What?!

But we have another, awesome-er show….listen to learn more:

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This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

Also we answer two listener emails about business structure and reselling antivirus products and in the toolbox Paco shares a cool free service where you can monitor all your business numbers and metrics in one place.

All that and much more on this episode of the Computer Business Podcast!

CBP 068: Product Recommendation Tips with Shannon Morse

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Items Mentioned in this podcast:

• Hak5
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• Engadget
• The Verge 
• Daily Tech News Show 
• Read Write Web 
• Pocket

Computer Business Toolbox:

• Cyfe

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This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

When you shovel snow from your driveway, you have an easy metric to measure your progress. Where you’ve shoveled is clean, where you haven’t shoveled is not. Most people will not spend time shoveling the clean spots, as it will not get the job done any better or faster.

Metrics in your business can guide you the same way. In addition to measuring financial goals, they can be used to measure the success of various efforts you make to grow your business. Advertising campaigns, direct mail, networking events, Adwords, SEO, all can have a positive effect on your top line sales. If you control your associated expenses toward those efforts, you can measure the dollars spent vs the return for each of those dollars. In essence, it will help you to shovel only the parts of the driveway with snow on it.

What Metrics Are Important?

I’m not an accountant or bookkeeper; and you should have one who can help you with the typical financial metrics in P&L statements; so I’m not going to concentrate on that. What I would like to address is measuring progress you’re making in your various marketing efforts.

First, though, to measure progress toward a goal (say, a clean driveway), you need to define that goal. If you’re just beginning your business, you may not really have any goals other than, “I want to make a lot of money.” That one’s obvious, but you’ll develop others. Most people have some idea of what their business needs to be doing to succeed. Metrics are a way to identify goals.

Say you’ve opened a storefront and want to do break/fix and computer training for both businesses and residential clients. That’s pretty broad. But, you’re still testing the market, so let’s go with it. The first thing you can do is keep track of which clients are break/fix, which are training, which are businesses and which are residential.

So, for each client, you’ll record which type of service (break/fix or training) and which type of client (business or residential).

Then get in the habit of generating a report showing how much revenue comes from each of those categories: break/fix—business, break/fix—residential, training—businesses, training—residential. I’ll leave it up to you how you keep track, but a good bookkeeper can easily set up systems to do so. An Excel spreadsheet is the most straightforward way, but as your business grows you’ll want to tie it in to Quickbooks or whatever your accounting package is.

Interpreting the Results

One month of data is next to worthless; it’s important to look for trends. After a few months, you may see, for instance, that break/fix—residential is your biggest category, followed by training—residential, then break/fix—business, and nothing for training—business. It’s important

After a while you’ll know what your bread and butter is, where most customers come from. If you’re happy with this segment of customers, then do more of what you’re doing. If not, investigate ways to change your approach so that you bring in more of the other types.

Assume for a moment that you’ve been spending a lot on Adwords and direct mail to businesses promoting your services, and very little on residential marketing. Right off you’ll know that whatever you’re doing toward businesses isn’t working, assuming you’ve given it enough time. Whatever success you’re having with residential services is due to something you’re not paying attention to. Perhaps your clients are giving your name out to their friends. Perhaps your storefront attracts them, or your website.

Perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate your efforts? Are you shoveling the part of the driveway that’s already clear? Or, it may be that the market need out there is for residential services and you need to re-define your goals.

So far this is straightforward, and you didn’t need anything fancy to measure this. The basic concept, though, is to measure things you think might be important and see if you detect patterns.

What You Might Measure

Here are some things I’ve found valuable to measure monthly for my business, along with my reasoning.

Metric: New Clients Served, Repeat Clients Served, Total Clients Served

Why:

1. Total clients served is important, as is growth in the total number of clients. The more clients you have, the less likely the loss of any one will hurt you. As well, the more clients you have the more likely others will hear of you through them.
2. Repeat clients served is like a second date—they like you. Do more of what you did the first time. If repeat client percentage is a low number, find out why.
3. New clients served measures how effective your marketing efforts are.

Metric: Hours/Client

Why: Hours per client is a measure of efficiency.

Metric: Referral Source

Why:

1. Referral Source shows how people are finding out about you. If you are spending a lot on newspaper ads with no resulting business from the ads, stop it. No more snow there. Here are the referral sources I track for my business (all measured as a percent of total sales for 2016):
   • BNI 17%
   • Rotary Club 15%
   • CCMD 12%
   • Happy Client 10%
   • Retirement Ctr 9%
   • Friend 8%
   • Chamber of Commerce 7%
   • Website 6%
   • Senior Center 4%
   • Tech Referrals 4%
   • Apple Store 3%
   • Other 5%

Metric: Market Segment

Why: Market Segment, for my purposes, is just whether it is a business client or a residential client, and whether it is break/fix or training, as discussed above.

I also measure a few other things I won’t cover here, along with your Financial reports, but once you start this you’ll gain a lot of insight into your business. Find a good bookkeeper who can keep track of all this for you. I have mine generate a one-page metrics sheet for me each month, which we spend some time discussing.

Using various metrics to give a snapshot of your growing business can help you make that growth, and profitability, happen.

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

Also we answer an email question asking if programming is still a viable career path in the age of cheap overseas competition and in the toolbox Paco introduces a tool that makes it easy to find the best hashtags to use in your social posts.

All that and much more on this episode of the Computer Business Podcast!

CBP 067: Maximizing the Impact of Social Media

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Items Mentioned in this podcast:

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• Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook
• Typorama
• Social Media Examiner

Computer Business Toolbox:

• Hashtagify.me

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This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

Plus, Paco has an update on his plagiarism story and Matthew shares some tips for maximizing the time of your VA or office assistant.

And in the toolbox we will introduce you to a service that helps you to read more business books in less time!

All that and much more on this episode of the Computer Business Podcast!

CBP 066: How to Charge Premium Prices

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Items Mentioned in this podcast:

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This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

Assuming that you haven’t been in a coma or caught in the gravitational pull of a black hole over the past couple of years, you should have noticed that video usage is exploding!!!

YouTube is the #2 search engine, has over a billion users and hundreds of hours of video uploaded every minute.

Rather than just throwing videos out into the ether and hoping for the best, let’s look at some specific things you can do to really make videos take your business to the next level.

(And be sure to check the bottom of the post for a video I put together using all the tips from this post!)

How To Get Started

Just making videos without the thought of what you’re going to use to get the best results is a very bad idea. Making videos is so easy these days that it makes no sense for anyone to have bad quality videos.

So let’s look at what you’ll need to get started.

The Camera

There are several ways to get started with video but the two most common are using your smartphone or a webcam.

If you have a newer smartphone then you likely have a high quality video camera right in your hand. Today’s HD smartphone video cameras can produce some really nice quality videos if done properly.

Videos from smartphones are being thrust into use by popular live video platforms such as Periscope, LiveStream, Live.me and particularly Facebook Live.

The other popular choice for videos is a high quality webcam. Any decent laptop will have a camera included but these are typically lower quality and not very good for our purposes here.

My webcam of choice (and the best value anywhere) is the Logitech C920. This full HD webcam can be purchased on Amazon for $60 and is well worth the investment. Although this camera has been around for some time, it is still available and widely used by video marketing pros. You can even mount the C920 onto a tripod for more versatility.

But if you think the video is important, just stop right there. People will be a little forgiving on video quality but poor
audio quality will make someone stop watching your video within seconds.

The Microphone

As with video, there are several ways to capture good audio. We’re only going to look at the most common and best starter options.

I mentioned laptop video cameras earlier so it goes without saying that these same laptops have mics as well. As with camera quality, the mic quality isn’t great either. So, let’s look at a couple of other options here.

If you’re using a smartphone, you can up your audio game by using a good set of earbuds with a mic built-in. The earbuds with built-in mic that come with iPhones and Samsung phones work ok for audio. Having the mic very near to your mouth makes a big difference.

Even better is a lapel mic, also called a lav or lavaliere mic. These can range from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. Not all lav mics will work with all phones so you’ll need to do a little research.

One that I’ve found works well with iPhone and my Samsung (as well as other applications) is the Vidpro XM-L. This lav mic is actually for a camcorder but I’ve found it works well on other devices. In addition, the 20 foot cord makes it ideal for standing back away from the camera and still getting super audio quality.

For my desktop setup I prefer a good USB mic. As with lav mics, desktop mics can run the gamut. One of the most popular and best value microphones I’ve found is the Audio-Technica ATR-2100USB. This mic can be had on Amazon for about $74 and plugs right into your computer or laptop.

I also picked up a $15 mic stand so that I can sit or stand and still use this mic. I not only use it for videos but also for webinars, VoIP calls, virtual meetings and more. I always have the best audio in the room.

Side story – Several months ago I was on a conference call with the CEO of a multi-million dollar company in LA. He could not get over how great my audio quality was. After letting him in on my secret, he bought these mics for every one of his call center employees.

Other Stuff

Now that we have your basic audio and video equipment sorted out, let’s discuss some other things that make a big impact.

First, and the most important is lighting. Even the best camera will look like crap in poor lighting.

Obviously, if you’re outside then you have plenty of natural light and you can use that to your advantage. There are things you can even do outside to make a difference, such as reflective discs and such if you choose.

Since most of us are probably going to be doing inside videos, let’s focus on that.

Whether you have good overhead lighting or not, paying a few dollars for some nice additional lighting will make a difference. Depending on how you plan to set up your recording area will determine your needs.

The further you are away from the camera the more lighting and more powerful lighting you will need. You can pick up some nice studio lighting systems for under $200 if you plan to create distance from the camera or your indoor lighting isn’t good at all.

If you’re planning to do recordings at your desk and you have some decent overhead lights, you can pick up some clamp-on desk lights that will not take up your desktop real estate and still provide great lighting.

Just a couple weeks ago I invested in some clamp-on lighting for my desk because I had some undesirable shadowing on my face that the overhead lights were creating. At $15 each, I bought 2 of these LED lights that clamp onto the back of my desk and are long enough to extend over my monitor to give perfect supplemental lighting. Even cooler, they are USB powered.

If you plan to use a smartphone, invest in a selfie stick at the very least. There are also phone holders for putting your phone on a normal tripod. Just don’t hold it in your hand if you can avoid it unless the situation calls for it, like a man-on-the-street video.

Again, the equipment you need will depend on your application.

The last little piece of advice on equipment is your background. Now this doesn’t necessitate buying anything if you have a background that is pleasing and professional. But for goodness sake, don’t forget to consider what is in the background and what others are able to see.

At my office, I have my office wall right behind me. There’s nothing special about the wall and there’s no room for me to have anything nice or interesting there. However, the wall is a medium brown color which I didn’t like. It made the video seem darker, wasn’t a warm color and even removed some personal detail since my hair is a similar color (except my gray “Mr. Fantastic” sides).

I decided to invest in a white backdrop for about $11 and tack it up on the wall behind me. This one small change makes a big difference in my videos. People are use to seeing solid white backgrounds on many videos and tech commercials these days (think Apple commercials). Additionally, I don’t have to worry about viewers focusing on other things in the background.

What about green screens? Green screens were all the rage a few years ago but it is usually easy to tell you’re using one and for most people it lends a depreciated level of authenticity; people prefer real.

Software

If you’re going live on something like Facebook Live then software for capturing and editing is not something you’ll need to worry about… or is it?

Whether you’re doing live video or recorded video, having some basic editing abilities will help. If you’re doing a live video, maybe you want to take that live video, do a little editing and repurpose it for other things.

The two most common software packages are Camtasia (PC & Mac) and Screenflow (Mac). Screenflow is included on a Mac but Camtasia will set you back about $200.

There are quite a few software packages for capturing video but some may not allow for very much in the way of editing. A few alternatives to consider are:

• Camstudio – Free
• OBS – Free
• EZVid – Free; 45 minute limit
• Jing – Free; 5 minute limit
• Zoom – 40 minute limit on the free version

If you can afford to invest in Camtasia, I would recommend it. Otherwise, spend some time learning some of these alternatives. Each one has its own pros and cons and can be used for different applications, even if you have Camtasia.

Before Hitting Record

It is very important to have a checklist of things before you go live or hit record. This can save you some time and frustration.

However, one of the most important things you need to do in preparation is to have an outline of what you want to talk about.

Start with the end goal in mind. What is it that you want the viewer to learn, do or walk away with after watching your video. From there, map it back to what you need to convey to the viewer to accomplish that goal.

Go over your outline a few times and ensure you are familiar enough with it that you have an idea about what you want to say without having to read your outline or notes.

There are some really cheap and even free ways to have a teleprompter available but this takes a ton of practice or you’ll come off very robotic and not prepared.

Finally, where will you store these videos? The three most common platforms are YouTube, Vimeo and Wistia. As with most things, there are pros and cons to each of these. Do your homework and make an educated decision based on your needs. Personally, I use YouTube for some videos and a paid version of Vimeo for others.

Let’s Roll

Ok, you have your outline, you’ve gone down your checklist, you have all the equipment ready, it’s time to have some fun.

The great thing about recorded video versus live video is that you have the ability to start over as many times as you want. However, the worst thing about recorded video is also that you can start over as many times as you want.

Look… you’re probably not going to like how you look on camera. You’re probably going to hate hearing your voice. Here’s a little secret… Your viewers don’t care. In fact, you will be your worst critic. Be careful that you don’t become your biggest obstacle as well.

Don’t shoot for perfect, shoot for progress! Just get it done and get it out there. The more you do it the better you become at it.

People love videos that are “real” and not highly polished. Just be yourself! You don’t have to edit out every mistake. Mistakes make you human and personable. If you have a sense of humor then let that shine through. If you are passionate about the topic, let it come out.

It’s also ok to have edits that are quick cuts instead of fades or splices. You see this done all the time. It is considered a creative effect these days to edit in that style.

Of course, if you’re going live you don’t have the option to edit so make sure you know what you want to say and stay on task. The better you know what you want to say the smoother the delivery will be and the less “ums” and “uhs” you’ll have.

Be deliberate in your speaking and when you find yourself wanting to say “um” and “uh” just stop, take a short breath and keep talking. Having a short pause is not a bad thing. Speaking slowly helps to keep you calm and aids in allowing viewers to better understand what you’re saying.

Stay away from meaningless, repeating phrases as well. This can drive people nuts. Ever watched a video and the presenter kept saying things like, “Know what I mean”, “Like I said” or “You know”; did it drive you crazy?

Be conscious of your tone and inflection. You want to speak with variety and emotion and stay away from monotoned and boring.

Make sure your camera angle is either straight on, eye level or slightly higher. No one wants to look up your nose or feel like they are watching a first person video of you sitting on their chest.

The biggest question I get asked about recording video or podcasting is, “How long should my recording be?”. The answer is simple… it needs to be as long as it needs to be to accomplish your goal. If your topic is engaging and the content is valuable, people will watch or listen much longer. Let the content determine the length.

However, there is evidence that a sweet spot exists for holding someone’s attention at the highest level. I always recommend keeping videos to 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the application and goal.

If you have content that will take 20 minutes, consider breaking it up into smaller videos if possible. That may not always be possible but it also may not always make sense. For example, if you’re doing an interview or webinar, you may not want to chop it up into smaller pieces. But if you’re doing tutorials, you’ll want to keep it short and to the point.

My last tip here is to remember to always watch your videos; if live then watch the replay. You will pick up on things you will want to do differently or improve on. Always review your work.

Real World Application

Now that we’ve covered equipment, software, tips and tricks to get you well on your way to being a video pro, let’s look at how we can roll all of this together into actionable results.

There are a ton of ways to use video but I’m going to focus on ways you, the IT professional (and probably business owner), can use video to take your business to the next level and blow your competition away.

With just a few simple ideas from this article implemented correctly, you will be surprised at the results that they can bring for you. So, let’s get started.

Tutorials

How many times do you have to show someone how to do the same thing you just showed someone else yesterday?

Creating video tutorials is a great way to allow your customers to help themselves and it can free up your time to invest that in other ways.

Even though you’re doing a screen recording, you may also be able to have a small frame in the corner to show off your mug. Alternatively, you could do a quick intro and outro video of yourself and put the screen capture in the middle.

Anytime you can show yourself, you are building relationships with your viewers.

Alerts, Tips & Tricks

Use video to communicate with your customers. Instead of just sending out a newsletter or doing a blog post, include a video version.

People digest content in different ways. If you’re only putting out written content, you’re leaving out a huge audience that would prefer video.

People love to get alerts about things that are important for them to know. With all the threats facing any Internet connected user, there shouldn’t be a lack of content for you to talk about.

Use videos with tips and tricks on using Windows, Office, Chrome, etc. so that you educate your viewers and empower them with knowledge. Remember, just because it is common knowledge to you, that doesn’t mean it is for your customers.

Conference Calls

Using the free version of Zoom, you’ll have a great video conferencing tool with up to 40 minutes of recording.

Use this for recording meetings, quarterly business reviews, IT project meetings, proposals, interviews, video testimonials, video case studies, customer presentations and even remote support.

With Zoom, your customer can install the app on their phone and then share the screen with you so you can easily walk them through support for their smartphone.

How would you like to see what your client sees… without Facetime or Skype? Use Zoom so your customer can show you what they’re seeing in the network closet or what the router and modem lights are doing. Even record the entire call so you can send the customer a video copy, put it with your support ticket or use it for in-house training.

True story – Just last month I had a tech that had been battling with a client network issue for hours. The client is hundreds of miles away so an onsite visit wasn’t an option. I had the client install Zoom on her phone and walk me around the office and show me the equipment.

We discovered another router that a medical vendor had installed on a monitored refrigeration unit. The router was setup incorrectly and was trying to hand out IP addresses, thereby conflicting with our main router. We would likely have wasted a lot more time before we figured this out without using video.

Product and Service Promotion

Want to highlight that new tech gadget, promote a service or do a product unboxing? Video is the way to go.

Use videos to promote your services. However, don’t highlight your services; instead show viewers the benefits of the service and how it can work for them.

Company Videos

Use videos to do a company overview to show customers and potential customers about your business and staff.

Create staff presentations or internal training videos to help train staff.

Create annual reports or reviews to send to customers.

Marketing

Create your own commercials to post on your website or social media.

Use video for content marketing.

How about a weekly video show, like a “Thursday Tech Tip” or “5 Minute Fridays”. Be creative. Publishing content on a schedule will let viewers know when to expect your next awesome video.

Create videos for landing pages or your website.

Promote sales, promotions, events, etc.

Video Press Release

If you have events or promotions happening, be sure to record it and consider doing live video segments go get instant response.

Place a video in your lobby, sales floor or other customer areas.

A really neat thing to do is a “behind the scenes” video or “day in the life” video. People love to watch others live their life and go through their day.

Use video in an email drip campaign building up to an event.

Webinars

We’ve already talked a bit about Zoom but did you know that you can also use it as a webinar platform?

Invite your customers to participate and have live interaction with them.

Want to try an even easier live webinar platform? Try Facebook Live or YouTube Live as a live webinar platform. Even embed it into your website for a custom experience.

If you want to do recorded webinars, there are platforms for that as well. Alternatively, you can record your webinar, post it in a page on your website and send out an email to your customers to attend.

Conclusion

As you can see, the case use for videos in your business is massive. If you are not currently using any form of video in your business, I challenge you to start today.

Once you find yourself proficient in video you may even find that you are able to create a service around this niche for your customers. Trust me, people will pay you for this service.

If you are currently using video, post below what you’re doing and how it is making a difference in your business. If you’re not using video, post below and tell me what is stopping you.

I like to practice what I preach, so here’s a video I recorded to talk a bit about video marketing:

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

When I first started my computer repair shop I was well aware of one simple fact: That I knew virtually nothing about starting a computer repair business.

Rather than bang my head against a wall trying to reinvent the wheel, I decided early on that I was going to find the most successful people in our field, and attempt to emulate what they’ve done to become successful. After talking to countless other computer repair business owners, and spending hours pouring over forums and Facebook groups I managed to find a common theme: Hard work alone isn’t the key to success in this field. In order to thrive, you’ve got to expand your knowledge base, and step out of our comfort zone.

Some of our peers were even kind enough to offer me reading lists of what they considered absolutely “must read” books that would help me make my business thrive, and even take it to the next level. After reading dozens of these books, I’ve compiled a short list of 5 books that every computer repair business owner should read.

The E Myth Revisited

by Michael E. Gerber

While possibly a controversial choice for this list, I have to say that every computer business owner, heck, everyone even thinking of starting a business in any field should read this book. Not only does The E-Myth Revisited emphasize the importance of having documented processes for your business, it also breaks down the three-fold nature of owning a business. Being an entrepreneur, a manager, and a technician all at the same time can be a complicated juggling act at best, but the solid advice that this book offers will teach you how to streamline and grow your business without dropping the ball.

Profit First

by Mike Michalowicz

One of the last things that people in the computer repair business think about taking care of in their businesses is paying themselves. Sure we worry about paying the bills on time and keeping the doors open, but when it comes to our own paychecks we often put them off, or even sacrifice them altogether for what we thing is “greater good”. Unfortunately, that kind of thinking is counter-intuitive to building a strong and lasting foundation for our businesses. “Profit First” will not only clear up some commonly held fallacies about small business bookkeeping, but will point you in the right direction when it comes to honestly gauging how healthy your business really is. All while making sure that you financially take care of the person who’s taking care of your business, yourself.

Managed Services in a Month

by Karl W. Palachuk

One of the most profitable moves a computer repair business can make is to add managed services to their list of offerings. By offering managed services to your customers you’re not only securing a steady source of income with reoccurring revenue, but you could also be potentially expanding into a market that isn’t being serviced in your area. When it comes to managed services, Karl Palachuk is something of a guru. Mr. Palachuk offers amazing advice to managed service providers of all shapes and sizes on how to grow their businesses and revenue. Think of “Managed Services in a Month” as Professor Palachuk’s MSP101 course. If you follow the simple steps outlined in this book, you’ll be well on your way towards signing your first MSP contract in no time flat.

The Referral Engine

by John Jantsch

We all know that word of mouth advertising is by far the best form of marketing for our computer businesses. Unfortunately, what many of us fail to understand is HOW to generate that word of mouth buzz for our own businesses. “The Referral Engine” breaks this down into a science or a fine art by helping us to understand the “customer referral cycle”. Understanding this, we are better able to leverage the “referral cycle” into generating some real “buzz” for our services.

One Hour Marketing

by Herman Pool

“One Hour Marketing” is the most recent release on this list. Published just a few weeks ago, it quickly jumped onto my top 5 list of books that every business owner should read. Herman Pool, who some of you may know as president of the ACRBO, breaks down marketing into its basic components, in a language that anyone can understand. By the time you finish this short book you’ll know exactly who your target market is, what your unique selling proposition is, and be well on your way to having an actual marketing plan for your business. “One Hour Marketing” is one of those books that not only pays for itself after a single reading, but will actually make you money once you implement its very simple ideas.

There you have it, my short list of books you absolutely cannot afford not to read. I could have easily made this list twice as long, but then writing all of those extra words would have taken away from my valuable reading time, and from growing my own computer business.

Please, do yourself a favor, and take advantage of all the sage advice available about how to start, run, and grow your computer business. So many successful people are willing to share their knowledge with us all, it would be silly not to attempt to emulate their success. Remember, you’re not alone, and you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Each and every one of these books are well worth the spectacularly small investment you would make by purchasing them. That’s exactly what these books are, and investment in your business, and more importantly, in yourself.

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

Plus, Paco talks about how to handle website plagiarism, I talk about Google’s new SSL mandate, and in the toolbox we have two tools that will help you catch duplicate content and other errors on your website.

All that and much more on this episode of the Computer Business Podcast!

CBP 065: Building Customer Loyalty

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Items Mentioned in this podcast:

• Report copyright infringement to Google
• Carol Roth
• 30 Days of Biz Tips for the New Year

Computer Business Toolbox:

• Copyscape
• Siteliner

Support the show: 

Or check out other ways to Support the Show!

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

In a previous article, I had outlined seven questions to ask be for transitioning to an MSP.  In this article I am going to break down one of those questions and bring some clarity to how it helps in transitioning to an MSP business and mindset: “is what you’re currently doing working? 

To answer this question, it helps to think in terms of customer satisfaction, getting your time back, owning a business versus being owned by the business, and how this aligns with what you dreamed about when you started the business.

Things Aren’t Working for Mr. Breakfix

Let’s start by paying a visit to our break/fix shop owner: “Bob Breakfix”:

It’s Monday morning and it has been an exhausting weekend due to customer calls ranging from Windows upgrade errors to missing backups and other critical issues.  Since Bob owns a break-fix shop with 2-5 employees, this is his life. He has not transitioned to reoccurring revenue streams because he thinks “customer satisfaction” equals the number problems he solves.

What Bob and many others don’t realize is that they are actually holding their customers hostage to their availability. They are never satisfied and support tends to be more reactive, versus proactive.

You know this innately when the phone starts to ring on Monday morning and all the things you fixed on Friday are now broken and there is no automation in place to auto-fix things.  In this case you must either send your other burned out techs to do it, or do it yourself.

This is an indication that things aren’t working.

Stagnation is Failure

After 20+ years in the IT industry I have seen and heard all sorts of the day-to-day tribulations of the break-fix business model.

A company I worked for in the past was a break-fix advocate, and they fought me regularly when I wanted to setup SLA (service-level-agreements that were longer than one page), charge more for after-hours calls, educate users on how to use their technology and install remote control agents on customer devices.  They saw these things as part of the cultural noise of our generation (it must be 140 characters or less).

They argued that charging more for after-hours calls would scare away business.  Remote control tools would be seen as an invasion of people’s privacy.  Educating the customer was taboo because an educated client would have no reason to call them.

However, what they don’t realize is most clients are already embracing companies that have these practices like with contracts for internet, cable, smartphones, plumbing, security etc.  Failure to embrace these new ways of automating and streamlining their business caused them to fall behind.

Uphappy Clients and Unhappy Techs

When I had to work with companies that had a break-fix mentality, their customers were always angry and could never be satisfied.  Clients were always second-guessing our work and challenged my solutions.

I was called at all times of the day to include holidays. I remember one guy threatening to ‘kill me’ because his AOL service was not working. I always had to go on site with impatient users constantly asking me how it was going and when did I think I would be finished.  I remember dreading service calls to certain clients.  You start to hate the industry, forgetting that this used to be fun.

So, is what you’re doing working?

Does any of this sound familiar?

The Solution is Strategic

I like the way CompTIA recently described a new way of thinking about IT:

“At the most basic level, companies need to consider two separate modes of IT. First is operational IT, which is the kind of IT that has been around since the mainframe days. This mode is more routine, revolving around the setup and maintenance of IT components. The second mode is strategic IT, which creatively considers the many different technology tools available and drives innovative solutions to business problems.”

We should strive to be shepherds of the Strategic IT mode, or at least make it a larger component of our business.

If you keep doing what you have always done, you will continue to get the same results.  Some call this the definition of insanity.  While the rest of the world operates on an as-a-service economy, you are working 70+ hrs a week, looking down your nose at MSP’s and continuing to work with stubborn home users who want their commodore 64 to run Office 2016.  Then you wonder why your business is not growing.

I mean you did get into this to retire someday right?  Some of us work to live but it seems the break-fix advocates like living to work.

Go Naked

The final item to check to see if what you’re currently doing is not working, is the overall attitude of your business.  If you believe in keeping information from your customers (holding onto passwords, not providing documentation or coaching on basic computer skills, etc) and you don’t regularly communicate with your customers (newsletters, executive summaries, quarterly meetings, etc), then that means you’re living in fear.

A great MSP gives what Patrick Lencioni calls ‘Naked Service’:

“Naked service providers and consultants confront, clients (kindly) with difficult information and perspectives, even if the client might not like hearing it. Naked consultants ask potentially dumb questions, and make potentially dumb suggestions, because if those questions or suggestions ultimately help their client, it is worth the potential embarrassment.  They also admit their weaknesses and celebrate their mistakes. Even before landing a client, a naked consultant will demonstrate vulnerability and take risks. They will give away their best ideas and start consulting to the prospective client during a sales call. In fact, they’ll do no real selling at all, foregoing that activity in order to find a way to help a client even if they never actually become one.”

I call this investing in the industry.  If more IT Professionals provided this type of service the world would be a different place.  Imagine customers who listen to you and consult with you regarding technology during their business planning and budgeting.

What if more of your customers were focused on their business because you took care of their technology and it was a true partnership versus negative emergency requests all the time?

Some of you reading this are saying BWA (but what about…) or “I have tried that and it did not work in my area, it is different…”  However, I have seen this work first-hand in almost any situation.  I have transitioned home and small business users to service based MSP models successfully in a demographic where everyone said it could not be done.

What it really takes is faithfulness, accountability, and the willingness to learn and grow. I would suggest that without those elements you are absolutely right… you will not be able to do it.

In my next article I’ll discuss answering the question: “What is the current opportunity in your area?”

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

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CBP 064: Wins and Fails from 2016

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This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.