Matt Jones,
Geek IT

Working 12-Hour Days, 6 Days A Week, Without Growing My MRR, I Was Officially STUCK

Like my grandfather – my hero – I’ve always had an affinity for helping people. In addition, I love technology. At age 18, I combined those two passions in a unique and profitable way. I went to RadioShack and bought a few Optimus speakers, some PylePro amps, NSYNC headset mics and lights. My friend and I started transforming lame school dances into high-tech, blockbuster events for $200 a night! But it was never about the money, it was about seeing those kids’ faces light up as they danced the night away.

Years later, my love of technology backfired on me when a computer randomly laid me off. So, after two corporate layoffs and growing up with a family of self-starting hard workers, I decided it was time to do my own thing. That’s when Geek iT was born. I started in a 30′ x 30′ building doing virus removals and fixing computers, cell phones and tablets. In the next couple of years, I added another location and then another and another. Growing WAAAAAAAAY too big too fast, I scaled back to one break-fix shop and one corporate office for commercial MSP work.

In the summer of 2019, I was officially STUCK. I was in a rut and lost my motivation. Sure, I loved my company. I loved helping others. But something was missing. First thing missing was my free time since I was working 12-hour days six days a week! Having a three-year-old daughter, one-year-old son and 17-year-old son puts everything into perspective. Second thing missing…MONEY. My gross monthly recurring revenue was about $7K. My break-fix shop was doing ehhh (that means FAILING, but I didn’t want to admit it).

Inspired By One Of Robin’s Members

Instead of chasing virus removal and cell phone repair, I wanted to become a true MSP and strictly focus on business clients. I wanted to be home by 5:30 p.m. every day, enjoy a nice recurring revenue and never again have to worry if I’ll make enough that month. That was my stuck. I needed inspiration. I needed a distraction. So, I did what most stuck IT business owners do…I opened Facebook.

I browsed through an MSP owners group on Facebook, and this one guy’s profile picture struck me. For two solid hours, I watched videos of Stephen Taylor from LeadingIT talk about cyber security tips and growing his MSP. I was trying to reverse engineer how he had become so successful. Then I saw it! In the background of a picture of him and Daymond John, I noticed a logo with “RR” in the middle. Suddenly it clicked! That was the same logo I saw months earlier on a big red envelope.

Words cannot describe the severity of the rut I was in. I was severely depressed. I knew the company should be doing better, but I couldn’t put a finger on what was missing. But I had these black-and-white results from Stephen Taylor and other Technology Marketing Toolkit members in front of me. I was officially done being stuck. So, in a matter of seconds, I was spending money I didn’t have so I could attend a marketing workshop in Nashville.

A Mindset Shift About Marketing And What’s Truly Possible

After going to the Rapid Implementation Workshop, I felt like I was drowning under a tidal wave of information and resources. It was paralysis by analysis. I figured I would change my whole system. Then I remembered how many times I had changed systems in the past and how it NEVER worked out. So I stopped.

Instead, I committed myself to being on every call, every week. I committed myself to doing the work exactly as it was presented to me. I committed to avoid reinventing the wheel by using every Done-For-You service that Technology Marketing Toolkit offered. It WORKED! In fact, the results we saw immediately from the 9-Word E-mails we sent were surprising. Clients who had never responded before were now engaged and ready to spend money!

If I’m being honest, the initial implementation that started producing results wasn’t a letter or a duck. It was my mindset and my confidence. Simply making the investment to attend the Rapid Implementation Workshop changed everything. After going to the workshop, meeting other IT business owners who had gone through my same struggles and getting on the weekly calls, I felt like Superman. From stuck and depressed to growing and elated, I was no longer afraid of putting myself out there. I was executing marketing, knocking on doors and calling. I was sparking interest!

Priceless Lessons Learned

Only RESULTS-DRIVEN Marketing Counts – My old self would say, “Look at all these pretty business cards and brochures I made. Plus, I joined the Chamber. I’m a true marketer now.” NOPE. That’s just branding and networking. Your marketing needs to drive real results, such as generating leads, appointments and new sales.

Always Consider The Done-For-You Option – I knew I didn’t have the time to implement all of this marketing. So, if Robin offers a Done-For-You option, jump on it. For example, I know we need a better social media presence. But, instead of learning how to do it and spending hours each week executing, we will simply sign up for Robin’s Done-For-You Social Media Posting Service.

Just Shut Up And Do It – “But I can’t afford it.” “I don’t have time for this.” “What if it doesn’t work?” These are the same thoughts that kept running through my mind. But I’ve since learned to quiet those voices because I kept getting IMMEDIATE results. While at the Rapid Implementation Workshop, I closed a deal. Then, while at the DC Roadshow, I closed another deal. It works. Just jump in, shut up, duplicate what she has done and sit back and watch the results roll in.

DOUBLING Our Monthly Recurring Revenue In 12 Weeks Flat!

I’ll admit, after seeing what Stephen Taylor and other Technology Marketing Toolkit members accomplished, my expectations were sky-high going into Robin’s Rapid Implementation Workshop. And then I EXCEEDED those expectations!

I really can’t believe how much I accomplished in just 90 days. Before I started, I didn’t think I had time for marketing…I didn’t think I had time for an accountability call each week…and I sure didn’t think I could afford to do marketing the way it’s intended. Now I know I can’t afford NOT to do marketing right. All told, in the 90 days of this workshop experience, I:

• More than DOUBLED our MRR – from $7,000/month to over $15,000/month
• Added $37,867.04 in new client project work
• Converted my remaining break-fix consumer store to a cell phone repair franchise so I could focus on marketing my enterprise IT company
• Hired an amazing manager to keep our systems rolling

Among our most successful campaigns within those 12 weeks were the following:

Adding $3,200 In New MRR Using A Cool Twist On The Aspirin Campaign

We have proven beyond doubt that Robin’s Aspirin Campaign absolutely works…even if you send out only 25 letters a week like we did. We’ve generated three appointments, three pending quotes and several new clients that added $3,200 in new MRR! Because we’ve been so busy with the new business we’ve generated from this campaign, we’ve only mailed 500 total so far.

Pro Tip: To bypass the gatekeeper, we are mailing the Aspirin sales letter in a package that looks like it comes from Target. This unique twist gets it to the decision maker and gets it opened!    

Awakening Clients From The Dead With Our Weekly Cyber Security Tips

“Out of sight, out of mind.” When prospects, clients and past clients don’t hear from you, you fall off their radar. By e-mailing Cyber Security Tips on a weekly basis, we have awoken four previously “dead” leads and generated $800 in MRR and $1,300 in new project work.

Beyond “awakening the dead,” we saw our clients started talking again about how great we are and how we are on top of things. This goodwill should help convert future quarterly business reviews into new business!

Dark Web Scans + Golf Tournaments = $300 In New MRR

To maximize your marketing, you should always strive to be where your target market hangs out. For us, that’s on the golf course. So, during the 12 weeks of Rapid, we sponsored a golf tournament by offering free dark web scans via ID Agent. This single event helped land us nine first-time appointments, including a university that had 3,000+ compromised passwords. So far, we have added $300 in new monthly recurring revenue as a result!

Automating Our Marketing With MAP By Infusionsoft

I had heard from other members that once they started using Infusionsoft, their production (and results) significantly increased. Since I was already experiencing immediate results, I signed up for Infusionsoft my first day at the workshop. Within a WEEK, this essential investment had paid for itself!

Thanks to Infusionsoft, rather than executing campaigns intermittently and haphazardly, we now have an automated marketing system. Today, we utilize Infusionsoft to help implement several marketing campaigns, including our monthly newsletters, weekly direct mail campaigns, monthly webinars and our weekly Cyber Security Tips e-mails.

A Whole New Outlook. A Whole New Me.

By going through Robin’s Rapid Implementation Workshop and continuing on with this higher level of marketing, my mindset has for sure changed. I have had clients and family members ask, “You’re carrying yourself differently nowadays – did you change something about yourself?”

Yes, something absolutely changed. It starts with my confidence. I can now pull the trigger on important things that I should have years ago. Now, at five o’clock, I go home to be with my family. On Saturdays and Sundays, all phone calls go straight to voicemail. Of course, I’ll always respond to any emergency. But what’s the point of having your own business if you can’t enjoy more freedoms to spend time with your loved ones?

Here’s the REAL difference in where I’m at today: just this morning, I thought I was going to lose a client. Before working with Robin, I would have chopped my price in half to avoid losing this client. Today, I have the confidence to say, “I know the value of the service I provide and cannot lower my price.” Because we have marketing systems in place, I’m 100% confident we will replace any lost client. Today, there is ALWAYS light at the end of the tunnel.

Since I first discovered the person who made such an impact on Stephen Taylor’s business, I’ve added $9,624 in additional monthly recurring revenue and $51,329 in new project revenue! It’s clear that Robin and the TMT family share the same character traits as me and my grandfather – they love to help. This is why this group truly feels like family to me.

Mike Ritsema,
i3 Business Solutions

“I Can Fix Any Problem With More Sales”

i3 Business Solutions began in the Grand Rapids area in 2004 from a series of mergers of IBM business partner firms. A few years later, the Great Recession hit Michigan like a nuclear bomb. Instantly, the unemployment rate climbed to 18% in our area while the manufacturing and distribution industries – our target market – were in freefall. Suddenly, we were forced to transform our business dramatically and step on the accelerator of managed services.

Most of Robin’s members are technicians and engineers. That’s not me. I’ve been a diehard salesperson for 25 years. I have always believed that sales drive the engine. I jokingly tell people, “I can fix any problem with more sales.” (Hmmm, maybe that’s why techs don’t always get along with salespeople.)

In 2016, my dedication to sales was working like gangbusters. We hit $100,000 in monthly recurring revenue, which was a monster milestone for us! But that celebration was short-lived since our Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) dropped considerably for three months!

From “Marketing Schmarketing” To Running With Robin

Since sales ran through my blood, I had always turned my nose up at marketing. I thought, “Marketing schmarketing. You don’t need taglines and billboards and branding. What you REALLY need is to go talk to a human and ASK for the order. You need a SALESPERSON, not marketing.”

As you might have guessed, my aversion (lack of knowledge, lack of confidence) to marketing meant a very sporadic, disjointed and unproductive marketing plan. Our marketing largely focused on telemarketing, with spotty social media posts and an enewsletter. But the more RECURRING REVENUE I lost and the more SLEEP I lost, the more I opened my mind to giving marketing a shot. 

So, I started running with Robin. Every time I ran, I would listen to Robin’s YouTube videos. Hour after hour after hour, her sage advice and strategies about successfully marketing an IT business beat me down. After listening to her for months, I was drinking the Kool-Aid and ready to start IMPLEMENTING her brand of marketing.

Mailing More Dollar Bills Than My Bank Stocked!

We got the Toolkit and signed up for Robin’s Accelerators Club. I’ll never forget our first direct mail campaign. We ran the Godfather Campaign where you affix a dollar bill to the top of the letter. So I went to my local bank and asked for 100 one-dollar bills to get started. My banker said, “Sorry, Mike, we don’t keep one-dollar bills in stock.” Not taking “no” for an answer, I asked him to order my dollar bills in. By the time the campaign was finished, he was stocking dollar bills just for me! I would call him up, ask for a few hundred dollar bills, and he would deliver them straight to my office!

I Gave Myself An Ultimatum That Could Impact Everything I Built

I went all-in on Robin’s marketing. I was drip marketing with postcards and mailing campaigns and following up with phone calls. For the first time in my 25 years as a sales-first businessman, I was a TRUE MARKETER. Unfortunately, we had zero results from all of our efforts. For five months straight…nothing.

About that time, a salesman from the Sandler Selling System called and played all the emotional strings. I was tempted to sign with him, but wanted to give this new marketing a serious shot. So, I made myself an ultimatum: If I am not closing lucrative deals in a couple of months, I will sign up with Sandler.

The Floodgates Opened! We Added $3K A Month For 6 Straight Months!

I’ll never forget that call I got from a manufacturer in town. He said, “Mike, you sent me a dollar bill that I have right here on my desk. Can you stop by and see me?” That day, I met with this prospective client, and just two weeks later he signed on with i3 Business Solutions.

Right through that summer, all of the campaigns and drip marketing we had done started to heat up. We added about $3,000 in monthly recurring revenue one month. Next month, we added another $3,000. And another. And another. By the end of that year, we added $3,000 a month for six straight months for a total of around $25,000 in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)! I never did sign with Sandler Selling, but I did offer to speak at his next seminar. He didn’t appreciate that.

Attending The Rapid Implementation Workshop: “We Have Action Items!”

In May, we attended the Rapid Implementation Workshop. When I arrived back at my office, I told my marketing manager, “Grace, we have action items!” Maybe it was that we attacked the 90-Day Checklist with a vengeance. Maybe it was because we had perfect attendance on all of the accountability calls. But we enjoyed great results from our efforts!

An Additional $65,000 In MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue), Thanks To 32 Quarterly Business Reviews

We have always conducted annual strategic business reviews with our clients and quarterly business reviews (QBRs) when warranted. Since May, we’ve made a concerted effort to request QBRs for our clients. This new push to have in-person meetings with our clients resulted in 32 total QBRs in just seven months, adding $65,000 in new monthly recurring revenue!

Mailing 523 Packets Of Aspirin Worth $15,649 In MRR!

From June through July, in increments of 60 to 80 letters a week, we mailed a total of 523 packets of aspirin in our Aspirin Campaign! When possible, we customized the letters to the specific industry (health care, manufacturing, agriculture, insurance, etc.). One of our favorite campaigns, this direct mail effort brought in $15,649 in new monthly recurring revenue! 

Windows End Of Life Campaign Gave Us New Life!

Targeting our top 15 clients with the largest number of servers and workstations to upgrade, we implemented the Windows End of Life Campaign in July. All told, this direct mail campaign added $362,924 in new project revenue! In addition, we ran an Office 365 campaign that generated $6,500 in new Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), totaling $78,000 annually!

Boosting Our Credibility With Testimonials

As a result of sending out our testimonial e-mail campaign, we were able to create an impressive marketing piece that provides prospects with third-party proof, credibility, as well as trust that our team will exceed their expectations. We now include these testimonials in our Shock-And-Awe boxes and in our proposal packets. These testimonials are a reminder of the value we deliver to our clients.

How A Prospect Used Our Shock-And-Awe Box Against Us!

We started sending out Shock-And-Awe boxes over a year ago, and they’ve been working quite well. Inside the box, we include the book Predictable Success by Les McKeown, an i3-branded emergency kit, an i3 mug, some sweets and, of course, the client testimonials and cover letter.

On a recent sales call with a real estate company, she brought out my 21 questions from the box and asked me every single one of MY OWN QUESTIONS! I figured, if she’s asking my competitors these same questions, we are definitely winning the deal…and we did! Plus, she was so impressed with our box, they are going to implement the concept for their entire franchise!

A Complete Online Presence Means More Internet Leads

Implementing Robin’s Online Marketing Checklist was one of our more time-consuming and extensive assignments, but we did it! We are now able to better track traffic, leads and user behavior with Google Analytics. We also set up Google My Business and have eight reviews so far, averaging 4.9 stars. By implementing SEO best practices, adding new web pages and rolling out Facebook Ads and LinkedIn ads, Internet leads have steadily increased in the past few months.

In addition to implementing these marketing campaigns and strategies, we have successfully accomplished the following:

• Referral Reward Program – We offer gift cards to people who refer us and plan to have a referral competition in the next couple of months.
• Answering Phones Live – We now have TWO dispatchers to deliver even better customer service.
• Online Drip Campaign – We constantly “drip” to our prospects and clients with blog posts and social media posts.
• TechTips – Every month, we send TechTips and Microsoft tip e-mails to all clients and a list of prospects that includes links to our website, blogs and product promotions. Additionally, we send quarterly TechTips postcards to our list of prospects.

Lessons Learned In My Journey From A Sales-Only Mindset To A Sales And Marketing Mindset

For 25+ years of my life, I believed that being successful in business was all about banging the phone over and over again. Without selling, nothing happened. After learning from Robin Robins and the Technology Marketing Toolkit team over the past two and a half years, while I still believe that sales are the engine, I also believe that marketing is the necessary fuel to make your IT business run.

Back when we sent out over 600 dollar bills in our Godfather Campaign to our list, I remember getting a phone call…from my brother. He said, “Mike, I got your dollar bill in the mail. I used it to buy a fundraiser candy bar from someone in my office.” That’s when I turned to the 10 Commandments of Great Marketing for IT Services that was hanging on my wall, and the light bulb finally came on. Commandment #1 read: “Thou Shall Always Use A HIGHLY TARGETED List.” At that moment, I looked at my list of 600 prospects and pared it down to 350 of my absolute best prospects.

Lesson Learned: When you have a VERY targeted market and you are CONSISTENTLY drip marketing to them, you get MORE HIGHLY QUALIFIED leads. When I talk to other business owners, I tell them that selling IS important. But it’s the constant drip marketing that makes the whole selling process far more effective. Where I used to preach the truth of sales focus, I’m now a passionate evangelist for drip marketing.

Another lesson I learned relates to our commitment to excellence. Our MSP has adopted what I call “Checklist Process Excellence,” where we are delivering phenomenal service on a consistent basis. Problem was, like Robin says, “Until they do business with you, they only know how good your MARKETING is.”

Lesson Learned: Now that we are also implementing “Checklist Process Excellence” for our MARKETING and SALES, we’re delivering predictable results. Our process is now documented and always implemented. This cadence of excellence extends from drip marketing and throughout the sales process. When we get a prospect, we immediately send them our Shock-And-Awe box. After the first meeting, we follow up with a letter in the mail.

From “King Of Sales” To “Master Of Marketing,” We’re Coming For Your $5.2 Million!

With an aggressive goal of $5.2 million in revenue, we now know just how to get there. Although marketing was never a huge part of our business, we have started taking MAJOR steps to improve branding, website and campaign strategies. Robin’s implementation tips are filling all the gaps we used to have.

Thanks to the Rapid Implementation Workshop, in just 90 days following the workshop, our company has hired five full-time employees, received 11 inbound leads, set 10 appointments and closed two new clients! With growth comes challenges, but we’re ready to tackle each challenge, one at a time!

$219,957 in just 90 days! That’s the average annual revenue increase reported by those who attend the Rapid Implementation Workshop. To reserve your spot at an upcoming Rapid Implementation Workshop go to: www.RapidImplementationWorkshop.com