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Leading a massive services organization or moonlighting and considering the jump to full time? Let's have a frank discussion about what it takes to run a growing services business. Check out these tips given out at SpiceWorld London from industry experts and your peers around the globe on what to consider before getting started, what to expect from clients (and what they expect from you!), and how to stand out from the masses. We'll take the discussion beyond tech and give you the lowdown on how to grow your business, big or small.
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Bang on Tips for Running a Successful IT Service Business
Caroline Tipton Technical Marketing, Spiceworks
The Plan • Get to know each other • Knowing what you do best • Trimming the customer fat • Rela@onships 101 • S@cky situa@ons • Growing your business
GeCng to know each other
How many here are… • Just thinking of becoming and MSP?
• Moonligh@ng before you pull the trigger?
• Work full @me as an MSP?
How large is your company? • Flying solo! • Handful of people. • We are an army!
What is your biggest challenge? • There are some technical areas I need to brush up on.
• Accoun@ng makes my head hurt. • Marke@ng myself. • Customer rela@onships are harder than marriage. • Other…
Coffee (or Tea) Talk Time!
Crea@ng a Clear PorSolio • Your @me to shine! • Show off your – Exper@se – Ability to handle different tech
– Scope and @ming of large projects
– Do you document this somewhere? – How do you stay on top of new tech and trends?
Trimming the Customer Fat
Rate Your Clients
“A” Clients: “B” Clients: “C” Clients:
Pay On Time – or ahead of @me
May Experience Some Payment Issues
Slow Pay
Have IT Budgets Have Limited Budgets No Budget
Allow Direct Access to Decision Makers
May Not Allow Direct Access To Decision Makers
Does it ma\er?
Your worst clients § Figure out who’s 2-‐3x% of your @me vs. % of your
revenues § Who falls into that C bucket?
§ Professionally let them know this isn’t working out
§ Reform or refer § Outcome -‐> reform 1/3-‐1/2 and refer the rest § Your work life / efficiency will improve
§ Frees you up to win addi7onal clients properly structured
• Do others find it hard to let go of the C class of your business? Why is that?
• Any @ps for breaking up with these clients?
Building Rela@onships Keys to Building Successful and Lasting Relationships
TIME PEOPLE TRUST
A CRUCIAL REALIZATION
Be proactive Anticipate and prevent problems rather than reacting to them
Make their problem your success
Become a friend/trusted advisor Genuinely have the client’s best interest at heart
Turn your clients’ poor situation into a positive result for both sides
What You Should Do
Oversell yourself You aren’t the “be all, end all”
Acquire new clients without maintaining existing ones Remember your reputation is on the line
Forget the human factor Never forget that people/businesses require:
• Availability • Accountability • Responsibility • Reliability
Give your business a distinct identity
What You Should Not Do
• What do you think are the biggest drivers to helping build customer rela@onships?
• How do you balance new versus exis@ng users?
Client Management
Compile a package to present to poten@al or new clients.
§ Include a Services Agreement, a Non-‐Disclosure Agreement, any policies that will help the rela@onship run more smoothly
§ Think about it from the perspec@ve of what will minimize misunderstandings with clients
§ Minimize surprises!
If you don’t manage them, who will?
Service Agreement “must haves” § Scope (what are you providing – as specific as possible / what’s not “in”)
§ Std. of service (2hr turn/ 4 hr/ 24 hr/ business hrs?)
§ Pricing
§ Client “must provides”
§ Payment terms (deposit?/ net 10-‐15-‐30?)
§ Contact details
§ Limita@on of liability
§ Who owns the IP (reusable code?)
§ Wri\en executed agmt. between par@es
• Is there any other wri\en documents you find crucial?
• Is there anything not wri\en in the “must haves” that you have found to be crucial?
I kind of wish I hadn’t seen that…
§ Have an idea of how you will handle situa@ons that are likely to arise.
§ Write it down and have that be part of the guidelines you give clients at the beginning of an engagement.
§ Viruses caused by an employee doing something they shouldn’t be doing.
§ Child pornography. Legal duty vs. ethical responsibility.
Ethical issues & sticky situations.
• Have you ever encountered an ethical issue? What did you do?
Networking vs. Networking
VS
• What are your best networking experiences? • How much of your business is driven by networking?
Your Best Friend is the Remote Collector
• Customize your Spiceworks install to the needs of the client
• Scale your business without dragging anyone down
• Work from a central installa@on • Create per-‐site user portals
Central Installa@on Setup Spiceworks Installa@on
SQLite DB
Scanner
IT Admin
Ini@al Remote Site Setup Spiceworks Installa@on
SQLite DB
Scanner
IT Admin
SQLite DB
Spiceworks Remote Install Scanner
WAN
h\ps
Central Installa@on
Connec@ng Remote Site to Central Installa@on
Spiceworks Installa@on
SQLite DB
Scanner
IT Admin
SQLite DB
Spiceworks Remote Install Scanner
WAN
h\ps
Central Installa@on
h\ps
Client View from the Remote Site
Spiceworks Installa@on
SQLite DB
Scanner
IT Admin
SQLite DB
Spiceworks Remote Install (with Portal)
Scanner WAN
h\ps
Central Installa@on
Employee
h\ps
h\ps dispatch
Spawns
Client View from the Remote Site
Spiceworks Central
IT Admin
h\ps
Ac@ve Directory
IT Admin
h\ps
Site 1 Employees
Site 2 Employees
Site 3 Employees
Spiceworks Remote Site (with Portal)
Spiceworks Remote Site (with Portal)
Spiceworks Remote Site (with Portal)
WAN VPN
Internet
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