When Horace Greeley coined the phrase, “Go West Young Man” , it was because the ‘West’ was full of amazing opportunities that would allow a young man to build a new life for himself.
I have coined the phrase, “Go Vertical Young Man” because similar vast opportunities are open to the computer consultant that realizes the power of building a vertical IT marketing campaign.
Now at first glance the computer repair market doesn’t seem to be wide open and rife with opportunity; but rather closed off and unfriendly to any new start up companies… (more…)
I have been watching what the disaster recovery industry has been offering in the market place for over 10 years. I have seen how the industry has evolved from the early days when computer consultants would fasten together their own data backup solutions with duct tape and bailing wire to the point when the first products were offered by IT Vendors through the channel. For much of this history there has been relatively little technology advancement as many vendors would simply ‘borrow’ their core technology and the only enhancements they would make was to their sales and marketing. However, this is all about to change as a new disaster recovery juggernaut has entered the fray and has awakened this sleepy industry from it’s doldrums. Axcient has literally built a better mouse trap and outdone their competitors at every level but how can this impact your IT marketing? 
When computer consultants are trying to decide which marketing path to take, there is a blinding array of choices and factors to consider. The one factor that always seems to be at the top of the list for most MSPs is the bottom line price of the IT marketing services they might be evaluating. Whether it’s a post card campaign or a SEO service the big question is usually what is it going to cost. The second most important question is what kind of ROI should I expect from my investment. However, one issue that usually is not considered is how much time will be lost or wasted if the campaign is not successful. Why should you consider such negative concept before you pull the trigger on any marketing plans? 
This is probably the age old question for any IT sales people that are marketing for new clients. There are probably very dedicated people on both sides of this issue who believe they are correct about whether you should send information to every suspect that makes a request. On the side of the sales people that believe you should send information to every potential contact you make, there is always one amazing sale they can relate to support their view. Other IT services providers might take the view that sending out information to everyone that request it would be a complete waste of time and money from their marketing budget. I once had a couple of agents that were card carrying Kool Aid drinkers of the view that if you send out information to everyone that requested it you could find gold at the end of that rainbow. Here is how I used some Andy Griffith style techniques to get at the truth! 
I remember when I was very young and my father was planning on sending mail-outs to advertise his HVAC Business. I had gone along with him to the office of the Advertising Agent when he was considering what to put on his mail-outs. He had decided to just list that he offered HVAC Services in certain areas and to list his contact information. I spoke up and told him that if he was going to advertise that he needed something special to lure people to call. I mentioned offering a discount “coupon” on the mail-out so people would save it for when they needed some repairs. He ended up not taking my advice [big surprise] and getting 0% ROI from his mail-out campaign. Later, he tried it again but this time he made sure to offer some special discount. This time he drove 10 calls to his office and got 3 services request and landed one long term customer. How can this principal impact IT marketing when you’re trying to get new customers? 
When you’re sitting around in the country during the summer time in the evening, you can usually hear the sound of the bug zappers going off periodically ZAP, ZAP, ZAP! When you look at the bug zapper you can usually see a swam of bugs hovering around the bright light. They almost seem as if they are hypnotized by the light and drawn into their deaths, like a moth to the flame. This makes me think about all the marketing calls I take with computer business owners looking for IT sales leads. When they tell me the stories about how they have had so many failed telemarketing campaigns without getting any leads or sales, I can almost hear that same ZAP, ZAP, ZAP! It’s the sound of IT services providers being drawn in by the lure of Cheap marketing services! 
We have all seen the late night infomercials where the slick salesman is marketing the prefect weight lose product that will help you lose weight. Of course, these claims are always backed up with amazing before and after photos where someone that weighed 400 pounds is now a skinny model. I have always been amazed by these dramatic photos and how persuasive they are but have been disappointed by how few opportunities there are to have a great before and after pictures when selling complicated services like managed services. I was excited when something happened the other day in our IT call center that I think could actually be a great ‘before and after story’ that might be just as good as photo opportunity with a skinny model holding up those huge pants. This is something that will demonstrate the difference between the 1.0 model and the 2.0 model! 
MSP Telemarketing has been standing on it’s soap box for a while talking about how the managed services market has become saturated! Now we are going to be standing on a stage at the Omni Hotel in Dallas, TX April 1st and telling you exactly what the new MSP 2.0 Model is going to be. In addition, we are going to be showing exactly how to sell this model slide by slide with the exact questions you need to ask along with the illustrations you can use etc… We are excited to say that 
I was at the computer business CompTIA show and as it was winding down a gentleman sat at my booth, Wayne Goldstein from GMS Live Expert, who said he wanted us to promote his help desk services. I had two question for him, “What is your response time and do you include limited training in your help desk service?” His answers were the best I heard since I had been searching for the ultimate help desk service over the last 10 years. However, we are skipping the real question, “Why should a managed services provider ever think about outsourcing their help desk?” MSP Telemarketing is now proud to announce that we have partnered with GMS live Expert to promote their marketing offering. What was their response time and do they include limited training in their solutions?
