Ambition Mission

If you have not had a conversation with your custoemrs about managed services yet - you had better.  Sooner or later someone will talk to your customers about proactive services, fixed price support, 24×7 monitoring, etc… The question is, who will introduce these compelling features and benefits to your customers first? 

An MSP selling against a reactive break/fix provider has a very easy job.

Not sure how to get started?  View a webcast, read a book, join a community, network with other partners, so SOMETHING to move your business forward because your customers will learn of the compelling reasons to work with an MSP.  It is only a matter of time….

For those planning on attending TS2 events in Pittsburg today (Tuesday) or Philadelphia (Thursday) will see me there in person.  If you are near these cities, register for the TS2 event at TS2seinars.com and I’ll see you there!

We talk about putting clients in A B C (and D) categories and firing clients that are too much of a burden becuase they are never going to “get it” or embrace a proactive offering… what about partners? 

After presenting at the TS2 event in Houston today (www.ts2seminars.com) numerous people engaged me in excellent conversation about their business, how excited they are about managed services and in general eager to grow and better themselves.  There was an attendee who decided it his duty however to tell me he felt my book was price “way too high” at $99.  Before I could even rebutt and tell him that this book is a no brainer for anyone wanting to grow his IT practice, several other partners chimed in on my behalf saying how only one idea makes it worth it and it’s less than 1 hour of billable work, etc… One guy even said he would have paid $299 for the content in the book and on the CD.

Some people will never “get it.”  Managed services can and does grow your business.  If you think $99 is not a worthwhile investment in your business to create immediate results that will likely generate thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars in additional revenue, then I cannot help you.  Just walk by where I am at during the event on your way to the muffins for which you came.  I will see you again next year - if you’re still in business.

For the 100+ atendees at the Dallas TS2 event this afternoon, there was a little extra on the program.  Erick Simpson (www.mspu.us) and I delivered an hour long presentation overview on Managed Services from the partner prospective.  After fielding the usual questions of “how much do you charge?” and “how do you convert exisiting customers?” Erick and I emphasized the mental shift that partners must undertake in order to successfully make the transition to managed services and ultimately grow their practices. 

On another note, the TS2 team presenters themselves showed us tremendous hospitality.  Watch for more exciting training content and repeats of the “Erick & Matt show” over the next few months…. More to follow later…

For those of you in Dallas on Tuesday or Houston on Friday, come check out the TS2 event where I will be presenting on Managed Services. 

Dallas TS2

10110 Technology Blvd EDallas, TX 75220

Houston TS2

2949 Dunvale
Houston Texas 77063Register for either (or both) at www.ts2seminars.com! 

One lucky attendee will recieve a free copy of my book - A Guide to SELLING Managed Services - faster, easier, & for greater profit….

 See you in the lone star state!!!

Although we had some audio difficulties - all had positive feedback from the webinar yesterday.  I smile when I think of a room full of 15-20 people with cell phone speakers blaring.  The experience confirms for me that while sales training content can be effectively delivered remotely with positive results, in person is still better…

A member asked what do do in a follow up situation, when a customer hits you with tons of excuses and you’re playing the follow up game with them… I needed to clarify.  I was getting ready to blast the guy for emailing or faxing his proposal and not ensuring that he delivered it in person.  In fact, he was referencing a situation where he DID deliver the proposal in person, got beat up by the customer with rapid fire excuses and scurried out the door only to be in “follow up limbo.”  The advice I gave was twofold.  First, once you are in follow up limbo, the sale becomes harder.  It is more difficult b/c the prospect is not giving you thier full attention AND has not retained all the information that you presented that he/she needs to make an informed decision.  Second, don’t loose control of the proposal presentation.  It’s OK to pull it away.  It’s good to break the customer’s pattern.  Stop them by saying, “Mr. Customer, if this was free, would you do it?

 If he says no, say thank you and leave.  If he says yes, then it is only a matter of handling his true objections one at a time before he’ll say OK.  Either you will convince the customer that the offering is the right thing for him to do, or he’ll convince you that the right thing to do is not to buy. 
Can’t wait to meet all of you in person at the SMB Summit in April!

South Florida SBSCs are lucky to have Scott Cayouette as their leader!  After a fun and information packed session that focused upon handling specific objections, almost all in the audience decided to invest in themselves and take the first step (or next step for some) to building a more successfull practice by purchasing my book.  For those members that were on the fence and remained unmoved by my money back guarantee or the discount offered, found themselves leaving the meeting with a book anyway - courtesy of Scott Cayouette!  If you have Scott as your user group leader, consider yourself fortunate to have a person who is so dedicated to YOUR success.  Scott leads with compassion, generosity and integirty.  The south Florida SBSCs are in good hands!

My fororite part of the seminar was when a member asked if he could have the slide deck.  We had just finished discussing in detail how important it is to remember to actually ask for the sale, and the benefits of asking in general.  I was happy when a member asked for what he wanted.  It made me smile.  I answered to him that although I was not planning on sharing the slide deck to those not members of the Ambition Mission Community, I would be happy to do so because he asked.  All he has to do is email me and I’ll send it.  I wonder how many in the group will actually take that step of action and send me that email… :-)  We’ll see!!!

On Scott Cayouette’s invitation, I presented “Handling Objections” to the Miami, FL SBS User Group meeting last night.  I know I had a lot of fun, but more importantly several members approached me afterwards and let me know that what they just learned they will be able to apply right away and that they were certain would earn them more income.  How cool!  In fact, one guy lamented that he wished I had been there a week earlier, becuasehe heard all the objections we talked about last night from a single customer just a few days prior… I told him that when we lose, we learn and having attended last night’s “roll up the sleeves” session, he is ahead of the hundreds of other partners in the South FL area who were not there last night…

Afterwards, the guys from the group graciously took me out to have some food and beverages at Dan Marinos.  (Get the Filet, not the Ribeye if you ever go)… Thanks guys for your hospitality!!!  I can’t wait to return to Miami another time and go to the restaurant you said was awesome but closed last night… 

I’m still reading feedback from folks aout SMB Nation last week.  In case you have not seen it, here is a post from Anne Stanton’s blog site (link to the right –> ) that I enjoyed and almost completely agree with… #’s 5, 6, and 7 are right up my alley but #7 is my absolute favorite!!!

(from Anne Stanton:)

Some of the tips and such that I have been absorbing from SMB Nation

1. There are Vendor Funds available - They can be hard to find
2. If you are utilizing any of the vendor funds/programs/dollars to grow your business - send feedback to the vendor. It makes a huge difference!
3. Send Feedback back to the vendor in a drip format. Not just a quick thank you but a status report of the long term impact a campaign might be making to your company.
4. A really, really fast, 4 quad processor machine with 32 GBs of RAM is only as fast as the lowest common dominator. Where/What really is the bottleneck? If you happen to have an application bottleneck you need to think on that when virtualizing. (hint: the application bottleneck could be the virtual server software)
5. Does your sales process allow MORTALS to succeed? The people you hire will not always be geniuses and as such you want a process that is doable by a wide range of talents. 
6. Do you have a sales process (it can be short and sweet). You might want to do what I do. Type it up, frame it and hang it on the office wall above your computer monitor.
7. Everyone in business is a sales person. Get over your own negative attitude about this term.
8. If you stay up till 2am, the 1:40am calls from the party won’t wake you up.
9. Whatever you say the night before, will be blogged about the next day. Choose your buzz
10. Check your fly before you walk into a meeting with a prospect: any your sweater (is it right side out?) and those commonly coffee dribble locations. Try not to have a wardrobe malfunction.
11. Don’t reinvent the wheel
12. When time is limited somethings the stairs are faster than the elevator.
13. If you are planning an event where attendees need time to network and socialize then make sure the music is set to the right volume. Talking over the music is hard.
14. Make a note in your contact database on preferred drink preference or if a contact drinks. You can then choose your “thank you” events for that customer more appropriately.
15. Also note favorite football team - then leverage those colors ;) 
16. Text Messaging is a must for last minute coordination with associations at events

(End of exerpt from Anne Stanton)

Also took a phone interview from CMP Media for CRN Magazine.  The reporter was very interested in knowing what I (and I am sure numerous others) thought about Microsoft wanting to continue to grow the SBSC channel.  When he asked me if I was afraid if there are 20,000 SBSC (rather than than almost 5,000 today), I replied wholeheartedly, “no.”  Over the last two years, SBSC was a distinguishing factor in itself.  a few years from now, with any luck (and a lot of viral and traditional marketing), being an SBSC will be a REQUIREMENT to work with a small business owner… 

I am in favor of raising the bar of what is expected from an IT provider.  The reason is that the more small business owners understand that an IT provider should be a “trusted advisor” and not “my computer guy.” the better it is for ALL OF US selling from the trusted advisor perspective.  On that note, I am excited about the Microsoft “We’ve gotta guy” campaign and what may come of it… I’ve met a lot of Microsoft folks over the last seven years as a partner, and I can definitely say that the SBSC group are downright COMMITTED to the program’s success.  I am sure even more exciting things are in store for us all!

After at least a dozen people told me that they have too many books to read, I have decided to record myself reading the book and add in some examples, stories, and anecdotes that wouldn’t have necessarily read well, but should help illustrate points better verbally. 

I will work as quickly as I can to produce an audio (enhanced) version of A Guide to SELLING Managed Services - faster, easier, & for greater profit.  My goal is to have this completed within the next 4-6 weeks.  Stay tuned…