MSP University Managed Services Blog

Watch Archived Sessions from MSP University's Boot Camp On Demand!

Watch Sessions from our just-completed MSP University Boot Camp on demand!

Simply visit http://www.mspu.us/en/boot-camps/live.htm and select the sessions you would like to view!

If you don't already have one, you'll need to create a FREE basic membership to MSP University to log in.

Check out our Agenda Quick Schedule for each of the three days of this amazing Boot Camp:

 

Click here for our entire 36 page MSP University Boot Camp Program.

Join us at our next Boot Camp FREE in Dallas, TX on March 17th-19th 2010 - click here for more info!

Register now to receive:

• 3 Days of intensive IT Business, Sales & Marketing and Service Delivery Training - a $2,995 value!
• 4 Reference Books and their companion comprehension tests - a $500 value!
• Service Leadership Index™ Solution Provider Fundamentals Profitability Benchmark - a $129 value!
• DISC Behavioral Profile - a $45 value!
• Boot Camp On-Boarding Call - a $99 value!
• Interaction with over 100 of your peers and key Manufacturer, Vendor and Fulfillment Partner Sponsors - priceless!

See you at our next Boot Camp in Dallas!

Erick Simpson
MSP University
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Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
 

 

  

 

We're Streaming Our Boot Camp Live!

Can't attend our first Boot Camp of 2010 in person? Join us from your PC!

Join Our First Boot Camp of 2010 Streaming Live!
(Just join MSP University FREE as a Basic Member)

Are you interested in: 

• Increasing net profits
• Developing effective marketing strategies
• Pricing and positioning Managed Services on value to maximize revenue
• Learning sales techniques that dramatically improve sales success
• Discovering the most effective ways to create and deliver Managed Services Agreements
• Creating rock-solid project plans and using them to effectively manage your projects to come in on time and within budget
• Training your Sales Engineers in a clear step-by-step process that walks them through effective discovery, solution design and proposal creation
• Understanding what you need to know before you outsource

Then join us as we stream our IT Solutions and Managed Services Sales & Marketing and Service Delivery Boot Camp directly to you on February 3rd-5th, 2010!

You have many choices when it comes to deciding which industry events to attend - but at MSP University we're doing something completely different by streaming our first Boot Camp of 2010 - providing you the tools to immediately put what you've learned to action!
 
We've built 3 amazing tracks for you and your team:

TRACK 1 - IT SOLUTIONS AND MANAGED SERVICES CEO OPERATIONS
TRACK 2 - IT SOLUTIONS AND MANAGED SERVICES SALES 101
TRACK 3 - IT SOLUTIONS AND MANAGED SERVICES DELIVERY 

 

Join Our First Boot Camp of 2010 Streaming Live!
(Just join MSP University FREE as a Basic Member)

 

Click the image below for a Boot Camp Preview

 

Join us virtually on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, February 3rd to 5th, 2010 as we stream live from Orange County, CA, for a one-of a kind IT Solutions and Managed Services Sales & Marketing and Service Delivery Boot Camp.

See you at Boot Camp!

Erick Simpson
MSP University
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Subscribe to our Newsletter here
Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
 

 

Join Me Tomorrow to Learn 8 Critical Areas for Managed Services Success

Tomorrow - January 27, 2010 at 9:00am PST

Whether you’re considering adding Managed Services to your deliverables, or are a seasoned MSP, there are 8 critical areas your company needs to evaluate, improve and monitor in order to achieve maximum net profitability, scalability and growth capability for your business. In this Microsoft 5W/25 Webcast, I'll reveal the 8 areas to focus on in business improvement and transformation for maximizing your Managed Services practice success.

Takeaways:

• Understand the 8 phases critical to Managed Services practice improvement and success and how they apply to your business
• Learn specific goals necessary to achieve in each area for maximizing net profitability, scalability and growth capabilities
• Identify your strengths and weaknesses in each area and develop a strategy for leveraging your strengths and shoring up your weaknesses

Attendees to this must-attend session will receive an electronic download of MSP University’s “The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice” – MSP University’s best-selling book on Managed Services – a $99.95 value.  

Click here to register!

See you tomorrow!
 
Erick Simpson
MSP University
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Subscribe to our Newsletter here
Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
 

Join us for MSP University's State of the Industry Webinar This Friday!

Please join us this Friday January 29th @ 9am PST as I host MSP University's State of the Industry Webinar.

Topic:  Smart and Simple Ways to Leveraging Local Connections and Microsoft Giveaways!
 
Are you a Microsoft Partner? Great News!
Microsoft is providing fresh, relevant content AND great giveaways for you to use to drive business through your local marketplace!
 
This is a tremendous opportunity for you to use Microsoft's Giveaways and other resources to gain exposure, build your brand, and most of all - generate leads for your products and services as you interact with local area prospects and customers!

Our special guest will be Bruce Marshall, a Business Development Manager from Microsoft's Local Engagement Team!  Together we'll discuss how to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity made available from Microsoft and MSP University!

Click here to register!

SMART and SIMPLE steps for Microsoft Partners to take to qualify for marketing support through Microsoft! 

1. PLAN to conduct a Customer Event
2. FEATURE ANY Microsoft Product
3. Do at least ONE of the following:
--- USE content from www.mslocalpartner.com
--- PARTICIPATE with another *business entity at that Event (*Chamber of Commerce, Local Business, Banks, AT&T, Comcast, etc., and while Microsoft encourage Partners to co-market with other Microsoft 
partners, in order to qualify for THIS offer you must also partner with a non-Microsoft Partner.)
4. GIVE Microsoft at least 2 weeks' notice of when and where the event will be
--- Microsoft will provide you with a short form to collect this information.

Join me for this valuable Webcast to learn how to position this opportunity with your local Chamber of Commerce and utilize Free Microsoft software to increase leads and fill your opportunity pipeline.

About Erick Simpson

Vice President and CIO of Intelligent Enterprise, a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, and MSP University, Erick is a recognized industry expert and IT and Managed Services author, speaker and trainer, and contributor to numerous industry publications and events. Author of "The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice - What Every SMB IT Service Provider Should Know...", the definitive book on Managed Services, and the follow-ups in MSP University's Managed Services Series "The Best I.T. Sales & Marketing BOOK EVER!", "The Best I.T. Service Delivery BOOK EVER!" and "The Best NOC and Service Desk Operations BOOK EVER!". Erick has also co-authored the HTG publication "Peer Power - Powerful Ideas for Partners from Peers".
 
About Bruce Marshall
 
Bruce Marshall brings over 15 years of technology and marketing experience to Microsoft's Local Engagement Team. In his role as Business Development Manager he actively engages Microsoft partners who want to grow their businesses in their local marketplace!  Check out www.mslocalpartner.com for more information!

Click here to register! 

See you on Friday the 29th!
 
Erick Simpson
MSP University
Subscribe to my blog here
Subscribe to our Newsletter here
Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
 

Get MSP University's Brand New Book FREE!

Here's your chance to learn more about MSP University's Online Training Portal and how to use it to help your organization increase its efficiencies, effectiveness, sales and profitability. Simply join us for a live tour of our MSP University online training portal and...
 
Get an electronic copy of our newest book just for attending!

The Best NOC and Service Desk Operations BOOK EVER!

 

Nearly 500 pages and 30 downloadable forms, tools,
best practices guides and educational webcasts included!

 

That's right - participate in a live tour of our educational training portal and receive an electronic download of our newest book!

 

Learn why Fortune 50 IT software and hardware manufacturers, distributors, vendors and thousands of IT organizations in over 80 countries worldwide look to MSP University as the industry leader in improving IT business operations, sales and marketing results and service delivery efficiencies and profitability.

 

Click here to register NOW!

 

Space is limited to 25 attendees per tour, so register today receive a link to download The Best NOC and Service Desk Operations BOOK EVER! electronically after attending!

 

 

Register Now For MSP University's First Boot Camp Of 2010!

We are kicking off our 2010 I.T. Solutions and Managed Services Sales & Marketing and Service Delivery Boot Camp Series!

In 2009 MSP University trained over 500 Solution Providers in our challenging Boot Camps all across the United States.

And in 2010 we are tripling that number with a series of 11 US and International Boot Camps - our biggest live training series yet!

Join us for our inaugural Boot Camp of 2010 in Orange County, CA on February 3rd-5th!

Watch a Boot Camp video clip

Unlike any other event in our industry, these 3-day Boot Camps provide direct, actionable training and tools to help you implement business improvement and transformation strategies the moment you return to your organization.

Click here to find out how to attend our next IT Solutions and Managed Services Sales & Marketing and Service Delivery Boot Camp ABSOLUTELY FREE!

We've expanded our Boot Camps to deliver 3 valuable tracks:

• CEO Operations
• Sales 101
• Service Delivery

CEO Operations Track
We'll kick off Day 1 with CEO Operations covering critical topics for Business Owner/CEOs such as:

• Structuring Your Organization for Successful Growth
• Key Performance Indicators and Fundamental Profitability Benchmarking with Paul Dippell of Service Leadership
• DISC, PTSI and SSI Behavioral Profiles for Hiring Right the First Time
• Hiring Sales and Technical Staff for Managed Services Sales and Delivery Success
• Identifying Critical Staff Roles and Creating Win-Win Compensation Plans
• IT Sales Engineering and Project Management Best Practices
• 51 Steps to Sales & Marketing Success 

Click here to find out how to attend our next IT Solutions and Managed Services Sales & Marketing and Service Delivery Boot Camp ABSOLUTELY FREE!

Sales 101 Track
While these sessions are in full force, attendees to our Sales 101 track will receive instruction in The Proper Attitude for Sales Success, Secrets to Effective Telemarketing and Appointment-Setting, Prospecting and Preparation, Warm-up and Qualifying, and begin an intensive role-playing schedule that will continue for the duration of the Boot Camp. Sales 101 attendees role-play the 7-Step Sales Process delivered over 3 appointments to shorten sales cycles and improve closing success for IT Solutions and Managed Services business. 

Watch a Sales 101 Track Role-Play video clip

Service Delivery Track
On day 2 of our Boot Camp we'll launch our Service Delivery track, which runs concurrently with our CEO Operations and Sales 101 tracks for the balance of our Boot Camp. This track delivers valuable sessions to improve efficiencies, cut costs and increase bottom-line revenues in our attendees' service delivery units. Topics included NOC Operations Best Practices, Service Desk Best Practices, Incident Management Best Practices, Service Dispatch Best Practices, Onsite Service Delivery Best Practices and Running Your IT Service Delivery Business by the Numbers.

Watch a Service Delivery Track Sales Engineering video clip

"MSP University is truly the greatest business building resource I have ever experienced in all of my 35 years in business" 
 - John Corrick, Director, Ezetak Pacific PTY LTD

2010 Boot Camp Schedule:

• February 3rd - 5th in Orange County, CA
• March 17th - 19th in Dallas, TX
• April 14th - 16th in Atlanta, GA
• June 9th - 11th in Orange County, CA
• July 21st - 23rd in Chicago, IL
• August 8th-10th in San Antonio, TX
• September 1st - 3rd in Baltimore, MD
• September 15th - 17th in Toronto, CN
• October 13th - 15th in Los Angeles, CA
• October (date to be finalized) in London, UK 
• November 10th - 12th in Sydney, Australia

View a complete agenda of a recent Boot Camp here

We would like to thank all of our generous Sponsors for making our Boot Camps possible:

Platinum Sponsors:

Autotask www.autotask.com
ConnectWise www.connectwise.com

Gold Sponsors:

eFolder www.eFoldering.com
Chartec www.chartec.net
CompTIA www.comptia.org   
Own Web Now/ExchangeDefender www.ownwebnow.com
Service Leadership, Inc. www.service-leadership.com

Silver Sponsors:

Datto www.dattobackup.com   
MANAGEtoWIN www.managetowin.com/mspu
Synergy Global Solutions www.synergy.gs

 

See you at Boot Camp!

Erick Simpson 
MSP University
Subscribe to my blog here
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Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services

Use MSPU's New Article Library Free To Drive Business In 2010!

Are you looking for new ways to generate interest in your products and services?

Have you considered starting a newsletter for clients and prospects, or currently produce one and need compelling content to drive visitors to your website or organization?

Would you like your website to host a continually growing library of articles of interest for your clients and prospects, increasing its value as a marketing resource and improving its positioning in web searches?

If you said yes to any of these questions, you are going to love MSP University's new FREE Article Library!

The purpose of our free article library is to help attract your target audience to you by making available articles of interest to them which can be posted on your website, linked to in electronic communications such as email and newsletters, and referenced in blogs and social media sites.

Click here to launch MSP University's FREE Article Library!

Each one of the articles in our continually growing library is written specifically for your target audience - business owners that seek to improve their organizations through the use of technology. With over 30 articles currently available in 15 different categories and new articles added monthly, this valuable library will help you raise interest in your products and services by providing additional marketing touches to your existing clients and potential prospects. And the more marketing touches you are able to deliver to your prospects, the more likely they are to do business with you.

There are 2 ways to access our easy to use Article Library - simply abide by our terms and conditions and:

1. Search for and download individual articles for use in any or all of your electronic marketing communications
2. Use our RSS Feed to integrate our constantly growing Article Library into your website, blog, social media accounts, etc. automatically as we update it with new content monthly

From all of us at MSP University, we wish you a prosperous 2010!

Erick Simpson 
MSP University
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Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services

The 3 Amigos Round Up Tomorrow - Final 2009 Podcast With Vlad, Karl and Erick

So Vlad Mazek of Own Web Now, Karl Palachuk of SMB Books and I have been sharing our thoughts on the industry, its players, events and conferences for several years now on several incarnations of Vlad's Spam Show, Karl's SMB Conference Call and my State of the Industry Webcasts, with each of us delivering content in our own various flavors.

I can say with all candor that of the three shows, Vlad's Spam Show is by far the loosest, no-holds-barred program of them all. If your sensitivities are easily rankled, this is not the show for you. That being said, it is the most fun we have when we're not physically together at an event or conference, and we would like to invite you to Vlad's final Spam Show of 2009.

We'll be recapping 2009 and discussing what the future holds for 2010 with a hot toddy and our Snuggies on.

Join the fun tomorrow, Wednesday December 23rd at 8am PST here: 

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/167456256 

See Karl's post here and Vlad's post here.

Let's send 2009 off with a bang and welcome 2010 together!

Erick Simpson 
MSP University
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Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services

Recorded Webcast Posted - Leveraging More Vendor Dollars and Less Of Your Own

We've posted our final State of the Industry Webinar of 2009 for viewing in case you missed it live!

Topic: Leveraging More Vendor Dollars and Less Of Your Own

Location: http://www.mspu.us/en/courses/this-months-free-training.htm

It's the end of the year and your sales are less than you desire.  You want to market your business to increase sales, but budgets are tight.  Your sales team just keeps calling the same people.  You need new leads, new opportunities in your pipeline and more closed sales before you fall behind on your projections.
   
Our special guest for this valuable Webcast is our good friend David Russell, MANAGEtoWIN CEO and MSP University Boot Camp Sponsor. Dave has been in the computer industry for 28 years and spent a lot of that time as a partner of Microsoft, Cisco, Intel and other top vendors.  He has built many businesses on "OPM" (other people's money) and it's time you did too.  This is a unique opportunity to learn how to access money from multiple vendors to implement best practice marketing programs that generate powerful new sales and recurring revenue opportunities.
 
But do not be confused as we talk about vendor money, marketing and sales.  You are in the people business in part because the greatest asset of your company is its ability to develop and maintain relationships with local clients.  A primary skill of your vendors is branding and marketing, but they need you to cost effectively reach your local market.  It is time to combine these two strengths for greater results.
 
During this Webcast, you'll discover how to:

• Access thousands of vendor marketing dollars in less time
• Implement proven best practice marketing campaigns that increase your bottom line without your active involvement
• Automatically hold your people accountable to achieve "stretch" goals to build your business
• Track the status of your people's pursuit of their key objectives so your company achieves or exceeds its most important goals

Along with sharing these great secrets to leveraging your vendor's dollars instead of your own, Dave will share how to automate teh management of your vendor campaigns and cash with his cloud-based MANAGEtoWIN solution, which he started developing nearly four years ago. Although you can take what you learn during this valuable Webcast and execute the steps Dave will share with us manually, it takes too much time, lacks accountability and you will have inconsistent outcomes.

Watch this valuable Webinar and learn how to leverage more vendor dollars and less of your own!

Click here to view! - if you don't already have one, you'll need to create a FREE basic MSP University account to view this and dozens of other Webinars to improve your service delivery practice...!

Erick Simpson 
MSP University
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Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services

How MSPs Determine Profitability Of Their Service Desk

Last time we determined how to calculate the full burden for our billable employees. So how do MSPs take this formula and determine the profitability of their service desk? Let's work through this together. First you'll need to understand how to calculate full burden of your billable staff. Once you understand this, it is actually pretty simple to calculate profitability of your service desk and its staff.

Let's say you have 25 Managed Services Agreements averaging $3,000 each for a gross invoice amount of $75,000 per month.

Next let's assume you have 3 service desk technicians whose full hourly burden is $132.31/hr.

Finally let's estimate that for the last billable month, your service desk technicians spent 150 hours managing service desk requests and proactively patching, updating and optimizing your clients' endpoints.

Let's summarize:

• Monthly Managed Services Billing = $75,000
• Service Desk Full Hourly Burden (3 x $132.31/hr) = $396.93/hr.
• Hours of service delivered last billable month = 150

Now let's do the math. Multiply the hours of service delivered during the last billable month by your service desk's full hourly burden to determine your full labor burden for the service desk for the month:

150 x $396.93 = $59,539.50

Now determine your margin. Use a quick online calculator like Algebrahelp.com's here (you'll need Java installed to run it - where was this site when I was in school!) to discover that $75,000 is 25.97% greater than $59,539.50, so you've made an ok, if not terrific margin:

Margin = 25.97%

If this is your true profit from your service desk, you've got some work to do in reducing costs and increasing efficiencies, as best-in-class MSPs are realizing upwards of 60% margin on their deliverables!

Join MSP University for FREE to learn how to reduce your IT practice's costs, raise efficiencies, improve sales and increase the value of each sale!

Erick Simpson 
MSP University
Subscribe to my blog here
Subscribe to our Newsletter here 
 
Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services