Ambition Mission

Lesson for today:  Don’t underestimate the power of a free t-shirt!

So, at the Miami TS2 event this afternoon, there were lots of attendees who wanted to grow their businesses.  We had “ah-ha” moments all over the place and the feedback was awesome. 

Something blog worthy occured at the end of the event.  Set the scene—at the end of the event, I waited at my table for the last few people who wanted to buy my book and sign up with Ambition Mission Community.  I shared the table with the Miami user group that was giving away free t-shirts at the end of the event.  So after partners announced thier successes after reading my book and attending my seminars (activities that I promote as being worth $100K or more), where do you think the line was at the end of the event? 

The clamoring and agressiveness shown to get a t-shirt and passing by my table, to me puts the value of the t-shirts around $100,000. 

I will be at the TS2 events in Miami and West Palm Beach tomorrow and Thursday.  If you’re in the area, stop by and learn how to grow your business.  Register at www.ts2seminrs.com

My firend Erick Simpson (www.mspu.us) brought a DELL magazine ad to my attention and blogged about it yesterday.  Think Dell won’t attract any customers for support?  Of course they will.  Think they won’t have competative prices?  Of course they will.  Is it time for the small business focused IT provider to fold up the tents and pack it in?  Of course NOT!!!

There are two things that will keep a customer loyal to you.  First, is your relationship.  Second is a general mistrust of the 800 lb gorilla.  To survive this game, keep and continue to win customers, you must pay attention and focus upon both.

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!!!