MSP University Managed Services Blog

Recorded Webcast Posted: How To Receive up to 5 Copies of Microsoft Software to Jumpstart Your Prospecting

In case you missed it live, we've posted MSP University's latest State of the Industry Webinar and it is available for viewing now on MSP University's website. Browse to www.mspu.us and select "Courses" in the top navigation bar. The Webcast can be found under "This Month's FREE Training" on the Courses page.   (If you do not already have a Free Basic MSP University Membership, you will be asked to create one to view this webinar and access the included PowerPoint slide deck. If you already have an MSP University Membership, you'll simply need to log in to access the download).

Once again, our special guest is Michael "MJ" Murphy, Business Development Manager, Microsoft. Together we discuss how to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity from Microsoft.

Just how can you receive up to 5 Copies of Microsoft software to jumpstart your prospecting?
 
Are you a Microsoft Partner? If you are, Microsoft will agree to sponsor up to 5 local Chamber of Commerce events at any Chamber of Commerce you choose to work with by furnishing up to 5 copies of a Microsoft Software Package (Microsoft Office, MSFT Streets And Trips, SBA, etc.)  to you to be used as raffle prizes at these Chamber Events.
 
This is a tremendous way for you to generate leads for your products and services as you collect business cards or registration forms for these raffles!

All you need to do as a Microsoft Registered, Certified or Gold Partner to receive this benefit is agree to attend each Chamber Event and conduct the raffle of the Office Prize. This gets you in front of local business, demonstrates your relationship with Microsoft and builds your credibility in your local markets - YOU WIN!

When marketed with your local Chamber of Commerce, this acts as a hook, creating fresh buzz around the Chamber events and driving attendance - THE CHAMBER WINS!

The Chamber helps get the word out about Microsoft software and its sponsorship of the event - MICROSOFT WINS!

Wow, I've heard of win-wins before, but this is a 3-way win!

Watch this valuable Webcast to learn how to position this opportunity with your local Chamber of Commerce and utilize Free Microsoft software to increase leads and fill your opportunity pipeline. 
 
Erick Simpson
MSP University
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MSP University helps Solution Providers succeed...period.

MSP University Selected As Strategic Training Partner For HTG Groups

I've recently returned from Dallas, Texas, where MSP University played an active role as a Strategic Training Partner throughout the first annual Heartland Tech Group (HTG) Summit.  HTG attracts industry thought leaders, experts and peers from across the globe. 

Arlin Sorensen - HTG Founder 

HTG members recently converged to participate and share knowledge, build on proven best practices and leverage the talents of all members. Built on its mandate of execution and accountability, HTG provides positive interaction throughout the entire technology industry by holding each other accountable to all members’ commitments.

MSP University is honored to be chosen as a Strategic Training Partner for HTG, and in this role delivered 2 full-day workshops and 4 additional sessions for HTG members and sponsors alike during the HTGSummit, which attracted hundreds of VAR members who; alongside eleven other members in their respective groups, serve as each other's peer board of directors. HTG currently counts 19 individual peer groups of 12 members each, along with online groups and is growing!

Individual peer groups drill down and focus on overall effectiveness across operations, marketing, sales, finances and overall health of each member.  By focusing on industry standards including business planning, process development, financial benchmarking and education, HTG members strive to maintain a competitive advantage over those other service firms that do not participate in peer activities.

Focused on only the best small and midsize technology firms, HTG spans the entire technology ecosystem. By leveraging leading technology manufacturers and vendors who provide sponsorship and interaction with HTG members, members are equipped with the tools and knowledge to provide an increased level of service in their communities. HTG members are better prepared and understand the importance of positive interaction across all levels of the industry.

Learn more about HTG Groups and the Power of Peers here!

Erick Simpson
MSP University
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MSP University helps Solution Providers succeed...period.

How to Develop Compelling Vertical-Specific Marketing Collateral For Prospects

Once you've obtained a quality marketing list, your next task is likely one of the most difficult: how to influence your target prospects effectively to be open to discussing your services with you through compelling and visually appealing marketing material.  No matter how great we are in all things I.T. - most of us are less skilled when it comes to being creative enough and having the ability necessary to create visually appealing, compelling marketing material. 

In order for marketing material to work effectively, it needs to evoke emotion from the recipients of its message, and the message needs to be delivered economically.  Without these elements, I can guarantee that you will have wasted your money purchasing a great marketing list. No matter how great your leads are, if your message and collateral do not resonate with your target audience and evoke enough emotion as to the pain they are experiencing in their businesses and how you can solve it – they aren't going to respond to you.

How to Evoke Emotion

Your first challenge is to come up with a message that will evoke emotion from your vertical market.  People make decisions based on emotions.  Car salespeople know this better than anyone, and they use the emotions of car shoppers to close opportunities time and time again.  The emotional response a person feels when seeing an advertisement or commercial about the car they plan to buy is exactly how you need your prospects to feel when reviewing your marketing collateral and its message – they need an emotional response to what they see, read or hear from you in order for you to succeed at scheduling an appointment with them.

Ask yourself the following questions about your vertical market, and what you your solution offers: Does it improve their efficiency?  Does it save them money?  Does it solve the pains they experience in their business?  This is what your prospects care about, so you can leave out all of the technical details about “how” your solution works – they just don't care how it works as long as it WORKS!

Steps to Creating a Compelling Marketing Message:

• Identify pain points
• Create an emotional message in query form
• Add testimonials
• Call to action

Identify Pain Points:  Determine what problems and pains the businesses in your target vertical market has.

Create an Emotional Message:  Ask questions based on the pain and problems the vertical market has. For example, “Frustrating email problems got you down?” or “Having trouble getting to critical files in the office when you're at away?”

Add Testimonials: Insert short testimonials of happy clients in your target vertical for influence.

Call to Action: Let the prospects know how they can contact you. For example, “Call now for a free consultation to find out how we are uniquely qualified to alleviate your business pain and improve your productivity while saving you money.”

Use these steps to create a compelling marketing message for each and every one of your services and each of the verticals you focus on.  Once you have a marketing message for each service targeted to each vertical, you'll have everything you need to begin creating postcards or email templates to begin a direct mail and email marketing campaign.

For many more specific examples on how to create compelling marketing messaging and collateral, download some sample chapters from our best-selling The Best I.T. Sales & Marketing BOOK EVER!

Erick Simpson
MSP University
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Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
MSP University helps Solution Providers succeed...period.

How to Buy the Most Effective Marketing List

Your vertical-specific marketing efforts will either be tremendously successful, or fail miserably based heavily on the quality of your marketing list.  Identifying criteria before buying a marketing list can help ensure you receive the best results from your direct-marketing efforts.

Marketing List Criteria

Vertical Markets: The first criterion you will want to select when purchasing a list will be your target vertical market.  In the world of marketing lists, verticals used to be broken down by Standard Industrial Classification, or SIC codes. An SIC Code was a numeric classification for the industry a particular company belongs to. Since companies can belong to several industries, these companies may have numerous SIC Codes.  So for example, if you are working within the health industry vertical, you would select SIC codes that are in health services, doctor offices, hospitals, etc.  There are likely to be multiple SIC codes for each industry and you'll want to select carefully to include each of the classifications your vertical may belong in.

In 1997, the Standard Industrial Classification Code system was replaced by the North American Industry Classification System, or NAICS. The NAICS is a much more specific industry classification system than the SIC Code system was. This makes it even more important to take your time and review your industry classifications carefully when developing your marketing list criteria.

Geographic Marketing Footprint: The second criterion for purchasing a marketing list is to determine your geographic marketing footprint.  Determine where your service area is geographically, and choose a list that fits within your zip codes, counties, cities or area codes of choice.

Number of Desktops: The third criterion you will want to determine are the number of desktops in your prospects' environments. A good marketing list vendor will have this option available as selection criteria. Since the sweet spot for a Managed Services Provider is between twenty-five and a hundred desktops or so, you will choose twenty-five as a minimum desktop count for your marketing list criteria.  Next you will determine the size of the organizations you will be marketing to, based on their gross yearly revenues. You will want to be sure your prospects can afford your services and have the capability to budget for technology investments. Typically, the higher the prospect's gross yearly revenues, the more technology dependent and strategic they are.

Length of Time in Business:  You don't want to become heavily dependent on start-up businesses in your client base, due to the odds against a startup's long-term success. Instead, choose businesses with a 5-year history or longer for your next marketing list criterion.

Contacts:  When purchasing a marketing list, you should be able to specify who in the organization you want to contact.  You need access to the decision maker, so you  might choose the President, CEO and CFO.  Try for the CEO, with complete name, title, phone number and email address contact information.

A reputable marketing list vendor will provide a guarantee that covers any inaccurate information in the lists they sell, so be sure the vendor you work with offers a guarantee.  It is better to pay more for an accurate marketing list than to pay less for one that has a lot of “dead” leads.

Good sources of marketing lists include:

Harte-Hankes
Dun & Bradstreet
InfoUSA

For more information on maximizing the effectiveness of your marketing and sales efforts, see our best-selling The Best I.T. Sales & Marketing BOOK EVER!

Erick Simpson
MSP University
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Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
MSP University helps Solution Providers succeed...period.

Uncovering Big Opportunities In Your Existing Client List

You have an almost endless stream of sales opportunities right under your nose – in your existing client list!  We all know that it's much easier to sell solutions to clients whom you have already established relationships with than it is to try and sell to new prospects who are not as familiar with you.

Think of every service your clients will ever need, and then offer it. Now, before you think we've lost our minds, we don't expect you to go out and get trained to implement and maintain every service your clients could ever need; it's a matter of finding good vendor and fulfillment partner relationships that can help you sell, quote and deliver. When considering vendor and partner relationships, look for those that will pay commissions as well as an annuity when possible. 

We originally introduced this concept to you in detail in our best-selling The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice.

What products and services should you be offering in order to provide solutions to all of your client needs?  There are many, including:

• Managed Services
• Monitoring Only Services
• Managed Firewalls
• Internet Monitoring/Content Filtering
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning
• Website Design
• Website Hosting
• Co-Location Services
• Remote Backup/Storage
• Email and Spam Filtering
• Email Archiving
• SAN Storage Solutions
• Voice and Data T-1’s
• VoIP
• Application Development
• CRM Solutions
• SharePoint Solutions
• POS/Inventory Control Solutions
• HaaS/SaaS

Many of these products and services are subscription-based.  You can set up annuity revenue with your vendors and fulfillment partners and receive revenues for as long as the client pays the vendor – even if the client is no longer your personal client.  That's the beauty and value of annuity-based revenue systems.  As you expand your service offerings to your existing client base, seek the right vendor relationships that enable you to earn annuity revenue.

The true I.T. Consultant and Trusted Advisor is able to predict and manage all of the technology needs of their clients.  Handle it effectively, and get help with the right vendor and fulfillment partner relationships, and you can increase your rates and charge a premium for the design, development, implementation, management and maintenance of solutions that will save your clients money while improving their efficiencies and productivity.

Erick Simpson
MSP University
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MSP University helps Solution Providers succeed...period.

Power Listening

Our good friend Stuart Crawford is hosting a session on Small Business IT Radio this Friday all about Power Listening. Here is Stuart's post:

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In times of economic challenge, business professionals who want to lead from a position of strength need more than high IQ. They also need proficient communication skills. Communication cannot succeed without listening. Are you listening? You say you want to listen, you know how important it is to pay attention to your clients, your colleagues, your spouse, your family, but… you’re busy, you don’t have time right now, there is so much to do. So you keep doing, and keep talking, even though stopping to listen can more quickly and easily

• reduce professional and personal stress,
• calm rising tempers,
• clarify misunderstandings,
• give you access to new opportunities
• increase sales

Have you ever had someone say: “You seem to know exactly what I’m thinking. How did you do that?” Tune in to Small Business IT Radio and hear what Jean Hudson has to say!

That’s Power Listening at work!

Jean Hudson is founder and CEO of execuCoach International, a Calgary-based leadership and personal development company. She has over 20 years experience as facilitator, speaker, writer, and coach. Her presentations and articles have been enjoyed by audiences across North America and Europe. Jean holds a masters degree in collaborative leadership, and a master certificate in NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) which is the study of how top-level achievers think, act, and communicate. Jean is not an expert in your field. She is an expert in accessing the strengths and resources of individuals and teams, then developing the skills to behave and communicate in ways that magnify achievement.

Join Jean online with Stuart Crawford of Bulletproof InfoTech on his weekly Small Business IT Radio program. Show time is April 17 at Noon Eastern/9 AM Pacific. Tune in online or listen later. Tune in to Small Business IT Radio and hear what Jean Hudson has to say!

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Erick Simpson
MSP University
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Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
MSP University helps MSPs succeed...period.

Winning New Business: Back to Basics with Marketing Strategies, Tactics & Sales Opportunity Management

I've been asked to reprise the breakout session I delivered at the Autotask Community Live! conference by Bob Vogel, and he has agreed to open this webcast to all attendees.

As a special bonus, all attendees will receive an electronic copy of MSP University's best-seller "The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice - What Every IT Service Provider Should Know..." - including over 30 downloadable forms, tools and collateral to help you succeed in your IT service delivery or Managed Services practice!

I hope you'll join Bob and I this Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 9am PST. Here is Bob's invitation:

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When I conduct surveys of IT service providers and ask them to tell me what their most important business issue is, Winning New Business is always at the top of the list. And in today’s economy, this is a critical discipline you’ll need to survive.

That’s why I’m pleased to bring back Erick Simpson, VP of MSP University for a special encore performance of a powerful sales and marketing lecture he gave at our recent 2009 Autotask Community Live worldwide customer conference:

Click Here To Register

We’ll take you completely through the marketing and sales process, including a no-nonsense, “Back to Basics” approach to marketing strategies and tactics. We’ll also provide a brief demo of how to efficiently convert your leads to sales through the Opportunity Management module inside of Autotask.

Proven techniques to boost your results AND save you money, too
This is one of MSP University’s most popular sessions for Service Providers who want actionable ideas they can take away and use immediately.

In this one-hour webinar, you will learn how to create and correctly use direct and passive marketing vehicles - such as case studies, white papers, newsletters, news releases, email, direct mail, and telemarketing - to successfully attract your target market.

In addition, Erick will give you valuable tips to save hundreds on your direct-mail marketing costs, and effective techniques to win appointments with decision-makers.

Click Here To Register

See Autotask’s Opportunity Management System In Action
The presentation also includes a live demo of Autotask’s IT service management software in action. We’ll show you how to automate the creation of leads in Autotask right off your company web site, and how the system keeps your sales process on track, your forecasting dead-on, and your reporting a critical tool for making smart business decisions.

It was great meeting so many of our customers at our live conference last month. I hope that if you couldn’t attend that event -- or if you missed this session -- you’ll be able to join me for this special Autotask Community Live! Rewind presentation.
I hope to see you (virtually) there!

-- Bob V

P.S. And feel free to invite a friend. This event is open to the public. Send them this link to register: http://tinyurl.com/MSPU-Webinar-SendFriend

P.P.S. As a special bonus, all attendees to this live webinar will have an opportunity to receive a FREE download of MSP University’s bestselling book “The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice - What Every SMB IT Service Provider Should Know...”

Bob Vogel
Chief Marketing Officer
Autotask Corporation
www.autotask.com

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Erick Simpson
MSP University
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Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
MSP University helps MSPs succeed...period.

How to receive up to 5 FREE copies of Microsoft Software to Jump Start Your Prospecting

Join us for MSP University's State of the Industry Webinar
 
Please join us Tuesday April 28th @ 9am PST as I host MSP University's State of the Industry Webinar.

Topic: How Microsoft can help Jump Start Your Prospecting

Are you a Microsoft Partner? If you are, Microsoft will agree to sponsor up to 5 local Chamber of Commerce events at any Chamber of Commerce you choose to work with by furnishing up to 5 copies of a Microsoft Software Package (Microsoft Office, MSFT Streets And Trips, SBA, etc)  to you to be used as raffle prizes at these Chamber Events.

This is a tremendous way for you to generate leads for your products and services as you collect business cards or registration forms for these raffles!

Once again, our special guest will be Michael "MJ" Murphy, Business Development Manager, Microsoft. Together we'll discuss how to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity from Microsoft.

Click here to register!
 
All you need to do as a Microsoft Registered, Certified or Gold Partner to receive this benefit is agree to attend each Chamber Event and conduct the raffle of the Office Prize. This gets you in front of local business, demonstrates your relationship with Microsoft and builds your credibility in your local markets - YOU WIN!

When marketed with your local Chamber of Commerce, this acts as a hook, creating fresh buzz around the Chamber events and driving attendance - THE CHAMBER WINS!

The Chamber helps get the word out about Microsoft software and its sponsorship of the event - MICROSOFT WINS!

Wow, I've heard of win-wins before, but this is a 3-way win!

Join me for this valuable Webcast to learn how to position this opportunity with your local Chamber of Commerce and utilize Free Microsoft software to increase leads and fill your opportunity pipeline.
 
About MSP University's State of the Industry Webinar Series
 
MSP University's State of the Industry Webinar Series is meant to inform.  The more you know about your industry, the products and services available to you and your clients, and how to market and sell those products and services, the greater your opportunities to increase your value to your clients, as well as your business success. 

About Erick Simpson

Vice President and CIO of Intelligent Enterprise, a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, and MSP University, Erick is a recognized industry expert and IT and Managed Services author, speaker and trainer, and contributor to numerous industry publications and events. Author of "The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice - What Every SMB IT Service Provider Should Know...", the definitive book on Managed Services, and the follow-ups in MSP University's Managed Services Series "The Best I.T. Sales & Marketing BOOK EVER!" and "The Best I.T. Service Delivery BOOK EVER!", Erick has also co-authored the HTG publication "Peer Power - Powerful Ideas for Partners from Peers".
 
About Michael "MJ" Murphy
 
MJ Murphy brings over 20 years of technology and entrepreneurial experience to Microsoft's Local Engagement Team. In his role as Business Development Manager he actively engages Microsoft partners who want to grow their businesses through deeper engagement with Microsoft. 

 

Click here to register!

Erick Simpson
MSP University
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Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
MSP University helps MSPs succeed...period.

Managed Services Pricing Models

There are many ways to price Managed Services offerings, but there doesn't seem to be any particular pricing model that will work for all Managed Services Providers.  It's up to you to find and implement the model that matches your needs best, but at MSP University; we promote and train our Managed Services Partners with the “All-You-Can Eat”, Flat-Fee model.

All-You-Can Eat, Flat-Fee Pricing Model

This pricing model is beneficial for both the Managed Services Provider and the client.  As the provider, you can customize the monthly fee and included services for each service agreement you write for your clients, to allow for maximum profitability.  With service agreements in hand, you can easily predict your ongoing revenues. 

For the clients on a flat-fee pricing model, they know exactly how much their IT support is costing them, and can see at a glance how much they lose per month if they don't use a Managed Services model. We illustrate exactly how we execute this successful Managed Services Sales Technique in our best-selling “The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice”, and exactly how we use the Existing Client Cost Analysis  for existing Clients and the New Client Cost-Savings Analysis for New Clients to accomplish it, all available for download from www.mspu.us.

The “Per Device” Pricing Model

In this pricing model, you assign a flat rate for each type of device that is supported in the client's environment.  You might charge $49 per desktop computer, $199 per server, $29 per network printer and so on.  In the provider's point of view, this is an easy pricing model to quote and illustrate costs for clients, and easy enough to modify the monthly service fees as clients add additional devices.  A potential drawback of this pricing model is that it may lead to selling Managed Services based more on the price more than benefit – speeding pricing commoditization, so you'll need to be aware of this and adjust your sales presentation accordingly.

The “Tiered”, or “Gold/Silver/Bronze” Pricing Model

This pricing model is very popular, and is based on bundled packages.  Each package gets more expensive and offers more benefits than the one before it. The Bronze Managed Services package might include basic support services for phone or remote support, patch management and Virus and Spyware removal at an entry level price.  The Silver Managed Services package would include all of Bronze options, plus additional features like Onsite visits, while Gold might include after hours emergency support.

For services not included in the packages, you would then provide them á la carte.

The “Pick 5” Pricing Model

This pricing model is a mash-up of the Tiered and la carte pricing models. The basic premise here is to identify three or more successively higher-priced categories with a list of Services available in each. The client gets their choice of picking a set number of Services from the one category they wish their Managed Services Agreement to cover. For instance, let’s say we have categories named Basic, Advanced and Premium. In the Basic category we have 8 Services available to choose from, including Phone Support, Remote Support, Patch Management, Spyware Management, License Management, Case Management, Backup Management and Monitoring. The client would choose 5 of these, and a service agreement would be created to support them. 

From the client's perspective, this pricing model allows them to choose the services they think they need most, rather than paying for a “package deal” that might include services they don't think they would utilize.

SMB IT Service Providers contemplating the implementation of this Pricing Model should carefully choose the minimum required Services available in each Category, to insure that they are selected, in order to provide the best possible Proactive Support for the Client.

For more information Managed Servicess Pricing Models, start reading on page 95 of The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice! 

Erick Simpson
MSP University
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MSP University helps MSPs succeed...period.

Autotask Community Live Recap

I had the pleasure of presenting 2 marketing-focused breakout sessions to attendees of the Autotask Community Live! event in Nashville, TN. yesterday.

I continue to be impressed with the efforts Autotask is making in extending the traditional definition of the term "community" and how they are leveraging social networking within their PSA solution for the benefit of their partners.

I previously had the opportunity of delivering an MSP University State of the Industry webcast titled "The Effect of Social Networking on Service Providers and MSP Tools and Processes featuring Autotask" with Bob Vogel, Autotask's Chief Marketing Officer as my guest (log in with or register for your FREE MSP University basic membership to view), where I explored the vision and execution behind this web 2.0-influenced Autotask Community. Autotask's development in this area assists its partners through forums, blogs and wikis focused on all aspects of service delivery improvement, truly maximizing this Autotask and partner co-driven support environment and experience.

For more on the event itself, see these blogs from our good friends Karl Palachuk here and Joe Panettieri from MSPMentor covering keynotes from Autotask CEO Bob Godgart, event highlights and more here, here and here.

Erick Simpson
MSP University
Subscribe to my blog here
Subscribe to our Newsletter here 
Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
MSP University helps MSPs succeed...period.