Client Case Studies

How Our Start-Stop-Start Again Approach To Marketing Almost Put Us Out Of Business

Ross Brouse,
Continuous Networks

Stuck Between Growing Our Business And Saving It

It’s all perspective. From the outside looking in, our commodity cloud and server company seemed like a goldmine a few years back. We were climbing toward $8 million in annual revenue. We had 50 employees. But because we weren’t sure how to effectively lead, how to business plan and how to market, our business was not poised to weather a potential storm.

Over the next couple of years, the storm hit hard. We lost nearly HALF of our revenue and 60% of our team. With tons of debt and too much overhead, we were bleeding money. My business partner, Jason Silverglate, and I didn’t want the same fate for our IT services business, Continuous Networks. But things were not good within that company.

As the CEO, Jason was also in charge of sales and marketing. I was the COO, so I was running (trying and failing) operations. The culture we had built was starting to tank. Everybody was overworked, and it showed. There was stealing. There were physical fights. I was often working 18-hour days, seven days a week. To be blunt, we were stuck between GROWING our business and SAVING it. Read full article and comment →

I’ve Increased Revenue From $1.2M to 1.75M, Profits Are Up 642%… And I’m Living A Life I Love With My Family!

Fred Sagester,
Sagester Associates Group

Taking My “Underdog” Business To SUPERHERO Status

Does this sound like you? You’ve spun your wheels in your IT business for years. But you’re in a deep rut. Growing your business by improving your sales and marketing is ALWAYS at the top of your priority list…but you NEVER take action because you’re just too busy. Instead, you keep spending long hours doing what you’ve always done, hoping your results magically change (because YOU won’t change).

That was me. Since opening Sagester Associates Group, Inc., in 2001, we were the underdog. The little guy. For far too many years, we operated solely on word-of-mouth referrals. As a result, growth was unpredictable and stagnant. My average client size is under $1K a month. But this little guy had the same aspirations as he had as a kid: to be a superhero and be onstage at Boot Camp like other MSP superheroes. Read full article and comment →

“Becoming A ‘Wealth-Building Business’ By Growing Revenue Beyond $2M (Up $535K) And Net Profit By 2,100%… All In ONE YEAR!”

Bob Coppedge,
Simplex IT

How A Self-Proclaimed “Crotchety Old Geek” Strives Every Day To Be Better Than Yesterday

My story is a bit different. While I was recently one of five Better Your Best finalists honored to present onstage at Robin’s recent Boot Camp, I’m not about to go on and on about how fantastic I am. Because none of you care what I DID. Rather, you want to relate MY success to what YOU can do to succeed in YOUR business.

But before I do that, a bit of overview. I’ll start with my family. Nineteen years ago, I was a swinging bachelor with two cats. Then I met Julie, who has really lousy taste in husbands, and three daughters. The cats are all dead now, but I got three sons-in-law and six grandkids out of the deal. So, technically I outsourced my family. That’s my experience with mergers and acquisitions.

I started Simplex-IT in 2007. We were an MSP from the start, avoiding the “trading time for money” challenges of the break-fix model. By constantly reinventing ourselves, we have never had a down year (knock on wood). The company has increased revenue each year, always been profitable, and I’ve been fortunate to always provide myself a decent wage. We have always been a bootstrap from a financial standpoint and never dipped into savings or loans. Read full article and comment →

How I Fired 981 Demanding Break-Fix Customers And Added 91 Quality Managed Services Clients To Double Profits To 31.3%

Charles Swihart,
Preactive IT Solutions

A Holistic Better Your Best Transformation:

Failed Marketing, Arrested Clients & Payroll Nightmares

“This is too easy.” After I opened my business in 2003 and put out roadside bandit signs at night, the phones lit up. I quit my day job as a software developer and began hiring employees. My business soon moved from my study to my garage to a real office.

Soon we were making enough money to fund our first two (failed) marketing campaigns: a $6,000 Yellow Page ad and $4,000 in cable TV commercials. Nothing but crickets.

After a few years, we had nine employees and were booked all day. Problem was, our “anything for a buck” break-fix business came with a truckload of stresses. We dealt with so many hot checks that I had to document a process for submitting them to the district attorney. Plus, in 2015 we had 981 customers. Servicing that many customers took a toll on our employees and turnover was scary high.

The worst part? Every month your revenue starts over at ZERO! It’s not a good cash-flow model. Have you ever spent all night wondering how you’re going to pay the bills? Have you ever borrowed against your house just to make payroll? I’ve done that, and it’s the worst feeling in the world.

The daily stress of this break-fix lifestyle wreaked havoc on my body. Imagine crawling under desks when you weigh 375 pounds. My business was in bad shape. So was I. Read full article and comment →

How This “Small-Fry” MSP Owner Increased Revenue By $1.6 Million, Net Profit By 1,300% And Became Our 2019 Better Your Best WINNER!

Sitima Fowler,
Capstone IT

Moving To America With Only $100 To Our Name, The Odds Were Stacked Against Me

Until age 11, India was my home. Because my father wanted to create a better life for my family, we came to America in 1979. My parents and my brother arrived with only $100, hoping to fulfill our dreams.

However, our lives began as a nightmare. We knew nobody. We had no money. And we had no clothes. When you’re an introvert and wear the same exact outfit every single day, kids make fun of you.

One of my fondest memories as a teenager was going to McDonald’s. A rare treat indeed. Our entire family of four would share a single small bag of fries. Then I looked over to the man sitting next to me. All by himself, he was eating a LARGE box of fries. That moment was burned into my brain. It became my French Fry Mindset. I realized right then that there is a big, abundant world out there, and I was determined to be a part of it. Read full article and comment →

“How Much Growth Can A Sales Manager Bring To Your MSP Business? For Us, It Was A $591,392 Increase – And Growing!”

Jim Bryce,
Debian IT

After More Than DOUBLING The Business In Under 3 Years, A Plateau Was On The Horizon

Maybe you’ve heard about the legend of Vincent Fung. I assure you, he is a REAL person. But yes, his seismic growth a few years back was legendary. From the spring of 2014 to the close of 2017, with the support of Robin’s Producers Club and his Accountability Group, Vince had grown his business from $1.9 million to $4.2 million.

In the US, where the economy is strong, doubling an IT business in less than three years is a significant accomplishment. But here in Alberta, Canada, where the oil and gas economy has been decimated, it was nothing short of a modern-day miracle.

We’ve lost more than 100,000 jobs in Alberta in such a short time. We now have 13 million square feet of vacant office space in the downtown area. Vince knew his business would shrink considerably if he didn’t take the RIGHT action and take that action VERY quickly.

Here’s how…

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“5 IT Services Marketing Strategies That Transformed My $200K Break/Fix Business To A $1.3 Million MSP”

Bhavin Mehta,
Fusion Factor

“If You Build IT, They Will Come.” NOPE!

I started Fusion Factor in 2005 with the mission to help small and medium-sized businesses get a real return on their technology investments. Since we would be dedicated to providing state-of- the-art IT support, phenomenal service and products that allow our clients to get ahead of their competition, I figured we were destined for greatness.

This was my vision (don’t laugh): I thought that simply by opening my IT business, it would grow on its own. AUTOMATICALLY. I truly believed people would find Fusion Factor in the Yellow Pages (it’s under F – I checked). Then the phones would ring off the hook. I envisioned having to turn business away because we couldn’t handle the tidal wave of new customers.

I kept waiting and waiting for that tidal wave. But nothing happened. Not even a small wave or a ripple. Nope, my phone didn’t ring at all. When it did ring, I ran to it like a middle schooler before the big dance. Yet it was always telemarketers selling insurance.

Here are the 5 IT Marketing Strategies That Transformed My $200k Break/Fix Business To A $1.3 Million MSP:

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“After Losing Two Of Our Largest Clients Representing $12,000 A Month In MRR… I Increased My Revenue By $7,100 A Month In JUST 10 MINUTES!”

Jill Eaton,
Sweetwater Technology

For A Decade, I Was “Comfortable” With My Referral-Only Business – “Comfortable” With NOT Growing

Comfortable. That one word perfectly described my IT business for way too many years. I was comfortable with my customer base, comfortable with my revenue and salary. I was comfortable living off of referrals because that’s all we did for about 10 years.

I was comfortable not marketing. Seriously. We never really did ANY kind of real marketing or advertising. We never even hired a salesperson. For an entire decade, because all we ever knew were referrals, we never knew when (or IF) our business would grow.

I guess I figured because we lived in a small, rural town, we weren’t supposed to be stressed with big-city business headaches. The Wyoming town I live in has a population of about 300. I have a husband, kids and over 600 head of cattle. I also have a gas station and a novelty store. I work in my IT business so I can buy land and retire on my ranch one day, not so I can be stressed, take on more debt and deal with business headaches. Read full article and comment →