Proud dad this week. My son heads off to Cambridge University on Friday. He’s 18 and so has always absolutely hated the motivational quotes I love and have tried to push on him over the years.
So, what have I done?
Made him his very own book, with 50 of them in there.
He will possibly burn it. I hope he doesn’t.
I wish I had been given this at 18.
So much wisdom and shortcutting of experience.
They are listed below – I hope you can pick one that means something to you … 🦉
Good intentions never work, you need good mechanisms to make anything happen
Be great in small ways and then look back in a year.
Building good habits now helps you to do more of what you want in the future.
It’s easier to stay in shape than get in shape. Maintain your progress.
Optimise for your interests not your happiness. Happiness is momentary. Interest has more meaning.
Have a dream. Make a plan.
Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.
If you refuse to quit you cannot fail.
Many problems are minor when you solve them immediately. They grow when you let them linger. Fix it now!
The time to worry is three months before a flight. Decide if the goal is worth the risk. If it is, stop worrying. Worrying is another hazard. – Amelia Earhart
The prepared person is positioned to benefit from unexpected opportunities.
Often what stands between you and what you really want is a better set of questions.
Do what you say you’re going to do and exceed expectations. That alone will set you ahead of the crowd.
Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life!
The view changes once you start walking. You don’t need all the answers now. New paths get revealed if you have the courage to get started.
Many rewards will elude you if you’re not willing to get a little uncomfortable first.
Success changes, depending on where it gets measured. You’re not failing, you’re in the middle of succeeding.
If you resist the reality of slow progress, five years from now, you’ll be five years older and still looking for a shortcut.
Always do something a little different. There’s then a great potential for reward.
People forget numbers and charts, but everyone remembers a great story.
You can’t remove struggle from your life, but you can improve your ability to handle change.
Those who believe they can do it and those who don’t, are both right.
What am I continuing to do out of habit, which is no longer serving me?
The dog that chases two rabbits goes hungry.
Think about what you want today and you’ll ‘spend’ your time. Think about what you want in 5 years and you’ll ‘invest’ your time.
Too much challenge makes life hard. But so does too little.
On things you don’t enjoy. Rephrase it. You don’t ‘have to’ … you ‘get to’
Not enough time, resources or connections? OR not enough courage? Is that the real bottleneck?
A ship is safe in harbour. That’s not what ships are built for.
The quality of your relationships will determine the quality of your life.
You can’t control the traffic, the weather or your boss. You therefore must learn to control YOU
Your response to failure determines your capacity for success.
We exist temporarily through what we take. We live forever on what we give.
Be first. Say hello first …. Smile first.
Working on a problem reduces the fear of it. It’s hard to fear something even if progress is slow or imperfect.
If it’s not a ‘hell yeah!’ it’s a ‘hard no’.
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive. The world needs more people who have come alive!
Don’t take it personally when someone lets you down.
If you don’t like it, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
Always give value, before you ask for value.
Your current habits are perfectly designed to deliver your current results.
Just beyond yourself is where you need to be.
Life is too short not to be pursuing the best opportunity you know of.
It’s easier to hold your principles 100% of the time, than 98% of the time.
One day you’ll look back and realise that you worried too much about things which don’t matter.
Real wealth is not about money, it’s about freedom.
The hardest part about solving a problem is actively defining it.
https://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/Motivational-quotes1.jpg5791030Mark Copemanhttps://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.pngMark Copeman2022-09-28 15:18:112026-04-17 15:21:0447 motivational quotes for 18 – 105 year olds
I’m really enjoying curating my next book, MSP Secrets Revealed episode #2.
It’s inspired me to do more interviewing – another love of mine.
I’ve been fortunate enough to work with the brilliant Craig Pearson over the last couple of years. He’s the sales and marketing director at Your IT Department, here in the UK. They are a forward thinking 20+ person MSP and are growing nicely.
One of the reasons for their success is their focus on customer service and customer experience.
They’ve recently won an award for customer service and when I spotted it, I knew I needed to invite Craig onto the new MSP Secrets video series.
We chat for 13 minutes below about why this focus has been so important to them and Craig reveals a number of secrets to their success …
https://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/Customer-service-for-MSPS1.jpg3791030Mark Copemanhttps://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.pngMark Copeman2022-06-07 15:21:532026-04-17 15:23:17Customer experience secrets – from an award winning MSP
This is the next article in a series of adapted excerpts from my book, MSP Secrets Revealed (episode #2 is coming soon, with your help).
I wanted to share some of the interviews I did for that book with the world at large and so each month during 2022, I’m sharing one secret from the book with the world to inspire.
This next one is from Nigel Moore. If you’ve never met Nigel, you’re missing out on a bit of life. He runs The Tech Tribe – possibly the world’s greatest MSP community. I’ve been part of it for the last two years and am honoured to be a ‘Tribal Elder’. You’d be crazy not to at least take a peak – and no – I’m not on commission – I just believe in what goes on there.
Nigel’s secret centred around pricing and applies to all businesses – not just MSPs.
Don’t sell commodity
Our core MSP services are becoming more and more commoditized and so over time, the only real differentiation will be … price. I want to encourage you to SMASH that type of thinking out of your head.
Coffee is a commodity, yet some people sell it for $0.01 per cup and others sell it for $5 per cup.
Flying is a commodity, yet some people sell a seat on a plane for $29 and others sell the same seat for $299.
T-shirts are a commodity, yet some people sell t-shirts for $1 and others sell them for $1,000.
Things like experience, emotion, comfort, fear, a sense of belonging, status, etc. ALL have a direct impact on how much someone will pay for a (seemingly) commoditized product/service.
Sure, monitoring, maintenance, support etc is “commoditized” to a degree – but all the stuff / experience around it isn’t.
If Nigel’s thinking doesn’t shake up your perception of pricing and value, then you need to take yourself outside and give yourself a good talking to. You’ll find a lot more in his book. Search “Nigel Moore book” and dive in.
_________
A couple of additional thoughts of my own on this, as I think about some of the things I teach in both Helpdesk Habits and Website Success 101.
If you’re not selling on price, what are the other options to push price down the list of buying critera? Price will always be lurking – it’ll never not be a consideration – but wow-ing and persuading customers using the power of customer experience is so important.
Do you have 100 5 – star Google Reviews, and dozens of testimonials – video or text – on your site and within your sales process?
If you do – you will know that’s the ultimate demonstration of credibilty. It shows that you are more than a safe pair of hands – it’s shows you’re the go-to people. You’ve got ultimate trust from your customers. Prospects will pay a premium for that piece of mind.
In Shep Hyken’s recent survey, The State of Customer Service and CX, I want to pull out 2 stats for you:
42% of respondents would rather clean a toilet than call customer support.
Would this be the perception of your business? If so, you will almost certainly need to sell on price in a race to the bottom.
Turn this around. Make your business both responsive and “convenient” to do business with.
When EVERYONE in your team interacts with customers, ensure that the Human Customer Service ethos kicks in. This concept is something I’m passionate about and talk about regularly.
Here’s something else for you to consider and 100% backs up Nigel’s secret:
58% of respondents said that customer service is more important than price.
Wow. Whilst it shouldn’t be a surprise, it kind of is. And I know that stats can prove anything, however, it’s one I don’t think you can ignore.
If you’re selling purely on price, it’s time to start thinking differently.
Before you go …
Nigel runs a brilliant community and coaching program for MSPs. I should know, I’m part of it. Use the link below to get your first month’s membership at a 40% discount.
Some thoughts, as I fly home from the amazing Emirate of Dubai this morning (I urge you to sample it one day). I’ve spent the last day with a growing IT business here, filming client testimonials, an about us video and planning out their shiny new website.
1) When you film testimonials with your clients, not only are you getting a brilliant and long lasting marketing asset, you as their partner, learn a LOT.
I’ll be providing uncut versions of the 10/15 minute independent interviews I conducted on their behalf (my client wasn’t in the room) so that they can learn from the feedback.
2) I’ve suggested that they also play the uncut versions to their team, so that they can see just how valued they are. They loved that idea and will absolutely be doing it.
Their team will be blown away by the feedback. Something they rarely get directly.
3) When you plan a testimonial with a client – it gives you an opportunity to catch up with them too – no agenda – no sales push – just a chat. I watched this IT business engage with everyone for up to an hour after filming.
4) Rebuilding a website is SO much more than rebuilding a website. It focuses the mind on what the message needs to be to the outside world. It’s likely that the message has changed since the last version.
I facilitated and watched a fascinating discussion unfold between three directors. It was a healthy debate and they reached a consensus.
We now have a plan for how we’re going to create this new online presence and they are in agreement about their new vision and message to the world.
5) A final point. There is nothing – NOTHING finer than creating true partnerships and relationships in business.
Sometimes you just need to get on a plane / train / in a car and meet face to face. We’ve all become very used to being on camera over the last couple of years and getting more done. Travel can be a real time waster and I’m the first to promote remote work – I’ve been doing it for years.
HOWEVER, stop for a moment and make sure you’re not hiding. When was the last time you bought a customer lunch or dinner and found out about their family or their values?
That’s when the real magic happens.
These last 3 days have been an absolute privilege and I’ve loved every second.
Doors closing … ✈️
https://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/PXL_20220330_033031859-1-scaled1.jpg14002560Mark Copemanhttps://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.pngMark Copeman2022-03-30 15:24:572026-04-17 15:26:11Lessons from a client project in Dubai
Prospects don’t buy from ‘companies’, they buy from people and as a rule, people don’t buy dull, boring people.
In our online world, it’s not possible to buy from a person as such, however we all buy with emotion and the way you make people feel through your online presence will have a huge impact on conversions.
Who doesn’t check someone out first before interacting with them? So, why is it that companies big and small so often come across as dull, corporate, out of date and uninspiring?
“Sadly this is too often the case with the 100’s of MSP websites I’ve researched and/or reviewed in the last 18 months.
I’m on a crusade to help change that image. Please join me …”
Have you ever considered how many people have visited your website to check out what you do and have disappeared into the ether straight away, as they’re put off by what they see? It’s the equivalent of the “I really must go and get myself a drink” moment at an event, when you’re talking to someone … except online, you have no idea who’s walking away and it happens much faster.
There are many parallels between meeting face to face and researching online. Don’t assume your online presence will not evoke the same (gut) feelings and first impressions that you do in a face to face environment.
“The back button is only a few pixels away from a visitor becoming a prospect and a customer worth $£10k/year.”
It’s time to get personal
This article aims to inspire a little – as I lay out before you, 10 sites, with personality – or at least elements of personality.
I’m hoping that by the end of this page – you’ll take a look at your own online presence and find ways that you too can inject some personality.
1) Create an immediate impact
Paragus IT absolutely creates an immediate impact. For readers in the UK – this screnshot is a bit ‘Marmite’ (you either love it or you hate it) however – for me – that’s a much better approach than leaving people feeling ‘meh’. Dividing opinion online or face to face is OK. You want to get a reaction.
The “above the fold” on this site creates a huge first impression. It absolutely has personality – you can’t avoid it.
Clearly it aims to appeal to frustrated tech users – people who feel like taking a baseball bat to their computer once in a while – and we’ve all been there. The main headline shows empathy – it is then followed up with a ‘don’t worry – we can help’ statement – which I really like.
It’s bold. It’s brave. It creates an impact and a statement and it’s VERY RARE MSP sites do this.
Whilst I personally don’t recommend sliders – the next slide screams: “Employee owned. We don’t succeeed unless you do.”
I’m fortunate enough to work with a lot of great consultants in our industry. I’ve yet to see anyone who presents themselves better online than Stuart Warwick.
I wanted to add this example for sole trader MSPs – and I know there’s plenty of you. Stuart ishis business – he sells his expertise and so he is bold enough to put himself front and centre – because guess what – you’re buying ‘him’.
He makes his offer incredibly clear with both the headline and the short form copy underneath.
For me, it’s the perfect way to present himself – you’re drawn in, want to learn more and will continue to scroll.
Does your site create a brilliant first impression?
2) Create the perfect MSP homepage
That headline – “The perfect MSP homepage” is quite a claim isn’t it?
I’ve been reviewing websites for MSPs for a while now – I’ve done dozens in fact. There are very few I bookmark as shining examples sadly. The team at Ice Connect, here in the UK, have created something brilliant in my eyes.
The image above is a great start – but you do need to click through and look at the whole page and site to see it in all its glory.
It has all the component parts which make up a great home page.
It looks great – the coffee draws you in and makes you want to scroll. It has social proof galore – it has real people on the site and tells a story.
Brilliant job.
3) Get creative with your “Page not found”
If you’re looking to put your toe in the water when it comes to being a bit cheeky or tongue in cheek – your page not found page or “404 page” is a great place to start.
Few people will see it (if your site is structured correctly!) yet – you know it’s there.
There are plenty of articles which showcase geeky and fun 404 pages. I’ve picked one from our industry. The Slack page is a work of art.
You’ll see if you click through that the image above scrolls left / right when you move your mouse – it’s playful. Screenshot it – and it even goes black and white, which feels quite random.
Of course, making a change like this is not going to win your next deal, however it’s the thinking behind creating pages like this, which actually begins to set you on the right path to developing something unique and with personality.
4) Have the confidence to create a unique design style
Exosource are Montreal-based and their site is unique.
It’s essentially a single landing page. The various panels scroll left to right as you continue to scroll down.
It’s different. It’s unusual. It stands out and it definitely has personality.
For me, it shows two things – firstly, it’s possible to have a great looking site, which is a single page. Too often I see sites which have a gazillion pages – most of the totally unnecessary. Secondly, there is huge power in a site which looks cohesive. This has a great design style and whether you love it or hate it, it certainly gets you thinking and talking.
If you are an MSP without a good looking office environment – illustration is a great way to demonstration personality, in lieu of great photography.
5) Take a stand – have a point of view
I’ve never had any contact with the folks at Atlanta-based Ripple IT – but I hope to one day.
I dislike intensely the focus on bots, automation and removing all forms of human contact from business and so I asbolutely love what they are doing here.
I talk a lot about Human Customer Service within my Helpdesk Habits programme and about “remembering the humans on the end of the end points” and so the idea of “Humans First” really resonates with me. I bet it does with prospects too.
Ripple have decided to base their portfolio around people. Are you a CEO? Are you a Manager? Are you a knowledge worker?
They put human beings front and centre of their proposition and use the 💓motif throughout their copy too, which I also really like.
Ripple – great job – but if you’re reading this – drop me a line – there’s a couple of big issues with the site!
6) Have an about us page which tells your story
I’ve worked with this brilliant Melbourne-based company over the last 12 months and I love how they interact – their personality shines through every time.
The screenshot above doesn’t do this page justice. I’d encourage you to read it though. It contains a snapshot of their journey, all the way back to 2010. That itself isn’t unique, although MSPs should definitely learn from this technique.
What is unique however is the personality which comes through within the page.
As a prospect, you are drawn to the fact that this is a great company, doing great things – irrespective of whether what they do is right for you as a customer. That gives KMT an amazing head start when it comes to comparison.
This page talks about their work in the community, their key hires, their growth and expansion (clearly indicating success), their public awards and acknowledgements and their awards for being a great place to work.
Many MSPs have similar credentials – however they fail to talk about them.
You are what you are online and if you don’t tell the world – how will the world know?
7) Create a careers page which actually makes people want to work with you
So I’ve watched the very brilliant Colin Knox grow his team over the last 12 months and see the personality come through with Phil the Flamingo in most things which Gradient MSP release.
I was actually surprised not to see more ‘Flamingo’ on the website. I’m guessing they felt it not to be appropriate. I’m not sure I agree – I think it would make a good constant throughout their marketing message.
Gradient MSP are full of personality throughout their online presence – take note of how the team share on Linkedin – there’s always tremendous energy and colour – you can’t fail to be attracted to them.
So many MSPs rely purely on the business owner to promote the business – tricks are being missed here – don’t forget to coach and involve your team to share what you’re getting up to. As a business owner, you can then help to amplify.
I wanted to pick up on their careers page – as it’s brilliant.
They have been recruiting like crazy recently, following their $10m Series A investment round. They’ve created a careers page which genuinely makes you want to work for them. It’s engaging and stands out. It’s not corporate and combined with their culture page, gives them an edge over their competition.
Take a look at your careers page today. Is it as good as Gradient MSP’s?
8) Offer a ridiculous guarantee
Whilst I put the love for my family slightly above my love for the Tech Tribe, it’s a close call.
Nigel and his team exude personality. Everything he does is full of energy and enthusiasm and his biggest task is to convey that energy online, as he continues on his mission to extend the network.
Nigel offers a crazy guarantee, just below their sign up box. In a nutshell, he explains that they are going to make this sign up a no-brainer. It is completely risk free – you literally cannot lose.
He wraps that guarantee up with personality. He talks about tacos and quotes a completely made up stat and I love it.
“For some reason, there’s plenty of people who think it’s illegal to raise a smile in business. It’s not. It’s a breath of fresh air.”
How could you inject some humo(u)r – some smiles – some unique personality into your sales process?
Could you offer a crazy guarantee when people book a no-obligation chat with you? Might you send them pizzas or buy them a scuba diving lesson or donate to a local charity if they don’t find it useful? Hmmmmm 🤔 ….
9) If a bank can show personality – you can too
This is a bit of a wildcard and out of industry. If you’ve got this far and still think – I’m not sure we can do this – I am trying to make a point.
First Direct was the original challenger bank here in the UK. When they launched on 1 October 1989 – they disrupted the ageing, dinosaur marketplace with phone banking – a concept unheard of until then. I’ve been a customer of theirs since 1990. I wouldn’t ever switch – because they’ve always delivered a brilliant service.
This is a tiny example of their creativity – some simple words in their footer. Could you start there with your site?
To get to where they’ve got to – they’ve had to scrap and differentiate and despite the fact they’re owned by HSBC – they’re still allowed to breathe – and show their personality.
Even if you’re owned by a larger group – try to ringfence what you do and let your personality shine through.
10) Do copy right (see what I did there?)
I’ve worked with the SuperOps team over the last 12 months and more recently participated in their Super Summit, to launch their service.
As a vendor – their site stands out – in the same way their products do. They are bright, agile and fast moving and set themselves apart from the older, more tired-looking, legacy services. Their website absolutely reflects that.
What they do really well is copy. Scattered throughout the site there are little touches, which make you smile and take note of what they’re doing.
In a blog post to promote the Super Summit – I wanted to pick up on this piece of copy – it’s really catchy and not what you’d expect – it draws you in – and that’s a really good thing.
Alongside – on the ‘often-dreaded’ proactive chat box – they’ve gone for a different approach too – and I LOVE THAT! Why do so many people leave a default message in those boxes? The team here has bothered to do something different and acknowledge the tediousness of these boxes with a genuine offer to help.
Where next?
How often are visitors seeing your home page, being underwhelmed and bouncing right off, leaving £$ on the table every time.
Tiny changes and small regular investments in your online presence are some of the best marketing funds you can spend.
Take a good look at your site – or even better – get an independent review (maybe by someone like me?) and figure out if you’re making the most of your online presence.
https://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MSP-sites-with-personality1.jpg3791030Mark Copemanhttps://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.pngMark Copeman2022-02-08 15:26:472026-04-17 15:29:5310 ways to inject personality into your MSP’s website
Every month, I’m publishing one secret from my almost best-seller, MSP Secrets Revealed.
Reflecting on it recently, whilst I had a brilliant time researching and interviewing and I learnt a lot (more) about business, it’s only when I started to talk to people about their ‘stories,’ the interviews became even more revealing. Some IT professionals were very happy to open up, in the hope of benefiting others.
The final chapter in the book is called “Personal Stories.” There are eight in total.
Today’s excerpt is one of those stories, from a well known name in the MSP community – Mark Matthews. <— connect with him on Linkedin
I’ve admired Mark from afar for a long time. He’s one of the few MSP owners who has managed himself out of his own business. That’s not easy. We had a phone call recently, where he talked to me about the difficulties in doing just that. He is winning though.
What was his personal driver for doing this? Because of the story he very openly describes below.
If you’re struggling with the pressure, the day to day, your mental welfare, your life in general. Stop for a moment and read Mark’s story …
It’s not about the money
Five years ago, I was really unhappy. I was working 70 hours a week and I had staff issues. I couldn’t switch off, and it wasn’t in
a good way. I felt like I was going backwards. At that stage my business had been going 26 years, so it was a strange feeling to have. It wasn’t because the business was unsuccessful or unprofitable, but personally, I felt like I was going backwards.
I was always on the phone. Holidays were a nightmare. My phone used to be next to me on the sunbed. I used to hate holidays, because I’d always end up having to ring the office.
I felt like I was blagging it. People think if you’ve been running a business for as long as I had that I must be really successful, but I didn’t feel that way. I found everything very frustrating.
I’d had enough, and I felt suffocated. Suffocated enough that, one morning five years ago, I was driving on the motorway on the way to work. I was in a nice car, I had a nice house, my kids were successful.
“10 minutes into my half hour drive, I started to cry. I was 46 and crying on the way to work. What the hell? What did I have to cry about? Luckily, my dad’s a counsellor, so I rang him and asked what I should do.”
He told me to go home and make a doctor’s appointment, as only that weekend one of his friend’s sons who worked for a worldwide software company had taken his own life by jumping out of a 3rd-floor window, so I did. I live in a small rural village, so I was fortunate to get an appointment within the hour and the GP had a list of questions to go through with me, one of which was “did I have a shotgun at home?”. I curiously asked why?
“The doctor said that three people in my village had used a shotgun to commit suicide in the last two years.”
I’m sure you can imagine, this was a massive shock that he felt the need to ask me. After that, I realised I had to take my situation seriously. I was prescribed some tablets and went home, and then pretty much stayed in bed for six months. I’d go to work for a few hours, but when I got home, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
I then got to the stage where I didn’t care if I didn’t wake up the following day, and I pulled the covers over my head. But the next day, I decided I was going to get my arse out of bed, go back to work and start to get my life back together. One phrase in particular helped me with that: ‘There will come a time when everything is finished. That will be the beginning’.
People who knew me at the time would never have known I was suffering. I used to think it was an owner’s mask we all wear, where we always have to say things are brilliant and going great. We never say, ‘Oh, it’s shit’, because we want our peers to think well of us. Nobody would have heard me say anything negative at all.
I would have never shown anyone how I was feeling, because I would have seen it as a weakness. There’s no way I would have ever spoken to any of the people I knew about anything, even individually, because I wouldn’t want to be belittled.
Turning things around
I came home one day to find a book I hadn’t ordered had been delivered. ‘The Fred Factor’, by Mark Sanborn, is about a postman who does lots of things for people without asking for anything in return.
Prior to reading it, I was the type of person who wouldn’t do anything for somebody without getting something in return. That’s what I thought you had to do to be a businessman. If you want to grow the business right, you’ve got to get what you can. But Fred went out of his way to help the people on his post route.
“You think it’s about money. It’s not. In the last four years, I’ve reduced my working hours from 70 hours to 26.”
We had a 24% increase in turnover last year (2018), and a 110% net profit increase. I’m now allowing people to do the job that they’re paid to do. Because we’ve got trust. If you think of Patrick Lencioni’s pyramid, we can’t hit the figures if we haven’t got trust.
The best thing in the world for me, out of all of this, is that I’m the happiest I’ve been for years. I’m earning less money than I did five or six years ago, because we were a much bigger company then, but I know where I’d rather be. I’d rather be where I am now, happiest spreading the word about trust and showing the difference it can make to you and your workforce …
… because it’s not about the money.
____________
Mark Matthews is the CEO of ATG IT in the UK, and is the exec director of Network Group.
A big thank you to him for his honesty.
___________
https://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.png00Mark Copemanhttps://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.pngMark Copeman2022-02-01 15:31:142026-04-17 15:31:57MSP owners and their mental health – a very personal story
In my experience, a customer is only too willing to help a business they enjoy working with, to be successful.
Remember this statement, as you think of the right way to approach a customer.
Done in the wrong way, being asked for a testimonial for your MSP business can be seen as an onerous task by a customer.
The solution is to frame it correctly and take all of the pain away.
So often people dislike working with ‘clean sheets of paper’ – they struggle to know what to say or write when put on the spot to come up with something creative.
Go out of your way to make it easy for them.
Harness your often overlooked, marketing pot of gold
Use your helpdesk team
Your MSP’s helpdesk is one of your best sources for testimonials.
99% of the time, to an untrained eye, ad hoc compliments (marketing gold) get buried 1000ft down inside ticketing systems and are lost forever.
In my Helpdesk Habits programme, I talk about “Harvesting quotes and reaping testimonials.” 100’s of people have downloaded this desktop wallpaper as a reminder …
(Click the image and right click, to download it for yourself).
A 5 step SOP to marketing greatness
Step 1) Create awareness of the marketing gold embedded within tickets
It’s time to make your team aware of the importance of those ‘throw away’ customer comments, when a technician has really helped someone out or gone out of their way to solve an issue.
“You guys are brilliant – I couldn’t run my business without you.”
This type of quote you’ll see regularly in support threads. To the untrained eye – it’s a nice compliment at best.
Make your team aware of the fact that a comment like that could help to secure £/$000’s in business next week / next month / next year.
Prospects want to know that you’re a company who offers great service. There is no better person to tell them that, than your existing customers. It’s so much more powerful that you saying it!
Incentivise them to spot these ad hoc comments and not to smile and dismiss them – sending them to the bottom of the database table, to remain there forever.
I consult with a handful of MSPs – we used the desktop wallpaper shown below for a couple of months to ask technicians to be proactive in asking for reviews (it worked).
Why not create your own and develop some great habits?
2) Technicians should copy relevant comments and send them to a nominated individual
Nominate an individual to run your testimonials programme. Make it a thing. Call it just that – to raise the awareness and importance of it.
When there is an individual responsible for this – things will get done. When no one is responsible – this type of programme will languish. Give this individual a target of drumming up 5 comments each month. Make them responsible for ensuring the teams keep delivering.
Create a simple shared spreadsheet – paste in the comment, the name and details of the individual and the date and place submitted, so that you have a record of where it came from.
3) Get permission and enhance
It’s important to get permission to use those words publicly. If they have originated from an adhoc ticket comment, then they will have no clue that their words mean so much to you as a business.
If the comment isn’t quite fit for purpose – perhaps ask them to expand on it or expand on it for them (yes really) and ask them to sign it off – adapting the template below.
Let them know you’ve added to it or edited it a little (keep the meaning and sentiment of course) and ask them whether they’d put their name to it. Providing it’s truthful and doesn’t change their original meaning – it’s unlikely they will say no.
Create a simple email template and send it to the customer. There’s an example template below to copy/paste as a basis.
______________
Dear Customer,
We were so thrilled to hear you’ve enjoying the service we are offering.
When customers write proactively and tell us how well we’re doing, it genuinely makes our day.
I know that you were working with [TECHNICIAN NAME] last week. They sent over the sentence you used when the ticket closed. We like to share words like that with the team – and we have done – it really does make a difference to the team to know that they appreciate – so thank you!
We were hoping that we could use these brilliant words on our “Wall of Love” / Testimonials page on our website.
Would you be happy for us to add them to that page, alongside your name and company – to make it even more sparkly?
To remind you – the words we would use are here:
[INSERT PARA]
Just reply back with a yes – and we’ll get that done.
If we could ask one more thing – would you be able to copy and paste those words in a Google Review? It makes such a difference to our public profile and will help us to continue to grow and improve the business.
Simply click here <—- [INSERT GOOGLE REVIEW LINK HERE]
Expect a little thank you in the post next week – a small token for making a real difference to what we do.
Best wishes, [REAL NAME HERE – NOT “ACME WIDGET TEAM”] ________________
Note you can find your Google Review link as shown below – it’s within your Google Business Profile page:
Click the “Share review form” button – and you’ll see your unique link.
Note too – you should send that thank you gift- regardless of whether they leave a Google Review – it’s a thank you for the original words – NOT an incentive to leave a Google Review – that would be against the terms and generally bad practice.
Make sure the comment is added there – but if it’s really lengthy – edit it down – make it as punchy as you can.
Use snappy sentences around your website generally. If a testimonial is about a particular service – then add it to that page. If it’s from someone in a particular industry – then use it on an industry page – get the context right.
Finally – use a tool such as Trustindex.io to really make the most of your Google Reviews around your site. It demonstrates real credibility and trust if you’re a business with 20+ good reviews. Work hard to get them and then show them off.
5) Be consistent with your process
All too often, I see MSPs have gone on a review campaign for a week or two. They’ve grabbed a few reviews and then they’ve languished for a couple of years. This never looks good. It won’t help your rankings either.
Have a process in place to publish at least one or two testimonial on a monthly basis.
It does two things – it keeps eyes trained for ad hoc comments.
It also ensures your team are going out of their way to serve customers brilliantly on an ongoing basis.
And finally – how about a video testimonial?
To really go the extra mile – when you’ve a willing customer – found through a process like this – the holy grail of testimonials is a video one. Simplify the process – use a service such as Tech Testimonials (admittedly I’m slightly biased) to get that ultimate social proof on your site and as part of your sales process.
A small investment in time and money leads to building up an amazing bank of evidence that you’re the MSP to do business with.
Good luck.
https://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.png00Mark Copemanhttps://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.pngMark Copeman2022-01-27 15:32:132026-04-17 15:32:44A five step SOP for collecting customer testimonials for your MSP business
In September 2019, my original plan was to put the call out for contributions and have a great resource of secrets and tactics for 100 people by the end of that year.
It turns out that life doesn’t work like that 😮. It’s actually quite hard to write a book (even when you’re hoping that many others will contribute).
Despite it being harder than I thought, I loved the process. I interviewed at conferences, on the phone and on the street if I had to. Eventually I had managed to cajoule 85 contributors into giving me a secret – something which would help other MSPs and IT managers to improve their department or business. In total I had 101 secrets and I am still incredibly proud of the end result.
I personally learnt a huge amount about both writing and editing – but also about business itself – thanks to the conversations I had.
Part of the way through the interview process, I thought it would be interesting to get a book (and software/service) recommendation from each of the contributors as a bonus. Let’s face it, most of us read, based on recommendation and so I added their thoughts at the end of each secret.
Today, for the first time, I thought it would be interesting to bring that list of books for IT managers and MSP owners together and share it with the world.
Some of the books you will have heard of below – some you may not have.
I’ve done my best to categorise them below. I hope you find the list useful.
I’m also going to keep comments open on this post forever – please do add yours below and I’ll update the list regularly to provide a definitive ongoing list.
A list of books for IT Managers and MSP owners – as recommended by IT professionals from around the world.
A number of my contributors selected Traction. It’s coming up for 10 years old now at the time of writing and is still a #1 best seller on Amazon.
So many MSPs I know run this process in their business and are all the richer for it. It’s definitely worth reading (and implementing) if you’ve not considered it before.
Rocket fuel (by the same author of course) was also recommended too.
Second most recommended:
Incredibly, only two other books were recommended more than once –
In addition, another author was recommended multiple times. He is a favourite of mine – Daniel Priestley, the founder of Dent Global. His entrepreneurial books are must-reads.
A set of general business books were recommened. Most here are well known and all have a slightly different take and set of lessons within them. Excuse the self-promotion at the end of the list. To be fair it was a recommended book! Helpdesk Habits was ‘born’ the year before MSP Secrets Revealed was published.
There are a number of consultants in our industry who have been recommended within this list. You may also want to check out Paul Green’s free book too.
Running a successful team rarely comes naturally and I think it speaks volumes that so many recommended books on leadership in a quest to improve how teams are managed.
The last chapter of the MSP Secrets book contains a number of revealing personal stories. So often it’s impossible to split business from our personal lives. I’m still grateful to the contributors about how candid they were. So many of us are always looking to improve in different ways. This list certainly can help with that.
This is the largest category – and possibly for good reason. It’s one of the most difficult areas to get right when running a business – particularly, if your background is in IT. Having a grounding in this discipline is key. Know enough to hold a sensible conversation with experts. Be able to challenge and question what an agency recommends.
As a reminder, I’m also going to keep comments open on this post forever – please do add yours below and I’ll update the list regularly to provide a definitive ongoing list.
Please note – I need to tell you that all links are Amazon affiliate links. Should you click and buy something – eventually, that may just buy me a cup of coffee – so thank you.
https://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.png00Mark Copemanhttps://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.pngMark Copeman2022-01-18 15:32:582026-04-17 15:34:26Recommended books for IT managers & MSP owners
In this article, I’m going to be talking about the thorny issue of revenue streams and the different types that I believe need to be created, to become both successful and stress free as a consultant or freelancer.
Typically …
If you’re asleep, you’re not earning money.
If you’re on holiday, you’re not creating for the future.
If you’re delivering services, then how on earth can you be selling?
It’s a constant conundrum. It’s a constant juggle, but there is a way around it. If you’re interested in creating a (relatively) stress free life and a more predictable, stable income, this article is for you.
Why you need to get this right
So maybe you’re already experiencing this issue. Maybe you’ve recently gone it alone and you’re trying to figure out how to manage your time. You’re questioning how to juggle the constant demands on your time about whether you need to be selling or whether you should be delivering a particular service.
It becomes quite a headache to know how best to spend your time.
If you don’t have any business coming in, then clearly, you need to be selling a hundred percent of the time. Yet, if you are completely booked for the next four weeks, how on can you also be selling for the future? There is a way around this issue and it’s something I’ve managed to achieve over the years, by creating three different types of revenue stream.
If you can do this … if you can create a consistent base level of revenue and then let it flex up and down. Beyond that, you’re able then always able to satisfy the bank manager, pay the credit card bills, put food on the table and pay the mortgage.
Once you have that baseline and you’re less worried about money coming in, anything else is, almost a bonus. When pressure is removed from your shoulders, you become more creative and you do better things for clients … you sell less hard (which is a good thing!) and you start to naturally attract business instead.
I’ve witnessed it for myself. When you have the luxury of different types of revenue coming in, everything gets easier. It’s something all consultants / freelancers should strive for.
A quick health warning – these revenue streams aren’t going to develop overnight. This is something to aim for – to have a plan for. Accept that things take time and, patience is a virtue and that all good things come to those who wait.
The holy trinity of consultant / freelancer revenue streams …
1) Services revenue
I’m sure you’re already starting to achieve in this area , or if you’re not, that has to be the starting point – swapping your time for money. Whether it be coding, whether it be design, whether it be public speaking, whatever it is, you deliver a service and people pay you for it.
2) Product revenue
The second type of revenue stream is having a product
3) Recurring revenue
The third revenue type, for me, is the Holy grail of the three – and that’s having a recurring revenue stream.
Services revenue
So services, revenue in theory, is straightforward, isn’t it? You are swapping money for the services that you offer. As I mentioned, it could be coding, it could be writing, it could be design, it could be public speaking. It doesn’t matter what it is, but you are essentially charging for blocks of time and swapping that for income, which is a great start, in the first instance.
It gives you freedom and flexibility – unless , the orders aren’t yet coming in, then of course, your bank balance sits worryingly at zero. So it’s really important to balance up selling those services and generating enquiries, with being able to deliver them in the first place.
@alisatsygankova via Twenty20
In 99% of cases, you will start by becoming a freelancer or consultant and swapping your time for money, but there is much more to achieve and you will never, I don’t think, get that absolute peace of mind if you sit back and rely on 100% services revenue,.
If you can implement the next two strategies, your life will become much easier and rewarding.
______________
Product revenue
Generating product revenue, is not going to happen overnight.
To create any form of product, takes effort. Plan to start small with something and grow from there. You shouldn’t aim to create an all singing, all dancing product on day one. In fact, my recommendation is you don’t! If you put hours and hours and hours into creating something new, which never sells, you’re pouring time down the drain – never a good thing.
There’s all kinds of different products that you can create. You can write a book. You can create some kind of download. You could create physical products. You may sell something on Amazon or eBay, even.
@lelia_milaya via Twenty20
Figure out a plan to create that product. At first it will feel overwhelming, but there’s a solution to that –
block out half a day in your diary once a week … or an evening twice a week – whatever works for you and then start creating and investing in that product in whatever shape or form it comes in.
I have a handful of products out there in the world with more coming.
As an example, I’ve two books, which I sell on Amazon. They are focused on the IT marketplace, I should tell you, you do not get rich writing a book and being a self published author! That’s not the point. They get you noticed and they do absolutely bring in a decent, regular three figure income each month as I write this in Feb 2021.
You won’t be able to live off that income immediately, but if you add that to your services revenue, and hopefully some recurring revenue, which I’ll cover in a moment, it starts to look pretty good.
So think about long term product creation and avolution. Create something which can sit on a shelf in a virtual shop for, maybe 10 years and still be relevant.
So in 10 years time, something that I wrote 10 years ago could still be earning income, and that’s really appealing. That’s quite a different approach to charging your time for money. It’s also really cool to wake up each morning to see how many books that you’ve sold 😉
Each product you create in whatever form they come, will start to make incremental changes on your income.
Digital marketplaces
Remember, it doesn’t have to be a book. Think about creating downloads, bits of code, whatever it may be. You may even consider (if you’re, if you’re talented enough), getting involved in the various marketplaces, which are out there, the digital marketplaces, such as Envato where you can create themes, graphics or video templates for sale to the world. You then take a commission from each sale, The support costs for that are relatively small.
Maybe spend. five working days, creating something of real value. That for me, is a good investment in time. The worst that can happen is that you lose five days of your time. The best that can happen is that there is no limit to the sales you can generate.
Package your services
The other thing I’ve seen people do successfully, is to package your services into a product.
Use a marketplace like Fiverr or PeoplePerHour, where you offer something specific – a ring fenced service. It’s essentially a very, small packaged element of your service, which is perhaps templated in some way behind the scenes, allowing you to speed up the delivery of that service.
I provide a packaged service in conjunction wth my Helpdesk Habits (recurring revenue) programme. I deliver an hour’s introductory session via Zoom to a group for a fixed fee. It’s a templated presentation which I customise for each customer.
So, be creative, there’s plenty of products you can create which link to your niche or to your marketplace, which will in turn help you to boost your services revenue too.
Definitely make sure there is a link – it doesn’t make sense to create a product which is completely tangential to your core services.
The Holy grail of revenue creation for me, is recurring revenue – where customers pay for assets / a service every month or year.
Creating a service, which has recurring revenue is the business model for the future.
I’ve managed to create two recurring revenue businesses – my soft skills for engineers Helpdesk Habits programme and my online fitness programme. We offer free pilates workouts to drive interest.
We’ve of course seen the likes of Microsoft and Adobe do this over the last few years. If it works for the big guys, why shouldn’t it work for the small guys too?
@jijieforsythe via Twenty20
Microsoft pivoted a few years back. They saw the power of recurring revenue. You used to buy a copy of Office and it would sit on your desktop for three or four or five or ten years, and eventually you’d have to spend another hundred pounds, a hundred dollars, whatever it may be, for a new CD.
Microsoft recognized they needed to change their business model. With Microsoft 365 – they have a recurring revenue theme and very little out of date software to support – double whammy!
My personal experience
It’s harder than it looks and it takes real effort to run and grow a recurring revenue business, but if you can crack it, then it’s one of the most consistent forms of revenue you can ever have. You can actually drag the row of your cashflow along by a good few months, because you pretty much know the flow of income.
Once again, there is no upside limiting it.
If you can create recurring revenue elements to your solopreneur business, on top of your product and services revenue, you can start to see how you can get that consistency of revenue over the months.
I’ve talked about membership sites, where you’re, adding content to a site on a regular basis, within your niche.
I would also call YouTube ad revenue a recurring revenue model too, but you do have to keep contributing content to the platform. Remember you are not in control of that content. YouTube can change the rules, any time they wish. An old colleague of mine has always talked about Owning the Racecourse. He is right. Anything you build on other platforms is at your own risk.
If a membership site is too tall an order for you – then you can still get creative – why not consider reselling other people’s services?
Consider face-to-face physical sales, where you’re taking a commission. If you are constantly referring somebody else’s service or a piece of software, consider asking for regular commission. Most people will have no problem in paying you for referring their services. Have a think about the sort of people in your network and whether you could resell some of the services they sell.
There’s plenty of products and affiliate schemes out there – including the likes of Amazon. There’s a great list of affiliate marketplaces here.
It’s not easy to make big bucks, however, if you’ve got traffic coming to your site, a few links here and there, coupled with a few promotions and suddenly there’s a couple of hundred pounds or dollars coming in every month. Do you see the trend in this article? Aiming small initially, begins to add up over time.
My personal experience – SaaS
The ultimate recurring revenue model is to create a Software as a Service business. This isn’t for the faint hearted!
I co-founded a service back in 2010 called Customer Thermometer, which was the world’s first 1-click feedback survey tool.
I sat in the room I’m writing this in now, with some very big pieces of paper, over 10 years ago now and we created a service which customers have bought and bought and bought, from very small businesses right the way up to, big corporate accounts. With that comes the responsibility of developing software, keeping data safe and creating a team. It’s not easy.
This concept also moves away from the solopreneur model, but there are plenty of very, very small SaaS businesses out there, run by a single person and they’re enjoying plenty of success. If you want more on that, I would recommend the Indie Hackers website. There’s people creating and building software businesses in public, right around the world. There’s plenty of ideas, which perhaps aren’t ever going to fly, but there’s plenty of good ones too.
Get inspired, if this is something that you’re interested in.
______________
The key to getting started
So to conclude, three revenue streams is all about balance.
Start with services – that’s what you know, but think quickly about ways of building a product and plan for the future.
It might take you a year or two to figure out a subscription or recurring revenue business. Which is OK – but keep it on your radar.
Do these three things and you will reap the dividends that it wil bring.
Don’t be put off by the effort. Instead, focus initially on bringing in the low hanging fruit, and focus on keeping your family afloat.
Once you’ve got that in place, start to carve out time to create that product and recurring revenue business and experiment. Talk to people, involve other people, partner with people, do what you need to do.
If you stick at services revenue, life and finances will always be up and down – you will never get that consistency of revenue. As a result, you’ll always have that little bit of extra pressure on your shoulders.
If you can create those other revenue streams, life will become much easier.
Now – stop reading and go and make it happen!
Prefer to watch Mark talking this through?
https://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/SS-logo-medium.png202600Mark Copemanhttps://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.pngMark Copeman2021-02-08 16:34:132021-02-08 16:47:13Solopreneurship – why you need these three different revenue streams
It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything worthwhile. With two not-best-selling books behind me (Helpdesk Habits & MSP Secrets Revealed) – I have taken a break and it now feels like the right time to start writing again but in a different format this time.
It’s time to launch Solopreneur Secrets. Something I’ve been planning for a while and something which has been burning inside me for even longer.
I’ve been wanting to share … wanting to help others … wanting to “shortcut experience” for would be solopreneurs both older and younger than me.
The world is upside at the moment (Feb 2021) and so many people are looking for alternative sources of income … to launch a side project … to take control of their lives a little. Employment doesn’t necessarily allow you to do that.
Self-employment does.
It’s not easy. It can be emotional. There are many ups and many downs. It’s scary, however it’s incredibly rewarding when you get it right, get consistent and have a plan and a vision.
Solopreneur Secrets will be a whole series of essays, tips, advice and videos to help you do what you want to do. It might be a little random along the way, but it’ll be fun.
I’ve been an Entrepreneur / Solopreneur since 2002, when I founded my first design agency, Twist Media.
Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to exit two businesses, sell another, have meetings at Facebook HQ, create content in Melbourne, speak at conferences in Las Vegas, be the proud owner of a YouTube video with 4 million views and I currently split my time between the IT and fitness worlds. It’s a heady mix.
It’s been one heck of a ride and a few days ago marked my 10,000th day in business.
It’s therefore time to start getting down on virtual paper, some of the things I’ve learnt along the way.
I don’t live in a gold castle. I don’t have rocket and battery companies. I do however have a very nice life.
My life is balanced. I tend not to get stressed and my family and I don’t want for anything. I see too many people shooting for the stars … aiming to be billionaires, when actually generating several thousands of pounds or dollars, under your own terms each year might actually be all you need at the moment to really appreciate life.
Whatever situation you’re in and wherever you’re heading – I hope you enjoy the ride and I hope I can help a little.
https://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/SS-logo-medium.png202600Mark Copemanhttps://markcopeman.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-site-logo.pngMark Copeman2021-02-03 16:37:022021-02-03 16:37:02Solopreneur Secrets is born
47 motivational quotes for 18 – 105 year olds
in Inspiring storiesProud dad this week. My son heads off to Cambridge University on Friday. He’s 18 and so has always absolutely hated the motivational quotes I love and have tried to push on him over the years.
So, what have I done?
Made him his very own book, with 50 of them in there.
He will possibly burn it. I hope he doesn’t.
I wish I had been given this at 18.
So much wisdom and shortcutting of experience.
They are listed below – I hope you can pick one that means something to you … 🦉
Customer experience secrets – from an award winning MSP
in Get noticed - marketing tipsI’m really enjoying curating my next book, MSP Secrets Revealed episode #2.
It’s inspired me to do more interviewing – another love of mine.
I’ve been fortunate enough to work with the brilliant Craig Pearson over the last couple of years. He’s the sales and marketing director at Your IT Department, here in the UK. They are a forward thinking 20+ person MSP and are growing nicely.
One of the reasons for their success is their focus on customer service and customer experience.
They’ve recently won an award for customer service and when I spotted it, I knew I needed to invite Craig onto the new MSP Secrets video series.
We chat for 13 minutes below about why this focus has been so important to them and Craig reveals a number of secrets to their success …
Don’t sell commodity
in Get noticed - marketing tipsThis is the next article in a series of adapted excerpts from my book, MSP Secrets Revealed (episode #2 is coming soon, with your help).
I wanted to share some of the interviews I did for that book with the world at large and so each month during 2022, I’m sharing one secret from the book with the world to inspire.
This next one is from Nigel Moore. If you’ve never met Nigel, you’re missing out on a bit of life. He runs The Tech Tribe – possibly the world’s greatest MSP community. I’ve been part of it for the last two years and am honoured to be a ‘Tribal Elder’. You’d be crazy not to at least take a peak – and no – I’m not on commission – I just believe in what goes on there.
Nigel’s secret centred around pricing and applies to all businesses – not just MSPs.
Don’t sell commodity
Our core MSP services are becoming more and more commoditized and so over time, the only real differentiation will be … price. I want to encourage you to SMASH that type of thinking out of your head.
Coffee is a commodity, yet some people sell it for $0.01 per cup and others sell it for $5 per cup.
Flying is a commodity, yet some people sell a seat on a plane for $29 and others sell the same seat for $299.
T-shirts are a commodity, yet some people sell t-shirts for $1 and others sell them for $1,000.
Things like experience, emotion, comfort, fear, a sense of belonging, status, etc. ALL have a direct impact on how much someone will pay for a (seemingly) commoditized product/service.
Sure, monitoring, maintenance, support etc is “commoditized” to a degree – but all the stuff / experience around it isn’t.
If Nigel’s thinking doesn’t shake up your perception of pricing and value, then you need to take yourself outside and give yourself a good talking to. You’ll find a lot more in his book. Search “Nigel Moore book” and dive in.
_________
A couple of additional thoughts of my own on this, as I think about some of the things I teach in both Helpdesk Habits and Website Success 101.
If you’re not selling on price, what are the other options to push price down the list of buying critera? Price will always be lurking – it’ll never not be a consideration – but wow-ing and persuading customers using the power of customer experience is so important.
Do you have 100 5 – star Google Reviews, and dozens of testimonials – video or text – on your site and within your sales process?
If you do – you will know that’s the ultimate demonstration of credibilty. It shows that you are more than a safe pair of hands – it’s shows you’re the go-to people. You’ve got ultimate trust from your customers. Prospects will pay a premium for that piece of mind.
In Shep Hyken’s recent survey, The State of Customer Service and CX, I want to pull out 2 stats for you:
Would this be the perception of your business? If so, you will almost certainly need to sell on price in a race to the bottom.
Turn this around. Make your business both responsive and “convenient” to do business with.
When EVERYONE in your team interacts with customers, ensure that the Human Customer Service ethos kicks in. This concept is something I’m passionate about and talk about regularly.
Here’s something else for you to consider and 100% backs up Nigel’s secret:
Wow. Whilst it shouldn’t be a surprise, it kind of is. And I know that stats can prove anything, however, it’s one I don’t think you can ignore.
If you’re selling purely on price, it’s time to start thinking differently.
Before you go …
Nigel runs a brilliant community and coaching program for MSPs. I should know, I’m part of it.
Use the link below to get your first month’s membership at a 40% discount.
https://thetechtribe.com/mspsecrets
Lessons from a client project in Dubai
in Get noticed - marketing tipsSome thoughts, as I fly home from the amazing Emirate of Dubai this morning (I urge you to sample it one day). I’ve spent the last day with a growing IT business here, filming client testimonials, an about us video and planning out their shiny new website.
1) When you film testimonials with your clients, not only are you getting a brilliant and long lasting marketing asset, you as their partner, learn a LOT.
I’ll be providing uncut versions of the 10/15 minute independent interviews I conducted on their behalf (my client wasn’t in the room) so that they can learn from the feedback.
2) I’ve suggested that they also play the uncut versions to their team, so that they can see just how valued they are. They loved that idea and will absolutely be doing it.
Their team will be blown away by the feedback. Something they rarely get directly.
3) When you plan a testimonial with a client – it gives you an opportunity to catch up with them too – no agenda – no sales push – just a chat. I watched this IT business engage with everyone for up to an hour after filming.
4) Rebuilding a website is SO much more than rebuilding a website. It focuses the mind on what the message needs to be to the outside world. It’s likely that the message has changed since the last version.
I facilitated and watched a fascinating discussion unfold between three directors. It was a healthy debate and they reached a consensus.
We now have a plan for how we’re going to create this new online presence and they are in agreement about their new vision and message to the world.
5) A final point. There is nothing – NOTHING finer than creating true partnerships and relationships in business.
Sometimes you just need to get on a plane / train / in a car and meet face to face. We’ve all become very used to being on camera over the last couple of years and getting more done. Travel can be a real time waster and I’m the first to promote remote work – I’ve been doing it for years.
HOWEVER, stop for a moment and make sure you’re not hiding.
When was the last time you bought a customer lunch or dinner and found out about their family or their values?
That’s when the real magic happens.
These last 3 days have been an absolute privilege and I’ve loved every second.
Doors closing … ✈️
10 ways to inject personality into your MSP’s website
in Get noticed - marketing tipsPeople buy from people
Prospects don’t buy from ‘companies’, they buy from people and as a rule, people don’t buy dull, boring people.
In our online world, it’s not possible to buy from a person as such, however we all buy with emotion and the way you make people feel through your online presence will have a huge impact on conversions.
Who doesn’t check someone out first before interacting with them? So, why is it that companies big and small so often come across as dull, corporate, out of date and uninspiring?
Have you ever considered how many people have visited your website to check out what you do and have disappeared into the ether straight away, as they’re put off by what they see? It’s the equivalent of the “I really must go and get myself a drink” moment at an event, when you’re talking to someone … except online, you have no idea who’s walking away and it happens much faster.
There are many parallels between meeting face to face and researching online. Don’t assume your online presence will not evoke the same (gut) feelings and first impressions that you do in a face to face environment.
It’s time to get personal
This article aims to inspire a little – as I lay out before you, 10 sites, with personality – or at least elements of personality.
I’m hoping that by the end of this page – you’ll take a look at your own online presence and find ways that you too can inject some personality.
1) Create an immediate impact
Paragus IT absolutely creates an immediate impact. For readers in the UK – this screnshot is a bit ‘Marmite’ (you either love it or you hate it) however – for me – that’s a much better approach than leaving people feeling ‘meh’. Dividing opinion online or face to face is OK. You want to get a reaction.
The “above the fold” on this site creates a huge first impression. It absolutely has personality – you can’t avoid it.
Clearly it aims to appeal to frustrated tech users – people who feel like taking a baseball bat to their computer once in a while – and we’ve all been there. The main headline shows empathy – it is then followed up with a ‘don’t worry – we can help’ statement – which I really like.
It’s bold. It’s brave. It creates an impact and a statement and it’s VERY RARE MSP sites do this.
Whilst I personally don’t recommend sliders – the next slide screams: “Employee owned. We don’t succeeed unless you do.”
I’m fortunate enough to work with a lot of great consultants in our industry. I’ve yet to see anyone who presents themselves better online than Stuart Warwick.
I wanted to add this example for sole trader MSPs – and I know there’s plenty of you. Stuart is his business – he sells his expertise and so he is bold enough to put himself front and centre – because guess what – you’re buying ‘him’.
He makes his offer incredibly clear with both the headline and the short form copy underneath.
For me, it’s the perfect way to present himself – you’re drawn in, want to learn more and will continue to scroll.
Does your site create a brilliant first impression?
2) Create the perfect MSP homepage
That headline – “The perfect MSP homepage” is quite a claim isn’t it?
I’ve been reviewing websites for MSPs for a while now – I’ve done dozens in fact. There are very few I bookmark as shining examples sadly. The team at Ice Connect, here in the UK, have created something brilliant in my eyes.
The image above is a great start – but you do need to click through and look at the whole page and site to see it in all its glory.
It has all the component parts which make up a great home page.
It looks great – the coffee draws you in and makes you want to scroll. It has social proof galore – it has real people on the site and tells a story.
Brilliant job.
3) Get creative with your “Page not found”
If you’re looking to put your toe in the water when it comes to being a bit cheeky or tongue in cheek – your page not found page or “404 page” is a great place to start.
Few people will see it (if your site is structured correctly!) yet – you know it’s there.
There are plenty of articles which showcase geeky and fun 404 pages. I’ve picked one from our industry. The Slack page is a work of art.
You’ll see if you click through that the image above scrolls left / right when you move your mouse – it’s playful. Screenshot it – and it even goes black and white, which feels quite random.
Of course, making a change like this is not going to win your next deal, however it’s the thinking behind creating pages like this, which actually begins to set you on the right path to developing something unique and with personality.
4) Have the confidence to create a unique design style
Exosource are Montreal-based and their site is unique.
It’s essentially a single landing page. The various panels scroll left to right as you continue to scroll down.
It’s different. It’s unusual. It stands out and it definitely has personality.
For me, it shows two things – firstly, it’s possible to have a great looking site, which is a single page. Too often I see sites which have a gazillion pages – most of the totally unnecessary. Secondly, there is huge power in a site which looks cohesive. This has a great design style and whether you love it or hate it, it certainly gets you thinking and talking.
If you are an MSP without a good looking office environment – illustration is a great way to demonstration personality, in lieu of great photography.
5) Take a stand – have a point of view
I’ve never had any contact with the folks at Atlanta-based Ripple IT – but I hope to one day.
I dislike intensely the focus on bots, automation and removing all forms of human contact from business and so I asbolutely love what they are doing here.
I talk a lot about Human Customer Service within my Helpdesk Habits programme and about “remembering the humans on the end of the end points” and so the idea of “Humans First” really resonates with me. I bet it does with prospects too.
Ripple have decided to base their portfolio around people. Are you a CEO? Are you a Manager? Are you a knowledge worker?
They put human beings front and centre of their proposition and use the 💓motif throughout their copy too, which I also really like.
Ripple – great job – but if you’re reading this – drop me a line – there’s a couple of big issues with the site!
6) Have an about us page which tells your story
I’ve worked with this brilliant Melbourne-based company over the last 12 months and I love how they interact – their personality shines through every time.
The screenshot above doesn’t do this page justice. I’d encourage you to read it though. It contains a snapshot of their journey, all the way back to 2010. That itself isn’t unique, although MSPs should definitely learn from this technique.
What is unique however is the personality which comes through within the page.
As a prospect, you are drawn to the fact that this is a great company, doing great things – irrespective of whether what they do is right for you as a customer. That gives KMT an amazing head start when it comes to comparison.
This page talks about their work in the community, their key hires, their growth and expansion (clearly indicating success), their public awards and acknowledgements and their awards for being a great place to work.
Many MSPs have similar credentials – however they fail to talk about them.
You are what you are online and if you don’t tell the world – how will the world know?
7) Create a careers page which actually makes people want to work with you
So I’ve watched the very brilliant Colin Knox grow his team over the last 12 months and see the personality come through with Phil the Flamingo in most things which Gradient MSP release.
I was actually surprised not to see more ‘Flamingo’ on the website. I’m guessing they felt it not to be appropriate. I’m not sure I agree – I think it would make a good constant throughout their marketing message.
Gradient MSP are full of personality throughout their online presence – take note of how the team share on Linkedin – there’s always tremendous energy and colour – you can’t fail to be attracted to them.
So many MSPs rely purely on the business owner to promote the business – tricks are being missed here – don’t forget to coach and involve your team to share what you’re getting up to. As a business owner, you can then help to amplify.
I wanted to pick up on their careers page – as it’s brilliant.
They have been recruiting like crazy recently, following their $10m Series A investment round. They’ve created a careers page which genuinely makes you want to work for them. It’s engaging and stands out. It’s not corporate and combined with their culture page, gives them an edge over their competition.
Take a look at your careers page today. Is it as good as Gradient MSP’s?
8) Offer a ridiculous guarantee
Whilst I put the love for my family slightly above my love for the Tech Tribe, it’s a close call.
Nigel and his team exude personality. Everything he does is full of energy and enthusiasm and his biggest task is to convey that energy online, as he continues on his mission to extend the network.
Nigel offers a crazy guarantee, just below their sign up box. In a nutshell, he explains that they are going to make this sign up a no-brainer. It is completely risk free – you literally cannot lose.
He wraps that guarantee up with personality. He talks about tacos and quotes a completely made up stat and I love it.
How could you inject some humo(u)r – some smiles – some unique personality into your sales process?
Could you offer a crazy guarantee when people book a no-obligation chat with you? Might you send them pizzas or buy them a scuba diving lesson or donate to a local charity if they don’t find it useful?
Hmmmmm 🤔 ….
9) If a bank can show personality – you can too
This is a bit of a wildcard and out of industry. If you’ve got this far and still think – I’m not sure we can do this – I am trying to make a point.
First Direct was the original challenger bank here in the UK. When they launched on 1 October 1989 – they disrupted the ageing, dinosaur marketplace with phone banking – a concept unheard of until then. I’ve been a customer of theirs since 1990. I wouldn’t ever switch – because they’ve always delivered a brilliant service.
This is a tiny example of their creativity – some simple words in their footer. Could you start there with your site?
To get to where they’ve got to – they’ve had to scrap and differentiate and despite the fact they’re owned by HSBC – they’re still allowed to breathe – and show their personality.
Even if you’re owned by a larger group – try to ringfence what you do and let your personality shine through.
10) Do copy right (see what I did there?)
I’ve worked with the SuperOps team over the last 12 months and more recently participated in their Super Summit, to launch their service.
As a vendor – their site stands out – in the same way their products do. They are bright, agile and fast moving and set themselves apart from the older, more tired-looking, legacy services. Their website absolutely reflects that.
What they do really well is copy. Scattered throughout the site there are little touches, which make you smile and take note of what they’re doing.
In a blog post to promote the Super Summit – I wanted to pick up on this piece of copy – it’s really catchy and not what you’d expect – it draws you in – and that’s a really good thing.
Alongside – on the ‘often-dreaded’ proactive chat box – they’ve gone for a different approach too – and I LOVE THAT! Why do so many people leave a default message in those boxes? The team here has bothered to do something different and acknowledge the tediousness of these boxes with a genuine offer to help.
Where next?
How often are visitors seeing your home page, being underwhelmed and bouncing right off, leaving £$ on the table every time.
Tiny changes and small regular investments in your online presence are some of the best marketing funds you can spend.
Take a good look at your site – or even better – get an independent review (maybe by someone like me?) and figure out if you’re making the most of your online presence.
MSP owners and their mental health – a very personal story
in Inspiring storiesEvery month, I’m publishing one secret from my almost best-seller, MSP Secrets Revealed.
Reflecting on it recently, whilst I had a brilliant time researching and interviewing and I learnt a lot (more) about business, it’s only when I started to talk to people about their ‘stories,’ the interviews became even more revealing. Some IT professionals were very happy to open up, in the hope of benefiting others.
The final chapter in the book is called “Personal Stories.” There are eight in total.
Today’s excerpt is one of those stories, from a well known name in the MSP community – Mark Matthews. <— connect with him on Linkedin
I’ve admired Mark from afar for a long time. He’s one of the few MSP owners who has managed himself out of his own business. That’s not easy. We had a phone call recently, where he talked to me about the difficulties in doing just that. He is winning though.
What was his personal driver for doing this? Because of the story he very openly describes below.
If you’re struggling with the pressure, the day to day, your mental welfare, your life in general. Stop for a moment and read Mark’s story …
It’s not about the money
Five years ago, I was really unhappy. I was working 70 hours a week and I had staff issues. I couldn’t switch off, and it wasn’t in
a good way. I felt like I was going backwards. At that stage my business had been going 26 years, so it was a strange feeling to have. It wasn’t because the business was unsuccessful or unprofitable, but personally, I felt like I was going backwards.
I was always on the phone. Holidays were a nightmare. My phone used to be next to me on the sunbed. I used to hate holidays, because I’d always end up having to ring the office.
I felt like I was blagging it. People think if you’ve been running a business for as long as I had that I must be really successful, but I didn’t feel that way. I found everything very frustrating.
I’d had enough, and I felt suffocated. Suffocated enough that, one morning five years ago, I was driving on the motorway on the way to work. I was in a nice car, I had a nice house, my kids were successful.
He told me to go home and make a doctor’s appointment, as only that weekend one of his friend’s sons who worked for a worldwide software company had taken his own life by jumping out of a 3rd-floor window, so I did. I live in a small rural village, so I was fortunate to get an appointment within the hour and the GP had a list of questions to go through with me, one of which was “did I have a shotgun at home?”. I curiously asked why?
I’m sure you can imagine, this was a massive shock that he felt the need to ask me. After that, I realised I had to take my situation seriously. I was prescribed some tablets and went home, and then pretty much stayed in bed for six months. I’d go to work for a few hours, but when I got home, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
I then got to the stage where I didn’t care if I didn’t wake up the following day, and I pulled the covers over my head. But the next day, I decided I was going to get my arse out of bed, go back to work and start to get my life back together. One phrase in particular helped me with that: ‘There will come a time when everything is finished. That will be the beginning’.
People who knew me at the time would never have known I was suffering. I used to think it was an owner’s mask we all wear, where we always have to say things are brilliant and going great. We never say, ‘Oh, it’s shit’, because we want our peers to think well of us. Nobody would have heard me say anything negative at all.
I would have never shown anyone how I was feeling, because I would have seen it as a weakness. There’s no way I would have ever spoken to any of the people I knew about anything, even individually, because I wouldn’t want to be belittled.
Turning things around
I came home one day to find a book I hadn’t ordered had been delivered. ‘The Fred Factor’, by Mark Sanborn, is about a postman who does lots of things for people without asking for anything in return.
Prior to reading it, I was the type of person who wouldn’t do anything for somebody without getting something in return. That’s what I thought you had to do to be a businessman. If you want to grow the business right, you’ve got to get what you can. But Fred went out of his way to help the people on his post route.
We had a 24% increase in turnover last year (2018), and a 110% net profit increase. I’m now allowing people to do the job that they’re paid to do. Because we’ve got trust. If you think of Patrick Lencioni’s pyramid, we can’t hit the figures if we haven’t got trust.
The best thing in the world for me, out of all of this, is that I’m the happiest I’ve been for years. I’m earning less money than I did five or six years ago, because we were a much bigger company then, but I know where I’d rather be. I’d rather be where I am now, happiest spreading the word about trust and showing the difference it can make to you and your workforce …
… because it’s not about the money.
____________
Mark Matthews is the CEO of ATG IT in the UK, and is the exec director of Network Group.
A big thank you to him for his honesty.
___________
A five step SOP for collecting customer testimonials for your MSP business
in Get noticed - marketing tipsIn my experience, a customer is only too willing to help a business they enjoy working with, to be successful.
Remember this statement, as you think of the right way to approach a customer.
Done in the wrong way, being asked for a testimonial for your MSP business can be seen as an onerous task by a customer.
The solution is to frame it correctly and take all of the pain away.
So often people dislike working with ‘clean sheets of paper’ – they struggle to know what to say or write when put on the spot to come up with something creative.
Go out of your way to make it easy for them.
Harness your often overlooked, marketing pot of gold
Use your helpdesk team
Your MSP’s helpdesk is one of your best sources for testimonials.
99% of the time, to an untrained eye, ad hoc compliments (marketing gold) get buried 1000ft down inside ticketing systems and are lost forever.
In my Helpdesk Habits programme, I talk about “Harvesting quotes and reaping testimonials.” 100’s of people have downloaded this desktop wallpaper as a reminder …
(Click the image and right click, to download it for yourself).
A 5 step SOP to marketing greatness
Step 1) Create awareness of the marketing gold embedded within tickets
It’s time to make your team aware of the importance of those ‘throw away’ customer comments, when a technician has really helped someone out or gone out of their way to solve an issue.
This type of quote you’ll see regularly in support threads. To the untrained eye – it’s a nice compliment at best.
Make your team aware of the fact that a comment like that could help to secure £/$000’s in business next week / next month / next year.
Prospects want to know that you’re a company who offers great service. There is no better person to tell them that, than your existing customers. It’s so much more powerful that you saying it!
Incentivise them to spot these ad hoc comments and not to smile and dismiss them – sending them to the bottom of the database table, to remain there forever.
I consult with a handful of MSPs – we used the desktop wallpaper shown below for a couple of months to ask technicians to be proactive in asking for reviews (it worked).
Why not create your own and develop some great habits?
2) Technicians should copy relevant comments and send them to a nominated individual
Nominate an individual to run your testimonials programme. Make it a thing. Call it just that – to raise the awareness and importance of it.
When there is an individual responsible for this – things will get done. When no one is responsible – this type of programme will languish. Give this individual a target of drumming up 5 comments each month. Make them responsible for ensuring the teams keep delivering.
Create a simple shared spreadsheet – paste in the comment, the name and details of the individual and the date and place submitted, so that you have a record of where it came from.
3) Get permission and enhance
It’s important to get permission to use those words publicly. If they have originated from an adhoc ticket comment, then they will have no clue that their words mean so much to you as a business.
If the comment isn’t quite fit for purpose – perhaps ask them to expand on it or expand on it for them (yes really) and ask them to sign it off – adapting the template below.
Let them know you’ve added to it or edited it a little (keep the meaning and sentiment of course) and ask them whether they’d put their name to it. Providing it’s truthful and doesn’t change their original meaning – it’s unlikely they will say no.
Create a simple email template and send it to the customer. There’s an example template below to copy/paste as a basis.
______________
Dear Customer,
We were so thrilled to hear you’ve enjoying the service we are offering.
When customers write proactively and tell us how well we’re doing, it genuinely makes our day.
I know that you were working with [TECHNICIAN NAME] last week. They sent over the sentence you used when the ticket closed. We like to share words like that with the team – and we have done – it really does make a difference to the team to know that they appreciate – so thank you!
We were hoping that we could use these brilliant words on our “Wall of Love” / Testimonials page on our website.
Would you be happy for us to add them to that page, alongside your name and company – to make it even more sparkly?
To remind you – the words we would use are here:
[INSERT PARA]
Just reply back with a yes – and we’ll get that done.
If we could ask one more thing – would you be able to copy and paste those words in a Google Review? It makes such a difference to our public profile and will help us to continue to grow and improve the business.
Simply click here <—- [INSERT GOOGLE REVIEW LINK HERE]
Expect a little thank you in the post next week – a small token for making a real difference to what we do.
Best wishes,
[REAL NAME HERE – NOT “ACME WIDGET TEAM”]
________________
Note you can find your Google Review link as shown below – it’s within your Google Business Profile page:
Click the “Share review form” button – and you’ll see your unique link.
Note too – you should send that thank you gift- regardless of whether they leave a Google Review – it’s a thank you for the original words – NOT an incentive to leave a Google Review – that would be against the terms and generally bad practice.
4) Make the most of the words
I’m hoping you’ve a testimonials page on your website. If you don’t – then you need to take a look at my Website Success 101 programme!
Make sure the comment is added there – but if it’s really lengthy – edit it down – make it as punchy as you can.
Use snappy sentences around your website generally. If a testimonial is about a particular service – then add it to that page. If it’s from someone in a particular industry – then use it on an industry page – get the context right.
Finally – use a tool such as Trustindex.io to really make the most of your Google Reviews around your site. It demonstrates real credibility and trust if you’re a business with 20+ good reviews. Work hard to get them and then show them off.
5) Be consistent with your process
All too often, I see MSPs have gone on a review campaign for a week or two. They’ve grabbed a few reviews and then they’ve languished for a couple of years. This never looks good. It won’t help your rankings either.
Have a process in place to publish at least one or two testimonial on a monthly basis.
It does two things – it keeps eyes trained for ad hoc comments.
It also ensures your team are going out of their way to serve customers brilliantly on an ongoing basis.
And finally – how about a video testimonial?
To really go the extra mile – when you’ve a willing customer – found through a process like this – the holy grail of testimonials is a video one. Simplify the process – use a service such as Tech Testimonials (admittedly I’m slightly biased) to get that ultimate social proof on your site and as part of your sales process.
A small investment in time and money leads to building up an amazing bank of evidence that you’re the MSP to do business with.
Good luck.
Recommended books for IT managers & MSP owners
in How to guidesOn 17th April 2020, I published my second book, MSP Secrets Revealed.
In September 2019, my original plan was to put the call out for contributions and have a great resource of secrets and tactics for 100 people by the end of that year.
It turns out that life doesn’t work like that 😮. It’s actually quite hard to write a book (even when you’re hoping that many others will contribute).
Despite it being harder than I thought, I loved the process. I interviewed at conferences, on the phone and on the street if I had to. Eventually I had managed to cajoule 85 contributors into giving me a secret – something which would help other MSPs and IT managers to improve their department or business. In total I had 101 secrets and I am still incredibly proud of the end result.
I personally learnt a huge amount about both writing and editing – but also about business itself – thanks to the conversations I had.
Part of the way through the interview process, I thought it would be interesting to get a book (and software/service) recommendation from each of the contributors as a bonus. Let’s face it, most of us read, based on recommendation and so I added their thoughts at the end of each secret.
Today, for the first time, I thought it would be interesting to bring that list of books for IT managers and MSP owners together and share it with the world.
Some of the books you will have heard of below – some you may not have.
I’ve done my best to categorise them below. I hope you find the list useful.
I’m also going to keep comments open on this post forever – please do add yours below and I’ll update the list regularly to provide a definitive ongoing list.
A list of books for IT Managers and MSP owners – as recommended by IT professionals from around the world.
Most recommened:
Traction, Gino Wickman
A number of my contributors selected Traction. It’s coming up for 10 years old now at the time of writing and is still a #1 best seller on Amazon.
So many MSPs I know run this process in their business and are all the richer for it. It’s definitely worth reading (and implementing) if you’ve not considered it before.
Rocket fuel (by the same author of course) was also recommended too.
Second most recommended:
Incredibly, only two other books were recommended more than once –
The classic, Good to Great, Jim Collins
and
Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss – Tools for effective negotiation
In addition, another author was recommended multiple times. He is a favourite of mine – Daniel Priestley, the founder of Dent Global. His entrepreneurial books are must-reads.
If you’re looking to become an influencer in your niche, Key Person of Influence is essential reading. Oversubscribed and 24 Assets are also brilliant.
Autobiography
What’s not to love about a set of true stories, encapsulating the ups and downs of life and business?
Riding the storm, Duncan Bannatyne
Henry Fraser, The Little Big Things
General business books
A set of general business books were recommened. Most here are well known and all have a slightly different take and set of lessons within them. Excuse the self-promotion at the end of the list. To be fair it was a recommended book! Helpdesk Habits was ‘born’ the year before MSP Secrets Revealed was published.
Profit First, Mike Michalowicz
Subscribed, Tien Tzou
Humans Need Not Apply, Jerry Kaplan
BOOM! – Blow the doors off business as usual, Kevin Feiberg
Predictable Success, Les McKeown
Value-Based Fees, Alan Weiss
Getting Naked, Patrick Lencioni
Pumpkin Plan, Michael Michaelowics
The E Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber
Helpdesk Habits, by errrrr, Mark Copeman
IT specific business books
There are a number of consultants in our industry who have been recommended within this list. You may also want to check out Paul Green’s free book too.
Managed Services in a Month, Karl Palachuk
The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide, Richard Tubb
The Phoenix Project – Gene Kim, George Spafford, and Kevin Behr
Package, Price, Profit: The Essential Guide to Packaging and Pricing Your MSP Plans, Nigel Moore
History
I was surprised more fiction or off-business books weren’t recommended. Here’s just the one.
Devil in the White City’, Erik Larson
Books on leadership
Running a successful team rarely comes naturally and I think it speaks volumes that so many recommended books on leadership in a quest to improve how teams are managed.
Radical Candor, Kim Scott
The One Minute Manager – Ken Blanchard
Effective Executive, Peter Drucker
The ride of a lifetime, Bob Iger
What Successful People Know about Leadership, John Maxwell
Great Game of Business, Jack Stack
Personal development
The last chapter of the MSP Secrets book contains a number of revealing personal stories. So often it’s impossible to split business from our personal lives. I’m still grateful to the contributors about how candid they were. So many of us are always looking to improve in different ways. This list certainly can help with that.
The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict, the Arbinger Institute
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth
The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg
The Fred Factor, Mark Sanborn
The Go-Giver, Bob Burg
Atomic Habits, James Clear
Sales & marketing
This is the largest category – and possibly for good reason. It’s one of the most difficult areas to get right when running a business – particularly, if your background is in IT. Having a grounding in this discipline is key. Know enough to hold a sensible conversation with experts. Be able to challenge and question what an agency recommends.
Selling the Invisible, Harry Beckwith
Fanatical Prospecting, Jeb Blount
Pitch Anything, Oren Klaff
They Ask You Answer, Marcus Sheridan
F🤍cking Good Content, Dan Kelsall
Words That Sell, Richard Bayan
The Power of Moments, Chip & Dan Heath
Measure what Matters, John Doerr
Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, Drayton Bird
As a reminder, I’m also going to keep comments open on this post forever – please do add yours below and I’ll update the list regularly to provide a definitive ongoing list.
Please note – I need to tell you that all links are Amazon affiliate links. Should you click and buy something – eventually, that may just buy me a cup of coffee – so thank you.
Solopreneurship – why you need these three different revenue streams
in Solopreneur SecretsIn this article, I’m going to be talking about the thorny issue of revenue streams and the different types that I believe need to be created, to become both successful and stress free as a consultant or freelancer.
Typically …
If you’re asleep, you’re not earning money.
If you’re on holiday, you’re not creating for the future.
If you’re delivering services, then how on earth can you be selling?
It’s a constant conundrum. It’s a constant juggle, but there is a way around it. If you’re interested in creating a (relatively) stress free life and a more predictable, stable income, this article is for you.
Why you need to get this right
So maybe you’re already experiencing this issue. Maybe you’ve recently gone it alone and you’re trying to figure out how to manage your time. You’re questioning how to juggle the constant demands on your time about whether you need to be selling or whether you should be delivering a particular service.
It becomes quite a headache to know how best to spend your time.
If you don’t have any business coming in, then clearly, you need to be selling a hundred percent of the time. Yet, if you are completely booked for the next four weeks, how on can you also be selling for the future? There is a way around this issue and it’s something I’ve managed to achieve over the years, by creating three different types of revenue stream.
Once you have that baseline and you’re less worried about money coming in, anything else is, almost a bonus. When pressure is removed from your shoulders, you become more creative and you do better things for clients … you sell less hard (which is a good thing!) and you start to naturally attract business instead.
I’ve witnessed it for myself. When you have the luxury of different types of revenue coming in, everything gets easier. It’s something all consultants / freelancers should strive for.
A quick health warning – these revenue streams aren’t going to develop overnight. This is something to aim for – to have a plan for. Accept that things take time and, patience is a virtue and that all good things come to those who wait.
The holy trinity of consultant / freelancer revenue streams …
1) Services revenue
I’m sure you’re already starting to achieve in this area , or if you’re not, that has to be the starting point – swapping your time for money. Whether it be coding, whether it be design, whether it be public speaking, whatever it is, you deliver a service and people pay you for it.
2) Product revenue
The second type of revenue stream is having a product
3) Recurring revenue
The third revenue type, for me, is the Holy grail of the three – and that’s having a recurring revenue stream.
Services revenue
So services, revenue in theory, is straightforward, isn’t it? You are swapping money for the services that you offer. As I mentioned, it could be coding, it could be writing, it could be design, it could be public speaking. It doesn’t matter what it is, but you are essentially charging for blocks of time and swapping that for income, which is a great start, in the first instance.
It gives you freedom and flexibility – unless , the orders aren’t yet coming in, then of course, your bank balance sits worryingly at zero. So it’s really important to balance up selling those services and generating enquiries, with being able to deliver them in the first place.
@alisatsygankova via Twenty20
In 99% of cases, you will start by becoming a freelancer or consultant and swapping your time for money, but there is much more to achieve and you will never, I don’t think, get that absolute peace of mind if you sit back and rely on 100% services revenue,.
If you can implement the next two strategies, your life will become much easier and rewarding.
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Product revenue
Generating product revenue, is not going to happen overnight.
To create any form of product, takes effort. Plan to start small with something and grow from there. You shouldn’t aim to create an all singing, all dancing product on day one. In fact, my recommendation is you don’t! If you put hours and hours and hours into creating something new, which never sells, you’re pouring time down the drain – never a good thing.
There’s all kinds of different products that you can create. You can write a book. You can create some kind of download. You could create physical products. You may sell something on Amazon or eBay, even.
@lelia_milaya via Twenty20
Figure out a plan to create that product. At first it will feel overwhelming, but there’s a solution to that –
I have a handful of products out there in the world with more coming.
As an example, I’ve two books, which I sell on Amazon. They are focused on the IT marketplace, I should tell you, you do not get rich writing a book and being a self published author! That’s not the point. They get you noticed and they do absolutely bring in a decent, regular three figure income each month as I write this in Feb 2021.
You won’t be able to live off that income immediately, but if you add that to your services revenue, and hopefully some recurring revenue, which I’ll cover in a moment, it starts to look pretty good.
So think about long term product creation and avolution. Create something which can sit on a shelf in a virtual shop for, maybe 10 years and still be relevant.
So in 10 years time, something that I wrote 10 years ago could still be earning income, and that’s really appealing. That’s quite a different approach to charging your time for money. It’s also really cool to wake up each morning to see how many books that you’ve sold 😉
Each product you create in whatever form they come, will start to make incremental changes on your income.
Digital marketplaces
Remember, it doesn’t have to be a book. Think about creating downloads, bits of code, whatever it may be. You may even consider (if you’re, if you’re talented enough), getting involved in the various marketplaces, which are out there, the digital marketplaces, such as Envato where you can create themes, graphics or video templates for sale to the world. You then take a commission from each sale, The support costs for that are relatively small.
Maybe spend. five working days, creating something of real value. That for me, is a good investment in time. The worst that can happen is that you lose five days of your time. The best that can happen is that there is no limit to the sales you can generate.
Package your services
The other thing I’ve seen people do successfully, is to package your services into a product.
Use a marketplace like Fiverr or PeoplePerHour, where you offer something specific – a ring fenced service. It’s essentially a very, small packaged element of your service, which is perhaps templated in some way behind the scenes, allowing you to speed up the delivery of that service.
I provide a packaged service in conjunction wth my Helpdesk Habits (recurring revenue) programme. I deliver an hour’s introductory session via Zoom to a group for a fixed fee. It’s a templated presentation which I customise for each customer.
I also have another packaged product – a customer video testimonial service – Tech Testimonials.
So, be creative, there’s plenty of products you can create which link to your niche or to your marketplace, which will in turn help you to boost your services revenue too.
Definitely make sure there is a link – it doesn’t make sense to create a product which is completely tangential to your core services.
Daniel Priestly talks about this area in his Key Person of Influence book. An essential read.
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Recurring revenue
The Holy grail of revenue creation for me, is recurring revenue – where customers pay for assets / a service every month or year.
Creating a service, which has recurring revenue is the business model for the future.
I’ve managed to create two recurring revenue businesses – my soft skills for engineers Helpdesk Habits programme and my online fitness programme. We offer free pilates workouts to drive interest.
We’ve of course seen the likes of Microsoft and Adobe do this over the last few years. If it works for the big guys, why shouldn’t it work for the small guys too?
@jijieforsythe via Twenty20
Microsoft pivoted a few years back. They saw the power of recurring revenue. You used to buy a copy of Office and it would sit on your desktop for three or four or five or ten years, and eventually you’d have to spend another hundred pounds, a hundred dollars, whatever it may be, for a new CD.
Microsoft recognized they needed to change their business model. With Microsoft 365 – they have a recurring revenue theme and very little out of date software to support – double whammy!
My personal experience
It’s harder than it looks and it takes real effort to run and grow a recurring revenue business, but if you can crack it, then it’s one of the most consistent forms of revenue you can ever have. You can actually drag the row of your cashflow along by a good few months, because you pretty much know the flow of income.
Once again, there is no upside limiting it.
If you can create recurring revenue elements to your solopreneur business, on top of your product and services revenue, you can start to see how you can get that consistency of revenue over the months.
I’ve talked about membership sites, where you’re, adding content to a site on a regular basis, within your niche.
I would also call YouTube ad revenue a recurring revenue model too, but you do have to keep contributing content to the platform. Remember you are not in control of that content. YouTube can change the rules, any time they wish. An old colleague of mine has always talked about Owning the Racecourse. He is right. Anything you build on other platforms is at your own risk.
If a membership site is too tall an order for you – then you can still get creative – why not consider reselling other people’s services?
Consider face-to-face physical sales, where you’re taking a commission. If you are constantly referring somebody else’s service or a piece of software, consider asking for regular commission. Most people will have no problem in paying you for referring their services. Have a think about the sort of people in your network and whether you could resell some of the services they sell.
There’s plenty of products and affiliate schemes out there – including the likes of Amazon. There’s a great list of affiliate marketplaces here.
It’s not easy to make big bucks, however, if you’ve got traffic coming to your site, a few links here and there, coupled with a few promotions and suddenly there’s a couple of hundred pounds or dollars coming in every month. Do you see the trend in this article? Aiming small initially, begins to add up over time.
My personal experience – SaaS
The ultimate recurring revenue model is to create a Software as a Service business. This isn’t for the faint hearted!
I co-founded a service back in 2010 called Customer Thermometer, which was the world’s first 1-click feedback survey tool.
I sat in the room I’m writing this in now, with some very big pieces of paper, over 10 years ago now and we created a service which customers have bought and bought and bought, from very small businesses right the way up to, big corporate accounts. With that comes the responsibility of developing software, keeping data safe and creating a team. It’s not easy.
This concept also moves away from the solopreneur model, but there are plenty of very, very small SaaS businesses out there, run by a single person and they’re enjoying plenty of success. If you want more on that, I would recommend the Indie Hackers website. There’s people creating and building software businesses in public, right around the world. There’s plenty of ideas, which perhaps aren’t ever going to fly, but there’s plenty of good ones too.
Get inspired, if this is something that you’re interested in.
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The key to getting started
So to conclude, three revenue streams is all about balance.
Start with services – that’s what you know, but think quickly about ways of building a product and plan for the future.
It might take you a year or two to figure out a subscription or recurring revenue business. Which is OK – but keep it on your radar.
Do these three things and you will reap the dividends that it wil bring.
Don’t be put off by the effort. Instead, focus initially on bringing in the low hanging fruit, and focus on keeping your family afloat.
Once you’ve got that in place, start to carve out time to create that product and recurring revenue business and experiment. Talk to people, involve other people, partner with people, do what you need to do.
If you stick at services revenue, life and finances will always be up and down – you will never get that consistency of revenue. As a result, you’ll always have that little bit of extra pressure on your shoulders.
If you can create those other revenue streams, life will become much easier.
Now – stop reading and go and make it happen!
Prefer to watch Mark talking this through?
Solopreneur Secrets is born
in Solopreneur SecretsIt’s been a long time since I’ve written anything worthwhile. With two not-best-selling books behind me (Helpdesk Habits & MSP Secrets Revealed) – I have taken a break and it now feels like the right time to start writing again but in a different format this time.
It’s time to launch Solopreneur Secrets. Something I’ve been planning for a while and something which has been burning inside me for even longer.
I’ve been wanting to share … wanting to help others … wanting to “shortcut experience” for would be solopreneurs both older and younger than me.
The world is upside at the moment (Feb 2021) and so many people are looking for alternative sources of income … to launch a side project … to take control of their lives a little. Employment doesn’t necessarily allow you to do that.
Self-employment does.
It’s not easy. It can be emotional. There are many ups and many downs. It’s scary, however it’s incredibly rewarding when you get it right, get consistent and have a plan and a vision.
Solopreneur Secrets will be a whole series of essays, tips, advice and videos to help you do what you want to do. It might be a little random along the way, but it’ll be fun.
I’ve been an Entrepreneur / Solopreneur since 2002, when I founded my first design agency, Twist Media.
Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to exit two businesses, sell another, have meetings at Facebook HQ, create content in Melbourne, speak at conferences in Las Vegas, be the proud owner of a YouTube video with 4 million views and I currently split my time between the IT and fitness worlds. It’s a heady mix.
It’s been one heck of a ride and a few days ago marked my 10,000th day in business.
It’s therefore time to start getting down on virtual paper, some of the things I’ve learnt along the way.
I don’t live in a gold castle. I don’t have rocket and battery companies. I do however have a very nice life.
My life is balanced. I tend not to get stressed and my family and I don’t want for anything. I see too many people shooting for the stars … aiming to be billionaires, when actually generating several thousands of pounds or dollars, under your own terms each year might actually be all you need at the moment to really appreciate life.
Whatever situation you’re in and wherever you’re heading – I hope you enjoy the ride and I hope I can help a little.