Leading a massive services organization or moonlighting and considering the jump to full time? Let's have a frank discussion about what it takes to run a growing services business. Check out these tips given out at SpiceWorld London from industry experts and your peers around the globe on what to consider before getting started, what to expect from clients (and what they expect from you!), and how to stand out from the masses. We'll take the discussion beyond tech and give you the lowdown on how to grow your business, big or small.

1. Bang
on
Tips
for
Running
a
Successful
IT
Service
Business
Caroline Tipton
Technical Marketing, Spiceworks

2. The
Plan
• Get
to
know
each
other
• Knowing
what
you
do
best
• Trimming
the
customer
fat
• Rela@onships
101
• S@cky
situa@ons
• Growing
your
business

3. GeCng
to
know
each
other

4. How
many
here
are…
• Just
thinking
of
becoming
and
MSP?
• Moonligh@ng
before
you
pull
the
trigger?
• Work
full
@me
as
an
MSP?

5. How
large
is
your
company?
• Flying
solo!
• Handful
of
people.
• We
are
an
army!

6. What
is
your
biggest
challenge?
• There
are
some
technical
areas
I
need
to
brush
up
on.
• Accoun@ng
makes
my
head
hurt.
• Marke@ng
myself.
• Customer
rela@onships
are
harder
than
marriage.
• Other…

7. Coffee
(or
Tea)
Talk
Time!

8. Crea@ng
a
Clear
PorSolio
• Your
@me
to
shine!
• Show
off
your
– Exper@se
– Ability
to
handle
different
tech
– Scope
and
@ming
of
large
projects

11. – Do
you
document
this
somewhere?
– How
do
you
stay
on
top
of
new
tech
and
trends?

12. Trimming
the
Customer
Fat

13. Rate
Your
Clients
“A”
Clients:
“B”
Clients:
“C”
Clients:
Pay
On
Time
–
or
ahead
of
@me
May
Experience
Some
Payment
Issues
Slow
Pay
Have
IT
Budgets
Have
Limited
Budgets
No
Budget
Allow
Direct
Access
to
Decision
Makers
May
Not
Allow
Direct
Access
To
Decision
Makers
Does
it
maer?

14. Your
worst
clients
§ Figure
out
who’s
2-­‐3x%
of
your
@me
vs.
%
of
your
revenues
§ Who
falls
into
that
C
bucket?
§ Professionally
let
them
know
this
isn’t
working
out
§ Reform
or
refer
§ Outcome
-­‐>
reform
1/3-­‐1/2
and
refer
the
rest
§ Your
work
life
/
efficiency
will
improve
§ Frees
you
up
to
win
addi7onal
clients
properly
structured

15. • Do
others
find
it
hard
to
let
go
of
the
C
class
of
your
business?
Why
is
that?
• Any
@ps
for
breaking
up
with
these
clients?

16. Building
Rela@onships
Keys to Building Successful and Lasting Relationships
TIMEPEOPLE TRUST
A CRUCIAL REALIZATION

17. Be proactive
Anticipate and prevent problems rather than reacting to them
Make their problem your success
Become a friend/trusted advisor
Genuinely have the client’s best interest at heart
Turn your clients’ poor situation into a positive result for both sides
What You Should Do

18. Oversell yourself
You aren’t the “be all, end all”
Acquire new clients without maintaining existing ones
Remember your reputation is on the line
Forget the human factor
Never forget that people/businesses require:
• Availability
• Accountability
• Responsibility
• Reliability
Give your business a distinct identity
What You Should Not Do

19. • What
do
you
think
are
the
biggest
drivers
to
helping
build
customer
rela@onships?
• How
do
you
balance
new
versus
exis@ng
users?

20. Client
Management
Compile
a
package
to
present
to
poten@al
or
new
clients.
§ Include
a
Services
Agreement,
a
Non-­‐Disclosure
Agreement,
any
policies
that
will
help
the
rela@onship
run
more
smoothly
§ Think
about
it
from
the
perspec@ve
of
what
will
minimize
misunderstandings
with
clients
§ Minimize
surprises!
If you don’t manage them, who will?

21. Service
Agreement
“must
haves”
§ Scope
(what
are
you
providing
–
as
specific
as
possible
/
what’s
not
“in”)
§ Std.
of
service
(2hr
turn/
4
hr/
24
hr/
business
hrs?)
§ Pricing
§ Client
“must
provides”
§ Payment
terms
(deposit?/
net
10-­‐15-­‐30?)
§ Contact
details
§ Limita@on
of
liability
§ Who
owns
the
IP
(reusable
code?)
§ Wrien
executed
agmt.
between
par@es

22. • Is
there
any
other
wrien
documents
you
find
crucial?
• Is
there
anything
not
wrien
in
the
“must
haves”
that
you
have
found
to
be
crucial?

24. I
kind
of
wish
I
hadn’t
seen
that…
§ Have
an
idea
of
how
you
will
handle
situa@ons
that
are
likely
to
arise.
§ Write
it
down
and
have
that
be
part
of
the
guidelines
you
give
clients
at
the
beginning
of
an
engagement.
§ Viruses
caused
by
an
employee
doing
something
they
shouldn’t
be
doing.
§ Child
pornography.
Legal
duty
vs.
ethical
responsibility.
Ethical issues & sticky situations.

25. • Have
you
ever
encountered
an
ethical
issue?
What
did
you
do?

26. Networking
vs.
Networking
VS

27. • What
are
your
best
networking
experiences?
• How
much
of
your
business
is
driven
by
networking?

29. Your
Best
Friend
is
the
Remote
Collector
• Customize
your
Spiceworks
install
to
the
needs
of
the
client
• Scale
your
business
without
dragging
anyone
down
• Work
from
a
central
installa@on
• Create
per-­‐site
user
portals

30. Central
Installa@on
Setup
Spiceworks
Installa@on
SQLite
DB
Scanner
IT
Admin

31. Ini@al
Remote
Site
Setup
Spiceworks
Installa@on
SQLite
DB
Scanner
IT
Admin
SQLite
DB
Spiceworks
Remote
Install
Scanner
WAN
hps
Central
Installa@on

32. Connec@ng
Remote
Site
to
Central
Installa@on
Spiceworks
Installa@on
SQLite
DB
Scanner
IT
Admin
SQLite
DB
Spiceworks
Remote
Install
Scanner
WAN
hps
Central
Installa@on
hps

33. Client
View
from
the
Remote
Site
Spiceworks
Installa@on
SQLite
DB
Scanner
IT
Admin
SQLite
DB
Spiceworks
Remote
Install
(with
Portal)
Scanner
WAN
hps
Central
Installa@on
Employee
hps
hps
dispatch
Spawns

34. Client
View
from
the
Remote
Site
Spiceworks
Central
IT
Admin
hps
Ac@ve
Directory
IT
Admin
hps
Site
1
Employees
Site
2
Employees
Site
3
Employees
Spiceworks
Remote
Site
(with
Portal)
Spiceworks
Remote
Site
(with
Portal)
Spiceworks
Remote
Site
(with
Portal)
WAN
VPN
Internet

35. Branding with MyWay
Ç√