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Increase Wallet Share: Cross Sell & Up Sell Strategies

by SalesManagementGuru on May 21, 2012 12:59 PM

Sales Leadership: Increasing Wallet Share with Cross Sell/Up Sell Strategies During a recent meeting with a new client’s sales team we began discussing ideas to drive additional revenue, during the meeting I began to poke... More »

SOP Friday 2012 05 18 Technician Time Management Guidelines

by Karl Palachuk on May 18, 2012 5:00 AM

This procedure covers the standard "routine" for a technician. Before you get into any details, please note one critically important thing: The point of all of this process is to Avoid being Interrupt Drive. By... More »

Small IT Companies Are Growing Through Mergers and Acquisitions

by Karl Palachuk on May 16, 2012 8:00 AM

We just put out a major press release about the SMB Online Conference - June 26-28. George Sierchio, a very well respected coach in the SMB space, will talk about Mergers and Acquisitions. In fact,... More »

Guest Blog - The Importance of Giving - A Go Giver's Perspective

by Arlin Sorenson on May 14, 2012 8:24 PM

By Zack Schuler President/CEO Cal Net Technology Group I am of the opinion that no matter what faith you hold, your faith will teach you that taking care of the less fortunate is an essential... More »

Are You Facing Sales Fatigue?

by SalesManagementGuru on May 14, 2012 9:35 AM

The past three years have been a challenge for most partner organizations. The economy has caused sales teams to face declining prospect budgets, more competitive bidding, fewer opportunities, lower incomes and general personal stress. As... More »

Designing Successful Cloud Service Offerings With Microsoft SBS Essentials

by Karl Palachuk on May 12, 2012 8:00 AM

Join me May 23rd for a free webinar: Designing Successful Cloud Service Offerings With Microsoft SBS Essentials . Looking for a great combination of tools and practices for moving your smallest clients to The Cloud?... More »

SOP Friday: Service Board Backlog Management

by Karl Palachuk on May 11, 2012 8:00 AM

With luck, you are very busy with lots of service requests. If not, I hope you will be soon! When you have a busy service board, it is important to make sure that you don't... More »

Amazon Web Services Hold Their First Partner Conference in November

by Karl Palachuk on May 10, 2012 9:02 AM

Got a memo from Amazon Web Services: They're holding their first "customer and partner conference" in November. It looks much more technical than business oriented. The sessions appear to be on coding, languages, and development... More »

IT Consultants Poised to Get Rich with Cloud Services

by Karl Palachuk on May 9, 2012 8:42 AM

We just put out a major press release about the SMB Online Conference - June 26-28. Jeannine Edwards - Director of ConnectWise and LabTech Communities and a well-known figure in the IT Solution Provider channel... More »

The Thing That Matters

by Arlin Sorenson on May 8, 2012 4:52 AM

Yesterday in Dallas at HTG Summit 2012, we hosted our second installment in the HTG Leadership Track. This is designed to provide an opportunity for members who want to grow in their leadership development to... More »

Make The Competition Irrelevant

by Karl Palachuk on May 7, 2012 8:00 AM

My target audience is small businesses. There's an interesting pattern with small businesses and competition. On one hand, many small businesses do not think about their competition enough, or in the right way. On the... More »

Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers in 2012

by SalesManagementGuru on May 6, 2012 9:16 PM

Top Sales Magazine Names Consultant to Cisco and Microsoft Partner Programs a Top 50 Sales/Marketing Influencer KNOXVILLE , Tenn., May 7, 2012— Ken Thoreson , author of the award-winning Your Sales Management Guru blog, articles... More »

Jeff Middleton Announces Speakers for the IT Pro Conference in June

by Karl Palachuk on May 5, 2012 8:00 AM

Got a memo from Jeff with a list of the speakers for the IT Pro Conference June 8-9 in New Orleans . You can join me there! I already have my airplane tickets! The theme... More »

SOP Friday: Should You Do Billable Work First?

by Karl Palachuk on May 4, 2012 8:00 AM

This week's SOP Friday topic is a little different. It's not a "policy" as such, but a discussion of a proposed policy. Every Managed Service Provider has three big categories of work that need to... More »

Call for Papers - SMB Nation Fall 2012

by Karl Palachuk on May 3, 2012 8:00 AM

Want to be considered as a speaker for SMB Nation 2012 Fall Conference? Well get your proposal in now! See http://fall.smbnation.com/index.php/details/78-public/81-call-for-papers The SMB Nation 2012 Fall Conference is October 12th - 14th Las Vegas, Baby!... More »

Ken Thoreson - Award Winning Sales Consultant - to Speak at SMB Online Conference

by Karl Palachuk on May 2, 2012 5:00 AM

We just put out a major press release about the SMB Online Conference in June. Mr. Ken Thoreson - One of the most successful sales management consultants in the world - will be one of... More »

Final Thoughts on SBS Essentials

by Karl Palachuk on May 1, 2012 3:59 PM

I'm just finishing my final "author's proofread" of the new chapters for The Network Migration Workbook. In addition to a re-write of The Big Checklist (270 pages), we have ten new checklists for migrating to... More »

Is Microsoft Better at Apple's Game Than Apple is at Microsoft's Game?

by Karl Palachuk on April 30, 2012 8:00 AM

What really makes Microsoft and Apple different and, to some extent competitors? One of the big differences is that they took different approaches to making computers work. Apple's approach is fundamentally "closed" and Microsoft's is... More »

Are you a Sales Leader or a Sales Manager?

by SalesManagementGuru on April 30, 2012 7:09 AM

Are You a Sales Manager or a Sales Leader? By Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” KEN: This week I have guest blogger, his new book is on my recommended list. www.AcumenManagement.com Take a moment and... More »

All New Chapters for Network Migration Workbook Available Now!

by Karl Palachuk on April 28, 2012 8:00 AM

More New Chapters Available - SBS Essentials and Checklists Yesterday, we have uploaded the PDF versions of two more new chapters for The Network Documentation Workbook. This concludes the new chapters for the Network Migration... More »

Ingram Micro Partners Raise More Than $30K for Military Fund

by E. Hom on April 27, 2012 12:41 PM

This week, Ingram Micro welcomed its partners to its 2012 Spring System ArchiTECHS Invitational in San Diego. As part of the event, Ingram Micro partner community has done its part for the U.S. military by... More »

Service is the Key to Success

by ChannelPro-SMB on April 27, 2012 9:11 AM

To succeed in a tough business climate, Dubuque Data Services focuses on personalized service and lets employees make the call when serving customers. By Colleen Callahan

SOP Friday: Managing Internal Administrative Tasks

by Karl Palachuk on April 27, 2012 8:00 AM

Our organizations are outward-facing. That is, we are designed to provide services to other companies. As a result, we focus heavily on service requests from clients. But there are plenty of things to be done... More »

Managing for Success 2012 - Live Online Conference only $299

by Karl Palachuk on April 26, 2012 9:04 AM

Managing for Success 2012 An Online Conference for SMB Consultants and Managed Service Providers Register now We have many options to make this conference as affordable as possible. Please consider the big e-bundle add-on to... More »

Keynote: Disorganized Businesses Die Fast

by Karl Palachuk on April 25, 2012 11:47 AM

We put out a major press release early this morning. At the big SMB Online Conference in June, we'll start each day with an overview of the theme of the day. Our line-up of speakers... More »

PROFILE: Immediate Gratification

by Zenith Infotech on February 21, 2011 10:22 PM

Here's how shifting from a break-fix model to a managed services model helped this VAR broaden his client base and increase revenue.
By Mike Fowler

PROFILE: Helping Those Who Help Others

by Zenith Infotech on March 10, 2011 10:12 PM

Entire Computer Solutions owner explains how his managed services company came to focus on the nonprofit sector.
By Scott T. Rauth

IT Franchising: Business in a Box

by ChannelPro-SMB on August 26, 2009 3:07 PM

The time is right for franchising in the IT space. My goal is to have the best, most foolproof, and well-supported system for delivering managed IT services to SMBs.
By Ilene Rosoff

The Move to Managed Services: A Cautionary Tale

by ChannelPro-SMB on June 3, 2009 8:19 AM

The switch to managed services entails a complete shift in your operations. If you don't embrace that, you're setting yourself up for failure. There is no magic bullet.
By Jon Nitto

Peer Powerhouse

by Jamison West on October 28, 2009 4:06 PM

Jamison West Consulting Services went from a $500,000 break-fix company to a $1.5 million managed services provider in only one year, thanks to the power of the IT community.
By Jamison West

Compliance And DR In Healthcare: Are You Ready for Anything?

by ChannelPro-SMB on February 23, 2011 4:22 PM

For the healthcare industry, a solid disaster recovery plan is crucial to qualifying for "meaningful use" incentives; consilium1 helps providers make sure they're thinking of everything.
By Michael Montagliano

Cloud Computing FAQs: How Do I Pitch Cloud Services?

by ChannelPro TV on August 16, 2011 12:58 PM

How to sell cloud computing services. Knowing how to deliver a winning sales presentation is critical to your success in cloud computing.

The 5 Most Glaring Gaps in SMB IT

by jgaskin on July 26, 2011 8:49 AM

What customers don't know will hurt their businesses -- and maybe yours too. Find out where the largest gaps lie in SMB IT.
By James E. Gaskin

From Sales Nightmare to Sales Success

by ChannelPro-SMB on April 22, 2009 3:32 PM

A two-tier process has enabled us to rise above our sales mistakes and post our best sales year ever.
By Kurt Sippel

The Road to Managed Services

by ChannelPro-SMB on June 30, 2011 9:35 AM

When Business Computer Concepts was fired by its largest customer for a competitor with a better offering, it was a wake-up call to provide managed services.
By Marc Gritton

Keep looking for new, better & even basic services

by FrankR on June 11, 2009 11:00 AM

My son’s recent completion of his sophomore year of high school, drivers license test, and my soon to be skyrocketing insurance bills has our family thinking about how he can start making some money and... More »

Explore Digital Signage Opportunities

by Bijan on June 23, 2009 1:09 AM

Successfully selling and maintaining a Digital Signage Network requires a complete understanding of your clients business, the benefits of the network to their business and the best solution to deliver those benefits. As a VAR... More »

Network as a Service: A Different Business Model

by ChannelPro-SMB on January 28, 2010 11:08 AM

You can offer a flat rate on an entire network, including maintenance and management, and lease the whole thing as a service to your customers.
By Joshua Liberman

Best Practices for Optimizing Data Backups

by jgaskin on August 22, 2011 11:52 AM

Channel pros and industry experts offer proven techniques to ensure your clients never star in their own backup horror show.
By James E. Gaskin

Upcoming Live Meeting on Social Networking

by Arlin Sorenson on February 5, 2009 8:25 AM

Stuart Crawford is hosting a live meeting to help us all learn about social networking tools like Twitter and blogs. Time to get into the new world of communication and interaction...... Here are the live... More »

Kaseya IT Service Provider Workshop (Irvine, Calif. on October 6th)

by Michael S on September 27, 2010 3:55 PM

Get an Edge on Your Competition: Accelerating IT Services Sales and Increasing Profitability I wanted to let our SOCAL readers know about this excellent event coming up on October 6th from Kaseya... Summary: This 4-hour... More »

From Google Apps Fan to Google Apps-Focused Reseller

by ChannelPro-SMB on September 1, 2011 11:09 AM

Jim McNelis was a huge fan of Google Apps, so he gave up his web design and hosting firm to sell them full time. The payoff? A seven-figure income within a year.
By Megan Santosus

The Power of Flat-Fee IT

by ChannelPro-SMB on March 29, 2010 2:17 PM

ARRC Technology went from break-fix system building to offering a complete managed solution--including hardware--by believing in flat-fee IT.
By Alex Rogers and Frank Gurnee

Channel Speak: How to Win New Customers

by Pat Taylor on January 19, 2010 12:06 PM

For the best part of the last quarter, I was ’on the road’ meeting with channel companies across the country. I learned a lot about today’s channel business from system builders and integrators in the... More »

Kill My Computer: 6 Who Had the Guts

by ChannelPro-SMB on March 27, 2012 8:28 AM

Ever get so angry at a computer that you wanted to kill it? Check out these cinematic and real-life moments when people got their revenge on computers that just wouldn't troubleshoot.

How to Retain Valuable Employees

by ChannelPro-SMB on February 2, 2011 2:43 PM

It takes more than money to keep the innovators, risk takers, and future leaders of your company.
By Jennifer Vessels

Drop 10 Pounds or Start an MSP Business? Make the RIGHT Resolution for 2010

by Michael S on January 4, 2010 2:33 PM

The Managed Services model continues to mature and expand and it's getting easier to jump on board---with a franchise model.

6 Strategies for UC Deployment

by ChannelPro-SMB on February 16, 2011 3:47 PM

With SMBs moving steadily to unified communications, VARs must assess the readiness of their customers' networks before project implementation.
By Michael Lauricella

Verizon MiFi Card - Hacked to Perfection

by Karl Palachuk on September 15, 2010 1:03 AM

I've had the Verizon MiFi Wireless card for just over two months. It replaces my Sprint Wireless Novatel card. I switched for two simple reasons. The Verizon MiFi is less expensive for an unlimited plan.... More »

PROFILE: The Marketing Choice of Marketing Pros

by ChannelPro-SMB on August 1, 2011 12:55 PM

How a marketing services provider for MSPs turned to MSPtv as a means of reaching out to SMB clients.

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