Topics Discussed: Why LinkedIn is likely the most underutilized tool in your sales and marketing toolbox, how professional social networks are particularly valuable to channel businesses, the differences between leveraging social media as an individual versus as an organization, teaming up with colleagues to divide and conquer sales leads, a handful of steps you can take before 5:00 today to strengthen your profile, build your network, and empower your sales organization, and much more.
Topics Discussed: How a kickboxer, yoga instructor, and stay-at-home mom turned into an IT services sales & marketing dynamo, why VAR and MSP leaders are terrible telemarketers, why telemarketing sucks as a job, yet remains a requisite prospecting tool and how long that might remain the case, how Simpson's company spun up a one-of-a-kind call center in under two weeks, what IT service provider execs must do to embrace telemarketing and win with it, and much more.
Topics Discussed: The value of industry associations and peer groups, the IT business leader’s persona and where it falls short, what solutions are hot in 2019 and how to avoid “shiny object” syndrome, the ill-effecof vendor dependency in marketing and the IT service provider’s responsibility there, why business development hires are more important than techs, the legacy of Alan Weinberger, and a whole lot more.
Topics Discussed: Personal and professional reflections on 2018, balancing career, a large and busy family, and channel guru status while pursuing an advanced degree, why 96 percent of IT service providers never grow beyond ten employees, why 70 percent of IT services business owners are seeking to sell out and what it means for the channel, and Jay McBain’s five predictions for 2019 (and slightly beyond).
Topics Discussed: Building tribes of clients and building tribes of MSPs, scalability and national footprints, an MSP marketing retrospective, why 94 percent of MSPs never see a million dollars, self-awareness and corrective action, what if you don’t get anything back for your marketing? What if you do? Education as the ROI on failure, everything’s easier with a set of plans.
Topics Discussed: Tom Clancy (Valiant Technology), Paul DeMore (Force Management) Mark Haskelson (Compliancy Group), and Butch Langlois (Vend) engage in a transparent conversation about what's right and what's wrong with channel/vendor partnerships from the perspectives of VAR/MSP, software company, and consultancy.
Topics Discussed: Why most MSPs don’t treat their business like a business, the dangers of ambiguous contract language, the business, financial, and personal repercussions of legal action, how to avoid sales-slogging contract language yet remain protected, best practices for legal risk mitigation.
Topics Discussed: The value of a legal background in managed services business leadership, merger and acquisition strategy and law, change management among personnel, salespersons' egos, transparency and altruism in the IT channel.
Topics Discussed: An unlikely path to managed services, sleepwalking in the Air Force, why peer groups matter, surviving tornadoes (literally), keeping reliable peers, building a financial cushion, KPIs, business performance benchmarking, the discomfort of accountability and transparency, and more.
Hosted by Channel Executive Chief Editor Matt Pillar, Channel Voice brings you twice-monthly intelligence, inspiration, and entertainment from the leading voices in the IT channel.
