MSP Success Volume 1 Issue 6

MAGAZINE

Exclusive Insight From Kevin O’Leary Getting Your IT Services Business Ready To Sell For BIG Money

Lead Like A SEAL Jocko Willink's Proven Methods For Dynamic, Powerful Leadership

Page 14

Page 17

The Turn Of The Decade Why 2020 Will Be A Landmark Year In The Technology Industry

Never Miss A Sales Goal Again The Mistake You Don't Know You're Making

Page 6

Page 24

February/March 2020

MSPSuccessMagazine.com

Announcing The IT Sales And Marketing Boot Camp April 8 th -11 th , 2020 • Nashville, Tennessee

This is NOT like any other IT industry seminar, trade show or event you have attended. This 3-day Boot Camp is entirely focused on 4 key things: revenue generation, strategic and profitable growth, marketing and ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS, where you’re surrounded by the “best of the best” who are sharing their strategies for you to replicate in your business.

Here Are Just A FEW Of The Speakers And Sessions:

Robin Robins: Don't miss multiple money- making sessions with the CEO and founder of Technology Marketing Toolkit, which is the largest marketing and sales consulting firm in the world for MSPs, VARs and IT Services companies. Robin will reveal advanced sales and marketing strategies used by the most successful, fastest-growing IT services firms in our industry to drive profits up, fuel growth, increase MRR and double client acquisition. Jocko Willink: Discover the Navy SEAL secrets to turning your employees into a high-performing, well-oiled team from retired U.S. Navy Seal officer, Jocko Willink. These principles have made him the most in-demand leadership consultant to high-level CEOs and executives and a #1 New York Times bestselling author of "Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win."

George Foreman: Meet and learn from a 2X World Heavyweight Champion and celebrity entrepreneur on how he built and grew the George Foreman grill into a $54 million dollar company, netting him a $137 million dollar payout for his brand. His presentation on developing discipline, overcoming adversity, hard work, and getting through difficult times will make a lasting impression, inspiring and motivating you to take your life and your business to the next level.

Donald Miller: Learn the secret to developing a "Story Brand" to clarify your message to the marketplace to eliminate confusion, build trust, connect with customers and grow your

company. Donald Miller will also reveal how to stand out from your competitors and be memorable so prospects think of you when they are ready to buy.

Take Home The Marketing Blueprints That Have Earned Millions For Some Of Our Most Successful Clients Watch five MSPs compete for the title of Technology Marketing Toolkit’s Better Your Best Winner and 2020 Spokesperson, then go home with the campaigns they used to achieve enormous success!

www.RobinsBigSeminar.com Learn More And Register Now!

Volume 1 Issue 6 CONTENTS

6 The Turn Of The Decade:

T.C. Doyle Explains Why 2020 Will Take The Tech Industry To New Heights

8 Answering These 3 Questions Will Take Your Marketing To The Next Level Part 2

22 MSP Hot Tech Our Top 5 Tools To Give Your Business A Competitive Edge 23 The Secret To A Sales Team That Doesn’t Stop Jack Daly On The Importance Of Grit 24 What Is Your Final Destination? Everything You Need To Know To Hit Your 2020 Sales Goals With Absolute Certainty 26 Quotable Quotes Take A Page Out Of These Leaders’ Books

10 What Are Your

14

Non-Negotiables? Insider Tips To Make Sure You’re ONLY Working With Your Ideal Clients 12 MSP Business Spotlight: Find Out How StoredTech Defines Success

A SEAL’s Guide To Business Leadership Jocko Willink Gives Us An Exclusive Look Into His Military-Tested Strategies

17 'Shark Tank’s' Kevin O’Leary

Shares His Expert Insight On Getting BIG Money For Your MSP Business

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 6 • MSPSUCCESSMAGAZINE.COM | 3

LETTER FROM THE EDI TOR

The Value Of Brutal Honesty

In the Frequently Asked Questions section of Adweek magazine’s website, the top question is “Why do I have to register to read Adweek.com content?” The answer is a total crock: “Adweek is committed to providing the best possible experience for our audience. By registering to become an Adweek Community member, you’re helping us understand more about how you use Adweek and the type of content you’re interested in so that we can continue to create best-in-class content and products that serve your needs.” Since they’re a publication dedicated to marketing and advertising, you would think they could at least cobble together a better lie. Personally, I’d prefer brutal honesty: " We make you subscribe so we can build our list to sell advertising to our sponsors. We are, after all, an advertising platform and keep the lights on by selling advertising to our list." As a marketing person, that answer would not offend me in the least. It’s honest . The other pile of crap they’re trying to sell is a complete insult to the reader because we all know it’s a lie. As the saying goes, the cover-up is worse than the crime, and that goes DOUBLE when you’re the one trying to cover up your own b.s. Twice I’ve been invited to watch the filming of the wildly popular TV show “Shark Tank,” and both times, I’ve had the opportunity to see multiple pitches start to finish, then hang out and discuss the pitches with the Sharks in between stage resets and over lunch. Kevin O’Leary, the subject of this month’s cover article, is someone I’ve gotten to know well from having him speak on my stage twice and bringing him in for a day of private consulting about a year ago. I think he’s wrongly accused of being a mean-spirited arsehole. Yes, he plays the “tough” Shark to make the show interesting (just like Robert plays the “nice” Shark, Barbara plays the “crazy” Shark, etc.). But Kevin is simply a smart straight shooter who doesn’t sugarcoat the truth. I agree with him that brutal honesty is the absolute best advice some of the wannabe entrepreneurs on the show can get. Often, the entrepreneurs who make it to the show have already burned through their entire savings, borrowed extensively from friends and family, quit their job, and are close to bankruptcy or rapidly headed in that direction. If they aren’t bluntly told that their business sucks and that they don’t have what it takes to make it work, they could spend a few more miserable years digging themselves deeper into a black pit of debt and dragging their family down with them. Years of loss pile up in time wasted and money not invested properly. Unlike me, Kevin is not in the business of “fixing” entrepreneurs by teaching them how to be better marketers, salespeople, and leaders. He doesn’t have the desire to “coach.” In his world —which is the world of business — either you make money or you don’t. If his brutal honesty stings, then it just might spark the fire to burn off the deadwood b.s. they’re clinging to, motivating them to abandon their failure of a business for something more profitable or at least stop wasting time and money on a bad idea. The marketplace is brutally binary. Either you make money or you don’t. You either have a competitive product or service that sells or you don’t. Either you grew this year and made a respectable profit or you didn’t. The marketplace doesn’t care that you’ve put your life into your business or that it’s always been your dream to run an IT company. The marketplace doesn’t care that it’s difficult to find “good” people or that you’re working really, really hard. The marketplace won’t pay you extra for being a “nice” person or because you’re

Founder and CEO, Technology Marketing Toolkit, Inc.

handicapped, unfairly burdened, or struggling in some way. The marketplace also doesn’t care if you’re black, white, old, young, pretty, ugly, gay, or straight. The marketplace is just, and the measurements of actual success and accomplishment are straightforward. Not many people like this, and some have tried to make business “more fair” to no avail. As we moved into this new year, you might have set goals for 2020 or made personal resolutions. Maybe you’ve created a new mission statement for yourself and your company and hung it around the office. Perhaps you’ve gone so far as to take everyone on a personal retreat to plot and plan. Good for you, I suppose. But sentiment aside, it’s definitely NOT the thought that counts . If you’re not where you want to be, not making the money you want, not seeing your business progress as it should, or simply not at peace with how hard you have to work for the results, per- haps it’s time you took a ruthless look at yourself and your business to determine exactly what is working and what is not. Be brutally honest with yourself and make the hard decisions you’ve been avoiding. The big “secret” in life is that there are no secrets. Whatever your goal is, you can get there — as long as you’re willing to be brutally honest with yourself about the hard work, preparation, and learning you must invest to get it done. n

4 | MSPSUCCESSMAGAZINE.COM • VOLUME 1 ISSUE 6

Don’t miss out on future issues of MSP Success Magazine. Go to MSPSuccessMagazine.com/subscribe or call 855-876-5719. Subscr i be To MSP Success Magazine!

Advert i se Wi th Us!

Get in front of over 15,000 IT services business owners and CEOs a month in print and over 20,000 MSPs a month online. Go to MSPSuccessMagazine. com/advertise now to download a prospectus, or contact our team to get your message in front of the right people.

Go to MSPSuccessMagazine.com/advertise or call 844-999-0555.

ON THE HOR I ZON Turning Points Then And Now: How The Decade Of 2010 Transformed Tech Selling, And Why The Decade Of 2020 Could Top It By T.C. Doyle

Here’s a head-scratcher: A decade ago, the most pressing issue facing chief information officers (CIOs) at big tech buyers compa- nies was the “cloud imperative,” according to InformationWeek, a top business resource for corporate IT executives. By contrast, according to CompTIA, the world’s largest ICT trade association, just 1 in 10 IT channel companies at the time reported any involvement with selling or using cloud solutions. Put bluntly, the nation’s providers of technology products and services were out of step with what customers prioritized most in 2010. No wonder a third of them have since disappeared from the landscape, according to market researchers like Jay McBain, principal analyst of channels, partnerships, and alliances at Forrest- er Research. But what about those that remain? That’s a different and alto- gether better story. Today’s ICT solution providers — think MSPs, VARs, systems inte- grators, consultants, and more — are not following customers into new technology worlds and market adjacencies but leading them. They have learned invaluable lessons over the last decade in key areas, including technology adoption, best practices, and customer experiences. In many instances, today’s ICT technology providers serve as their customers’ entire IT departments, responsible for everything, including employee onboarding, technology adoption, network administration, organizational defense, and, increasingly, business outcomes. “It’s the golden age of the trusted IT advisor,” says Drew Lydecker, co-founder of Avant Communications, one of the channel’s fast- est-growing technology enablement companies. For perspective on why, let’s look back at the decade that was and ahead to the one that will be. For the sake of simplicity, we will zero in on three areas that changed business most: technology, economics, and culture. Let’s start with that thing InformationWeek called the “cloud imperative.” Technology 2010: The Cloud Imperative When Starbucks introduced its Frappuccino-blended beverage drinks in 2010, customers lost their minds. They lost their minds again that same year when CEO Howard Schultz announced Starbucks would soon provide free Wi-Fi internet connectivity in its stores. The idea cemented something most working professionals now take for granted: ubiquitous connectivity.

In addition to ubiquitous connectivity, other tech conventions began to take root a decade ago. Take mobility, for example. By 2010, smartphones were in the hands of 430 million consumers and business professionals alike. By the middle of the decade, they were in the pockets and purses of more than 2 billion people, or roughly 1/3 of the world’s population at the time. Cloud computing began to take off as well, replacing client-server computing. By 2016, revenue generated from public cloud comput- ing was forecast to top $200 billion. At the time, the amount was roughly as much money as the annual revenues of IBM, HP, and Microsoft combined . Cloud helped launch a number of other revolutionary changes. Take software as a service (SaaS). SaaS not only democratized tech- nology by giving small companies access to technologies previously available to large enterprises only, but it also ushered in an era of self-service procurement for line-of-business professionals. Along with virtualization and social media, cloud technology, mobility, and SaaS completely transformed business computing. By the end of the decade, it simply did not matter where your >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28

mspsuccessmagazine.com

Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker