Have you ever outsourced your higher level work? What about collaborating with your “competitors” or other IT firms? There is no shame in admitting that sometimes you just can’t do it all yourself. For example, a partner of mine was asked by one of his financial clients to upgrade the security of their network for compliance. However, this was not his exact area of expertise. After he and I discussed the project I put him in touch with a friend of mine who is a high level security and Cisco specialist. My partner was able to accept the project with my friend doing the install. On top of this, my friend managed to become contracted to do the quarterly security audits for this financial firm.

This is a perfect example of how smaller IT firms are able to take on larger projects; by collaborating with those who are specialists. I have partners who specialize in programming, security (CISSP), virtualization, healthcare and so much more. The great thing is that many of them are able to attain greater success through collaboration and utilization of one another’s skills.

I would like for you to start looking closely at how you handle larger projects. If you are a one or two person firm, what are you doing when you need more “fire power”? Think about collaborating with your friends, competitors or someone within your network. This type of collaboration will bring you more business allowing you to take on more projects, generate more project work and become more diversified.

All the best in success,

Stu

During the boot camp you will be educated on different EHR solutions, meet and network with successful HCIT providers and learn from the doctors and practice administrators who will train you on medical terminology, practice management, what the doctors and healthcare practices are really looking for and more. We will also be discussing “the stimulus”, how to sell with and against it.. You will learn what the stimulus is and really how much money is available to you and the doctors. Attendees will get in-depth knowledge of HIPAA, what it is and why it is so important. Also you will learn how to overcome the objections from the doctors and how to truly qualify the opportunity.
During the EHR Academy we will not only train you from a technical and sales perspective but you will be able to see the practice operational perspective. You will learn how a medical practice operates and the how the work flows from registration to discharge so that you are able to bring an educated benefit.

The EHR Academy will be a traveling road show and we will be in a city near you over the next 12 months. We will be starting in October out in Los Angeles, CA right before MSP World. After Los Angeles, we will be in Phoenix, AZ in November, San Francisco in January and Seattle in February. March will be Spring Training for Business in Mesa, AZ but in April we will be Dallas, TX. We will be in Boston in May, Chicago in August and Miami in September. There is no reason not to attend the EHR Academy. Don’t let one more minute pass you by before getting into the healthcare vertical. Join Stuart Selbst Consulting for the EHR Academy 2010 – 11. Register today

All the best in success,

Stu

As we go through life we come across people who make an impact in our life and inspire us to take “it” to the next level. Sometimes it is a teacher, a coach, a former employer or maybe a sports figure. No matter who it may be, someone has inspired us.

The biggest inspiration in my life, as most people know, is my wife Loree. But, Loree wasn’t always in my life. So who inspired me to build a business and succeed? Well my mom and dad obviously played a major part in my life. They taught me the value of a hard day’s work, the difference between right and wrong and to be honest. But there were 2 exceptional people (mentors) who inspired and helped me develop as a business person. The first one was a former employer of mine, his name is Michael Drzymkowski. Michael was always a go-getter. As very focused and driven man there was never any BS with Michael. Through working for Michael for almost 6 years I learned how to build a successful business, develop long term relationships and build a valuable offering. The second person who was an inspiration to me was a business colleague named Roger Fallihee. Roger owned a very successful company in the Bay Area and when I was up there seeing clients, I would always visit with Roger and his team. The advice, friendship and mentoring Roger offered to me as a young person starting their career was priceless.

Michael Jordan said one of the most inspiring things about never quitting. He said, “I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Many of my blog posts come from real experiences or in this case emails or notes that I have received. Just this past week a few people who I don’t coach, but who I have helped in the past reached out to me to let me know how I inspired them to build successful MSP businesses. One person who I assisted with creating a sales presentation landed a client that is worth over $170k/yr in business. Another person is now billing almost $30k/mo in MSP business and a third has built their business to a level that he was recently able to purchase a BMW for cash. I am not saying that all results are the same. But, I said something to these folks to inspire them to help their clients thereby helping their own businesses.

This blog of mine is an open forum for me to speak my mind, put my advice out there and just do whatever I see fit. I invite you to comment on this blog post and maybe thank or make a comment to someone who has inspired you. It doesn’t matter if you are still in touch with them or not and you never know if they are reading this post or not. Post your thoughts and as always…

All the best in success,

Stu

One of the things that I have realized, and I am sure you have as well, is that most business owners don’t understand the investment they need to make into technology to move their business forward. As business technology experts it is part of your unwritten job description to communicate the value to the prospect. If you don’t know the value of your expertise, you should figure it out.

Just the other day I was in a conversation with an IT business owner. We were discussing how I ran my MSP and some of the tough situations I worked myself through. The conversation lead us to a particular situation I had where a non-contracted client who needed a lot of work done.  In order to give them an appropriate estimate a complete network evaluation needed to be completed and our firm quoted the client $2000 for such an audit.

It was a challenge for the prospect to see the value of spending the $2000 to do a complete network analysis.   Of course we explained this was necessary to accurately determine what work needed to be done and how much more money the prospect would need to invest to get their infrastructure up to manageable standards. In this particular situation we explained to the prospect what information was needed and how we would go about getting it. Even if they didn’t go with our firm, they would receive a documented network and a list of recommendations outlining the High, Medium and Low priorities.

Eventually they saw the light and we wound up doing the audit.  On top of that we did a project for them worth almost 80k and put them on a MSP contract. In addition, since they allowed us to do the project for them, I gave them a $2000 credit toward the project.

Price should never be the deciding factor with the client. I know that many times it is.  But if you bring the value of your expertise up front and stay true to yourself you will find the clients that value you.

All the best in success,

Stu

Healthcare IT is an ever growing vertical in our industry. In this vertical you will have the opportunity to become a trusted technology advisor to healthcare providers in your area.  In addition, you will be in a position to provide solutions that will allow the healthcare care providers to streamline how they run their practice and to practice medicine more efficiently.  

This is your chance to speak and network with industry experts and peers on building a Healthcare IT Practice. The fine people from gloStream are throwing a party during WPC at the International Spy Museum on Tuesday, July 13 from 6:30pm until 8:30pm. If you are thinking about Healthcare IT, you want to attend this event. Oh yeah, did I mention that there will be free food and drinks?

Let me tell you a little about gloStream. gloStream got its start when two software developers with a gift for translating ideas into easy-to-use healthcare technology, began developing gloEMR - gloStream’s flagship electronic medical record software. Today, gloEMR and gloPM, gloEMR's sister practice management application, are the only electronic medical record software and practice management solutions on the market embedded with Microsoft Office.  This means they are robust, familiar, and easy to use. gloStream is 100% channel partner driven, they do not sell direct to the providers. All gloStream solutions are sold and supported through their network of local technology partners, just like you.

Why should you get into Healthcare IT?

· $20+ billion will be paid to Doctors who use Electronic Medical Records

· Wide open market with less than 10% adoption

· Healthcare providers rely on you for local support and to develop a complete HCIT solution.

· Healthcare IT enables high-margins and recurring managed services revenue for your firm.

By attending this event you will be able to learn how to successfully build a Healthcare IT practice and get your share of the $20+ billion dollar stimulus that will be paid out to the healthcare providers who transition to and use Electronic Medical Records.

You do not want to miss this event during WPC. RSVP Today! Attendance is limited. Call Bethany Bol at 248-946-1315 or email her at bethany@glostream.com.

All the best in success,

Stu

    

This is an exciting time for our industry; two of the firms who took part in my Spring Training for Business event are collaborating to provide a full suite of services to the IT channel. The fine people at Live Virtual Helpdesk are partnering with my friends at PacketTrap to offer outsourced NOC and Helpdesk services to their partner community.

PacketTrap a remote monitoring and management tool provides IT professionals, through their flagship product PacketTrap MSP, with a 360 degree view of their customer’s single and multi-site networks and allows them to manage and maintain their infrastructure from a single interface. The PacketTrap MSP platform is designed to monitor your customer’s network in a secure, customized environment for your business. PacketTrap MSP sets up in minutes and auto-discovers system resources and their metrics, including hardware, operating systems, virtualization, databases, middleware, applications and services.

Live Virtual Helpdesk, based in Victoria, BC Canada is a leading North American “LIVE” Help Desk/NOC company providing service for desktops, laptops, servers, network devices and hand held devices. How LVHD works, Live VHD becomes an extension of your company and brands everything on your behalf; leveraging your existing technologies and legacy data to deliver support to your clients, your way! Our fixed cost model makes it simple for you to set your own margins.

Live Virtual Help Desk is proud to partner with Quest Software to provide NOC and Help Desk Support services to their partners around the world from our North American offices. “It is clear to us”, states Neil Jones, President of Live Virtual Help Desk, “that Quest is committed to provide a very robust, full scale service offering to the MSP/VAR community and we are delighted to be an integral part of this offering”

As a business coach I get to work with different partners that use a number of different toolsets. Today Mike Byrne, Director Partner Management for Quest, told me today about this collaboration I couldn’t be happier for the two companies. I was happy not only for their partners, but for the industry as a whole. I have a few partners that work with both PacketTrap and Live VHD. I have been told over and over again how great both firms are with support and focusing on their success.

I wish both firms much success in this collaboration. I am sure that the industry will embrace and benefit from this partnership.

All the best in success,

Stu

A few years ago I sat on a panel moderated by Nine Lives Media (MSP Mentor, The VAR guy) editor, Joe Panettieri at the CompTIA MSP Summit on “When is it Time to Fire a Client?”  We had a great discussion going about the differences between customers and clients, what types of clients you want and more.  I recall sharing that in the MSP business I had at the time I would fire my bottom 20% clients each year.  In other words, the least desirable/profitable 20% of my client base were not renewed by my company.  These client was either too much trouble, didn’t pay, didn’t listen to my advice or there was something that made the relationship no longer work.

As a business coach there are also times I have to let my clients go so they can begin finding their own path.  Just last week I parted company with a few clients.  I can’t really call it firing them because I leave the door open for them to come back and work with me in the future.  There are times when this happens with long term clients and often we have grown very close as a result of working together for so long.  “Don’t mix business with pleasure,” my Mom always told me.  Sometimes these relationships work out just fine but other times I should have listened to Mom.

What determination do you use when you have to let a client go?  If you are upset with a client is it worth firing them?  Have you spoken to them about why you are upset with them or their staff?  If they don’t know what they did to bother you, they can’t fix it.  This is where your written and verbal communication skills come into play.  Let say, you have spoken to them, written to them and still nothing has been resolved.  You have decided it is time to “fire” that client.

Once you have made the business decision to part ways with a client, how do you communicate this to the client?  Bad news is never taken well.  I recommend, whenever possible, speaking to them face to face.  If you can, schedule a meeting with your client a minimum of 30 days before their contract expires so you can inform them that you will no longer be able to handle their technology needs and why.  You should also put it in writing.  You should create a form or a letter to give them along with all of their network and technical documentation so the next firm can easily come in and take over.

When it comes to parting ways with a client, communication is very important. Not every business relationship is meant to last forever. As Managed Services Providers we position ourselves at the C-Level table with the business owner. We are the technical advisor to their business. If the trust is broken on some level, it is difficult to continue to work with that firm.

I hope the information I am sharing on my blog can help you make the right decision on when to fire a client and when to stick it out.  Good clients are hard to find and trust me when I say, you need to communicate with your good clients more often so that little problems don’t turn into huge issues and cost you both money and your reputation.

All the best in success,

Stu

"It is not about charging a higher price - Price is a focus that will cause pressures on pricing. It is about a value - a real and perceived value your presence brings to your clients. In our business it is not about fixing computers or keeping them running. It is the ability to be strategic in your customers C level management. It is when you become the "approver" for your clients not the "trusted advisor". It is when you stop advising and start directing."

Thanks Keith.

There is a laundry list of folks touting to be marketing experts out there.  But, do they really know your business?  More importantly, do they know your clients, customers and prospects?  Probably not, so why are you listening to these so called experts?

Let me tell you how this post came to be.  One of my very successful partners recently engaged with a marketing company.  This marketing company had the presentation, talked the talk and walked the walk.  We were all in agreement that this was the firm to use.  The firm set up a discovery call with my client and after the call they created an “Overview and Objective” document.  The focus was all wrong.  It was about saving people money and not showing the benefit of the services that my client offers.  My client and I reviewed the documents that the “marketing expert” sent over.  We made a lot of changes and sent it back to them to update it.  Even after an interview and completing all of their paperwork, the expert totally missed the mark.  If you are going to be marketing your products and services, make sure you know who you are marketing to.  Let me give you some tips on getting started.

Tip #1.  Know who your audience is.  If you don’t know who you are sending a message to, they aren’t going to get it.  You want the right type of client not just someone who can fog a mirror.

Tip #2.  Know the benefit of your business.  Ask yourself the question, how do our products and services help other businesses?

Tip #3.  Don’t market on price!  The most successful marketing campaigns never include any price in them.

Tip #4.  Don’t market that you are giving things away for FREE!  Free doesn’t always get the “right” type of person calling.

Tip #5.  Keep your messaging consistent with your value.  If your message is convoluted, your marketing will fail.

Marketing is very important to your business and you must always continue to market to new prospects as well to your current client base.  Start to think outside of the box for your marketing.  Be cleaver and imaginative but most of all have fun and enjoy creating your marketing campaigns.

All the best in success,

Stu

Axcient is pleased to have you join us as Karl W. Palachuk presents:

"Make the Move to the Cloud"

Join Karl Palachuk for this webinar on practical first steps you can take right now to move into cloud services. Cloud services are HOT – and your clients need to hear about them from you before they find out about them from someone else. Join Karl to learn some great “First Steps” you can take to start making money in the cloud today.

Join us June 9th at 10:30 am Pacific / 1:30 pm Eastern!

To join Karl and Axcient, register today

Do you know what a competitive advantage is? What is yours?

I ask these questions as the first part of my post to see if you, my readers are thinking about the benefit of doing business with your company. If you don’t know what your competitive advantage or benefit is, why are you still in business?

Let me break this down for you and make it stupid simple. The competitive advantage is the advantage your business has over your competitions that show people or other businesses the benefit to do business with you!

“When a firm sustains profits that exceed the average for its industry, the firm is said to possess a competitive advantage over its rivals. The goal of much business strategy is to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.”  – Michael Porter

The two types of competitive advantages are cost advantage and differentiation advantage. I don’t talk about costs or cost saving so let’s skip that one. I do like discussing the differentiation advantage: this is where you create a better value for your services while building profits for your company. I like the differentiation advantage; the partners that I work with learn, develop or already know their advantage. Even if they know it, we still continue to develop the message of their competitive advantage.

I can write on competitive advantages all day, but what would rather so in this post is challenge you. I am going to challenge each and every one of you who are reading this post to come up with your competitive advantage. Post it as a comment on my bog and at the end of this week I will choose a winner. Remember this point, its not if you have the best competitive advantage or not, but it is how you communicate your personal competitive advantage to your clients and prospects.

All the best in success,

Stu

The Debate Over Data Information Breach: A Proposed Uniform Data Security Act
Presented by Stephen Chow, Burns & Levinson LLP
Friday, June 11, 11:30am – 12:30pm ET

What happens when consumer data information is compromised?  What constitutes a data breach? Who needs to be notified and of what? Who is liable for what?

The answers are not simple. Currently, there are 47 different state laws that differ in substance and approach to these questions, creating uncertainty for the IT channel. To complicate the issue further, the Federal Trade Commission lays claim to some jurisdiction on this issue, and there are also several pieces of legislation in the U.S. Congress that address data breach, but they too vary in scope and size.  

Join CompTIA for a webinar presentation from attorney Stephen Chow to help shed light on key issues around consumer data breach. Chow has been at the forefront of this debate, both in Massachusetts and nationally, and proposes a new avenue – to achieve a Uniform Data Security Act through the nationally recognized Uniform Law Commission.  Such a model code could drive states to a more uniform approach.  Help us to address some challenging questions in relation to this proposal:

What is the likelihood that current federal legislation will pass?  Is there an appetite for federal pre-emption? What are the shortcomings of the current federal legislation?  Can liability be addressed, or do they simply set forth who should be notified about what? Would pursuing a model code undercut the ability to advocate on behalf of any legislation?  Or can this/should this proceed on a dual track? What is the financial cost of pursuing a “model code” avenue?      How does this proposed effort compare to the effort behind E-signatures?  More complex?  Easier?  Likely to result in desired outcome? How long overall to get to the desired outcome? 

Register today at:  http://www.comptia.org/events/webinars/webinarregistration.aspx?eventid=wb061110

In 2009 I didn’t take a vacation. Maybe I took a long weekend here and there, but not a “get packed, go away and unplug for a week or so” vacation. As a consultant and an MSP, I was used to taking 4 weeks off a year to unplug from work, decompress and reconnect with my family and friends. So many people that I meet who are just starting a business or have had their own business for a while tell me that I am so lucky that I can “afford” to take off for Hawaii for almost 2 weeks. Let me tell you something, it isn’t luck; it is careful planning, budgeting and most importantly knowing when it is time to take a break.

Some questions I ask my prospective partners are, “when was the last time you took a vacation?  Where did you go?  “Did you take your laptop with you?” More often than not the answer is more than a year ago, somewhere close to home and yes I had my laptop.”  I always ask, “why did you take your laptop, you are on vacation?” The work will still be there when you return. 

If you are a 1 or 2 person small business and you think that you can’t take off for at least a week a year with your family, THINK AGAIN. You need a break from work as well as the stresses of traffic, kids, vendors, staff, inflation, gas prices… life in general! If you are an owner of one of these micro businesses, you need a break more than anyone else. It is time to find someone that you can trust to help you out when you are away. It really isn’t that difficult to build a network of people to cover for you when you are away.

I have the privilege of coaching 25+ firms around the country and if one of my smaller or micro partners needs someone to watch their phones while they are on vacation, we will find a way to help them out. I require my partners to take at least 1 week off a year to unplug. Taking a week off doesn’t mean going to a conference and taking a couple of extra days.  It means totally unplugging and getting away. Those who do this find that each and every time they come back from a nice break they are refreshed and more focused on their business.

As you read this before the Memorial Day Holiday weekend I encourage you to truly take the 3 days off. Yes I said it, really take the time off. Turn off the cell phone, leave the laptop off, and don’t check email. Take the time to reconnect with you family and your friends. The summer is going to busy for your company with new clients, projects, conferences etc.  Make sure that you are rested for it. Enjoy the holiday weekend and come back on Tuesday ready to rock and roll.

Have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.

All the best in success,

Stu

In the spirit of teaching, learning and bringing value, I am hosting a little contest. The contest is to create a 2 – 3 minute video clip of the benefit of doing business with your firm. The staff of Stuart Selbst Consulting will be choosing the top 10 videos. Once the top 10 are chosen, those videos will be posted to our website for people to vote on. The winner will be announced on September 1, 2010. Make sure that your videos are good, because we will also have a bloopers page.

Now for the rules!

1.       All videos cannot be shorter than 2 minutes and no longer than 3 minutes

2.       All videos must be submitted to Stuart Selbst Consulting no later than July 30, 2010

3.       Videos will be submitted our Box.net account via email, upload.Video_C.42362522.em5gbfvfqn@u.box.net

4.       All videos become the property of Stuart Selbst Consulting and our owners and affiliates.

What are you playing for?

First Place: U.S. Domestic Round Trip Airfare, Hotel for 3 days, a pass to Spring Training for Business 2011 and a feature blog on our website.

$1500 value

Second Place: A Pass to Spring Training for Business 2011.

$999 value

Third Place: A Flip Video HD Camera

$199 value 

Have fun and bring the value to your business for the world to see.

All the best in success,

Stu

As I prepare to leave for a speaking engagement at the SMB Nation Spring event this weekend in E. Brunswick, NJ, I am reminded of who will be at this event and I ask myself, “will these people take my advice from my presentation?” With all due respect to SMB Nation, Harry B and his team, SMB Nation events are traditionally held on weekends because a good majority of the attendees can’t leave their “business” for 2 or 3 days to attend a conference. I have asked a lot of my friends and partners if they will be attending.  They have told me no because since they have been working with me they no longer find it necessary to work weekends. I want to ask those of you who are attending SMB Nation or those whose businesses aren’t growing, what is handicapping your business? What is holding you back from your own success?

I am quite sure I have the answer and you may not like what I am about to tell you, but here goes. The obstacle that is handicapping your business my friends is YOU! That’s right YOU! I know, you feel like you are too busy to take time off during the week. Well, I say you really aren’t all that busy. If you were, your revenue would be much higher.  Not only that but you would have a larger staff of top notch people.  Therefore, you would be more organized which would allow you to attend a conference during the week.  If you are too busy to take time out of your schedule during the week so that you can better your business then you aren’t working smart enough. 

You need to ask yourself these questions. Do you want to grow your business? Do you want to succeed? Do you want to take that dream vacation? Do you want to buy that dream house? More importantly, do you want to be taken seriously by your clients and vendors? Of course you do, so why are you handicapping your business? Get your business on the “leg press”. Get to work on the best way to get your company healthy. Find a business peer group and get involved. If you can’t find one, call me and I will start one for you. Start bringing value to your clients. Be able the answer the question, when asked, “Why should I use you and not the guy down the street?”  You need to know what the real benefit is to your business.

I have said this time and time again, starting a business is simple, but running a business properly takes hard work in the right direction. Look at the top firms in our industry.  Do you think that the CEOs of these firms have handicapped their businesses? The CEOs of companies like HP, Microsoft, Kaseya, Level Platforms, IBM, Autotask etc, colored outside of the lines to make things happen and their businesses grew and grew. I am not saying that your success will be at the same level as one of these firms, but you can still build a business and a culture of which you can be proud.

For those who are attending SMB Nation Spring this weekend please attend my presentation, “Selling IT Services, how not to SUCK at it!” I hope that you will get the message and learn something you can take back on Monday and implement right away to build a better business. When you are at SMB Nation, if you find me walking around, stop me and tell me you read this post and I will give hand you a prize. If you don’t attend, I hope to see you at an event sometime this year.

All the best in success,

Stu

An agent-based RMM platform, Naverisk utilizes a low footprint agent on each managed device and a management server that runs either on the MSP's premises or on the Amazon EC2 cloud as a hosted offering. The agent is responsible for collecting monitoring information and sending such information back to the management server; the agent also allows a support inquiry to be submitted from the user to the MSP's Naverisk dashboard. The management server is accessed securely by the MSP user via a web-based dashboard that is fully brandable to the MSP or master MSP.

There is inbuilt support for multi-tenant infrastructure, so Master MSPs who focus on providing NOC services and nurturing newer and lower-end managed services providers -- such as those that can serve residential markets -- have less time to market and overhead supporting their specific channel. They can drill down on specific MSPs or MSPs’ customers and have a clear dashboard view of everything provided downstream to provide support as necessary as their clients adjust to the managed services model.

The initial management dashboard is rather clean, offering a quick view that allows devices to be sorted based on end client name, device type, physical/virtual device, production type, geographical location or role (e.g., "Exchange server"), and two columns that indicates the agent's online status and simple alert state (such as OK, warning, threat, failure). The dashboard supports a variety of tasks that can be applied to listed devices -- such as running a set of scripts, sending user notifications, power management, and taking an agent into "maintenance mode" where alerts are temporarily suspended. Drilling down into devices allows the MSP to set information such as purchase and warranty dates or internal notes, and allows easy access to panels that display event log information, patch management status, monitoring information or a console. The operating system panel displays, among other information, a table of services and allows the Naverisk user to start or stop services at-will; the performance panel shows real-time disk, CPU, and network utilization statistics in easy-to-understand graphs; and the console panel gives the Naverisk user an instant command prompt or PowerShell on the device within the web browser. Remote control can be achieved via VNC or RDP.

For each server role, there is an applicable template, such as Outlook Web Access or BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which comes with inbuilt monitoring frameworks and thresholds. The thresholds apply to whether the device alert is listed on the dashboard (such as warning, threat or failure). The templates can be easily modified by the MSP to better work within the MSP's practice or for specific end clients. In addition to monitoring templates, there exists basic automatic remediation -- for instance, to restart a service up to three times if the service has stopped.  Naverisk has an incident console dashboard as well, which displays all unassigned and assigned incident tickets within the Naverisk interface, complete with device type, alert trigger and time elapsed. Drilling down on an incident provides further details and also allows the user to assign the incident ticket to a specific user or downstream MSP (when used in the multi-tenant model for master MSPs).

The reporting module is an area where Naverisk really shines. The reporting screen allows the user to drill down and prepare summary reports, asset inventory reports, incident reports and basic SLA violation reports. The report tool provides easily exportable PDF reports, with the device summary having easy-to-understand graphs of CPU utilization, disk utilization and availability/uptime over the reporting period. The executive summary exports as rich text so you can create a fully branded report, input your own written report, but includes a phenomenal report structure that includes a summary of incidents and a tabular report of incidents, closed incidents, percentage of incidents closed, and average response time, and includes more graphs such as incident and support activity by SLA type (availability, performance, support). The executive summary report also includes a table that shows every time remote control was initiated by the MSP. Naverisk's reporting capability is a great starting point for the MSP who is still getting their feet wet and doesn't have the technical infrastructure or know-how to develop comprehensive reports for their clients. Another area that makes Naverisk stand out from the pack is integrated cloud-based e-mail security, accessible within the Naverisk portal for both policy-based configuration and reporting.

Overall, Naverisk is just in its early stages of development, but has the beginning of a tool that is shaping up to be a formidable contender in the small business managed services space. I'm excited to see how Naverisk hones their tool over the next year. Still, it has a set of features that should be considered when evaluating the RMM tool landscape and even at present it is especially attractive for the beginning and very small managed services providers who are breaking into the space with basic monitoring and patch management.

Jacob K. Braun is President and Chief Operating Officer of Waka Digital Media Corporation, a technology consultancy and managed services practice located in Western Massachusetts. Founded in 2003, WakaDigital provides security-focused managed IT services, technical risk management and strategic expertise to the SMB market – and is focused on organizations with defined regulatory compliance and security needs.

A side note from Stu: Naverisk also has a refreshing approach to client partnerships.  Regular promotional offers based upon a shared success formula help aspiring MSP’s explore the managed services opportunity across their clients in a very low risk manner.

Are you heading to East Brunswick, NJ next week for SMB Nation Spring on April 30 – May 1? If you are, you need to find me to get free stuff!!

My friends at PacketTrap will be arming me with a bunch of swag to give away, but you need to find me during the conference. I hope that you will attend my session on Sunday, May 2, “Selling it services, how not to suck at it!”

My presentation, “Selling IT Services, how NOT to suck at it!” is designed to get you out of your own way and get you selling your services better and for more profits. This session is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.  I will show you how to get to the root of your failures while making you laugh and help draw you a roadmap to success.

PacketTrap MSP, designed for Managed Service Providers, is a purpose-built robust and affordable platform to monitor your customers in a secure, customized environment for your business. PacketTrap MSP sets up in minutes and auto-discovers system resources and their metrics, including hardware, operating systems, virtualization, databases, middleware, applications and services. 

PacketTrap MSP automatically notifies you when network performance degrades, allowing you to fix problems before any impact on your customers. Through a simple wizard, you can configure alerts for multiple conditions that meet the needs of your customer's network. PacketTrap MSP monitors network events, traffic, and conditions to create a performance baseline which ensures that you don't get inundated with false-positive alerts from normal network activity. 

To find out more about PacketTrap find me at SMB Nation for a special website, watch the recorded webinar or contact their sales department at 866-697-8360.

I hope to see you at SMB Nation. Send me a message on twitter at www.twitter.com/stuartselbst to let me know you will be attending and I will save you a seat.

All the best in success,

Stu

A number of the partners that I coach are Intronis partners as well and have some concerns about the stability of the company. One of the reasons for this concern was that no one from Intronis showed up at Autotask Community Live where they had been promoted as a sponsor. During the event this past Monday I sent Eric Webster a text message to let him know what I was hearing.  Eric responded via text message to let me know he would have the CEO of Intronis, Sam Guttman, reach out to me. 

I spoke to Sam yesterday and we discussed Intronis and their future. Sam told me that Intronis is coming off their best quarter ever. According to comments released yesterday, “the company posted 30 percent quarter over quarter growth, as well as a record number of new partners”. Intronis plans to attend a number of channel events this year including next week’s HTG meeting.

Gutmann stated in the official press release, “I could not be more pleased. This tremendous growth is a testament to our channel focus. Intronis is strongly committed to our partners, and our success is proof that this strategy is sound and beneficial both to us and to our partners.” I asked Sam if he felt Eric’s departure would adversely affect Intronis’ channel program and plans for the future. Gutmann said, “Eric played an important role in Intronis’ growth and success, and we wish him the best. But we’re eager to continue with our partner-based approached, and I’m excited to see how our new channel chief will be able to expand Intronis even further into the channel.” 

“We have had great success providing online backup and recovery to both VARs and MSPs, and we will continue our rapid growth in this sector,” Gutmann continued. “We’re look forward to welcoming even more partners during this quarter and beyond.”

I spoke with Eric Webster today and he tells me that his departure had nothing to do with the company.  He was made an offer that he couldn’t pass up to further his personal and professional growth. After speaking to both Eric and Sam, I can tell you that Intronis is stable and even more focused on the success of their channel partners. Even with the departure of my good friend Eric Webster, I will continue to collaborate with Sam and the Intronis team to assist MSPs and VARs grow their businesses. In addition, Intronis is also set to announce a new channel chief in the coming weeks. I am looking forward to this announcement.

Eric, if you are reading this post, I personally wish you the absolute best in your new venture. I am sure we will speak soon.

All the best in success,

Stu

This week I am in Miami at the Autotask Community Live Conference. As I catch up with long time friends and create new relationships, I am becoming aware of something I haven’t seen in a very long time. Every MSP, VAR and vendor who is in attendance is embracing this community. I have been involved in this industry for many years and cannot remember the last time when all of the conference attendees seemed to share one thing in common, their passion for the community; in this case the Autotask community.

While I can write about Autotask and the newly acquired VARStreet, I would like to touch on one component of the product that really brings this Autotask Community together. That component is Taskfire. If you don’t know what Taskfire is, let me quote the Autotask web site.

“Taskfire is a powerful add-on to the Autotask Client Access Portal providing a fully-hosted internal Service Desk solution is provisioned, managed and billed by you for clients with internal IT resource. But, what makes Taskfire truly unique is the direct integration with your own Autotask service desk, giving you unparalleled opportunities to share tickets and workflows with your clients. That’s why we call it the world’s first hosted "Co-Managed Service Desk."

In my opinion, a true benefit to Autotask is the Subcontractor Portal. With the Subcontractor portal, “you can assign your service tickets to literally any subcontractor or partner, even if they don’t use Autotask”, as the website also explains. Your partners will have access to tickets you assign to them. As they work the tickets your system is updated automatically and in real-time no less! This will allow you to create your own network of subcontractors right inside of Autotask. Talk about community and collaboration!! As an Autotask partner if you are not collaborating with your peers and subcontractors by using Autotask, you are not embracing the power of this community.

I realize this post is coming off like a sales pitch for Autotask and its true that I strongly believe in their product. However, the most powerful part of Autotask is the Community. The Autotask partners are committed to not only their own success and the success of their clients, but the success of one another. On top of that, my good friend Mark Crall is working tirelessly to bring the community even further together by starting user groups around the country.

As I close out this post, remember it doesn’t matter if you are a 1 person or a 100 person firm; the biggest benefit you bring to your clients is the power of the IT community. By collaborating within this community you are able to bring more to your clients and therefore be more of a trusted partner and not just another vendor.

All the best in success,

Stu

We have all had the unfortunate experience of receiving products and services from companies whose employees just don’t seem to give a darn.  Sure, sometimes it’s just a fluke but when you can see and hear it in other people within that organization you can bet it is because their management failed to take control and manage the culture.  Do you have an employee who drags in late, is surly or just plain checked out?  It may not be because they are a bad employee.  Maybe you need to take stock of your culture. 

As the business owner you need to set the tone.  You must establish the bar for excellence that everyone is accountable for meeting.  This needs to include not only the product you deliver but the service as well.  Make serving your clients quickly and efficiently and, with a smile, priority number one.  You are nothing without your customers!  You're not much without your employees either so don’t lose sight of that.

If your cultural environment is firmly established yet needs an overhaul the good news is that it’s not too late.  It is going to be more challenging at this stage of the game but you can still make it happen.  You need to hire, nurture and keep employees who share your vision of excellence and accountability.  They need to feel like they are part of something big, a company who rises above their competition.  As their boss you need to understand their needs and what motivates them.  For this we look to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Model.  (Don’t know who he is?  Google him!)

As shown in the diagram

all healthy humans have the same basic needs.  Let’s start at the bottom of the pyramid because that is where it all starts, at the foundation.  Hey look!  You have already done your part to complete the first two levels just by giving your employees a job.  Awesome!  Now let’s move up a notch.  Love may be too strong a word, but then again, maybe not.  What is this level telling us?  It’s about affiliation and feeling like you belong.  Like you fit in and are valued.  This is where sharing a common objective can come in.  Everyone is a part of making the company successful.  Once this is accomplished the needs for esteem can be reached.  Does everyone have to be employee of the month to obtain this feeling?  No.  But if you create an atmosphere of mutual respect among your employees you will start to see them all hold their heads up higher.  The next step of realizing one’s inner potential can be achieved by creating employees who care and thrive to excel.  Once this happens there is no stopping them from realizing their full potential.  Your goal regarding this should be to create leaders within your organization.  Whether that title is formal or informal, once they see themselves as someone who is becoming everything they are capable of you will have created the working culture you have strived for.

Loree

Case in point…you own a shoe store or online shoe outlet.  You decided today that you want to let all of your customers know that starting tomorrow you are going to offer 50% off all summer shoes…uh-oh, you had better thought of that last week!  If you call your web designer right now and ask for this change to your website there is a pretty good chance it won’t happen immediately.  Darn!  Don’t you wish you could just jump on the site and make your own quick changes?  Well, now you can….with a CMS system.  A good example of a CMS is what I am on right now…….WordPress.  I can jump on to this blog site and update as often as I like without having to ask for help from my web team…and boy, are they ever happy about that!  

Here are some important things to think about while considering a CMS.  First, if you have an existing website…it is possible to have it placed into a CMS.  This is not a budget  breaker, but since you are thinking of doing it, you might want to consider a new look to your website at the same time.  It’s sort of like having a door replaced in your house….maybe it’s a good time to get the whole room painted too.  You don’t have to be “technical” to use a CMS.  If you can type, copy, paste and edit in Word then you are golden.  It’s very simple to add and delete information on a CMS.  Point, click and save.  Simple simon!  You will need your designer/developer to give you a training or tutorial on how to use the CMS and they should be available for future questions and any problems you may run into.    Multiple staff members can use the CMS…although it is important to note that control should be given to very few people and monitored frequently for issues.  Certain sections can be given to designated employees and no one else can access those areas.  Security, as always, is a priority.    A CMS keeps all the pages uniform, clean and cohesive.    Your website pages will look the same on each and every page.   Graphics, pictures and layout changes are still something that your web designer would be responsible for.  A CMS does not allow you to make large changes or overhaul your site on your own.  Finally, here are some popular CMS systems that you can do some research on…Joomla, Drupal, WordPress and EditMe.   These are the most popular systems as of right now, but this can change quickly in our technological world. 

A CMS is the wave of the web future.  If you have a website that you would like to update every day, once in awhile or even once a year, then a CMS is for you.  Give BLG a call, we are CMS experts! 

To find out more about CMS and how will impact your business, join us on May 6th for a webinar.

Cheers!

Julianne

Julianne McLaughlin is the Director of Web Services for Blue LAN Group. Blue LAN Group is a full service technology consulting firm based out of Plymouth, MA. From time to time we will have our clients and vendor partners write blog posting for our readers.

There are two issues I keep hearing from partners these days. The first is how they need to find a quality outsourced helpdesk or hire staff to answer phone calls. As we all know there are a number of help desk solutions out there.  But, I will tell you there is no one who will provide the high level of support to your clients like the team at Live Virtual Helpdesk (Live VHD.)

Live VHD based in Victoria, BC, is headed up by my friend, Dan Sturgill. Dan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in running helpdesk organizations. The really amazing thing about Live is that their level 1 technicians are all level 2 or above with multiple industry certifications. The reviews I am hearing from MSP’s who are using Live VHD for their helpdesk are nothing less than exceptional. Personally, I have a few partners that have engaged with Live VHD over the last few months and when I ask how things are going I always get comments like, “Amazing”, “Outstanding” and “Exceeds all of my expectations.” If you are looking for a help desk to take your business to the next level, give Dan at Live VHD a ring.

The second major issue that I am hearing is about RMM tools, again. Our industry goes through stages of maturity and 2010 is one of those stages with RMM tools. We are seeing a number of serious players emerging as the new leaders in this market. There are the old school rank and file of Kaseya, Level Platforms, Zenith Infotech, and N-Able. Today we also have the “new kids on the block” of LabTech Software, IT Control Suite and PacketTrap. All these tools are excellent, but what is the best one for you? Why choose only one? If you want a first-hand example, check out the article my good friend, Jacob Braun wrote in Channel Pro last month about using multiple RMM tools to do your job better.

With no disrespect to my friends at IT Control and LabTech, I want to take a minute to discuss PacketTrap. I just did a webinar with PacketTrap and PacketTrap was kind enough to be a Bronze sponsor of Spring Training for Business. Every time I see this RMM tool demonstrated I am more and more impressed by its features and the work they are putting into the tool.

All RMM tools can do basic remote control and monitoring.  Most can do scripting, patching and some sort of network monitoring.  But with PacketTrap, the network monitoring feature is what in my opinion is a game changer.  Rather than get too technical in this post, I highly recommend you look at PacketTrap and compare it to the tool that you are using today. If you will be at the Autotask Community Live event next week in Miami make sure you stop by PacketTrap’s booth and check out their solution.

I am talking to a number of new vendors to the market. As a matter of fact, I am getting a demo of the latest version of Naverisk this afternoon. When I find a new vendor and get a good demo, we will schedule a webinar. Watch my webinar page for new, free webinars. You never know what we will come up with to help you run your business better.

All the best in success,

Stu

This past week I was in Chicago for the CompTIA Annual Members Meeting. It was another great event put on by the good folks at CompTIA. I was able to catch up with many old friends and meet some interesting new people as well. 

I want to talk about a gentleman that I ran into; I will keep his identity hidden, let’s call this gentleman “Doug.” I have actually known him through the industry for a while. Doug has a very small break/fix computer business. Doug is one of those people who cannot get out of his own way. As we were speaking about his company he told me that 2009 was the best year he has ever had. He did $107k in revenue which was up $40k from the year before. He also claimed to have 2500 customers. I then asked him how many clients he has. He responded with a very bewildered look on his face.  

Doug and I were talking about his processes and his business, particularly if he would ever sell it. He replied, “If someone offers me $100k for my business I will sell it in a second.” I said to him, “Doug, your business isn’t worth $100k; it probably isn’t worth $10k.” I know he was offended by my comment. I then explained to him why his company isn’t worth much. It’s because, as he told me, he has no documentation, no contracts and no clients. I advised him that he could really benefit by implementing a PSA solution, like Autotask. The most perplexing thing about Doug’s situation is that he is well aware that he has only created a job for himself.  And, until he opens his eyes and gets out of his own way, he will never have a truly successful business.

If any of you reading this post decide you want to sell your business one day just understand that a one-man shop is nothing more than a glorified job which you have created for yourself. On the other hand, if your company has processes, procedures, documentation, contracts along with clients and all the makings of a great company, then you have an asset that will actually be worth something. I like to think of a startup company like a rental.  The reason being is that people only do 1 of 3 things with their companies; sell it, go out of business or they die. All 3 lead to the same thing which is no longer working that business.

To avoid the pitfalls of going out of business or being forced to sell and go back to work for “the man”, make sure you have a plan or a road map for your business. Create an exit strategy. If you don’t have a plan to get started and run it successfully or an exit strategy to get out of it, get someone to help you. Hire a business coach or advisor to get you on the right track. Here are a few other MSP focused business coaches/advisors that I would highly recommend if you don’t work with me.

George Siercho, David Schafran, Brian Sherman, MSP University, MSPSN, and Taylor Business Group

If you need help, get it! Don’t be like Doug and run your business with blinders on. Open your eyes and your mind to all the possibilities that your business can offer.

All the best in success,

Stu

On April 9 will be hosting a webinar with Earle Humphreys of ITEEx. Earle is going to presenting on Security as a Service and the training and coaching that he offers to MSP firms to get them to the point of being experts in selling Security as a Service. To register for this webinar, click here and join us on April 9, 2010.

The next webinar will be held on April 13, 2010 with my friends from PacketTrap, recently purchased by Quest Software. The folks at PacketTrap will be discussing their MSP tools and doing a demonstration. Register today for this interesting webinar by clicking here.

Other webinars that will be coming down the pipeline will be with vendors such as Reflexion, gloStream, Live Virtual Helpdesk, Intronis and Ulistic. We will be having webinars on subjects such as sales, time management, marketing, vertical marketing.

Keep watching our Twitter and Facebook updates as well our website, http://www.stuartselbst.com/mspwebinars for more information and training.

All the best in success,

Stu

Many people don’t know this about me but before I started my MSP, I was a Security Engineer for a healthcare group in Phoenix. That experience lead to my success as an MSP in the healthcare vertical.

When I take on a new coaching client they have to fill out a 3 page profile. I ask if they are in a vertical or if they would like to be in a vertical. Nine times out of ten they are already in healthcare or they want to be. Over the last few months, many of the partners I work with have entered the healthcare vertical and more are moving in that direction every day. These partners and I have been discussing Electronic Healthcare Records (EHR) at length.

There are a number of EHR software vendors in the marketplace today.  There are some that want to sell direct and others that are extremely channel friendly.  I was fortunate to have gloStream, a very channel friendly vendor, be one of the sponsors for my Spring Training for Business event a couple of weeks ago.  gloSteam was kind enough to come out and speak to the MSPs that were in attendance. The attendees were all very interested in this presentation and as a result number of them registered as gloStream partners. It is because of this success and the request of my clients that I am in Detroit, MI this week meeting with the team at gloStream.

Beginning later this quarter, Stuart Selbst Consulting will be offering live seminars each month on EHR training. We will cover the business of healthcare, how to successfully sell into this market and more importantly, how to deliver the services that the doctors and practice administrations require. Our trainers have a strong background in healthcare and will provide the MSP with the terminology and the expertise to set them apart from their competitors.

If you want to get your MSP into the healthcare vertical and be the expert for the practice, sign up for EHR training. We will be coming to a town near you soon!

All the best in success,

Stu

I am pleased to announce that Elwood "Skip" Gardiner is joining our team. Skip will be responsible for heading up our new telesales services. He comes to us with over 30 years of successful sales experience.  For the past 10 years he has enjoyed great success selling managed services, virtualization, BDR and more for resellers.

Skip has held high level positions with a number of technology firms. He has a degree in Business Management from the University of Rhode Island. We are all very excited for him to start working with you.

Please join us in welcoming Skip to our team! 

All the best in success,

Stu

Now that my Spring Training for Business event is over, and what a success it was, I am happy to be able to get back to work and plan some business travel. There are many conferences and meetings happening in April and if you are planning on attending and connect with me, I will buy the first round.

Here is my travel schedule for March and April 2010.

March 29 – Detroit, MI. I will be meeting with the gloStream team at their officers outside of Detroit. I have been in talks with gloStream to help raise the awareness of the need for Healthcare IT and EHR (Electronic Healthcare Records). I will be learning their solution inside andout so that I can help my partners become more successful as I launch EHR Training later this summer.

April 6 – Chicago, IL. I am attending CompTIA’s Annual Member Meeting at The Swissotel Chicago. CompTIA has put together a great agenda for meetings over the 3 days. The membership of CompTIA will be focusing on building partnerships, sharing best practices, and addressing specific issues related to your business.

April 18 – Miami, FL. I will be attending Autotask Community Live. This is the annual Autotask user conference. One of the main reasons that I am heading to this event is to learn more about how Autotask works, so that I can better help my partners who are using Autotask in their business.

April 29 – New York, NY. Once again I will be speaking at SMB Nation. But this time it will be at their spring conference held in NewBrunswick, NJ. From what I have seen this smaller of the SMB Nation events should be filled with a number of opportunities to network and pick up some tips to grow your business.

I certainly hope to see you at one of these events I will be attending in April. If not, hopefully I will see you at another event in 2010.

All the best in success,

Stu

"Preparation is the foundation for any level of achievement" - Billy Cox 

Each and every day we prepare for the day ahead. We wake up, shower, get dressed, have a coffee and breakfast, get in the car and drive to work. Sometimes you have to get gas in your car or stop along the way.  But, generally speaking, you know ahead of time so you are prepared to make those stops.

As MSPs we train and prepare to support our client’s technology and infrastructures. What happens when something blows up and you’re not prepared to deal with the situation? For example, a server goes down and your server tech is on another service call, out sick or on vacation. What would you do? Are you prepared to handle those situations?  If you don’t have anyone to help you out with the server problem it’s as if your business is sitting alone in the middle of the ocean on a life raft that is slowly losing air and sinking. This is what happens when you aren’t prepared to deal with such emergencies.

Now, let’s look at the same scenario but this time you had your server tech document the troubleshooting steps in your PSA ahead of time, you arranged for a backup server contractor or you contracted with a firm like Third Tier to help you out. You made a game plan and you are prepared. The best part of this scenario is that your client will not know the difference, they will keep on running and because they never experience service interruptions you will have achieved their loyalty...forever!

Being prepared in the business of IT is very important these days. By establishing processes in your service delivery to overcome these sorts of obstacles is extremely important.  But, what about sales side? There is a process to selling isn’t there? Of course there is!

The sales process beings with the first meeting, phone call, post card...the first communication. How you communicate to the prospect in the first 30-seconds sets the tone if they are going to do business with you.

As always, there is a story behind this one. A partner that I coach just hired a new sales person to sell to health care providers. We were talking about how they weren’t getting anywhere as a result of the phone calls. I asked, “What is the sales person saying to the prospect?” The sales person was asking questions like, what are you doing for IT services? Have you heard about Electronic Health Records are you looking to move in that direction? I said, “Well, there is your problem.” I told him that they weren’t asking the right questions or showing a benefit to their company. Of course they are trying to get you off the phone quicker than they can say no thanks. I gave them a quick lesson in how to speak friendly to the new prospect, low and behold; they got meetings with new prospects.

I always tell people be prepared with what you are going to say before you say it. If you are going to be successful at selling, delivering IT services or pretty much anything in life, BE PREPARED.

All the best in success,

Stu

#1. The agenda.

The agenda was put together over the last year based upon responses MSPs like you have given me when I asked what they would like to see at a conference.  The agenda will cover the follow topics, which pretty much every MSP under 5 million in revenue can use some help on.

ü  Sales

ü  Marketing

ü  Benefits to “Freemium”—a roundtable discussion

ü  Electronic Health Records—a new Managed IT Service

ü  Communications

ü  Social Networking

ü  Service Deliverables

ü  Human Resources

ü  Client Management

ü  Customer Service

ü  CEO Level Leadership

ü  Time Management

ü  Business Planning

ü  Networking Skills

 #2. The speakers

I have brought together subject matter experts, some from within the IT industry and some from outside IT, to speak on this important subject matter.

The speakers are, David Schafran, George Sierchio, Earle Humphrys, Loree Selbst (yes my wife), Serena Moran, Dave Sherman and me. You will be very impressed by each and every presentation. I promise you that by the time you leave Spring Training you will have received great information from each of these presenters that you will be able to take back and implement in your business.

#3. The sponsors

I have personally selected and secured each and every vendor sponsor to be part of this event. The reason they were specifically chosen is because of their business value and commitment to the channel and to your business. Let’s take a quick look at the sponsors:

Autotask 

Autotask is the world’s #1 hosted software for running your IT business. The thousands of MSPs who use Autotask to run their business can’t be wrong. www.autotask.com.

Live Virtual Helpdesk 

Live Virtual Help Desk has been providing network and systems infrastructure support and maintenance services for more than 10 years. With offices in Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto they have an extensive support network across the US and Canada. www.livevhd.com.

Ulistic

ULISTIC is a team of Internet professionals who put the focus on your business.  You can trust in their experience to guide you along this often tricky path called the Internet.  Think of us as your Internet Marketing Sherpa. www.ulistic.com.  

Reflexion

Reflexion Networks provides a range of managed email services that are differentiated by their ease of implementation and use, their unique features and effectiveness, and their affordability. Reflexion’s services are available through over 400 IT solution providers and ISPs in 40 countries. www.reflexion.net.

CompTIA

Since 1982 CompTIA has supported and led the global IT industry through educational programs, market research, networking events, professional certifications, and political advocacy. CompTIA is known worldwide as the leading provider of vendor-neutral IT certifications. CompTIA certifications identify IT professionals who prove their aptitude in various fields, such as security, network administration, computer repair, and server administration. In addition, if you join CompTIA at the Spring Training for Business event, you will receive a very nice discount. www.comptia.org.

MSP on Demand

Founded in 2006, MSP On Demand developed a process for delivering Hardware as a Service (HAAS) thus changing a traditional Value Added Reseller into a Managed Service Provider. MSP On Demand has created a model for Value Added Resellers; a model that will allow resellers to now cost-effectively deliver both hardware and service for a monthly fee. This model enables resellers to better manage their service revenue, increase the level of service, and increase productivity. www.mspondemand.com.

We are current discussing sponsorship and speaking slots with other vendors and once we have an agreement in place, we will make an announcement.

#4. Networking with your peers.

Nothing can help you grow your business better than meeting others who are more successful than you. We have MSPs registered to attend who have been in this business for 5 or more years and whose revenues are upwards of 1 – 2 million. These are people you will want to meet.

#5. The peer group.

Yes I said it. Everyone who attends Spring Training for Business will now be part of a peer group, FOR FREE!! This group will meet through a GoToMeeting every 6 – 8 weeks to see how you are doing with your business. You will now you have a team of people to help you stay accountable and of whom you can ask questions and learn from. Also, there will be a vendor sponsor on each call to answer or address any questions about their solution and how it may fit into your business.

Last, but not least, Spring Training baseball!

To top off the event, on March 13, everyone will be heading to Scottsdale Stadium to watch the San Francisco Giants take on the Oakland A’s in Cactus League Spring Training action. It doesn’t matter if you like baseball or not, Spring Training in Arizona is a time to get outside, enjoy the sunshine and have some fun.

Spring Training for Business is not like any event you have ever been to or will ever attend. It was designed by MSPs for MSPs. Come on out to Mesa, Arizona March 10 – 13, 2010 and hit a homerun for your business.

All the best in success,

Stu

Its Valentine’s Day tomorrow and that got me to thinking about how you can show a little more love to your clients.  Now, I don’t mean to imply that you don’t care about your clients; I know you do.  But do they really understand how much they mean to you?

Let me give you an example. As a business coach I work with a number of MSPs. These are business owners who run IT consulting firms. Each individual is very different and their businesses are different as well. I have this client who is currently making the transition to a true MSP. He has been the break/fix guy for his customers for a very long time.  Recently, one of his customers went to another firm to get a server quote.  Evidently the customer didn’t like what the other firm came back with, so they contact my partner. But he didn’t just go to the Dell website to get them a price on a new server.  Instead he sent them a well written email to explain that purchasing a server isn’t just an off the shelf project.  He went on to explain the need to meet with them face-to-face in order to understand what their needs are today and into the future.

My partner took the time and care to communicate with his customer.  He let them know that instead of just slapping something into their network environment, he wanted to make sure that they got the best solution for their needs. I call that showing them the “love”.

Ask yourself how you can you show your clients some more love.  As with any relationship, communication is the key. Look at your marriage or the relationships you have with your friends, family or significant other. Guys stop and think about this for just a minute. How often does your wife or girlfriend say something to you like, “we don’t talk anymore, I feel like we are strangers”? It is the same way with your clients, customers and prospects. You need to communicate with them on their level so they know and understand that you have their best interests at heart. If you don’t, your competitor will.

On this Valentine’s Day 2010, show a little more love to your clients.  I promise you they will appreciate what you do for them and their business a whole lot more. And guys don’t forget your special someone. She is being supportive of what you are doing, show her that you care.

Here’s one last note for those of you who are on the fence about coming to my Spring Training for Business even. Fax or email me the receipt for the gift you bought for your Valentine. I will take that amount, up to $100, off of your registration for Spring Training.  This is on top of any other discount that is being offered through speakers, vendors or other organizations. So come on guys, buy your sweetie something nice and then she will let you come out for our Spring Training. This offer is good through February 16, 2010. See you in March!

All the best in success,

Stu