ChannelPro-SMB - Stuart Selbst Blog

Social Media...is it good or bad?

Stuart Selbst — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:06:07 GMT

Social Media is amazing, isn't it? From Twitter to Facebook, from Ping.fm to LinkedIn, we are all now even more connected than we ever have been. We know where people are through apps like "Loopta" 24x7x365. With Twitter we know what they are doing in 140 characters or less!

Personally I use the social media tools for business purposes 95% of the time. Many of you have seen my "Tweet of Success" where I make announcements about the partners I work with. I send these tweets when one of my partners gets a big project or a new client. I also use it to promote my events, like Spring Training for Business.

When starting out with new partners I always ask if they are using any social media to promote their business and I get about a 50% positive response. Most have at least a LinkedIn profile, but often they haven't done anything with it in months and sometimes even years. I tell them that now is the time to reinvent themselves using on-line social media. I encourage them to get a Twitter account, to create a profile and a company fan page on Facebook, and to update their LinkedIn profile.

If you are not using social media I suggest you get going on it right away. Once you get your network set up you can start following your peers, vendors and even catch up with old friends. After that you need to get your clients on board with social media as well. As a technologist, you can help them create their on-line social network. This will establish you as more than just their computer guy or technology consultant.Â You will become a marketing consultant as well and can therefore help them increase their footprint and potential profits.

I am ending this blog post with some words of caution. No matter what you post or where you post it, be it on Facebook, Twitter or a blog, keep in mind that it is a reflection on you, your image, your business and more importantly your reputation. Don't let yourself get caught up in silly "on-line" games with those who might seek to draw you in.Â These are not serious business professionals and you should consider such behavior to be beneath you. Always buckle up and take the higher road on the information super highway.

You can follow me on LinkedIn, my personal Twitter account, or the Twitter account for Spring Training for Business,Â Â Facebook, ourÂ Facebook Fan Page or join our Facebook Group.

All the best in success,

Stu

Promises, Promises!

Stuart Selbst — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:38:01 GMT

Why did you start your own business?Â Maybe you got sick of working for someone else and being told what to do and how to do it. Maybe you thought that you could do it better yourself.Â I know I did and that is why I started my MSP back in 2002.

Suddenly there you are, chugging along making a few bucks and then, BANG! you hit a brick wall. You just canât seem to get past a certain level. For some of you it may be 150k to 200k in revenue for others it may be 1 million. No matter what it is, you find that you have hit a plateau.Â When you get to this point what do you do? When this happened to me back in 2004 I hired a business coach. My coach helped me get to the next level and then the next and the next etc.

Now I know you may be reading and thinking, Stu is a business coach and this is just an advertisement for his company.Â Well, yes I am a business coach but no, this is not an advertisement for my company. I currently coach 21 MSPs, I will max out at around 30. WithÂ Spring Training for Business less than a month away along with my other commitments I am not looking to grow too much more than 30 partners in 2010. Enough about me, what I am talking about today is about how some firms will make all sorts of promises and guarantee you the world. I am seeing a lot of hype out there and no doubt you are too. There are some that promise if you follow their blueprint of, âDo it this wayâ you will make millionsâ or âif you send out these 3000 letters your business will grow 300% in 6 minutes.âÂ Come on, do they really think you will buy into these promises?

The only way for you to grow your business effectively is to implement processes and procedures. You MUST implement the right sales and marketing processes, and then with the proper on-boarding and service delivery procedures your business will grow.

When I first started coaching someone said to me, âStu the reason that people come to you is that you promise them the dream of becoming successful.âÂ I have been thinking a lot about that statement lately and I need to disagree. People come to work with me because I care about helping them in their business. I wonât let them slide. I keep them accountable. I put my partners on a road that they must navigate to succeed. But, I wonât and I canât do it for them!

There is no get rich quick scheme in our line of business. You absolutely need to put in the time with your marketing.Â You are going to have to strike out a few times in sales before you hit that home run. In all honesty you will make mistakes, but you will not fail if you keep pushing forward. You must believe in yourself and believe in your products and services. Once you do that 100%, you will find your own success.

All the best in success,

Stu

The good, the bad and the ugly of vendor support and what you can do about it

Stuart Selbst — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:11:12 GMT

Lately I am hearing MSPs say they aren't getting the support they need from their vendors. Why does this not surprise me? I am not trying to call anyone out, but come on people, these MSPs are trying to run a business and support their clients.Â They need your support staff to be more attentive to their needs. I understand being short- handed, but some partners have told me they have had to wait over a week to get a call back. In this post, I am going to discuss the Good, the Bad and the you have got to be kidding me of vendor support.

Many people know Scott Barlow of Reflexion.Â Behind Scott is a team of skilled engineers, developers and support personnel.Â A couple of weeks ago I was moving my exchange server from one hosted firm to another. The new hosting company had an issue with something. Â I think that it might have been active directory with my account. Anyway, for almost 2 days I wasn't getting any email to Outlook.Â But, because I had Reflexion's RADAR solution for email archiving, I didn't miss a beat or an email. Without RADAR, I surely would have missed out on important communications with my clients.Â The funny thing is just today a partner I coach told me, "Reflexion is the type of vendor that all other vendors should look to on how to do it."

While I would never call any one vendor out by name, some vendors out there should take a look at how they support their clients. This not only goes for our industry, but any B2B business. We have all experienced terrible situations with vendors.Â The question is how can we, the customer, help these vendors improve their service standards? Sure, we could take the hard line and stop buying from them. Â That could hurt them, but it could hurt us more.Â After all, they already have our money!Â Another tactic we could take is to tell our peers about our bad experience.Â That will certainly get people talking and maybe the vendor will call to discuss the situation. Â No matter what happens or how heated the discussion might become I hope no partner of mine would say anything negative about a vendor, peer, co-worker or employee.

I want to stop beating up the vendors now and talk directly to you, the MSP. Â Frankly there is only one thing you can do and that is stop complaining and get to talking.Â Contact your representative at the vendor. If you can't reach them, then contact their supervisor. Â Be calm but firm and tell them that you aren't happy with their support. You are their customer! If they won't listen to you, escalate it to someone above them. You absolutely must work your relationship with your vendors to make things happen.

Another way to get their attention and discuss your concerns is to attend their user conferences. These events take place all the time.Â The Autotask Community Live event is April 18 — 20, 2010 in Miami, Kaseya is planning their event at the Four Seasons in Las Vegas, Connec+Wise has their event in November, N-Able has an event as well, and last year it was in Scottsdale, AZ. You can easily get face time with the C-Level of your vendors at their user conferences.Â But even more importantly, you can talk to your peers who may be having the same issues as you. Â You will definitely find strength in numbers which is something the vendors will not be able to ignore.

My hope is that all vendors and MSPs get it together. We as an industry need to start communicating better and use the tools available to us to get the jobs done.

I wish you all a great week and hope to see you at Spring Training for Business March 10 — 13 in Mesa, AZ or at a conference this year.

All the best in success,

Stu

How to deal with the angry customer

Stuart Selbst — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:04:51 GMT

Whether it takes place over the telephone or in person you are going to occasionally have to deal with angry customers. Thatâs just a fact of business.

The angry customer is usually a rational and reasonable person who has experienced something that isnât in line with their expectations. We have all been there as customers. No one has called us back as promised, our account still hasnât been credited or the service or product wasnât delivered on time or it doesnât do what we expected it to. The longer the situation drags on the angrier we get.

A tried and true formula for dealing with an unhappy customer is to apply the âHEATâ formula. The first step is to resist the urge to talk and H, hear them out. Donât just sit or stand there until they quit talking. Be an active listener and follow their story. The last thing you want them to have to do is repeat anything as they will only get angrier. Be sure to hear their words and not just their anger. If you are face to face give good eye contact and occasionally nod so that they know you are really hearing what they are saying. If this is taking place on the telephone you still donât want to interrupt but if you are completely silent they will think you either donât care to listen to them or have cut them off. Say things along the way like, âOkâ, âI seeâ, and even, âUh-huh.â Take notes so that you remember the chain of events.

Once they have finished venting you are onto the next step, E, empathize. This is where you say things like, âI can certainly understand why you are upsetâ and âI donât blame you for being angry, I would be angry too.â But donât act shocked or throw your company or a colleague under the bus by saying things like, âI canât believe how he treated youâ or âthat sort of thing happens around here all the time.â

Now that they know you have heard them out and that you feel for them itâs time to take ownership. Yes, even if you arenât the one who caused the problem. If you are representing the company then to the customer YOU are the company. This is where you A, apologize. Thatâs right itâs time to say you are sorry. NEVER say, âIâm sorry you feel that way.â You must actually tell them you apologize for the inconvenience or that you are sorry they have had this difficulty. And, be sincere or they will know you really donât mean it. You should also use this step to clarify and confirm what you have heard them say. If you donât make sure you understand the problem you wonât be able to fulfill the next step in the process.

Now that you have been read the riot act, identified with them, apologized to them and made certain you understand their problem, it is time to T, take action. Donât tell them what you canât do, tell them what you CAN do to fix the problem. If you are the one who can make things right then let them know and tell them how quickly you can get it done. Follow through is key here. Maybe you can throw in an extra service or give them something else as a peace offering. If someone else has to fix the problem then be honest with the customer and explain the process. But, YOU still own the problem through to resolution. Check back with the customer to make sure what you said would be done was actually done. By owning it you show the customer that you and your company really do care about them. Lastly, donât forget to thank them for their business!

It can be a challenge but with a little patience and practice on your part you can become an expert in dealing with an angry customer. Once they find out how much you care about their satisfaction and that you will do what it takes to ensure it, they will be singing your praises.

Loree

Creating Happy Customers - it's pretty basic!

Stuart Selbst — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:14:19 GMT

We have all heard the story about how a happy customer tells one person but an unhappy customer tells EVERYONE.Â That may be an over simplification but still worth bearing in mind for anyone involved in customer service.Â And, who isnât in the service business anyway?Â If you are a business owner then you have an end user.Â Did you catch that?Â I referred to your customer as an âend user.âÂ How cold and impersonal is that?Â If a term like this doesnât cause you some concern then you have a long way to go in relation to how you regard the people who purchase your services.Â

Client, customer, consumer, patron are all acceptable terms but donât forget these are real people with real needs and feelings.Â They naturally feel their needs are the most important thing there is and they expect you to share that feeling.Â

Ok, so you have customers but how do you keep them and how do you get more?Â First and foremost you have to be easy to do business with.Â That means you, or the person who can help them, must be accessible.Â Once they reach the person who can help them then assistance needs to happen immediately or within a reasonable timeframe. Â Every industry and every product or service has built in time requirements and these need to be communicated clearly to the customer and as early in the process as possible.Â Be careful not to let policies and red tape get in the way of delivering timely service!

Another key factor to keeping your customers happy is getting to know them.Â You absolutely have to understand what makes them tick.Â Step out of your role of being the boss or business owner because you canât take this tactic with this group of people.Â You are there to serve them.Â If you understand them then you can anticipate their needs.Â When you anticipate needs and provide service before it is needed then you will increase your customer loyalty.Â

If you donât really understand your clients all you have to do is talk to them.Â Ask them what is important to them.Â What donât they like?Â What must they have?Â Then sit back and listen to the voice of the customer.Â They will be more than happy to talk about themselves and tell you what their expectations are.Â Now itâs up to you to deliver.Â Maybe something they need is not within your area of expertise.Â That doesnât mean you canât make the right connections for them.Â Provide the contacts they need and they will never forget you.Â They will tell all their friends too.

Stay tuned for more on creating happy customers and customer service issues in future posts.

Loree

2009...my year in review.

Stuart Selbst — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:27:26 GMT

Happy New Year everyone I cannot believe that today is December 30, 2009. Where did the year go? Heck, where did the decade go? It seems just yesterday I was working at Countrywide Home Loans in their IT department in Southern California. Well now Countrywide is part of Bank of America or someone like that. It is funny how things change but a lot stays the same or even makes a full circle

Letâs take a look at my year for a quick minute. I started this year self employed as a consultant for SecureMyCompany, which is now Cloud Services Depot. I left SMC to start coaching VARs making the transition to MSP. After an initial hiccup, I created the Trusted Advisor Program at Virtual Administrator. I was able to work with over 40 MSPs to help them find success and an average growth in revenue of over 68%.

This is a time to reflect on your year like I am doing. No matter what our experiences were through the year, positive, negative, up or down, we need to acknowledge them and be grateful for them so that we can grow and improve in light of them. If you dwell on the negative and donât see it as a learning opportunity you will never get past it and never get out of your own way in order to succeed.

In our industry, we have seen a lot of vendors come and go, but there are some vendors who in my opinion have really stepped it up to help out their channel resellers. I would like to take a minute to recognize those vendors who have made it into Stuartâs 2009 Hall of Fame list.

AutoTask
CharTec
Connec+Wise
Exchange Defender
Intronis
IT Control Suite
LabTec
Microsoft
Reflexion
Storagecraft

There was one organization that I believe really took it to the next level in 2009 to help their partners. That organization is MSP Alliance. If you see or speak to Charles or Celia Weaver, please thank them for all that they do for you, the MSP.

2009 was a year of ups and downs. While many MSPs were complaining that the economy was down and business was slow, MSPs that were resilient found ways to help their clients profit and therefore profited themselves. The MSPs who changed their mindsets from being the people who âmaintain the technologyâ over to the team of people there to âhelp the business increase revenue and productivity through technologyâ are the ones ending 2009 with record profits and heading into 2010 with a number of new opportunities.

There are a few people that I have had the opportunity to work this year that really stand out. I would like to take this opportunity to talk about them and their success.

Scott Hartley â Calibre Computer in Princeton, IN
Scott is an amazing person. He runs his business in an area of less than 70,000 people in 3 neighboring counties. Scottâs business is primarily residential/consumer based computer services. Scott thought he was doing well in 2008.Â But, as he closes out 2009, his revenue has almost doubled.

Jeremie Scheiner â EZ MSP in Yonkers, NY
Jeremie has led the staff of EZ MSP into a new area.Â That area is one of profitability for their clients. In 2009, they have learned to communicate internally as well as with their clients. This is one of the reasons that their revenue has increased over 300% in 2009. I canât wait to see what they do in 2010.

Jacob Braun â WakaDigital in Amhurst, MA
Jacob is not a coaching partner of mine; he is one of my best friends. Over the years, going back to when I was an MSP, we would discuss our businesses and we would do remote work for one another. Earlier this year WakaDigital was the first company to receive a perfect score of 100% on the CompTIA Security Trustmark. It is because of the procedures Jacob has implemented that he was able to grow his business in this down economy.

Teresa Bell â Citrus Networking Solutions Group in Citrus County, FL
For those of us who know Teresa, we just expect her to succeed. Teresa doesnât just run CNSG, she is the incoming President of the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce. Citrus County whose population is just around 150,000 with 42% of those over 65 years old sounds like a tough market, right? Not for CNSG! They not only grew their business over 30% in this economy, they added 2 FTEâs, purchased Kaseya and put on 2 marketing events in Q4. Their plan is for a 300% growth in revenue in 2010.Â If anyone can do it in Citrus County, it is CNSG.

For those of you who had an off year it is now time for you to set goals and change the way you do things. If you had a less profitable year maybe you need some training or coaching.Â There are a number of coaches, including me, who are willing and able to help you get on the right track. Whatever your excuse has been in 2009, donât make the same mistakes in 2010. Get help, get focused, and get profitable.

Congratulations to everyone who had a good year. I certainly hope that you take the momentum of your 2009 in to 2010 and build upon it for greater profits.m

I want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year. I hope that your 2010 is safe, prosperous and that all of your goals are achieved.

All the best in success,

Stu