good, Steven.
So I laugh because this is notyou, but I call this next
section.
I'm kind of a big deal and thisis all about you sort of taking
over.
So at some point in time,either over family meals or
during some meetings, somecompany sessions, your dad had
sort of said, like I want tostep back, I want to move you
(23:19):
into.
You know, take over aspresident.
Were you ready for thatchallenge?
Is that something that you hadsort of seen over the years and
he started to groom you, or wasthat a little bit of a surprise?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
No, I think I was definitely ready for it and even
to me I was ready for itpersonally as well, just because
I love to lead and I don't wantanybody to take this the wrong
way.
I mean I love technology, Ilove managing services, but for
me, I love to build things, Ilove to lead people.
I mean it goes back to, youknow, high school.
I was president.
(23:52):
I was super involved in studentgovernment, I was president of
clubs and president of school.
I mean, in college I waspresident of my fraternity.
So I think I just always I loveleading people and I love
trying to help people, I lovebeing a servant leader.
So from that side of it, I thinkit just sort of fell in.
And then again, with thebackground, some of the things
I've done.
I think that step was just veryeasy and natural for me.
(24:15):
Then, on the family businessside, yes, I think as well.
I think just we got to a pointwhere my dad was saying man, I
want to slowly start phasingback and we have a great
learning system.
He's still involved and I lovethat and I want him to be, but
at least on the day to day he istaking a little bit of a step
back.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
He's a great guy, I've gotten to know him.
He loves his barbecue,definitely critiques the
barbecue when you bring it in.
So when you took over aspresident, obviously you had
been involved in the businessfor a number of years already
and you had made some changes.
But being in that role as sortof I'm in charge now or it's my
call, was there anything thatyou were looking to do, either
(24:51):
right away or over that first,you know, six to eight months?
Speaker 1 (24:55):
So any sort of big changes, or at least you know
changes, just to just torearrange things or anything
like that, anything you couldthink of, yeah, you know, I'd
spent a lot of time thinkingabout that because I really I
love business and again it'ssort of a puzzle to me and how
can we sort of unleash the powerof this?
But also I'm a realist and Ithink that you know so much of
(25:17):
leadership.
I sort of went on a listeningtour.
Honestly, and obviously I'vebeen around for a while, I knew
everybody, but just tried to goyou know, now in a different
role, you know, get a pulse ofwhat's going on.
You know now in a differentrole, you know, get a pulse of
what's going on.
And I think the biggest thingand not that this wasn't
happening, but really justempowering people and listening
and trusting them to go executeand trying to really just set
(25:39):
some big picture, top levelgoals hey, here's what we want
to accomplish.
I think, like a lot ofcompanies, we could and we still
can, get in a tendency oftrying to knock out 10 different
things and maybe doing all ofthem OK, as opposed to that
saying, hey, what are a few bigrocks?
(26:00):
And let's go execute on thosebiggest rocks, let's knock them
out and then let's go on to afew more big rocks, yeah very
good, good EOS reference therefor those view you MSPs
listening that haven't done anyresearch on that.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
So obviously lots of different responsibilities as
president, way more than whenyou were leading the sales team,
and I assume you still haveyour eye on the sales side of
the business.
I know you were on a callbefore this meeting, so you're
as you rightfully should.
You are, you are, they arebuying you now.
Right, You're the face of thecompany.
Your dad was for years and theRiddick name.
(26:35):
You're that face.
So you're still very muchinvolved.
But let me ask you, of all theresponsibilities and the roles,
what's the thing that gets youthe most excited?
What do you wake up every daygoing?
I can't wait to do this or bepart of this.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Oh man, I I'm such a vision strategy guy.
I love thinking where, whereare we trying to get to?
And, um, you know, two, three,five years down the road, where
do I think we need to go?
And again, I'm also competitiveand I love winning, so I love
to be able to see, um us takingsteps to get there.
So I think that that'sdefinitely what excites me the
(27:10):
most.
And then also, though I am aculture, I'm a relationship guy.
I love just making thoseconnections with our employees.
I mean, I'm such a big believerin our vision is to leave a
positive, lasting impact on ourpeople, our clients and our
community.
And to me, in my mind, it's got, it has it's.
It's very deliberate that ourpeople are first and we just got
to leave an impact on them.
And I'm a realist.
I'm not from an age where Iexpect people to work with us
(27:32):
for 50 years and get a Rolex atthe end and ride off into the
sunset after a big, you know,retirement party, but saying,
hey, how can we grow and buildup the individuals in our team?
And if it works for them to beat CSP for a while, great.
But hey, if I grow somebody tothe point, and maybe they've
outgrown us and they go on andhave an awesome career somewhere
else, then I've done my job aswell.
So I just I love that, thoserelationships and trying to
(27:52):
groom success for everyone.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
That's awesome.
I bet you're a really fun guyto work for too.
You seem like you bring a lotof energy and positivity to the
job on a daily basis, so so keepup that that mantra there, that
good work you've got.
So you decided, like many MSPs,to join a peer group with MSPs
that were sort of similarmaturity.
Why was that so important forCSP at the time you did, and
(28:16):
what's that sort of meant foryou over the over the couple of
years?
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Yeah, it's been an incredible opportunity for me
and I mean, we'd been a part ofsome my dad had been a part of
some and got me engaged in thepast.
But again, I was more on theperiphery of those and then I
think when COVID hit, obviouslyeverything sort of blew up and
everybody sort of battened downthe hatches and it's sort of all
right, let's get through thisand that then sort of timed with
then coming out of that.
(28:40):
Then when I became presidentand said, all right, hey, I
think this is something I reallywant to re-engage in and the
value to me has just beeninstrumental.
I age in and the value to mehas just been instrumental.
I think I like a reference.
I'm a sponge, I love to learnand I hope I have a few good
ideas to share with the peergroup.
But just the trust, camaraderie, the accountability that it
(29:02):
brings and seeing what some justincredible MSPs are doing and
hopefully just take no offensebut yes, you know, borrow a
great idea or two whilehopefully I can do the same with
them is been just enormous forus.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
The thing that I loved about you joining the uh,
the in-person peer group that wehave here and enable, was, um,
you were you weren't theoriginal founding member of that
group.
You had to be let in, and soone of the things you had to do
was sort of interview or try out, and you had prepared so well
for that that I think you know Isat with the group afterwards
(29:34):
and they're like yeah, that's a,this is a no brainer.
You had done such a good joband and sort of conveyed what
you were trying to get out of itand I thought it was a rubber
stamp approval, but I stillwanted to prepare, and for me it
was a great exercise though,because, again, it forced me I
(29:55):
think all of us as businessleaders.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
It's so easy to get stuck in the business and that
day to day just responsive inthe business, and I think that
really forced me to come out ofthe business and really think
through.
I wanted to be able to sharewith them.
Hey, here's my vision.
Also, it forced me to befocused on the business a little
bit, and it turned out that,again, I guess it wasn't a
rubber stamp, but I'm glad Ispent the time on it Well, done.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
It stuck with me.
That's how well it was done, sogreat job.
So I've gotten to know you overthe last few years through the
relationship really that you'vehad with Enable and really the
partnership that you have withEnable, and so let me just ask
you talk about how important, orwhy partnerships are so
important to CSP.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Definitely so.
We now go by CSP, but our nameis Computer Service Partners was
our original and we ultimatelywent CSP.
It sounded a little antiquatedlike break fix but partners and
we ultimately went CSP.
It sounded a little antiquatedlike break fix but partners, and
so much.
Again, going back to our visionand our mission, it's
developing partnerships.
One of our core principles ispersonalize it.
You know we're in an industrythat so much of what we can do
(31:00):
can be done remotely, can bedone via an automation.
But I'm still we're in NorthCarolina, I'm still a big
believer that people buy frompeople, that people work with
people and it's all aboutcultivating those relationships.
Honestly and I'm not sayingthis just because you invited me
(31:21):
in today but when I look atwhere Enable's come here in the
past few years, I feel likethere's much more of that the
relationship and the partnershipthat we have.
We feel like it is a truepartnership as opposed to,
candidly, some of the othervendors right now Maybe we don't
feel like that as much.
We feel like we're maybe just anumber or just sort of a
mechanism to go sell.
But yeah, very high on Enablefor that partnership.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Appreciate that and it goes both ways Like it's
incredibly valuable to get yourfeedback on what we're doing,
both through the product as wellas through some of the programs
that we're running.
So it's been great to havefolks like you, partners like
you, really share.
So it's awesome.
All right, so last couplequestions here.
Talk a little bit about thesort of where CSP is today and
(32:01):
maybe the outlook for the future.
Do you have any sort of goalsor rocks that you have
identified that you're hoping totake care of over the next
couple of years?
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah.
So I mean, where we are now is,man, I'm just so proud of our
team.
We've, I think, and nothingthat I've done, but since I
became president, I think we'reup, you know, 30, 35% or so top
line.
So I mean there's been somegreat growth that we're very
proud of.
I mean, our big theme, though,this year, is the foundation,
cause I mean I really want tokeep growing.
(32:33):
I want to keep growing a lot and, um, another expression I love
is what got you here, can't getyou there, and I think you know
we've unlocked a few things toget us here, but now to get us
there, I think we need to unlockmore and really we got to build
more of a foundation forscalability.
I think everyone on our teamcares so much, and I think we've
been able to let hard work getus here.
(32:56):
We will outwork anybody andwe'll build those great
relationships, but I think totruly scale it, there's a lot
more we need to do from anoperational efficiency
standpoint.
Another reason I've loved thepeer group is because they've
given me so many ideas and I seehow great some of these MSPs
are when it comes to theiroperational efficiency.
So, uh, and also sales too, Imean, I think with our sales, uh
(33:17):
, really across the board.
Long story short, we just needto continue to build a scalable
foundation that can really justpush us to even greater heights.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
That's great.
I'm confident you guys aregoing to do that and I wish you
the best of luck there.
So, uh, what advice would yougive to younger Steven?
Maybe ski bum Steven, or oreven before that, now that you
uh have gotten to where you aretoday?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
man, I really think, um, you know, I try not to look
back a ton, I try not to livewith any regret.
All right, here's the oh.
I'm going to go very small andtactical here.
I have a cousin who I'm superclose with and he lived.
He was working with Caterpillarat a school and he was living
(34:02):
in Beijing and me and hisbrother and another one of our
cousins we're going to try totake like a two-week trip, uh,
one summer, to go visit him anddo all of southeast asia.
He was living in beijing so wehad a tour.
He got built in, for whateverreason.
I was 25, I was at cisco makinggood money.
I could afford it.
I think it was honestly likesummer.
So cisco's q4 and I'm just likeguys, sorry, I can't pull this
(34:23):
off and that is a huge.
That's probably the only regretI have.
It's, like you know, lookingback, why in the world didn't I
just get in and go travel.
Exactly, take that trip, sorrythat's not what you're looking
for, but that is one that I'llgo with.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
I think that's good advice, because I think a lot of
business owners, or even youknow folks that are trying to
move up in the world they say noto a lot of stuff that are
missed experiences world.
They say no to a lot of stuffthat are missed experiences, and
so I think that was one of thebest pieces of advice that I
ever got early on is work hardbut play hard, Enjoy your life,
(34:55):
Enjoy the time, because life isshort and you know you never
know that you may not get totake that trip again.
So I think that's good advicefor sure, Stephen, All right, so
we like to ask this question toevery single one of our guests,
and uh, and I didn't tell youthat I was going to ask this
question, so, so I'm hoping thatthis doesn't stump you, but
(35:17):
this is what?
Uh, the name of the podcast isthe now that's it.
Podcast.
So I like to ask everybody whendid you know?
Now that's it?
When did you know?
Now that's it?
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Man, I'm going to take a different direction there
too.
I really I mean, I think, myfamily, having kids, getting
married and having kids, to methat is.
I love what we're doing at CSPand I'm so proud of what we're
doing at CSP, but I truly do.
I work to live and not live towork, and you know, for me
(35:52):
that's it.
When it comes to the family andthose experiences that you
referenced having fun with them,raising that family just
incredible.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
That's important, and maybe the type of father you
are, the type of leader that youare, maybe you inspire them to
work for you someday and takeover the business right.
So this could be the beginningof the next phase of CSP.
So that's great, stephen, thankyou so very much for being here
today.
This is always a pleasuretalking to you.
I love hearing your stories.
(36:19):
I wish you and the rest of theteam your dad.
I wish you guys the best ofluck.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Well, thank you, chris, and thank you for the
invitation and great to spendsome time with you Sounds and.
Thank you for the invitationand a great to spend some time
with you, sounds good.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.