MSPs face a growing challenge: moving clients to Microsoft 365 Business Premium without sacrificing operations or margins. In this Sherweb Perspectives piece, guest contributor Dustin Bolander (MSP veteran and cyber-insurance innovator) shares a five-step roadmap to accelerate Business Premium adoption and unlock tangible client value.
Microsoft says you should sell Business Premium (“BP”). The security talking heads say you should use BP. You *want* your clients to use BP. You know what a great deal it is, all that security and functionality, all at that price. But how do you actually make that happen?
There are two key aspects on pushing SMBs to spend more on security: tell a story and have a firm plan.
Step 1: Use Business Premium internally
Start with eating your own dogfood. As MSPs we typically do not have a ton of time to learn something from scratch and then stay on top of a product that changes as fast as 365. So get those 365 licenses (the Microsoft Partner packs now provide BP instead of E3) and start deploying. Configure conditional access (shameless plug: CIPP can help with most of this!), Defender and Intune as a starting point. These are the high impact security features of BP.
Step 2: Develop your go‑to‑market plan
Figure out a go to market (GTM) plan. Half the battle in growing your business is having a plan and sticking to it. It does not even have to be a great plan, consistency is key.
In my own MSP, we saw success by identifying a few key features we would turn on, specifically around conditional access. Device restrictions and geoblocking are easy concepts for small businesses to understand. Explain that geoblocking is easily bypassed, but we can still stop bulk attacks and script kiddies in many situations by blocking a long list of countries. A couple of quick bullet points for the features your clients will find relevant, with illustrative examples. Already using Huntress? Promote the fact that Huntress is able to manage Defender on the endpoints, providing even better integrated security.
Next, figure out how are you going to deploy? Manually, scripts, or a tool like CIPP? Identical configuration and standards for all clients? Some functionality standard for everyone, then let them decide on others? Having a documented plan for this part is important, you do not want to come in and wing it with every client. If you are disorganized and clearly making it up as you discuss, that is something that makes every client pause and question if this purchase is actually for their benefit or yours.
Step 3: Lead with security
Tell, don’t ask. This is a magical way to approach foundational security, and you can use it for new clients, in quarterly business reviews, or when discussing an incident your MSP just resolved. “Julie – we are moving all our clients to BP, I wanted to start figuring out a cutover date in the next six months. Once you have the licenses, we’ll get the following features setup and turned on within 60 days.” Bonus points if you can, bill for a small project as part of the deployment.
If you repeatedly are discussing with clients, it becomes a question of when not if. New prospect? Write into your contract they must migrate to BP in the first ninety days, and make sure to discuss it with them.
Step 4: Build a schedule and templates
Build a schedule and templates. Leverage any existing management tools you have, but do not spend a bunch of time reinventing the wheel. If you are lacking organizational tools, you do not need a fancy automation system for this, or even a PSA. Just do it the same way half the business world runs: Excel spreadsheet + Outlook calendar! This part can be really simple. Who is talking to each client and when. Create some stock language so you are not writing everything from scratch and then get to work.
Step 5 and beyond: Stay consistent and follow up
Stay consistent. Make sure you are following up and pushing all clients forward. New prospect concerned about price? Stick to your guns on BP “this is a critical piece of our security stack, and 365 is a critical part of your business. You would not ask for less locks on your house, right?”
If your MSP struggles with accountability, have regular internal check in meetings.
If you’d like to see how tools like CIPP can make deploying Business Premium easier, explore Sherweb’s exclusive CIPP integration for MSPs.
