ECM Executive Commentary

61. Ask Coach: Making Your Team Part of Strategic Planning, Part 3 2/26/2015

    This is the third part of a three-part series. This installment deals with documenting your plan and driving communication through your team.

62. Ask Coach: Making Your Team Part of Strategic Planning, Part 2 2/24/2015

    Q: How do you invite your team to be part of strategic planning? Coach: Instead of “invite,” “engage.”

63. Strategic IT Sales: Creating A Vision And Getting Buy-In 2/24/2015

    Strategic sales is the process of taking your top few accounts and looking at them differently than you do your other clients. With these accounts, you want to jointly create a vision and a roadmap for the next three to five years. This includes not only what you can provide for them but also some of their other partners including their telecom and physical plant providers. Broaden your vision.

64. It’s Time To Rebrand Your Sales Team 2/19/2015

    Recently a co-worker of mine forwarded a WSJ article addressing why it’s so hard to fill high paying tech sales positions. The article came as no surprise to me, as the sales positions I have been trying to fill the last couple of years have presented challenges. It’s hard to fathom why, in this economy, folks aren’t jumping at the chance to earn $75K+, right? 

65. The Year Of The Services Provider: 5 Ways To Avoid Security Breaches 2/19/2015

    A new security breach seems to hit the news every week, and services providers must take proactive steps to make certain that they — or a partner provider — don’t unknowingly add an organization to the growing list of victims.

66. Ask Coach: Making Your Team Part of Strategic Planning, Part 1 2/19/2015

    How do you invite your team to be part of strategic planning? Coach: Instead of “invite,” “engage.”

67. 3 Questions To Help Customer Relationships Thrive 2/10/2015

    In the world of managed IT services, it never really seems to slow down. And when you’re constantly running at full speed, it’s easy to overlook certain risks and challenges that can put your success at risk. The good news is that these pitfalls both start and end with you — meaning you can avoid them if you know what to look for.

68. An MSP Lists The Top 4 Features Of An RMM Solution 2/9/2015

    I remember when starting my business I purchased remote monitoring and management (RMM) software because the salesperson told me that I would be able to call my clients when their printer ink was low. I thought that was a great feature, so I bought the RMM tool. I figured if it could do that it should be able to handle the basics as well — even though I really didn’t understand what the basics were at the time

69. 6 Steps To Conquering The “Channel Evolution Challenge” 2/9/2015

    There doesn’t need to be fear in the channel. But VARs, agents, and systems integrators who hand off prospects to services providers stand to lose revenue — and the customer — forever. This nightmare scenario is commonplace for companies that fail to expand their solution menus, stay educated on new options, and team with master agents with a broad services portfolio.

70. How To Apply The Principles Of Effective Metrics 2/6/2015

    A few weeks ago, I wrote about the “Quest for the Holy Grail of Metrics”. In that post, I talked about some principles that I recommend using to build a set of metrics to help in three critical areas. Those areas are customer satisfaction, profitability, and employee engagement.