3E Advantage Director, Brian Swan recently attended the inaugural IT Nation Connect Australia event on the Gold Coast. If you are an MSP or just involved in the channel and didn’t make it to the event, read on for Brian’s 3 minute synopsis of Day 3. If you haven’t already done so, take a read of his Days 1 and 2 synopsis here.
About IT Nation Connect
IT Nation, by ConnectWise, is a worldwide community of IT peers, thought leaders and experts who are ready to share, connect, learn from each other and gain valuable insights in to how company leaders can grow their businesses and find long term success.
The inaugural Australian conference was held this week on the beautiful Gold Coast and this blog is a diary log of the insights I received and what I learned over the 3 days.
Day 3 – 27/03/19
9.00am Keynote –
Anthony Laye (Mentalist & Body Language Expert)
Anthony is a phenomenal presenter who gets his message across in a very entertaining manner. He had the audience engaged throughout and gave us very good tips and tricks regarding body language; “Lift Look Lean”, “Always keep your hands visible”, “Talk from your C spot” and “body language is about hearing what isn’t being said”
The biggest tip I got from the session was to do a check in on yourself before each and every meeting. Prepare your mind and body. Ask yourself, “How should I be turning up” and always consider what sort of energy I should be bringing to each interaction.
Swanny’s Takeaway – Check in before every interaction. How should I be turning up?
10.30am Sales Process Workshop –
Nathan Austin (co-Founder Mytech Partners Inc)
This session covered building a sales process, defining the criteria associated with each sales stage, and demonstrating how to input sales stages into ConnectWise.
Nathan walked the audience through the Sales Process which Mytech adopts. At a high level it is as follows; 1. Opportunity Identified, 2. Evaluation & Technical Discovery, 3. Qualification of Solution & Budget, 4. Proposal Generation & Presentation, 5. Negotiation, 6. Commitment
Swanny’s Takeaway – Clearly define your Sales process and never skip a step in the process
1.30pm Pricing and Packaging –
Brian Troy (Director of Product Marketing – ConnectWise)
This session was various round table discussions on pricing and packaging. Hosted by Brian Troy, the main two questions for discussion were, 1. Are you bundling your services, or offering everything ala carte? And 2. What does your pricing structure look like?
It became evident across all groups that the majority of customers are looking for a “Price per User” offering rather than the more traditional “Price per Device” model.
The MSP pricing model needs to be simple and flexible for their customers and a very common theme was that all customers love having one bill, with line itemised descriptions of what is covered.
Swanny’s Takeaway – 3Es TaaR Under One Bill was very well received.
2.45pm Panel: Customer Acquisition & Retention – Paul Mangano (Mangano IT), Laura Cunningham (centreRED IT), John Lane (Powernet IT Solutions) & Aaron Smith (Correct Solutions)
Bringing in new customers is challenging but keeping them can be just as difficult. The 4 ConnectWise partners discussed their tried and true methods of bringing customers in the door and keeping them. There was a big emphasis on the importance of Marketing and the key points from the panel members were as follows;
Paul – “don’t sell to your customers, educate them”
Laura – “have regular ‘lunch and learns’”, “be clear on your message and promote it consistently”
John – “be specific about who you are marketing to”, “be persistent and consistent”
Aaron – “it’s about demand generation for your Sales team – give them good leads – feed the beast”
Swanny’s Takeaway – we have to be constantly marketing to our existing customers
4.00pm Is Your Value Dropping in the Eyes of Your Customer –
Craig Fulton (Chief Customer Success Officer – ConnectWise)
This session was jointly hosted by Craig Fulton and Brian Troy and was about how fully embracing the as-a-service business model helps you become more than just a vendor to your clients.
One of Craigs favourite quotes is, “it’s a Customers world – we’re just living in it”. All of us have to prove to our customers that we are a valuable partner to their overall success.
The ConnectWise methodology for ‘as-a-service’ is; 1. Adoption, 2. Satisfaction, 3. Upsell, 4.Retention and if you adopt that methodology your Customers Experience will be enhanced, thereby increasing your value to them.
Swanny’s Takeaway – It’s a Customers world – we’re just living in it.
7.00pm IT Nation Connect Casino night and Closing
Swanny’s Takeaway – I am better at providing finance solutions than I am at poker !!