Hi Reader. I love me some KPIs and benchmarks, so maybe it's a little odd for me to minimize their usefulness. I use KPIs and benchmarks every day in my work. They are incredibly valuable. That said, they can be misunderstood and misapplied. I often have chats with owners, managers, and even techs who read industry reports or talk to a friend in the industry. They hear or read some benchmark on what people are charging, how many tickets they close, what margins they make, etc. They quickly...
22 days ago • 1 min read
Reader, how comfortable are you with your sales process? I talk a lot about service and business operations, but I do know a thing about sales as well. Sales, like every other part of your business, should be an established process that has been tested and refined to demonstrate its ability to produce what you want. Far too many MSPs have a sales process that is much more art than science.You need both. Are you using a CRM?....Are you using it properly? 😉 Do you have an Ideal Client Profile...
29 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, your work is valuable. Unfortunately, I find many people in business don't put the appropriate value on their work. Too many entrepreneurs have battle scars from the early days of trying to win whatever business they could and saving every dollar they could. Then, when they are successful, they have a tough time giving up those old scarcity-minded habits. They hold on to bad clients and waste a ton of time keeping them happy. They scrutinize every expense, thinking that saving 120...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, do you have co-managed IT clients? Co-managed IT is great way to work deeply with your clients, especially when they are big enough to require internal IT staff. Sometimes it's not even that they are big, but they require some subject matter expertise and have one or more IT staff. In SMB IT, no one can practically have all the skills they need to support the complex needs of modern IT requirements. Especially if on a salary, that makes sense for a small business. It simply makes...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, have you ever fired someone for not entering their time regularly? Should you? I believe being accountable for your administrative duties in a job is just as important as doing the work itself. I did a video on why not entering your time is a fireable offence. You can watch it here. Happy summer holiday season next week to all my North American friends. Both Canada Day and Independence Day. 113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205Unsubscribe · Preferences
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, are you constantly distracted away from what you're working on? ADHD is a very trendy topic. The number of people who are self-diagnosing ADHD based on viral TikTok videos has exploded in the past couple of years. The reality is that 2-4% of the population is truly ADHD. Yet, self-identified ADHD people in IT are as high as 20%! The thing is, you probably don't have ADHD, you just suffer from technical distraction. Our attention is so fragmented between different platforms. The...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Reader, did you know that last year I accidentally deleted my YouTube channel? Yeah, it was a sad day. Luckily, I hadn't invested heavily in the channel, so it was a frustrating and annoying loss, but not a catastrophic one. Many of the edited videos are unrecoverable. I've been reviewing some of the raw recordings I've saved to see what I can restore. I'm not one of those people who hate hearing their own voice or seeing recordings of themselves. I used to make home movies with friends as a...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, when was the last time your sales team had to explain their metrics the way your help desk does daily? Does that same level of scrutiny apply to other teams in your company? In many MSPs, I observe this odd situation where the expectations of the help desk teams are very high. There is extreme scrutiny of performance and plenty of corrective feedback based on client feedback or other sources. Meanwhile, the project, sales, and admin teams are left to do their thing without much...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader I rant about how useless the word busy is all the time. I love this fantastic visual representation of what busy vs. productive looks like. Don't try to hero your way through your work. When you're feeling overwhelmed, it's not the time to do more. It's time to stop, step back, reflect on your priorities, and start creating more proactive time for the important tasks you have on deck. Being able to measure your progress and point to your achievements is far more important than how...
3 months ago • 1 min read
