SMB Nation is hosting  a marketing event in Las Vegas on Oct 22nd through 24rd that  will be a good opportunity for IT vendors and computer business owners to network and learn about new developments in the managed services space!  There is an astounding array of speakers lined up who have powerful information to share with you on how you can improve and grow your business.  It’s being held at the The Flamingo Hotel and Casino and will be a great place to mix business with pleasure! However, you might be wondering who is SMB Nation and why should I go to their event? (more…)

“Here is the Yellow Pages, Get Started!”  That was the complete training program I received at one company that I worked at many years ago.  Many companies don’t put any importance on training for their employees but spend plenty on IT.  Another company that I was employed at trained their telemarketers by having new hires just sit and listen to all the current telesales reps make cold calls.  Of course, there are some great businesses out there that put a high importance on training programs for their workers.  One good example of this was MBNA America, where I was employed, where they put their telemarketers through and 2 week paid training program.  I was a product of that training program and contribute much of my success to their training.  I am trying to keep the torch burning by putting in place the best training program for telemarketing at our firm.  We take training very seriously and we don’t just train our marketing reps, we brainwash them! (more…)

“Your price is way to high!”… That is what I have been hearing for the last 5 years, after we tell a computer business owner the pricing for our telemarketing service.  As we have said many times, computer consultants normally have spent all thier money after going to a trade show and loaded up on PSA software, RMM tools, Sales Training and Backup Disaster Recovery Solutions etc…  When they get back to their business they have no money left to pay for marketing.  In Addition, many IT people feel that selling and marketing are just not a priority because it’s not something that many of them understand.  Therefore, when they get around to calling us to find out about our marketing services, they tell us our services are too expensive.  What has compounded this problem is that there has been a few IT services marketing companies out there that have been offering rock bottom prices. This has made it nearly impossible for most IT providers to resit trying the lower cost solutions.  However, recently I have seen many signs in the market that tell me there is a new wave of changing attitudes towards spending on IT telemarketing. (more…)

I have been standing on my soap box for a while preaching to managed services providers what they should be doing differently in their marketing to achieve better results.  It’s a bitter pill to hear criticism about your marketing and painful to even think about making any changes… In a perfect world we could always do everything the same, while the world around us constantly changes.  I guess that’s what it was like in the movie “Time Machine”, when the protagonists would pull his level to go forward in time and see the world changing around him drastically, while he remained the same.  So I had fallen into the exact same mind set as many of you out there in the computer consultant industry.  Or even worse I was telling everyone else to change and I wasn’t willing to make any changes myself….  However, I can proudly announce that we have finally drank our own Kool-Aid about IT lead generation!

Drink Your Own Kool-Aid!

Well exactly what  have we been preaching that everybody else should change that we were not willing implement ourselves?  The first thing that comes to my mind that we have been suggesting to computer repair firms is that they should be willing to make a ‘No Risk Offer”, meaning that they should make a solid money back guarantee for the first 30 days of their agreement.  In fact, I can testify that the technology firms that were running our IT sales leads and actually took this advice, directly benefited their bottom line and never actually had any risk. (more…)

Every computer business owner dreams of striking a gushing sales and marketing pipeline that pumps out reoccurring IT Sales like clockwork!  In fact that is the reason most tech pros have adopted the managed services model,  so that they could build a nice revenue stream that could be counted on in the future.  Unfortunately, most technology providers are coming up empty handed from their marketing efforts or at least they’re not getting anywhere close to their dreams of becoming millionaires.  The burning question is how can you develop the perfect sales machine that churns out consistent sales every month?  We will consider in this article specifically how a computer consultant could conservatively generate $945,000.00 in reoccurring revenue over a five year period.

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“What if we could save you money?”….  This question has to be the number one question that salesman have used through the ages to try and close prospects.  It’s also been the primary vehical that most marketing professional have built their sales message around and used to drive revenue.  Granted even when companies say they can’t save you hard cost and that their services will actually cost more, the  rationale is still that you will save money in some other way. Normally companies that can’t show direct savings try to show savings to their prospects soft cost.  Computer business owners have primarily followed the latter path, trying not to show direct hard savings but indirect soft savings such as eliminating lost productivity or increasing productivity.  In the past I have always believed this was the correct path to follow in the marketing process for technology sales.  However, what if there was a way justify buying managed services other than saving money? (more…)

When you’re playing Poker you are stuck with the cards you’re dealt.  When your hand is called, you have to lay down and expose what cards you have as compared with your contender.  If you’re unlucky and get dealt only bad cards… then you lose.  Of course, when there is money on the line they call this gambling because you’re taking a chance on losing  your hard earned cash.  What if you could stack your deck, what if cheating was Legal?  While you can’t preselect the cards you want to play with in Poker game you can, however, when you’re putting together a managed services offer to begin marketing.

It feels like a poker game!

I make this comparison, because that’s how it feels when you’re in a prospect’s office or conference room, that you found from an IT sales leads campaign, and you are trying to find out what their technology situation is so you can offer something they don’t have or that you can do better.  The prospects always seem to have a poker face and can be very guarded about what level of services they have, who they deal with and what prices they pay.  (more…)

Imagine you’re an outfielder in a baseball game and you cross your arms and say that you’re only going to field the ground balls that come your way.  This is because you don’t like catching Fly balls or line drives and you refuse to go after any other type of ball that comes your way.  It’s hard to imagine a person with that attitude not being thrown off the team.  Why?  We all know that if you plan on winning, then you have to be prepared for what ever situation comes your way.  This logic applies to selling managed services as well!  Computer business owners should be willing to present their marketing offer to all the various IT situations that arise.

Recently I had a conversation with a computer consultant that was telling me he would rather have meetings with prospects that only had an in-house IT (more…)

One of the most common reason that are cited by couples that lead to a break up of their marriage, is the lack of communication.  While this can be the kiss of death to a healthy marriage, it can also be one of the factors that could destroy a partnership between a telemarketing firm and an it services provider.  When one partner is in the dark about what the other one is doing or thinking, then it can lead to confusion and blunders.  Lets look at a few examples of situations that have lead to minor problems and others that have had disastrous consequences for computer business marketing owners.

Communication is key!

One of the first issues that can arise with regard to communication between an it call center and a managed services provider can happen right at the start of the relationship.  If the liaison from the telesales company fails to do an introductory interview to find out exactly what their client is offering in clear terms, then this could lead to a disconnect in the marketing efforts.  Vice versus, if the computer consultant fails to clearly state what their model is or level of services to be offered; then this could setup the wrong expectations in the prospects minds. (more…)