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Everon does quite  bit of marketing to try to keep our managed services sales engine running at a high speed.  We use internet marketing tools to market on the internet, we do direct mail, we hold events, we speak for associations - we try to do it all, and we are continuously working to refine our approach and increase our volume.

But sometimes the best marketing tactics aren’t really planned in advance at all, they just come from someone in your company using their common sense.  We experienced one of these situations recently, and it’s something everyone in the industry should be sure to use immediately!

The head of our Professional Services group was sick of our clients dragging their feet on projects.  He felt that many of our clients had every intention of doing the work, but they were just taking their time since summer was starting and they would rather plan their vacations than plan their projects!

But this was screwing up his numbers, and he was set on hitting his goals.  What did he do?  He sent a simple yet effective email to all of our clients telling them to GET THEIR PROJECTS DONE or they would risk being delayed  when we got a flood of projects signed at the end of summer (like we always do).

And guess what happened?

We added $20k in cash flow immediately to the month of June, and have another $20k+ booked for the early part of July.

Just from sending one email.

This illustrates a very important concept in direct marketing:

Very clearly tell your prospects exactly what  you want them to do.  When you do, the likelihood that they’ll actually do it increases significantly.

Now, summer isn’t the only time this email can be used.  I can think of several others off the top of my head that will work with slightly different language:

1. End of year
2. Before tax season
3. Before a major industry event (if you focus on a vertical)

Get creative.  Look for opportunities, and SEND THE EMAIL!  It is simple, cheap, and incredibly powerful.

MRC

PS - MSP Coach members will get full access to the email used in the membership site.

As more of the big dogs come into the market, it will get interesting for independent service providers to decide who (if) they want to align with.

I’ve heard more and more people saying that Dell’s channel progam is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  I don’t know enough about the details myself to say if that’s true or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

I thought Peter Sandiford’s latest blurb in the Level Platforms newsletter was an interesting take on this subject.  Apparently LPI has recently partnered with Acer (Gateway) to help them roll out a managed services offering, but Acer seems to have a very pro-channel position.

As Peter mentions, more and more large companies with major firepower are entering the managed services space in one way or another.  The question that independent managed services providers will soon face is whether or not they should choose to align themselves with one of these large companies, or if they believe they can “go it alone”.

I wish I knew the answer.  My guess is that in many cases, it will make sense for a small MSP to join forces with one of the larger businesses.  On the other hand, I also believe that there is room for independent MSPs to shine by offering a differentiated level of service.

I’ve posted Peter’s article in full below.

June 25, 2009 Issue 5 CEO Message Vendors in Managed Services - Dell versus Acer (Gateway) Late last month we announced that Acer had chosen Level Platforms to help them power a new Gateway Managed Services offering as part of their new drive into the business market. (See full press release.) With their huge market share in Europe, it makes sense that Gateway Managed Services is initially focused on their 50,000 channel partners in the EMEA region.  With Dell announcing their launch across North America earlier this year, the Gateway announcement represents the second major computer manufacturer to enter the managed services market.  What do these have in common and what does it mean for solution providers offering or planning to offer managed services? Dell’s attack on the market looks to me like an exact copy of their assault on the computer product market 25 years ago.  Just substitute “Services Direct” for the infamous Dell branding “Product Direct” and you can see the future unfolding in managed services.  Dell’s token channel program offers minor agents’ fees, but there is no practical role for the solution provider in all this, except to act as a sales agent for completely centralized services, and to provide some low value, local, on-site services.  I am sure that some solution providers, the ones who continue to focus on product sales, will find this attractive; but for the vast majority of solution providers, who make most of their money on services and enjoy the opportunity to define a unique set of services for their targeted customers, signing up with Dell clearly represents the worst of all possible options. Acer, on the other hand, is a 100% channel business and their Gateway Managed Services reflects this radically different business strategy.  Gateway recognizes that their success depends on the success of their channel partners, and in today’s environment, that means their channel partners’ successful adoption of managed services.  Rather than ask their partners to resell a centralized service offering, they are providing a complete set of tools that allow their partners to succeed with minimal investment and maximum return, out-of-the-gate.  Their entire focus is to recognize their partner’s desire for account control, delivery of differentiated value to their customers, and leadership in their markets, all facilitated by their investment in their channel partner’s success. A number of vendors have created very specific managed services offerings to enhance the value of their own specific offerings.  These have met with limited success in the SMB market where the key to success is to monitor and manage the many interactions among the diverse and expanding ecosystem of hundreds of products and services.  Just as they were 25 years ago when Dell entered the market, the battle lines are forming between channel-friendly vendors and those that see the opportunity to exploit remote monitoring and management to create a direct, online, end-customer relationship. We are entering the next phase of growth when large organizations with scale, brand and strategic motivation are entering the market.  Partnering with the new wave of channel-friendly vendors and distributors like Acer and Ingram Micro represents a great opportunity for many solution providers offering managed services. Peter Sandiford CEO psandiford@levelplatforms.com

As with all the metrics I have been talking about over the last week it is not just the act of tracking metrics that is important it is the interpretation and the use of the information that is critical.

If you track metrics and you are not educating your people on how to interpret them you are missing a large piece of the value of tracking them in the first place.

You want to put careful thought into the metrics you track on your team as the simple act of measuring and reporting a number will create behavior. You want to make sure you are driving the behavior you are looking for.

The key sales metrics we find critical to track are:

• Activity - you should have a point system
• Number of new leads
• Cost per lead
• Cost per client
• 30 day pipeline
• 90 day pipeline

These numbers should be tracked closely and available for everyone to see.

We find these metrics create the sales behavior we are looking for month over month.

Josh

I’ve been taking things a lot slower than normal over the last couple of weeks.  Here’s why:

I got kicked in the leg in a soccer game. My leg puffed up to about three times the normal size and they kept me in the hospital for two surgeries.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not good at sitting around doing nothing, so this surgery has been quite a frustration for me. But it’s reminded me of some very important lessons.

1. I don’t have to be involved in everything. Everon is running just fine without me.  People are stepping up where they need to, systems are working like they are supposed to, and most people probably have no clue I’m gone.  As a business owner, I have to be very careful to only spend time on my highest value activities; most of the daily routines at Everon can and should be left to someone else.
2. I can always make time for the most important things. As I sat in the hospital and later at home, I found that there was really just one or two key things each day that if I gave my attention to, Everon would maintain forward progress on key initiatives.  These one or two things usually only took an hour or two of my concentrated time - which is all I had to give since I was drugged up and recovering.  The point is that you can keep critical things moving forward with just small bursts of concentrated effort.
3. I MUST focus all of my energy on the most important things. Realizing how much I was able to get done in just one or two hours of uninterrupted time - while nobody was expecting me to be working at all - was a powerful reminder of the power of focus.  Now that I am starting to heal, my plan is to actually stay away from my normal routines as much as possible so that I can carve out large chunks of uninterrupted time that will be 100% dedicated on my most important, strategic issues.  I’m skipping out on a lot of meetings, not going to the office on some days, and avoiding a lot of the distractions that go with the day-to-day operations.  This gives me clear-headed time to focus on issues that can provide the big wins.

I would highly encourage that each of you take a hard look at how you are spending your time and proactively make adjustments to make sure you are working only on your most strategic issues.  Emergency leg surgery is not required!  Don’t wait for an emergency to force you into making adjustments; do it on your own proactively and reap the rewards.

MRC

and you should, too.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about anything that would undermine the integrity of my marriage. I’m talking about the love that I have for people that are focused on being their best personally and professionally.

You see, I purchased Robin’s Technology Marketing Toolkit (Full disclosure, that’s an affiliate link.  I will make money if you purchase using this link.) recently, as I am always looking for more and better ways to market our services. Like me, I’m sure you have some sort of preconceived perception of Robin Robins and her materials. She is a strong personality and she has been very vocal in our industry.

My preconceived idea was that she was an excellent salesperson herself, but that her materials were a little crass and maybe not “worthy” of the Everon brand. I got this perception from someone I used to work with at Everon years ago who had purchased her materials and then immediately returned them because they were put off by her approach.

I get it. If you aren’t a student of direct marketing, then you may have no clue why she creates the materials she does, and could be turned off by her approach. However, I am a student of direct marketing, and I was immediately impressed with what I found when I personally went through her materials.

Her marketing materials, samples, etc. are a very important part of what she sells - but NOT NEARLY the most important part. Let me explain.

I’ve had some good success in my life, and I’m constantly asked by people how I get as much done as I do, what secrets to success I’ve uncovered along the way, etc. I’m always flattered and a bit dumbfounded by the questions.

I say ‘dumbfounded’ because the secrets of success aren’t secrets at all. They’ve been published by many people for decades and are available cheaply to anyone with a library card. Authors like Tony Robbins, Robert Ringer, Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Jack Canfield, and countless others have been doing everything they can do for years to spread the word of what it takes to live your dreams and have a life of success - however you may define that.

Most people dismiss their materials as pie-in-the-sky motivational material that are being sold to desperate people. Most people are also getting pretty lame results themselves, so be careful who you listen to!  I’ve personally spent a small fortune on these materials throughout my life.  I read every book I can get my hands on, attend every seminar I can make time for, and constantly try to condition myself to use what I’ve learned.  It occurred to me when reading Robin’s materials that I have studied just about the exact same things she has studied (anything that I found she had studied and I had not, I immediately jumped online and purchased so I can get caught up!).  My guess is that her personal library is not that different from that of a large percentage of very successful people out there.

It’s the lessons that Robin has accumulated from her lifetime study of personal development, her study of marketing, and her personal experiences - and that she enthusiastically communicates to her community - that are the greatest value in what she provides; not the specific marketing materials in her products.

I know from experience that it would take you a good ten years or so to read all of the things she has read, study all of the things she has studied, and experience all of the things she has experienced - if you were to try to get all of this information yourself.  And even if you did do all that legwork, you’d still most likely want someone to give you constant reminders of what you had learned and how to execute based on your new knowledge.  In my opinion, Robin does a great job of playing this role for her customers.

Robin is an incredible role model on how to execute on these lessons.  I am amazed at the business she has built and the amount of work she seems to get done each year.  Considering that here business does roughly $5m/year and has approximately 5-7 employees - we should all be studying as much about her as we can!

As I have embarked on my new business adventure providing small business online marketing tools through the MSP channel, I’ve realized how important it is to raise the level of education about marketing within our community.  I hope that people will consider this a strong endorsement for Robin’s materials (again…affiliate link) and commit to using them to jump-start their study of marketing strategies.  But most importantly, I hope that the greater lessons in her materials about personal development and achieving your dreams shine through loud and clear.

MRC

You should put together an easy to read dashboard that is updated regularly to monitor the financial health of your business. Try not to over complicate the dashboard, a simple spread sheet that is updated daily will do.

You should include baseline and goal targets in your scorecard so that you and everyone in your organization knows how you are doing.

Once you have a baseline, set goals, and start measuring you should also set aside specific time weekly, monthly, and quarterly to review your progress towards goal and to set strategic initiatives to keep you and your team on track.

Ultimately you want to make your results known to your team good or bad. The engagement of your team will drive the metrics to places you never thought possible.

Financial metrics to monitor:

• Total recurring revenue
• Gross margin %
• Revenue per service employee and employee
• Revenue per client
• Effective hourly rate
• Gross margin per client

If you monitor these metrics regularly and constantly work to drive them in the right direction the health of your business will steadily increase.

Josh

It is important to think about the metrics we measure as they directly drive the behavior of our teams. In general you want balancing metrics such as customer satisfaction and gross revenue. Either of these metrics alone could cause an imbalance in your teams focus the same way only driving hold times could dramatically affect your average time to close a service request.

Service metrics that your team should always be tracking and looking to improve:

• Customer Satisfaction - we use Net Promoter Score
• Availability / response - hold times
• Average ticket age
• % of tickets resolved same day
• Open tickets per service employee
  
• Employee utilization rate
• Customer churn / retention

If you measure these service metrics regularly you will be able to see how your service levels are across time. Start by measuring and getting a baseline then make your entire team aware of the one or two metrics you want to drive by posting them on the wall daily and watch them dramatically change for the better.

Remember what gets measured gets managed

Start measuring these service metrics today.

Josh

If you are not you should be as a managed service provider. As Obama makes clearer the system / program requirements for Doctors to move to EMR systems it open a huge opportunity for Managed Service Providers. Essentially we already know that each doctor can receive thousands of dollars from the government for moving to a conforming system now we just have to see the final requirements. Not that anything in them should be a surprise, reliability, security, accessibility, backup, DISASTER RECOVERY — any of these things sound familiar. Now all you need to do is find an EMR vendor to work with and you are off to the races.

If you don’t believe me check out Inc Magazine as they noted health care as a good industry to start a new business in this economy but the same facts that they point to for starting a business in this industry scream out to the MPS as a service offering:

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Health-Care Technology

Beer, Wine, and Liquor Wholesale

Software as a Service

Home Health Care

Yoga Products and Services

Technical and Trade Schools

Fast-Casual Dining

Green Construction

Niche Consulting

Education Technology

Temporary Staffing Firms

Government Services

Accounting Services

Repair Services

Self Improvement

Energy

How sweet it is. Even in a recession, candy has been a luxury that many people can still afford. “Chocolate is a comfort food,” says Dan Johnson, owner of Choco-Logo in Buffalo, New York, which has seen retail sales rise 30 percent since last year. The confectionery industry, as a whole, grew 3.7 percent during the 52-week period ending April 19, according to the National Confectioners Association, which is pretty good considering so many industries are flat or declining. Historically, experts say, candy is one of the most recession-resistant industries and many of today’s classic brands, including Snickers, Tootsie Pops, and 3 Musketeers, all launched during the darkest days of the Great Depression, between 1930 and 1932.

Apple launched its App Store last summer, creating a whole new burgeoning industry in the process. Sales of apps in the first month topped $30 million, leading Steve Jobs to predict that the marketplace would be worth $1 billion some day. To date, companies have produced more than 30,000 applications, ranging from games such as Tap Tap Revenge to apartment-hunting help to tools for finding out the name of a song; in all, Apple has processed more than a billion downloads. To capitalize on the trend, venture-capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins have begun investing in app producers; the venerable Sand Hill Road firm has earmarked $100 million for the market.

The challenge of streamlining patient care through digitized medical records, e-prescription programs, and online hospital communication, is just now gaining momentum, giving younger companies a chance to make inroads. The federal stimulus bill pledged $19 billion to the development of a health-information tracking system. Based on that level of funding, employment in the field is expected to grow by 18 percent between now and 2016, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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So with that said I hope you all start thinking about how to make the transition for a small doctors office to an EMR system as painless as possible so that every doctors office within 50 miles of you, and I am sure there are quite a few, calls you for service when they are ready.

Josh

I’m a big fan of Mark Fitzgerald, a Sandler Sales Trainer based in Tampa, Florida.  I first met him at one of the Connectwise Summits and was mesmerized by his command of the strategies, tactics, and philosophies of sales.  I read his newsletter; you should to (I’m not sure how to sign up for it other than emailing Mark at mark@saleskills.com.

Here is a recent essay from him on the economies impact on the sales cycle.  Thanks for keepin’ it real, Mark!

The world is the way the world is. The stories change to protect the innocent. That is, we like to embrace stories that shield us from the not so comforting instantiation of reality in all its nakedness. Social beings that we are, we conspire in group-licensed narrative. Nodding, repeating the mantra we commune. It would be amusing save that it’s become so tiresome.

I like a good story as much as the next guy. When I was a kid my mother used to read to me. I fancied Winnie the Pooh and the L. Frank Baum books (of which most people know only the Wizard of Oz). In those days I could happily enjoy the exact same tale again and again. Indeed, I insisted on it. I’m sure now that it must have driven my mother crazy. She never let on. “Mothers are like that… yeah they are” (Bayer aspirin commercial circa 1963).

Fast forward to 2009. I’m no longer so easily amused. I still like stories but my brain now craves variety. Additionally, my “willing suspension of disbelieve” has atrophied somewhat since childhood. Being a salesperson has sharpened my sense of familiarity. That is, I not only recognize when I’ve heard a story before, but I also hear it for the falsehood that it so often is. What surprises me is how many people who should know better don’t.

Here’s the current best seller. “The economy has people scared and they’re afraid to make a decision.” The evidence for this is one or another statement made by prospects that sound like these:

We’re going to look around a little more.

That sounds good. Let us get back to you.

We like your solution the best of any we’ve seen. Just give us a little time to get things together.

Call me next week.

Story of the year: The prospects above are having trouble making decisions.  Reality: they already made a decision and it’s “No”. “No” with packaging for the consumption of the salesperson is still “No”.

Earth to salespeople: It’s no harder to get people to make decisions than it ever was. In a time when people have less money (we are in such a time), fewer will buy and we’ll have to prospect more to find the ones who will. The story about people having a hard time making decisions might make salespeople feel better, but it won’t make you any richer.

People have a lot of ways to say “No”.

And that’s the way the world is.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has some good stuff in it for small businesses. You should take advantage of it in your marketing messages to your clients:

• The ARRA extends the 50% bonus depreciation created in 2008 until the end of 2009.  This means that businesses making capital investments (computer systems!) can take and immediate 50% depreciation for their taxes.

• Businesses can write off up to $250,000 on total purchases up to $800,000, that’s up from $125,000 with a phaseout at $500,000 in 2007.

• Net operating losses can be carried back five years, instead of the usual two-year period.  This applies to companies with average receipts of up to $15 million.

Remember, selling managed services is more about understanding the clients’ business challenges than it is about understanding technology.  This is exactly the kind of information that, when properly used in your pitch, can make you seem like a business advisor.

Happy hunting!

MRC