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Most managed service providers don’t do any marketing. Most have technical backgrounds and marketing and sales just aren’t their “thing”.

Everon has done more marketing than most companies in our space, but we are really just getting started. We will do more marketing in the next six months than we’ve done in the history of our company thus far.

I think the most important thing I’ve learned about marketing that most people don’t intuitively “get” is that marketing is a system. It seems that most people think marketing is an art, or some kind of hocus-pocus. It’s neither of those things - it’s a system.

What do I mean by system? I mean that it’s a series of tasks that should be done very routinely, with results measured constantly. Easier said than done, I know. So how do you make this system a reality?

I’ve learned that it begins with a calendar to keep you on track, and I think John Jantsch from Duct Tape Marketing illustrates this point very well in his newsletter today.

Enjoy!

MRC

Live by the Calendar
Marketing is a habit and habits take practice

Marketing is such an important part of your business that it must be practiced daily, much like a habit, in order to really get the attention and momentum it deserves.

Doing that can be a tall task for a lot of business owners because so many other things call out for your attention.

The surest way to keep your focus on the important task of marketing is to schedule it like you might appointments with best customers. When you have an appointment blocked off in your calendar, it’s pretty certain that you will keep it.

Making marketing appointments, and creating a systematic approach to marketing scheduling, is a great way to ensure you take a near and far term approach to building marketing momentum in your business.

Here’s the plan of action for your new marketing scheduling routine.

Annual - Create a large wall size annual marketing calendar that allows you to look pretty far forward and schedule the big things you know you need to do. Redesign the web site, hire a marketing assistant. You should look at this as an annual strategic planning exercise that combines nicely with the creation of a compelling set of marketing goals for the year

In addition, use this strategy session to create a marketing scorecard. Your scorecard is a list of simple tactical actions that, if performed routinely, will move you in the direction of your goals. So if your goal is to obtain five referral each month then a scorecard item tied to that goal might be to attend a networking event or send a handwritten note to a customer. (Create this scorecard and I’ll tell you how to use it in a minute.)

Monthly - When you start big picture planning things can get, well, big, and you can get overwhelmed. Take each month of the year and assign a theme of focus. Make December your PR month and determine that you will get that part of your marketing humming along in December, while January is blog month and so on.

Weekly - If you plan to accomplish your assigned theme goals each month then you will need a weekly plan of action with steps and accountabilities. Going back to our PR theme example might mean that week 1 that month is focused on building a killer media list for your industry and community, week two might be set aside to tackle the creation of a media kit. Now, the key to making this work though is to schedule marketing appointments throughout the week with yourself, your staff or an outside resource to make sure the action steps get moved forward.

Daily - For your daily marketing plan you’ve got two tasks. One is look at each day as you are planning your to-do list for the day and prepare for and keep your marketing appointments.

The second is to consult your scorecard we described above and see how many items on your scorecard can be done today. To make it even more fun you can assign a score to each item and set a daily point goal.

If you can keep marketing this front and center as you go about your day you will be amazed at how easy it becomes a part of the air you breath.

I’m going to vent a little bit on this post - forgive me!

It seems that once a week someone on our team at Everon sends me a link to a managed service provider that is blatantly ripping off our website.  Depending on how big of a foul they are committing, I will often send a nasty-gram email asking them to have some courtesy and make changes to their site to make it original.

In some cases (I’m not going to call anyone out in public…at least not yet!), it’s pretty embarassing how flagrant they are in their stealing of our content.  We literally have had companies leave the Everon name and phone number on their site after they’ve copied our content!  A competitor that was recently pointed out to me is just down the road from us and has taken a ton of our content, as well as used our tagline.

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, so I try not to get too upset.  More importantly, the one thing that keeps me sleeping well at night is knowing this:

If you are copying our site to this degree, you will never have a competitive advantage over us!

Think about it.  If you are literally following another company that close, you can’t possibly win against them in the long term.  In order to win, you have to be original enough to stand out in the marketplace on your own merits.  I’m not saying that you should be referencing and learning from your competitors - you absolutely should be - but you shouldn’t copy their branding.

The biggest struggle of people in our industry is sales and marketing - copying our website is proof.  If you are in this position, recognize that you need to put a strong focus on developing your own sales and marketing skills so you can strengthen your business and your career.

MRC

Hurray!  Somebody outside of our industry - a major publication for small businesses at that - is starting to use the language Managed Service Provider! 

This is a big deal.

For those of you that don’t understand why, please see my previous post on my conversation with Rackspace Chairman Graham Weston:

http://smbitpros.com/2008/02/29/msp-or-var-the-words-we-use-are-important/

Inc. magazine has a ton of credibility with the market of customers we are targeting every day, so having them start to use this language and discuss our model’s benefits is great for our industry.  If they and others keep this up, our industry language will finally start to make its way into the vocabulary of most business owners, making it that much easier to market our services.

I couldn’t find the article on their website yet, but it’s in the May 2008 issue and is titled Clip Here and Save Big: How to Trim Your IT Budget Without Making Sacrifices.

MRC

There has been a lot of talk about Dell and the service providers they have been snatching up (Everdream, Silverback, etc.). Most recently Dell announced they would test marketing services direct to clients but not to worry they would not market to your clients, the channel would be protected.

Guess what we found in our mailbox this morning (names and account numbers have been changed to protect the innocent):

Dear Client Name,

I am compiling some information on topics that may be of interest to my customers.

These topics include but are not limited to:

· Voice over IP (VOIP)

· Cooling of Server Areas

· Security Appliances

· Reducing Spam

· Virtualization and Server Consolidation

· Disaster Recovery and Failover

· SAN Storage – particularly ISCSI

· Converting to a Mobile workforce

If there are other topics you would like information on or if you want me to send info on any of the above topics, please email me or call me.

Company Name: Client Name

Customer Number: xxxxxxxxxx

Thank you!

A whole list of Dell people my client should contact about their services

Now on the surface you may say this poses no threat to my business and I still would argue that Dell will never get the high touch server our clients demand right. But I do believe this will cause some tough conversations with clients as Dell starts to provide my same service offerings at a low price – no idea on pricing yet but I imagine dell is thinking sheer volume for this play to make sense to their business.

So if you are not listed as the main email on your clients Dell account you may want to think about changing that or getting out ahead of Dells message to your client by talking to them first.

JC

I’ve been a part of a conversation about the importance (or lack of importance) of certifications in the MSP industry. See the posts at MSPMentor here.

It’s a very important issue, as managed service providers need to look for every edge possible to be successful in competitive sales situations, and they don’t typically have the funds or time to go for every certification available.

So what really matters to clients? I’m sure the responses will vary based on all kinds of factors, but I’ve found that the following are the key variables that clients really focus on when determining which MSP to work with:

1. Perceived understanding of and ability to manage the specific needs of the client
2. Reputation in general and with reference clients
3. SLA’s/proof of service performance
4. Contract terms
5. Price
6. Business background - size of team, years in business, where it is located

The order above isn’t necessarily from most important to least important; that changes for each client.

So does a certification make sense? Does it have an impact? The only situations that I see it potentially having an impact on sales are the following:

• You are an infrastructure-based service provider (hosting, SaaS, etc.) and the clients you are selling to are looking for enterprise-level commitments in terms of uptime, redundancy, etc. A certification about how you have built your infrastructure and how you manage it could provide a feeling of safety for the client.
• You are focused on selling a specific brand and/or product; a certification would demonstrate your expertise.
• You are a small managed service provider that is just getting started; having a certification could reduce some of the sense of risk the client may have about working with a rookie in the marketplace.

Otherwise, I don’t imagine certifications are all that valuable.

That doesn’t mean that training isn’t important. Josh and I have actually considered putting together a training program to serve those looking to succeed as MSPs - we really believe in the value of continuing education. But does getting a certification at the end of the course make a difference in your sales volume? I guess time will tell.

MRC

I liked Joe Panettieri’s post on MSPMentor today. Read it here.

The point of the article is the key to success for managed service providers in a tough economy. What is it?

Confidence.

The only potential crisis facing the American economy today is a crisis of confidence. There is a ton of money out there, so we don’t have a liquidity problem. Interest rates are dropping through the floor, so the cost of capital isn’t the issue. The issue is that a bunch of bankers are afraid of getting burned so they aren’t lending money anymore. It’s a confidence problem.

The good news is that this is the best time to take some ground from your competition. Why?

Because most businesses are going to pull back now. They are going to hunker down and ride out the storm. They are going to play it safe and cut back on optional things like marketing and advertising budgets. It’s the wrong thing to do.

Use this time to reinvest in your business, as Joe suggests. It will be much more expensive to take market share when the economy is good and everyone is spending their money loosely again!

MRC

Found this update in my inbox this morning from Michael Menegay from Dell – I was not sure who he was until I read his signature but I guess he feels I am his partner by the looks of it.

Dell is pushing Everdream direct to customers and offering us MSP certification. At first glance this looks like cause for alarm until you realize it is Dell and they will never get the personal touch our service requires right with small businesses.

In the last month dell has visited two of my clients unsupervised and both ended up with sever business interruption and are in the process of trying to get money out of dell. Why do I tell you this? Because I feel it will be the same with Dell’s direct managed services. Not to say they are not a smart organization, they are just too big to give Joe’s local consulting business the personal attention they need.

In my opinion (take it or leave it) I feel Dell’s, and all the other giants, push into the market will do nothing but educate clients sending them looking for you and me – the quality high touch sub fifty million dollar organizations providing managed services with a personal touch.

Check out the letter and I will see you at the webinar the week of the 21^st.

JC

Dear Partner,

At the Dell/SilverBack Managed Services Partner Conference held in January, we committed to open and continuous dialogue with our partner community on Dell’s managed services strategy, program enhancements and go-to-market initiatives.

MSP Certification Update

Today, we are pleased to announce some updates. The Dell MSP certification program has been enhanced to include Dell’s end-user device management services (enabled by the recently acquired Everdream technology). This technology is exciting as it permits our partners to offer new and expanded product sets consisting of software distribution, patch management, remote asset discovery, asset management, data encryption, online backup, software licensing and remote administration to your vast base of desktop and notebook systems.

To support these new capabilities for our partners, Dell has added an MSP certification track for Dell’s end-user device management services. Our partners can now access the technology, training and best practices of all managed services practice areas, including those offered for IT infrastructure remote monitoring and management technology driven by Dell’s enterprise monitoring services (enabled by the recently acquired SilverBack technology), and those offered for Dell’s end-user device management services.

Dell’s end-user device management services technology represents an exciting addition to our MSP certification program. Current Everdream partners who register before May 15, 2008 will be “grandfathered” into the Dell MSP desktop remote management certification program. Also, we are thrilled with the results of our first Dell MSP Partner Certification program based on Dell’s enterprise monitoring services, as new partner certifications have increased over four hundred (400%) percent in just four (4) months. We look forward to similar results with the expansion of the program utilizing the Dell’s end-user device management services platform technology.

Managed Services Update

As we discussed at the January MSP partner conference, Dell will be starting a limited pilot in Dallas, TX selling small businesses basic remote monitoring and remediation services using Dell’s enterprise monitoring services. Dell will look to expand this pilot over the course of 2008 in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific regions as feedback dictates.

As promised, we will update you on the progress of this pilot as results and feedback are generated. We’ll continue to communicate and work with partners to further develop the channel offering that will compliment Dell’s small-business managed service offering. There will also be opportunities for partners to participate in the pilot, and we will provide details in the coming months.

And in closing, during the week of April 21, 2008 we will host a managed services partner webinar that will further outline the results and growth of our MSP certification program, and share our plans for continued enhancements to the MSP platform and overall channel program. This webinar will provide our partners the opportunity to be educated on the enhancements to Dell’s platform technology and programs that will enable you to develop specific initiatives suited to meeting your business goals.

We envision this webinar being the first in a series of conversations with our partners as we continue to develop Dell’s Managed Services channel strategy and offerings for our partners.
We will be in touch with you shortly with details about our upcoming webinars.

As always, we look forward to your feedback.

Sincerely,

Greg Davis
Vice President and General Manager
Americas Channel Group

Michael Menegay
Global Director, Dell Managed Services

In my last post I outlined what I believe are the three types of customers in the future managed services marketplace. 

Now the trick is to determine which one(s) to target.

One of the biggest mistakes we make in our industry is trying to be all things to all people; you eventually become nothing to nobody!  That may not be proper grammar, but I don’t care.

The point is still a good one - pick a target customer and make sure your service offerings are a nearly exact match for their needs.  You can do this by focusing on one or several of the following factors:

• Customer size
• Industry vertical
• Specific technology needs
• Location

And I’m sure there are others.  At Everon, we’ve never focused on a specific industry vertical, although I do believe that it’s probably the best strategy to grow your business quickly and with fat margins.  I’ve got one friend in the industry focused on smaller medical offices that is killing it.

Even if you don’t pick an industry vertical, you absolutely MUST pick which customer size you are going to focus on IF YOU WANT TO BUILD A SCALEABLE BUSINESS.

Why is size so important?

Because the service processes needed to serve each is dramatically different from one to the other.  Large companies needs tons of process, small companies need tons of personality, and medium-sized companies need a good combination of the two.

Most people think I’m crazy when I tell them that they should turn down large business opportunities if they fall outside of your target segment, but you should (or change your target).  Becoming a slave to a large revenue customer will destroy your service processes for your other clients, and will ultimately destroy your business unless you’ve found a way to land a ton of these larger clients.

Pick a specific target market and focus like hell!

MRC

One of my favorite things to do is to sit around and dream about the future of the managed services industry - what challenges and opportunities we will face, and what we will become.

Josh and I had the opportunity to spend some time doing that this last Friday afternoon, and I think we came away with a some insights that are worth sharing.

I’m sure that anyone reading this is aware that the MSP industry is going through some major changes - again.  Five years ago Everon was an early pioneer of what is now the common model of managed services for the SMB market.  Our model represented a major shift that is still happening today, but it has definitely gained acceptance and is quickly becoming the standard.

But just like you should expect in an industry that deals with technology, the next shift is happening before the last one is even complete!  Straps on your helmets and get ready for a ride!

Before we go any further, I think I should make it clear that I subscribe to Microsoft’s vision of Software + Services.  I think a ton is going to be delivered as a hosted service, and I think a ton will still be done on-premise - and service will be necessary to tie it all together.

So as Josh and I were pontificating the future of Everon and the marketplace, it occurred to me that the future will hold three distinctly different types of customers, and that anyone who is going to survive in the marketplace will need to clearly serve at least one of these customer types.

The first is the customer that has fairly simple needs and can leverage as much of the inexpensive, shared hosted IT services that are available or will be available soon.  These customers will use Google docs and Gmail, or some other very inexpensive or add-supported services.  They will be very tough price-shoppers, and will probably not be much of customers for IT consulting or managed services, with the exception of desktop work.

The second customer has more particular technology needs, and will use a mix of shared hosted IT services and dedicated hosted IT services, and may also keep some of their infrastructure (beyond desktops) on-premise.  As an example, a customer may subscribe to a hosted shared Exchange and Sharepoint service, but have a dedicated on-premise or hosted server in order to run a database that is specific to their industry.

The third customer will be a sophisticated user and buyer of technology, and might even have a technology product or service that they themselves offer to their customers.  This customer will either build out and manage a complete infastructure themselves, or they will seek a hosting provider that can build and host the infrastructure for them; possiby outsourcing all management to the service provider as well.

Obviously the opportunities, sales and marketing approaches, and service capabilities needed to serve these customers is very different for each.  Service providers of the future (whether we call them MSPs, TaaS providers, hosted IT providers, or something else that we haven’t even thought of yet!) will have to pick the type of customer they hope to serve very carefully.

The one thing that all of these customers has in common is that they are going to expect much of their technology to be hosted and delivered as a service.  This is impacting and will continue to impact our industry in a very big way, and service providers need to figure out how they strategically fit into a marketplace with this expectation.

MRC

Known as SaaS to the market Microsoft has long called their SaaS initiative software + service seemingly as a way to differentiate their offering from Google and the other SaaS providers out there. Call it what you like Microsoft is offering hosted Exchange, hosted Sharepoint, and other hosted applications to the world all while trying not to isolate the channel.

Isolating the channel is a large concern as there are many channel partners out there that are worried about what it means to them to have Microsoft sitting at the direct competition table whit lost price hosted software. I believe the smart providers will find a way to add additional services on top of these applications.

None of this should be a surprise to anyone. Microsoft has been pushing hosted applications since early last year with their Live offerings and it was inevitable for Exchange and SharePoint to follow.

Things are changing for sure, business owners will be able to turn on and off monthly costs for these and other applications the same way we pay more or less each month depending on how much electricity we use at home.

While I Microsoft has tried to tread lightly into this arena in an attempt not to scare us I do believe this initiative was given some urgency when Google unveiled their Google apps premier to the world.

The smart thing to do if you are a service provider is to adjust your service offerings in a way that allows you to provide value to your clients on a higher level. Create new services and put your strategic consulting abilities front and center rather than your ability to install these softwares.

Below are a few highlights of Microsoft’s attempts to ease your fears as well as a link to the full article and Microsoft’s white paper on how to think about their new offerings.

I hope you gain some insight into the shifting market and figure out your next steps. I know I already have my thinking cap on.

JC

Microsoft Online Services provide partners with opportunities to expand reach, grow revenue and increase speed to sales and implementation,” said Chris Capossela, senior vice president of the Information Worker Product Management Group at Microsoft. “By extending our enterprise software offerings as a subscription service, our partners have the ability to develop and deliver new services with little overhead but maximum revenue potential.

Microsoft partners can leverage Microsoft-hosted solutions to speed the deployment of Exchange and Office SharePoint in customer organizations, freeing them to focus on migration, customization, integration, and other services.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2008/mar08/03-02Partner.mspx

https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40044198