Join me May 23rd for a free webinar: Designing Successful Cloud Service Offerings With Microsoft SBS Essentials.

Looking for a great combination of tools and practices for moving your smallest clients to The Cloud?

You've heard of SBS Essentials - But how do you build a business model around selling it with Cloud Services? And where does Managed Services fit in the picture?

Join me and Len DiCostanzo (Autotask SVP Community & Business Development) for a very practical and actionable look at making SBS Essentials a key part of your cloud offering. I'll give a bit of a "quick start guide" that will get you moving in the right direction immediately.

And then we'll talk about integrating that Cloud+SBS Essentials with Managed Services.

Register and get a big step up on the practical application of cloud services and managed services in the very-small client environment.

• What is SBS Essentials and how does it fit in your solution stack?
• Which cloud offerings make the most sense for getting started?
• How does The Cloud work with Managed Services?
• How can Autotask help autotmate and scale service delivery and drive revenue and profitability?

Find out more and Register free.

:-)

Freeday Friday April Podcast Posted - US / UK Edition

This program was recorded and is posted here.

Do Do I Really Need to Try to Sell SBS Essentials into My Client Base?

We had a good show today (45 minutes). Four people posted questions live and we had a good email question to kick us off. The kickoff question was, "Do I really need to sell SBS Essentials?" We talked about when it is and is not the right product to sell to specific clients.

Caller Ken asked a follow-up question: When to sell SBS Essentials and when to sell Foundation Server since they have so many features in common. . . . And lots more!

If you would like your question to be the start-off question, just send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Please put Freeday Friday in the subject line.

Freeday Friday is a new program to give you access to some coaching advice in a totally new format. See details at www.FreedayFriday.com.

Basically, I am offering free coaching advice to a very few people - live and free. The "price" for free advice is that other people get to listen in. The idea is that we all share some common challenges, so we might be able to learn from each other and address those challenges in similar ways. I'm not really a "coach" with a program to sell. I will sell some hours. But this one-to-many format allows me to get information out there and engage in the community.

Cloud Service Roundtable members can download the recording free. If you're not a member, consider it a modest investment at only $9.95/month USD. We will also be posting the US / UK edition if we get a good recording.

Freeday Friday Podcast Posted - Oceanic Edition

This program was recorded and is posted here.

How Do I sell if I'm Not a Salesman?

We had a quick show today (35 minutes). Just a few questions. The kickoff question was, "How do I upsell clients when I don't want to be the salesman?" I give a little advice and encouragement. and we answer a question from a live listener as well.

If you would like your question to be the start-off question, just send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Please put Freeday Friday in the subject line.

Freeday Friday is a new program to give you access to some coaching advice in a totally new format. See details at www.FreedayFriday.com.

Basically, I am offering free coaching advice to a very few people - live and free. The "price" for free advice is that other people get to listen in. The idea is that we all share some common challenges, so we might be able to learn from each other and address those challenges in similar ways. I'm not really a "coach" with a program to sell. I will sell some hours. But this one-to-many format allows me to get information out there and engage in the community.

Cloud Service Roundtable members can download the recording free. If you're not a member, consider it a modest investment at only $9.95/month USD. We will also be posting the US / UK edition if we get a good recording.

This program was recorded and is posted here.

Robin Talks About What's Next, Cloud and BDR Promotions, Perennial Campaigns, and More

I had a nice chat with Robin Robins this morning. For those of you unfamiliar with Robin, she's the genius behind the Managed Services Blueprint, as well as marketing programs geared toward cloud integration, managed services, and BDRs.

I always like catching up with Robin because she's full of energy and ideas - but totally focused on the big picture. She just finished a roadshow with Axcient and HP, hitting five major cities. She talks about some of the discussions and lessons learned there. We also touched on Robin's annual Bootcamp in Nashville, which is totally sold out.

Finally, we talked a little about marketing strategies that will work going forward. I asked her about the effectiveness of Facebook and LinkedIn for most MSPs. She gave some nice insights about that, and also about long-term strategies for success. One key lesson is to adopt campaigns you can use over and over again. Despite what you might think, repeating a successful campaign can bring you a great deal of success.

Check out the whole interview here. (Free to subscribers.)

You can find out more about Robin and the Managed Services Blueprint at: ManagedServicesBlueprint.com.

:-)

First Freeday Friday March Podcast Posted - US/UK Edition

This program was recorded and is posted here.

UK Partner Challenged with Time Management. US Partner Wondering About Hiring Techs.

The first UK/US show went off pretty well. Lots of questions. Totally different topics from the Oceanic edition yesterday. We start out with a partner who desparately needs a PSA system. It's actually pretty amazing how many problems are solved with the right PSA tool.

Plus he got a little tough love.

On hiring, we talked about Craigslist, Monster, Career Builder, temp agencies, and strategies for direct hire of part-time technicians.

I am so grateful to the community for their participation here. It really is exactly what I was looking for. I get tons of email and I sometimes end up answering questions six months later. I feel bad, but I can only do so much. This allows me to answer more questions in a shorter time frame. What I was hoping for with this dual show is that there would be a wide variety of topics. That's exactly what we got.

Thank you to everyone who participated - especially the folks who put themselves out there with tough questions about their business. We are a community, and that means relying on each other for support at times.

Cloud Service Roundtable members can download the recording free. If you're not a member, consider it a modest investment at only $9.95/month USD. We will also be posting the US / UK edition if we get a good recording.

First Freeday Friday Podcast Posted - Oceanic Edition

This program was recorded and is posted here.

Well, the Aussies Kicked Off Freeday Friday with a Great Show

When it's Thursday afternoon here, it's Friday morning over there. So at 3PM Pacific time today, I launched the Aussie/New Zealand/Oceanic edition of Freeday Friday. We got a good recording, and it is available free to Cloud Services Roundtable Members.

Freeday Friday is a new program to give you access to some coaching advice in a totally new format. See details at www.FreedayFriday.com.

Basically, I am offering free coaching advice to a very few people - live and free. The "price" for free advice is that other people get to listen in. The idea is that we all share some common challenges, so we might be able to learn from each other and address those challenges in similar ways. I'm not really a "coach" with a program to sell. I will sell some hours. But this one-to-many format allows me to get information out there and engage in the community.

Besides . . . it's new and fun! And once the idea entered my head, I had to try it.

This recording is the first ever Freeday Friday - and starts off with a very common question for companies seeking to grow from one person to a four- or five-person shop. It's a little rough, but I think the advice is worthwhile.

Cloud Service Roundtable members can download the recording free. If you're not a member, consider it a modest investment at only $9.95/month USD. We will also be posting the US / UK edition if we get a good recording.

Interviews with Chris Bangs from SMB Nation and Dal Gemmell from Symantec

As MVP Nation was winding down in Redmond, I was able to grab Chris Bangs and Dal Gemmell. Chris does a variety of things at SMB Nation, and plays a big role in getting vendors on board. Dal Gemmell is a Principle Product Manager at Symantec.

1) Download the Chris Bangs interview on "What's Up" with SMB Nation. Chris gives us great info on the re-designed SMB Nation website, the Fall Conference in Vegas, the SMB 150 awards, and a lot more.

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2) Download the Dal Gemmell Interview on one "Vendor's" view of MVP Nation. Dal is responsible for Endpoint Protection on desktops and servers for the small business market. He gives us some insight on why anti-virus is not enough, and how you might discuss that with you clients. He also gives some info on the integration of Backup Exec and other products with our standard SMB Tools.

:-)

Greg Starks from HP Gives a Great Intro to iQuote

What do you need from HP?

What have you always needed from HP?

A "Configuration" Quoting Tool!

Well, in this member podcast, Greg Starks from HP shows us the great stuff you can do with HP's new iQuote tool.

There are three ways to use the tool . . . including using their API to integrate it right into your company web site.

Member Download:

Interview with Greg Starks, March 2012

Links Mentioned in, or related to this podcast:

- HPiquote.net

- HP’s press release was in June when the first US distributor turned on iQuote: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110628a.html?mtxs=rss-corp-news

- Here is the blog announcement Greg did Feb 13 to introduce HP iQuote Universal: http://h30507.www3.hp.com/t5/Coffee-Coaching-HP-and-Microsoft/Announcing-HP-iQuote-Universal/ba-p/107019
(Note: There are now 16 countries using iQuote.)

- The general info/landing page for iQuote is: http://hp.com/go/iquote.

:-)

Interviews with Jeff Middleton on IT Pro Conference and Tom Poole on SMB Nation

I caught up with a few more folks at MVP Nation in Redmond. After two days on content, content, content, I managed to talk to a few community members about what's next. Then I nabbed Jeff Middleton again to give us the low-down on his June conference.

So here's the line up of new down-loads:

1) Download the Jeff Middleton interview on the IT Pro Conference 2012. Jeff gives us the information and a great introduction to the theme of this year's IT Pro 2012 conference in New Orleans. Once I heard New Orleans, I agreed to go! Join me.

Details:
2-Day French Quarter Weekend Conference
New Orleans

June 8 & 9, 2012

With a pre-day "brain explosion" event by Third Tier on June 7th.

I'll be at Jeff's conference . . . and THEN wander off to Orlando for the Autotask Community Live conference on June 10-12. That whole trip will be 75% brain overload and 25% vacation (at least for me).

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2) Download the Tom Poole interview on the MVP Nation and SMB Nation Conferences. Tom runs Cloud Nation and is a great source of info. He was a bit busy closing out this conference, but gave us ten minutes. Check it out and find out what's ahead for SMB Nation Fall!

:-)