It’s a short week for many of us as we prepare to spend time with our families and celebrate Thanksgiving. So this week I’m going to share a brief, but powerful lesson: USE HANDWRITTEN THANK-YOU NOTES! We used to send Jamie and Emily (aged eight and five at the time) to Roots Academy for singing lessons. I received a handwritten …
Ah, the age-old whine of the failing salesperson: The leads are WEAK! Some people would automatically dismiss this as a lazy salesperson’s excuse (which often IS the case) – but thinking that ALL leads are good is just as foolish. There ARE times, when leads generated, are NOT qualified leads and not worth the effort of a salesperson to pursue …
Did you know IT services firms lose THOUSANDS of dollars every year due to very poor or non-existent follow up on the leads they generate? Recently we’ve been getting a LOT of questions from members wanting clarification on how to properly classify and qualify inbound leads to maximize sales. I would suggest you read through and then go back to …
Years ago, I was exposed to this marketing example, written by the late Gary Halbert, as an example of brilliant direct response marketing copy AND strategy. It’s a personals ad he wrote that led him to find his then-wife. He also used it as an example of how a good sales letter can solve just about any problem you have. …
Our $5 Million Unsinkable IT Business Hit A Massive Iceberg My business partner and I started our first IT services business in 1999. Yet, rather than focus on LANs and servers like most MSPs, our business model focused more on connectivity services, including VoIP, cloud and cyber security. From day one, we locked onto the monthly recurring revenue model and …
Here’s a chapter for “how NOT to close a prospect.” Last month Ryan Markel brought to my attention someone who is teaching MSPs how to grow their sales departments, suggesting we engage in some manner. Initially, I’m very interested, as I’m ever interested in bringing fresh new moneymaking ideas to my members. I instantly have ideas about how I can …
Without Marketing, There’s Zero Leads And Zero Hope For Growth Living in the small coastal town of Hartlepool in North East England, I believe I bring a unique perspective of running an MSP from “across the pond.” My IT journey began when I left high school at the age of 16. Classroom education was never really for me, so I …
In many categories of marketing and sales, as well as in your business, there are not-so-obvious costs that get overlooked because they aren’t recorded on the balance sheet or accounting ledger. If Walmart is eliminating their greeters, I hope they are evaluating the total cost of NOT having that person there, not just the obvious cost savings of the lowered …
Knocked Down Again And Again – But Never Knocked Out! Standing onstage as a Better Your Best finalist at this year’s Fight Club–themed Boot Camp was most appropriate for me because I have been knocked down more times than I can count. When I came to the US from the Dominican Republic with my mother, we lacked a lot and …
The above is the oldest and still one of the most effective formulas for lead generation. More specifically, identify a highly irritating problem, anxiety, worry or frustration your clients have. Next, AGITATE it. Make them FEEL even more annoyed, frustrated and worried about it – and THEN offer the solution to the problem. As I’ve long taught, effective marketing copy …
