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Those who are in the IT Industry know we are currently in the busy season for tradeshows and conferences. Last week it was Channel Partners Evolution and this week, I’m at The Channel Company XChange 2016. As I attend these events I meet a lot of people who are part of these group’s IT communities. So, what is a community? Communities can come in many different forms. You have your neighborhood communities, social communities and business communities like the local Chamber of Commerce and professional associations. Community has many different definitions, but my favorite states that a community offers “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals.”
We hear the term “return on investment” (ROI) on a regular basis from marketing teams, but it seems as though not many people understand what it means or how to manage expectations before investing in a marketing strategy. More often than not, I hear of proposals being submitted to vendors, through programs such as assistance with market development funds (MDF), that are created with zero details around ROI or anything deeper than “awareness” from a goals perspective.
Do you feel that you should be marketing and promoting your company’s service offerings? Have you taken all the necessary steps to get started? Managed service providers (MSPs) don’t have to be marketing experts, but marketing is a necessary component to running a sustainable business with a consistent stream of new customer prospects. As a business owner, you want to be cost effective, and provide a positive customer experience to new prospects—and marketing is the key.
We all know it’s important to get new sales resources up to speed quickly once hired by a managed service provider (MSP), but there is an opportunity to recognize the unique roles that all departments play throughout the customer journey. The ability to connect each and every new team member within an organization to the role it plays in the market can provide immeasurable differentiation.
Complexity brings an opportunity to profit.
What is a customer? If you ask that question to 100 managed service providers (MSPs) you’d probably get many different answers. Attracting customers is the primary goal of MSPs, because it is the customer who creates demand for your goods or services. In the IT Industry, you never want to underestimate the value and reach of your loyal customers. MSPs have to be creative to keep customers coming back for more, so eventually they will bring their friends with them. Here are four tips to remember as an MSP when developing relationships with customers:
The MSP Difference Maker Series explores how best-in-class managed service providers (MSPs) create differentiation in the market. MSP best practices related to sales, technical support, marketing, operations and leadership are brought to life through workshops, exercises, tools and resources.
In today’s fast-paced market, it’s not the big that eats the small; it’s the fast that eats the slow. Speed is arguably the most valued competitive advantage. As managed service providers (MSPs) start to look similar in go-to-market strategy, vendor line card, support offerings and pricing, speed can help widen the gap between service providers and their closest competitors. If executed correctly, speed changes how IT solutions are implemented, which positively impacts MSPs in a major way.
I grew up in a small town in Macon, Georgia as the son of an import/export business owner. My dad came to this country with very little money in his pocket. However, he had big dreams, friends all across the world, and the ability to help local farmers expand their global footprint. A new deal, negotiation or contract always needed to be handled.
Whether it’s exposure to years of messaging from companies like Microsoft or the appeal of easy access to data, better security and disaster recovery—or a combination of both—one thing is certain: your clients are moving their apps to the cloud.