I attended a Robin Robins event in Denver recently to get a refresher course on some of her core lessons as well as to watch her give her sales pitch from the podium – I always take the opportunity to learn from the best!
One of the benefits of attending these events is the side conversations you have with other MSPs. One conversation I had almost made me choke on the lunch I was eating.
Sitting next to me were two well-dressed gentlemen from an MSP from Colorado Springs, a good-sized city in Colorado. These guys looked more like two MBA graduates than the typical MSP, and I immediately assumed they must be pretty business savvy.
Upon talking to them, we began discussing Everon’s new web services offering and how I believe it’s a good example of what the MSP of the future will have to do to survive – broaden their service offering beyond that of core infrastructure and application support and into other high-value business services.
As we discussed the pros and cons of the model, one of the gentlemen said to me:
“I think that’s a big mistake. I want my customers to see me as a Windows Server expert, not a business expert.”
Commence choking.
The following questions started running through my mind:
- Did he really just say that?
- Was he serious?
- Has he been completely oblivious to the trends of cloud computing and SaaS?
- Does he not realize that business experts make unlimited incomes in this world, while Microsoft Server experts willmost likely never again crack the six figure mark, and are predicted to be nearly decimated in the job market over the next 5 years?
- How could we possibly see things so differently?
The answers to those questions are the answers to the future of this industry. I believe that we are on the cusp of dramatic changes in this business – more dramatic than the initial shift to managed services the industry just went through – and that many MSP’s will not survive.
- Consolidation is going to happen.
- Cloud computing is going to happen.
- Hardware as a Service is going to happen.
- The telecoms entering the business are going to happen.
I believe that being seen as a Windows Server expert is just about the worst thing you could hope for going forward in this business! Why? Your clients couldn’t care less about Windows Server – or just about any other technology for that matter! They care about themselves and their business results. More sales, more profits, more time off. Sure, you want to have that expertise, but that’s not the position you want to have in the minds your clients.
This point is critical.
The position you have in the minds of your clients will determine if you are able to successfully introduce new products and services when necessary, and survive as a company as this next big shift happens. If you have the right position, you’ll succeed no matter what today’s technology trend is; if you have the wrong one you’ll struggle to keep up with your client’s changing demands.
So what is the position you want to have in the minds of your clients?
That’s for you to figure out.
I’m not trying to avoid giving a specific answer; I’m suggesting that the position you have as a business should be based on where you think the marketplace is heading, what you are excellent at, and what you believe your customers will buy now and in the future.
- You can be a low cost provider, or a high-end white glove provider.
- You can focus on Windows PC’s or Mac’s – or both.
- You can focus on a specific vertical or be a generalist.
- You can focus on small businesses or larger ones.
- You can focus on one city or provide services around the globe.
All of these factors – and many more – will determine how you position your company in the marketplace.
Take Everon for example. We decided to offer web services to clients because we realize that the reason most small businesses aren’t taking advantage of web services is because they don’t know how to effectively deploy the technology needed to do so.
It’s a technology problem that is limiting their business results.
That’s exactly where Everon wants to play. We want to be positioned in the minds of our clients as a company that uses technology effectively to solve business problems – not as Windows experts or Mac experts or (insert your favorite technology here) experts.
That is a very conscious decision on our part. We have a long term positioning strategy that we believe will resonate best with the clients we are going after, and offering these types of services are a part of it.
In my last post, I discussed the possibility of the large telco’s really getting the managed services marketplace figured out and putting a large dent in our potential marketshare. If you are going to thrive against them, you had better have a consciously thought out strategy for positioning yourself against these large companies!
And let me give you some clues around this:
- Positioning your services as cheaper isn’t going to cut it.
- Positioning your services as being more convenient isn’t going to cut it.
- Positioning your services as generalists is going to cut it.
The big companies will have you beat at all of these things right out of the gate, that’s why they are big. By their nature, they have to offer services general enough, convenient enough, and cheap enough to reach a mass market. You can’t compete here long term and win.
You must differentiate yourself on some other factors. And you’d better get started now!
Assuming you can get this positioning thing really figured out, you are leaps and bounds ahead of the competition – no matter how big or small they are. But it’s not enough. To compete in the future of this space, I think you’ll need to execute on some other factors very successfully.
This post is long enough…we’ll save the others points for the next post or two.
MRC
PS – this positioning thing and its impact on business results is always easier to see from an outside perspective. Read this article about Starbucks and their positioning challenges and how it’s impacted their business. It’s very enlightening and educational.
