CleverCare Technology Blog

All Your Eggs in One Basket

In the early days of the business I had one client. One huge client called Sasol. They had thousands of PC’s. At one stage I had more than 20 technicians working permanently for them on-site.

Then government regulations changed and my company did not comply with their sub-contracting criteria. Sasol did offer to employ all my people, but the fact of the matter was that I lost a huge amount of recurring revenue. Turnover went from $70 000.00 per month to $2 000.00.

Deidre` (my lovely wife) and I had a holiday booked to Mauritius which we hurriedly had to cancel. The second month after the contract was cancelled with Sasol, I realized that I was not going to make payroll. A client had paid me by cheque but I needed seven days for it to clear in my bank account.

So I asked Deidre` if she would mind visiting her folks for the weekend as I “had to work”. I dropped her off at her parents and told her that I would pick her up on the following Tuesday. Then I got my “Business Rescue Mission” plan rolling.

I had bought a pool car for the business. We managed to pay it off fairly quickly, and I then gave it to Deidre`. It was her first car ever. It was technically still registered on the business’ name, but it became “her car”. She treated it like a baby. I wasn’t allowed to touch the thing, never mind drive it. I have never seen a car so spotless and clean. She would book the car in for its service a thousand kilometers before it was due and she wouldn’t allow kids or animals in the car because they would spoil the interior.

I took Deidre`s car to the local second hand car dealership.  I asked the owner if he would buy the car from me for the weekend. In return I would buy the car back the following Monday. For this “favor” I would pay him $400 more than the price I sold it to him for.

It worked out great. He paid me a nice lump sum for the car, I signed a document transferring ownership of the vehicle to his dealership and I managed to pay my staff by Sunday evening.

Unfortunately, when I got back to him on Monday, someone had already bought the car! And they were offering him $2 000.00 more than I sold it for. So, he expected me to pay him the original price plus $2 000.00 or he would sell the car to the highest bidder. During my negotiation efforts I received a couple of missed calls from Deidre but ignored them because I didn’t know how I was going to explain this conundrum to her.

To compound issues, when I arrived home, Deidre` was on the phone with the police. Deidre` returned home on Monday to surprise me, or maybe she suspected that something fishy was going on.

When she saw the garage door open and no car inside (I was never allowed to drive it), she notified the police that it was stolen (which it was, technically). I had quite a bit of explaining to do. I was banned to the couch for a week and she only started talking to me again after the 12^th bunch of roses.

Today she drives a nice fancy four-wheel drive and she keeps the keys hidden from me. Whenever I jump into a new business venture I am reminded by her of how I “stole” her car from her and that I should consider my decisions before acting on them.

The moral of the story is this: never have all your eggs in one basket. Never have just one high paying client, or even a few. You need to sign up as many recurring contract clients as possible to minimize your risk. And, to avoid having to sell your wife’s car. Which technically it wasn’t because it was registered in the business’ name. 

(This is Deidre` - I’ve edited this section without that thief knowing. It was my car!)

Business Automation Myths and Legends

Before I continue, I would like to debunk an irritating little myth that has been hampering my progress for years. There is no single magic bullet that is going to solve all your automation procedures. You need to see your business as one large machine that consists of individual cogs and bearings and processes, each contributing to the success of the entire system as a whole. If you manage to get the individual components of the system running smoothly, the entire machine will run efficiently. Each system contributes to the success of the whole.

So, for example, the entire collection of Technical Work Plans that needs to be followed by your support staff is simply one facet of the entire Business Systems Processes.

Make your technical work plans better and the entire system will operate more efficiently.

You also need to view “Process Automation” in your company as “People Process Automation”. People need to perform recurring tasks, be it on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The successful completion of the task needs to be documented. The documentation allows you to check up on them and measure if the task has been completed to your satisfaction. If it has, you have created a business process that can be automated.

The Shock and Awe Package

Robin Robins introduced me to the concept of a Shock and Awe package. This little package that you put together should be handed to the prospect on the first appointment and should literally “Shock and Awe” them on how fantastic your company and services are.

The contents of my Shock and Awe package:

• • Press releases and articles written about my company.
• • An e-book on “What Every Successful Business Owner Should Know About Protecting Their Company’s Critical Data and Computer Systems” – courtesy of Robin. That’s right; she wrote it and gives it away to you to publish as your own.
• • All certificates and awards that we’ve received, including being chosen as one of the MSP Mentor’s Top 250
• • A company brochure.
• • 12 things we do better – examples on the membership site.
• • A guarantee certificate – examples on the membership site.
• • 8 pages of testimonials and clients to contact for references.
• • A DVD with animated videos on our solution offering, a couple of role plays between myself and our sales guys explaining our agreements, some videos on our reporting and automation features etc. You get the picture.

Unfortunately, giving the client the shock and awe package doesn’t guarantee that they are actually going to go through it the moment that you leave. I usually take 5 – 10 minutes before starting with my questions to discuss the content of the shock and awe with the client. This heightens my credibility with them and ensures that they open up more when I ask them about their business and pain points.

Packaging Your Technology Service Offering - Should I have Solver/Bronze/Gold Levels of Service?

Yes, we all like to have a look at the menu. At one of the local restaurants, they have two offerings of the same dish - as a starter and a main. I tend to always go for the starter version as I can then have a couple of dishes at a cheaper price.

I started out with a service offering that looked a little bit as follows:

And guess what? Clients always went with the “Mud” offering to “try us out”. And once they were signed up, it was impossible to get them to upgrade to a better service offering. Later, I started to put them in higher packages just so that I could do my work properly!

When selling Managed Services, it is important to keep the services that you offer simple. Having too many categories or levels of services will not only confuse the potential client, but they will inevitably try the cheapest level first.

And the primary with offering different levels of service is that you cannot offer a proper Managed Services Solution if the client doesn’t go for the top tier offering. There is only one “right way” to offer managed services, and that is to include all the products and services that will allow the client’s site to run without incidents.

So do not give them a choice – always sell the top-tier offering!

Is Your Next Employee a Madman? Use DISC to Find Out.

So you need to hire someone new?

[Sigh]

The entire process is fraught with potential stumbling blocks. The largest investment in time and capital that you will ever make in your business is your staff. And a wrong decision may take months to rectify. You MUST get this right.

My primary concern is always whether the new guy will fit in with the rest of the team. Will (s)he gel? What is her personality like? Will they be able to handle the pressure?

Before we even start the interview process at Omniholdings, I send a potential candidate a link to complete an online DISC personality test. This test allows me to ascertain the new recruit’s personality type and enables me to figure out the best management style to use with this individual. It will fairly accurately predict how the candidate will interact with the current staff members as well.

Certain personality traits fit certain jobs better than others. This is where you find out if you’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

To do an online test, go to http://www.gregwiens.com/scid/. You may be surprised by the results.
[divider_bar_wide]divider [/divider_bar_wide]
[headline_arial_large_left color=”#000000”]So what is DISC/SCID?[/headline_arial_large_left]
According to research, there are four behavioral characteristics common to all people. Certain characteristics may be more dominant in some individuals that in others. The acronym stands for the four personality types represented by the letter:

D (Drive)
I (Influence)
S (Steadiness)
C (Compliance)

[headline_arial_large_left color=”#000000”]D (Drive)[/headline_arial_large_left]

General Characteristics:
Direct. Decisive. High Ego Strength. Problem Solver. Risk Taker. Self Starter

Value to Team: 
Bottom-line organizer. Places value on time. Challenges the status quo. Innovative

Possible Weaknesses: 
Oversteps authority. Argumentative attitude. Dislikes routine. Attempts too much at once.

Greatest Fear: 
Being taken advantage of.

Motivated By: 
New challenges. Power and authority to take risks and make decisions. Freedom from routine and mundane tasks. Changing environments in which to work and play.

Ideal Environment: 
Innovative focus on future. Non-routine challenging tasks and activities. Projects that produce tangible results. Freedom from controls, supervision, and details. Personal evaluation based on results, not methods.

Remember a High D May Want:
Authority, varied activities, prestige, freedom, assignments promoting growth, “bottom line” approach, and opportunity for advancement.

DO:
Be brief, direct, and to the point. Ask “what” not “how” questions. Focus on business; remember they desire results. Suggest ways for him/her to achieve results, be in charge, and solve problems. Highlight logical benefits of featured ideas and approaches.

DON’T:
Ramble. Repeat yourself. Focus on problems. Be too sociable. Make generalizations. Make statements without support.

While analyzing information, a High D may:
Ignore potential risks. Not weigh the pros and cons. Not consider others’ opinions. Offer innovative and progressive systems and ideas.

D’s possess these positive characteristics in teams:
Autocratic managers - great in crisis. Self-reliant. Innovative in getting results. Maintain focus on goals. Specific and direct. Overcome obstacles. Provide direction and leadership. Push group toward decisions. Willing to speak out. Generally optimistic. Welcome challenges without fear. Accept risks. See the big picture. Can handle multiple projects. Function well with heavy work loads.

Personal Growth Areas for D’s:
Strive to be an “active” listener. Be attentive to other team members’ ideas until everyone reaches a consensus. Be less controlling and domineering. Develop a greater appreciation for the opinions, feelings, and desires of others. Put more energy into personal relationships. Show your support for other team members. Take time to explain the “whys” of your statements and proposals. Be friendlier and more approachable.

[headline_arial_large_left color=”#000000”]I (Influence)[/headline_arial_large_left]

General Characteristics:
Enthusiastic. Trusting. Optimistic. Persuasive. Talkative. Impulsive. Emotional

Value to Team:
Creative problem solver. Great encourager. Motivates others to achieve. Positive sense of humor. Negotiates conflicts. Peace maker.

Possible Weaknesses: 
More concerned with popularity than tangible results. Inattentive to detail. Overuses gestures and facial expressions. Tends to listen only when it’s convenient.

Greatest Fear: 
Rejection.

Motivated By: 
Flattery, praise, popularity, and acceptance. A friendly environment. Freedom from many rules and regulations. Other people available to handle details.

Ideal Environment: 
Practical procedures. Few conflicts and arguments. Freedom from controls and details. A forum to express ideas. Group activities in professional and social environments

Remember a High I May Want:
Social esteem and acceptance, freedom from details and control, people to talk to, positive working conditions, recognition for abilities, opportunity to motivate and influence others.

DO:
Build a favorable, friendly environment. Give opportunity for them to verbalize about ideas, people and their intuition. Assist them in developing ways to transfer talk into action. Share testimonials from others relating to proposed ideas. Allow time for stimulating, sociable activities. Submit details in writing, but don’t dwell on them. Develop a participative relationship. Create incentives for following through on tasks.

DON’T:
Eliminate social time. Do all the talking. Ignore their ideas or accomplishments. Tell them what to do.

While analyzing information, a High I may:
Lose concentration. Miss important facts and details. Interrupt. Be creative in problem solving.

I’s possess these positive characteristics in teams:
Instinctive communicators. Participative managers - influence and inspire. Motivate the team. Spontaneous and agreeable. Respond well to the unexpected. Create an atmosphere of well being. Enthusiastic. Provide direction and leadership. Express ideas well. Work well with other people. Make good spokespersons. Will offer opinions. Persuasive. Have a positive attitude. Accomplish goals through people. Good sense of humor. Accepting of others. Strong in brainstorming sessions.

Personal Growth Areas for I’s:
Weigh the pros and cons before making a decision; be less impulsive. Be more results oriented. Exercise control over your actions, words, and emotions. Focus more on details and facts. Remember to slow down your pace for other team members. Talk less; listen more. Consider and evaluate ideas from other team members. Concentrate on following through with tasks.

[headline_arial_large_left color=”#000000”]S (Steadiness)[/headline_arial_large_left]

General Characteristics:
Good listener. Team player. Possessive. Steady. Predictable. Understanding. Friendly.

Value to Team: 
Reliable and dependable. Loyal team worker. Compliant towards authority. Good listener, patient and empathetic. Good at reconciling conflicts.

Possible Weaknesses: 
Resists change. Takes a long time to adjust to change. Holds a grudge; sensitive to criticism. Difficulty establishing priorities.

Greatest Fear: 
Loss of security.

Motivated By: 
Recognition for loyalty and dependability. Safety and security. No sudden changes in procedure or lifestyle. Activities that can be started and finished.

Ideal Environment: 
Practical procedures and systems. Stability and predictability. Tasks that can be completed at one time. Few conflicts and arguments. A team atmosphere.

Remember a High S May Want:
Security in situations, sincere appreciation, repeated work patterns, time to adjust to change, limited territory of responsibility.

DO:
Create a favorable environment: personal and agreeable. Express a genuine interest in them as a person. Provide them with clarification for tasks and answers to “how” questions. Be patient in drawing out their goals. Present ideas or departures from current practices in a non-threatening manner; give them time to adjust. Clearly define goals, procedures and their role in the overall plan. Assure them of personal follow-up support. Explain how their actions will minimize the risks involved and enhance current procedures.

DON’T:
Be pushy, overly aggressive, or demanding. Be too confrontational.

While analyzing information, a High S may:
Be openly agreeable but inwardly unyielding. Internalize their concerns and doubts. Hesitate to share feedback during presentation. Slow down the action. Provide valuable support for team goals.

S’s possess these positive characteristics in teams:
Instinctive relaters. Participative managers - accomplish goals through personal relationships. Make others feel like they belong. Show sincerity. Can see an easier way of doing things. Focused and intuitive about people and relationships. Full of common sense. Buy into team goals. Dependable. Identify strongly with the team. Strive to build relationships. Provide stability. Consider elements of a total project. Realistic and practical. Even-tempered. Provide specialized skills. Show patience with others. Loyal.

Personal Growth Areas for S’s:
Be more open to change. Be more direct in your interactions. Focus on overall goals of the team rather than specific procedures. Deal with confrontation constructively. Develop more flexibility. Increase pace to accomplish goals. Show more initiative. Work at expressing thoughts, opinions, and feelings.

[headline_arial_large_left color=”#000000”]C (Compliance)[/headline_arial_large_left]

General Characteristics:
Accurate. Analytical. Conscientious. Careful. Fact-finder. Precise. High standards. Systematic.

Value to Team: 
Perspective: “the anchor of reality.” Conscientious and even-tempered. Thorough to all activities. Defines situation. Gathers, criticizes and tests information.

Possible Weaknesses: 
Needs clear-cut boundaries for actions/relationships. Bound by procedures and methods. Gets bogged down in details. Prefers not to verbalize feelings. Will give in rather that argue.

Greatest Fear: 
Criticism.

Motivated By:
Standards of high quality. Limited social interaction. Detailed tasks. Logical organization of information.

Ideal Environment: 
Tasks and projects that can be followed through to completion. Specialized or technical tasks. Practical work procedures and routines. Few conflicts and arguments. Instructions and reassurance that they are doing what is expected of them.

Remember a High C May Want:
Autonomy and independence, controlled work environment, reassurance, precise expectations and goals, exact job descriptions, planned change.

DO:
Prepare your case in advance. Delineate pros and cons of proposed ideas. Support ideas and statements with accurate data. Reassure them that no surprises will occur. Submit an exact job description with a precise explanation of how that task fits into the big picture. Review recommendations with them in a systematic and comprehensive manner. Be specific when agreeing. Disagree with the facts rather than the person when disagreeing. Be patient, persistent, and diplomatic while providing explanations.

DON’T:
Refuse to explain details. Answer questions vaguely or casually.

While analyzing information, a High C may:
Become overly cautious and conservative. Get too bogged down in details. Avoid or postpone decisions, especially if they perceive a risk. Be an effective trouble shooter.

C’s possess these positive characteristics in teams:
Instinctive organizers. “Do it yourself” managers - create and maintain systems. Strive for a logical, consistent environment. Control the details. Conscientious. Evaluate the team’s progress. Ask important questions. Maintain focus on tasks. Offer conservative approaches. Emphasize quality. Think logically. Will share risks and responsibilities. Work systematically. Will strive for consensus. Diplomatic. Analyze obstacles.

Personal Growth Areas for C’s:
Concentrate on doing the right things, not just doing things right. Be less critical of others’ ideas and methods. Respond more quickly to accomplish team goals. Strive to build relationships with other team members. Be more decisive. Focus less on facts and more on people. Take risks along with other team members.

[divider_bar_wide]divider [/divider_bar_wide]

[headline_arial_large_left color=”#000000”]My Advice When Hiring Someone New[/headline_arial_large_left]

I’ve found that employees that did some kind of work when at school to earn extra cash have done well in my business. They are more independent; they work well on their own and feel personal responsibility towards their job. They have initiative. This isn’t a prerequisite to get the job, just an added bonus.

I also think twice when employing someone that scored high in the “Dominance” section of the SCID test. There is barely enough space in the company for my domineering personality. I like high “S” and “C” personality types, favoring a higher score in “C”. Also try and make sure that the adaptive and natural behavior scores match each other closely.

So please tell me, how do you decide on the best possible candidate?

To Your Success

Arno

How I got Stumped in 30 seconds: My First Role Play Ever

So we’re waiting to be let into the big chief’s office. It’s a new prospect that found us by clicking on our Google Adwords link. I have a new sales guy with me. He has watched me do this pitch a couple of times. I’ve given him training on the seven steps of the sales process, building rapport, exposing the problem etc. Today it is his turn.

We get ushered into the office and my sales guy immediately notices some photos on the wall with the client posing with some large fish in his arms. The sales guy latches onto that and starts asking the potential client about his hobby and they share a couple of fishing stories. Off to a good start. Building rapport.

Next step - identifying the problem.

The sales guy asks the prospect about his I.T. issues and the client mentions they had a huge virus outbreak which paralyzed the company for a week.

Instead of making a note and going on to the next set of issues, this guy starts waxing lyrical about our products and services and how something like that would never happen if he was using our services.

After about 5 minutes I kick him on the shin and smile pleasantly at the potential new client. “So what other issues are you facing, Mr prospect?”

You see, the sales process is just that - a process. There is a right way and a wrong way of doing it. And it could be quite difficult to master.

Learning new skills

There are a couple of ways of learning a new skill:

1. Watch someone else do it
2. Read the theory
3. Do it yourself and learn by trial and error - you’ll get it in a couple of months
4. Role play

The quickest way of learning is by doing something yourself. But in a real-life sales situation you do not want to jeopardize your chances of landing the deal, it costs a lot to get new leads!

So the next-best option is to role-play the entire process. Kind of like learning by doing something yourself, but without the risks of losing a potential client.

It feels uncomfortable at first - but you soon get the hang of it. I’ve found that if you record the first role playing session you can always go back and make notes. In the following video, Ronald and I role play the process of discussing the Managed Services agreement with a new client.

Did you see how he stumps me immediately on a simple question that I’d never even thought of: “What if I sign a 2 year agreement and not a one year agreement? What benefit do I get out of that?”

Well today I have my answer prepared. “Easy, you get a 10% discount on the agreement for the entire period of the agreement.”

If a sales person cannot convince me to buy a product during our role playing sessions, if he cannot answer all the questions I throw at him and handle my objections in an amicable way, he needs to role play some more.

Just my 2 cents. Now role play your way to success!

Original Article Posted at http://www.msppractice.com/

Brainstorming Workshops: Meetings on Steroids

Okay, so business is going well. You’re conducting  your weekly meetings like clockwork. And still…

At the back of your mind something is bothering you. Getting to work on your business and not in your business has one serious drawback - operationally, your not dealing with the issues that your staff get to work on daily. You’re not in the trenches anymore but controlling the battle from an office far away. How do you know that there are issues if you do not solve them yourself?

So one day a client phones me on my cell. He rants and raves a bit because no-one has attended to a call that was logged by him. After he throws the phone down in my ear, my Level 1 staff tell me that they’ve completed the work on his PC and they simply need to reboot to finish up. They’ve put the call on a “Waiting on Client” status after they tried to get hold of him. Apparently he was in a meeting. Mmm, something isn’t adding up. Why didn’t we follow up with Mr Unhappy? Seems like its time for a workshop!

Having regular workshops to brainstorm issues that your staff has to deal with on a daily basis is a must. In his book “The Ultimate Sales Machine”, Chet Holmes encourages his readers to have a workshop at least once per week.

This is what Chet has to say about holding regular workshops in his book “The Ultimate Sales Machine”, on page 38:

[content_box_paper_white width=”75%”]“The best way to build the Ultimate Sales Machine and to keep it running as smoothly as possible is to hold regular, highly productive, workshop-style meetings dedicated to improving every aspect of your business. In each of these meetings you will focus all of the relevant people on fixing just one small part of the business. Together, you will brainstorm plans for how to improve this specific area, draft procedures to test, and ultimately create carved-in-stone company policies that everyone will be trained to follow. This constant attention to what I call the “three Ps”-planning, procedures, and policies-is essential if you want to easily and quickly grow your business into the Ultimate Sales Machine.

One of my clients became one of the fastest-growing companies in America, hiring 50 new people a week. Here’s a question for you: could your company hire 50 people this week and weave them seamlessly into your organization? And, before you answer, could you then hire another 50 people next week?

Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or haven’t hired even your first employee, you need to have the systems in place that would make hiring 50 people every week a breeze. This makes the difference between success and failure. A company that thinks like a small company remains small. A company, even a one-person army, that thinks and acts like a big company is going to grow faster, smarter, and better.

…

What kind of a training program do I need in place to do that?” So, for example, as you are improving your current sales effort, document everything as you go. You will be creating a training manual for future hires-even if, like this client, you are not hiring a single additional person right now. By thinking this way, you are forced to spell out each and every step. Leave nothing, or very little, for the imagination.”[/content_box_paper_white]

This is but one of the gems that can be found in his book. I definitely encourage you to go out and buy it as he doesn’t only talk about setting up a good sales organization but touches on all aspects of running your business more effectively.

So, here is how I conduct our workshops.

I usually spend three weeks on a problem and on week four we tackle the next issue. In weeks two and three we modify our processes and plans based on the outcomes that we experience in real-life.

First of all I ask our people to give me an example of something that we could do to improve the business. Sometimes I choose something that we need to improve on. At the top of a white board I will write down as an example:

[headline_arial_large_centered color=”#000000”]WHAT COULD WE DO TODAY TO IMPROVE OUR BUSINESS?[/headline_arial_large_centered]

I then get a couple of suggestions from them and ask them to vote on the most important issue. The top issue is then addressed.

“Improve communication between us and our clients”

What is the challenge? We are not keeping our clients in the loop when we solve their requests and they keep on phoning the helpdesk to find out if their issue has been resolved instead of checking on the Zendesk Portal.

How do we resolve this?

• We give them training on using the portal. We’ll document the training on the Zendesk forum and whenever a client asks about their ticket status, we’ll give them feedback and send them a link to the training on Zendesk.
• We set up triggers that email the client with every change in status or whenever the ticket is updated. We disabled this feature in Zendesk because we thought that the client would be overwhelmed with the amount of feedback received, but obviously we were wrong.

At the next meeting we will refine the process even more and get feedback from the staff to find out if our process is working.

• Ronald completed the training on the forum. The URL is http://XXXX. We sent 35 emails to clients over the past week with the new URL.
• Nadia will ask Pronto Marketing to send an email blast to all our clients with the URL explaining the entire process.
• All new clients will be trained on this at the on-boarding meeting.

On week 3 we make our final adjustments and then move on to the next issue. Sometimes new issues crop up that have to be dealt with. Although we had a vote a month ago on the most important issues that we need to fix, life happens. Be flexible on this.

Having a productive workshop is a really cool tool to help you formalize procedures and work plans in your business. It will help you deal with and provide clarity on common issues that your staff face on a daily basis. And it will help you leverage your staff properly so that you can sustain growth in your company when you take on more clients. Finally, it will show your staff that you care about them and the business.

Chet’s book is really good - get it today. It will transform the way that you do business.

Original Article

Original Article Posted at http://www.msppractice.com/

Working On Your Business and Not In Your Business

You need to extract yourself from your business. In the beginning (to me at least), solving PC and server problems was fun. Leaving the server room to an ovation and encores because you managed to remount the Exchange Information Store is inspiring and heartening. However, you are going to find that it doesn’t pay the bills (well, not all of them). Trust me, I know.

Being disturbed on a Sunday afternoon because an important, but obviously inebriated, client spilled a glass of red wine on his Sony Vaio’s keyboard gets irritating after a while. Especially if the client has his pals around him and he wants to prove to them how good his IT Support is (“He even answers calls on Sundays and After Hours!”). Even worse, the client is alone at home and invites you for a drink afterwards. May sound funny, but it does happen.

It doesn’t pay the bills to continue working in your business. You have two hands, one brain, and 320 hours in a month (yep, that’s how many hours you are going to have to work to earn a decent living).

You cannot possibly become rich by working at an hourly rate. You need to take a break sometime. A two week vacation means that you’re not earning in that period.

Jean Paul Getty said that he would rather earn 1% of 100 people’s efforts than earn 100% of his own efforts.

Why did we become IT Technicians/System Administrators/Network Engineers in the first place? We chose our career because we love solving problems. We love overcoming those challenges the ordinary guy doesn’t have the patience to research; try a solution and, if that doesn’t work, pushing on and trying something different until we get everything working as it should.

Guess what? This all takes time and clients aren’t willing to pay for your ‘learning time’, nor would you ever charge them for it.

So, a problem that should have taken two hours to solve has now taken you six, but you can only bill for two.

Sure, in the future, you will be able to sort this issue out at a fraction of the time it would take the client to do it, but technology changes…..incessantly. You are always going to be learning. Need to master a new operating system like Linux? Peg down at least 500 hours of learning time before you will be able to be considered enough of an expert, and capable enough, to bill for your expertise. You cannot charge a single cent for the learning time required to become an expert. There needs to be a better way…

And there is! It’s called Managed Services, where you bill a flat rate for the support that you offer your clients. You have enough fat built in to ensure your technicians’ learning time is accounted for and you do not constantly squabble over what is billable and what isn’t.

So, get the systems and procedures in place to start working ON your business and not IN your business - you owe it to yourself!

Regards
Arno

Original Article

Original Article Posted at http://www.msppractice.com/

Less Is More…Keep Things Simple…Relax

I have always been a computer tech at heart. I would solve technical problems by tackling them in an orderly and chronological sequence. There are a couple of ways to solve a problem, but usually only one or two correct ways.

Unfortunately, running a business doesn’t always work that way.

Random things happen to upset the ordered apple cart. Clients have bad days and take it out on you and you cannot find a logical explanation as to why things just aren’t going your way.

The secret to running a successful business, in my opinion, is by keeping things as simple as possible. Do not clutter your life with unnecessary and confusing applications. Do not employ more staff than you need, the fewer the better. If you do not know how to do something, or if it’s not really important, get someone else to do it or outsource it. Do not continuously bash your head against a wall of problems if you can simply change the way you do things. Be quick to make decisions and don’t regret it if things don’t always work out the way they’re supposed to. That’s life and that’s business.

Try to take a step back and look at your business holistically, see the forest and not just the trees. This includes the tools you use in your business, from your Remote Monitoring and Management Tools to your Accounting software and Office Suite. Do not cause unnecessary stress and confusion to yourself and your staff by introducing new applications into your business on a daily basis. Your business shouldn’t be your lab. Test things on a small scale and make sure that it’s absolutely necessary before rolling it out to the entire company and client base.

Finally, you need to take breaks…..often. You need to learn to relax more. Take an early lunch and chill out on the golf course or practice your hobby. If you can’t, you better start getting the processes in place to allow the business to run without you.

Patience Is A Virtue

Finally, let me not kid you on this one; sales cycles with managed services are long. It could take up to six months in some cases. Sure, you get the odd company with many issues that need you to get them out of their mess right then and there. However, convincing new prospects to sign up for a service that costs double to three times more than a normal break/fix contract takes some doing.  Then, you still have to convince them every month that they are getting value for what they are paying for.

But, as with all things in life, there is a simple answer. We’ll get into the nitty gritty in later articles. This is also where I want to re-iterate that you can never, ever deliver perfect service or a perfect product or a perfect report or a perfect whatever. But you can deliver something, which is better than delivering nothing at all. Sound confusing? Don’t worry, you’ll get it later.

Original Article

Original Article Posted at http://www.msppractice.com/

Get Pronto Marketing To Build You A Cool Web Site

As far as the tools to build the web site is concerned, I tried them all, from FrontPage to Joomla, WordPress and Weebly. It just lacked that special “something”. That “X Factor”.

I had to admit to myself that I’m not a professional designer. Web pages aren’t what they were five or ten years ago when a Coffeecup HTML Editor and a nice theme were all that you needed.

SEO, local Google listings, technology blog updates, Flash banners, Social Media Management, ugh! I couldn’t keep up with all of this.

So, I decided to indulge a bit on this one. I had a look at how much my time was worth and decided to ask Pronto Marketing to build me a killer site, SEO optimized and all that. Leave it to the professionals! And the ROI I get from time saved is worth ten times more than I pay them. They charge me $247 per month, and you only pay them once the website is complete. You may view the site at http://www.omniholdings.co.za

The $247 includes hosting with Rackspace and unlimited changes to the website. Ask them anything and they will try their best to accommodate you. I haven’t been able to stump them once.

“I need my Zendesk Live Chat integrated into my website.”  Not a problem, done the next day.

“I need some fancy rotating banners at the top”. Done.

“I need my tech’s bios on the site but I don’t have time to write it up.” Not a problem, send us their CV’s, links to their social media profiles, anything with any info about them and we will get a professional copywriter to write their bios for you. Done.

“And what about photos of them?” Done, with the Photoshop touchups included. My staff have never looked so good!

I once tried to pull a quick one and asked the Pronto Team a couple of questions relating to very specific business processes they use and how they get things done in their company. I was amazed at the transparency and even suggestions of help from Corey, great guy.

They used to specialise in creating web sites for the MSP market, but how now opened up their business to anyone. So this is a good place to start if you have clients that need web sites built for themselves as well.

I really suggest that you give Derek Brown and his Team in Thailand a try, you will not be disappointed! Find them at http://www.prontomarketing.com/

Regards

Arno

Original Article

Preparing the Monthly BOMB Report

Please note that the bomb report is a summary of the Executive Summary Reports in the SAAZ Portal, it will probably take between 1-2 hours PER BOMB REPORT to complete correctly. The bomb report is an intelligent human’s summary of the entire computer generated data. You will be going through reams and reams of reports to actually compile the nicely summarized bomb report.

We call it the bomb report because the clients only have to look for bombs on the page and realize “Bombs are Bad”. So if there are no bombs, there is no risk to the client. This hardly ever happens though.

We also use this report to prove to the client that we are being proactive and offering value to them, so this report is of immense importance in keeping our MSP clients paying.

Also, I need to read the bomb report and UNDERSTAND what I need to discuss with the clients. Issues they may have and things that could be done better etc.

Finally, the report is a chance for us to remediate issues that you may pick up and report back on how it was fixed. Let us use Envirowaste as an example.

In the following pages we are going to cover a lot of reports that you need to go through and a lot of test that you need to perform. All these reports are computer generated. We need your intelligence to go through the reports, comment on the issues observed and set a plan in action to remediate the problems, either by sorting them out yourself or by assigning calls and tasks to people who can.

Server

The first thing that you have a look at in the portal is the quick access setting on the dashboard for the servers and the workstations. As you can see the most important things for the server is OK, Disk Space, Antivirus and Security updates. What would we do if they were not OK? We would start an immediate chat with online support to fix it for us. This way they could go on with this while we finish the report. Please always remember to check the ticket and resolution from the NOC.

We have a critical user impact alert; if you click on the Red Cross you will see the following: So the server has restarted 14 days ago. Why? I don’t know. This is water under the bridge.

Next problem is the Critical Non Impact alert. Click on the red cross and you will see:

A Paging file operation.  This is more important. Please go through the event log and AT tickets to see if this is a recurring issue. Please make some recommendations. You will see that the NOC give you some suggestions on how to fix the problem. Follow the suggestions. If you do not come right, assign it to the NOC to fix. Next, let’s check out the server’s backups. Take remote control of the server.

You’ll be asked for a username and a password for the server. You will find this in the NIF.

Immediately we can see that there is a problem with this server’s memory utilization. It only has 4GB and all of it is being used. Make a mental note of this. Click on Remote Control.

Open the SBS Console and click on Backup and Server Storage. You will see that the backup has failed. Reason? The backup drives are offline. Please log a call on Zendesk and email everyone at the office. This is unfortunate as we need to test a restore (just one or 2 files) to make sure that it is working.

Please note that we use different backup software at different sites. This should be in the NIF. If it isn’t, please let us know so that we can update it.

Desktops

Now let’s have a look at the Desktops.

There are a couple of problems here. Some PC’s Anti-virus signatures are not updating or do not have Anti-virus at all. Chris-XP is one of these. You can see that the PC is online and that there is no Anti-virus installed on it. Big Problem. Log a call for a technician to sort this out ASAP. Send a mail to all the technicians about this and CC Arno.

Secondly, Eliias1 does not have Anti-Virus. His PC is offline and the AV is not installed so it could be that this PC has been decommissioned. To check this, go to Configuration->House Keeping->No Contact(Desktop)->Site Name->Change the days to 30 and click on the magnifying glass.

You will now receive a report of all PC’s that have not contacted the Portal for the past 30 days. It is safe to assume that these PC’s are not on the network anymore. ELIAS1 is not in the list so it has contacted the Portal. Even if you change the days to 15, it still isn’t in the list so it has contacted the NOC in the last 15 days. Could it be that Elias is sick or that a virus infected his PC and screwed it up? Either way, log a call for a technician to phone the user and find out.

The yellow dots under Anti-virus means that this PC is running an unsupported or freeware Anti-virus. Please see if there is not a current call open for this. If not, log a call for this and send an email to everyone to have a look if there is a reason for this.

If there are any other problems such as the Patches not being rolled out or Smart HDD errors or free disk space is a problem etc a call needs to be logged and everyone in the team needs to be emailed. Always make sure that there is not a current open call for this.

Now go to S&CC->Desktop Monitoring Script Dashboard->And select the PC’s with exceptions thrown. The exceptions are for:

As you can see there are 9 PC’s whose CPU utilization is running at more than 90% and 8 PC’s who have less than 5% free disk space. Let’s click on it to see if any of these PC’s belongs to Envirowaste.

We’re lucky; none of the PC’s at Envirowaste is taking strain. If there was a problem, you would need to log a call and email everyone in the Team. Please make sure that there isn’t a current call for this issue that is still open. If there is, escalate the call to the dispatch person. We would probably phone the user and ask them if we could have a look at their PC’s and then assign the call back to you to take over the PC and sort out the problem.

Network

The Network report is generated by doing a Speedtest on the server and also looking at the firewall log.

Please take note that we have various ISP’s. Telkom (as in this case) should be the unshaped bandwidth and failrly quick. Some clients can go up to 10 MBps but anything under 2 MBps is cause for concern and needs to be looked at. Upload speeds of less than 0.25 MBps is also a problem. Due to the fact that these clients use RDP to access their apps, there could be performance issues (40 kbps per session; max 6 sessions on this connection). Do the speedtest a couple of times to get an average.

If possible also do a pingtest (www.pingtest.net). You need Java enabled on the browser for this to work.

Do a couple of tests to get an average. Anything under a B is cause for concern and could influence network performance, especially VOIP apps like Skype as well as RDP sessions.

Disaster Planning

Simply put “No DRP Plan in Place”. We’ll complete this.

Security

Now let’s have a quick look at the firewall Check Firewall reports. We go through these reports to see if any users are abusing the system, if there are torrents being downloaded that hog the bandwidth etc. I am going to use Detect as an example as they use a lot of the advanced functionality found in the Untangle server.

Have a look at the WAN failover. Not all sites use this functionality. WAN Failover allows the Untangle server to failover to another WAN connection such as a wireless connection if the primary connection fails. If the site has this functionality, have a look if this is working first. You will see that there are 2 connections available. This implies that it is working. Click on “Settings” on the WAN Failover Module.

As you can see the External (Primary) link is up 91.6% (not very good, that is why we got the failover) and the DMZ or secondary connection is up only 53.7% of the time. This is really bad and not a very good failover solution. The client should consider changing the failover link due to its unreliability.

Close the Wan Failover Module and Click on the Reports Module’s Settings.

Click on “View Reports”

Get the whole month’s (30 days) report.

Copy all the data in the large red block. This will go directly into our Bomb Report. Now let’s have a look at some interesting figures. I will highlight the important data.

The most important stat to me is that WAN failover saved the company more than 249135 seconds (more than 70 hours) worth of downtime. Make a mention of this in the Bomb Report. Also mention any other facts that you may find interesting, such as the Spam messages that were blocked and viruses that were blocked etc.

Let’s quickly have a look if any of the users have been abusing the system. Click on Protocol Control and have a look if there are any weird protocols being used. At Detect someone is using a Bittorrent Client. This could cause huge amounts of traffic on the network. Make a note of this for the Bomb Report.

Finally go out of the reports section and click on Configà Email

Note that there are users that have large amounts of mails in their quarantine folder. They probably do not know how to empty their quarantine. Make a note of this.

General Reports

There are a couple of General Reports that need to be saved as well. I am using Detect as an example for these reports. I have found that these reports work better in Internet Explorer as there are some custom settings that you have to put in to make it work. I do not have documentation for Chrome or Mozilla.

In Internet Explorer, Click on Tools->Internet Options. Select Trusted Sites and Click on the Sites Button.

Make sure the following sites are added to the list of trusted sites

Also make sure that popup blocker is not blocking these sites.

In the Portal click on “Reports”

Select “Executive Summary”

Select the Word Document for the site as you may want to edit this Document Slightly.

The Executive Summary report is a couple of pages that we give to clients/executives so that they do not have to wade through reams of reports. Go through the report and format it so that everything fits nicely (resize graphics if they overflow to other pages etc). An example of the report is available to download here. My comments will be highlighted.

Original Article

Original Article Posted at http://www.msppractice.com/