The first Channel Partner I ran into in Vegas was Aaron, who mentioned that he'd read my newsletter comment that CP is basically a telecom conference trying desperately to be an MSP show.

Was I right? Is that assessment still true?

Yes indeed. The "SMB Summit" show floor was only open for a short time. It had about twenty-five tables, mostly filled with the usual suspects. One vendor mentioned that someone from the telecom side had wandered over and made a point of saying he didn't understand our terminology. Too many acronyms! (Not that telecom is short of acronyms.)

More notes below - see "Where's the Love?"

(Thanks for Josh Liberman for the ice bar photo.)

-- -- --

The last partner I ran into at the show was Steve Banks from the Seattle area. Steve had never walked the showroom floor with me before. We had a great time, but he may never be the same. :-)

-- -- --

Chatter about the Kaseya/Datto deal was everywhere, but mostly just light-hearted comments. No real analysis yet. In such things, the early voices are always from the disgruntled. Just remember that big, monster deals that involve bazillions of dollars and the stock exchange never go fast.

Publicly traded companies are required to make public as much information as they can so that the average investor can make an informed decision. So, when a company is both gobbled up and then taken private, they can't make a lot of quick changes that will confuse investors.

Plan on six months of planning. That will give everyone time to figure out what's going on.

NOTE: None of this is intended to suggest that Kaseya is finished acquiring additional companies. Their goal, clearly, is to own as must of the MSP vendor space as they can. So this acquisition will have a quiet period. But there are certainly more "smaller" acquisitions planned.

Nom nom nom.

It's true! My YouTube channel has more subscribers than Datto (2,710) or N-Able (2,950).

We have 3,479 subscribers as of this writing. And by this time next week, we will overtake Kaseya's 3,540.

How do I know? According to Social Blade, Kaseya grows at about one subscriber per day and we grow at about four per day. But right now, our growth is much faster than that ninety-day average. (In other words: If not this week, very soon.)

Please visit the Small Biz Thoughts YouTube channel and subscribe today so you don't miss a thing: https://www.youtube.com/smallbizthoughts.

Our channel has more than 800 videos, including more than 300 SOP videos.

Long-time friend and community member Jeff Ponts was on a panel at Channel Partners entitled, Have We Forgotten about The Customer?

This, and the session before it, are great examples of a conversation you'll see a lot of in the next five to ten years: As companies in our space get larger and larger, how do we maintain quality customer service? Whether it's due to private equity, venture capital, or mergers and acquisitions, "everyone" seems to be getting larger.

MSPs are merging into monster MSPs. Vendors are gobbling up each other left and right. Layer after layer of our industry is growing. And the telecom industry has much to teach us.

The panel made a very clear point for resellers: The big, monster companies have no interest in customer service. In this case, they are talking about telecom (Comcast, ATT, Quest, etc.). Remember: There is no actual competition for Internet connectivity. All of them enjoy chopped up territories where customers have nowhere else to go. Especially regarding cable Internet.

In all cases, these companies rely on the master agents and regional master agents to provide the support. In fact, they pay "unofficial" marketing funds to help agents and resellers pay for the support they provide.

Panelist Dave Dyson made the point that it's the resellers who provide the "love" in this complex relationship.

Big vendors would like to eliminate the "middleman" reseller (that's you) because going direct looks like 100% profit. But as the middle layer of resellers diminishes, the customer service layer diminishes as well. In other words, the layer that actually cares for and cares about the client shrinks over time.

The good news for you: As large vendors move more and more to commoditizing based on the number of endpoints, YOU become harder and harder to commoditize. Ultimately, we are small businesses supporting small businesses.

Someone has to hold the client's hand and say, "We'll help you find the right technology to make your company more successful." That, my friends is consulting. And it's very hard to commoditize.

So, while watching billion-dollar mergers is great spectator sport, remember that you are an economy of one. Go get one new client today. Sell one project this week. Make one client feel loved. Rinse and repeat.

-- -- --

Final note: After more than a year of looking forward to visiting Omega Mart, the fun new immersive experience in Vegas, I had a customer service experience so bad I blogged about it. On Relax Focus Succeed no less! https://www.relaxfocussucceed.com/2022/04/omega-mart-a-great-experience-in-bad-customer-service/

Those are my thoughts for the week.

Happy Spring to everyone. I hope it's sunny where you are.

Have a great week.

- Karl P.

:-)

Taught By: Karl Palachuk, author and coach

- Five Tuesdays - April 26th - May 24th

- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific

Managed Services in a Month is the best-selling guide to turning your “computer consulting” business into a recurring revenue machine!

This course is designed to walk you through the process outlined in the book. AND your registration includes a free copy of the book in e-format.

Updated Information on Tools, Cloud Services, Per-User Pricing, Creating Bundles, and MORE!

For more information on the book, see www.managedservicesinamonth.com.

It’s not too late! YOU can get into Managed Services — in a month.

Even if you decide not to become an MSP (managed service provider), this course will help you establish some great best practices when it comes to running your I.T. business.

Whether you’re a new “Computer Consultant” or an experienced Managed Service Provider, you need to create successful processes that will propel your company forward. Nothing is more critical to making profit than having the right processes and procedures in place!

You will learn:

LIVE CLASS STARTS: APR 26, 2022

ITSP University Certification:

MEETS ELECTIVE REQUIREMENT:

This class will be recorded. Each unit is generally posted within 24 hours of the live class. These recorded units will become the On-Demand class and you’ll have lifetime access to it.

Unit 1 The Managed Service Business Model

Unit 2 Defining Your Business from Every Angle

Unit 3 Define Your Plans

Unit 4 Executing the Plan

Unit 5 Running Profitably with Managed Service

Delivered by Karl Palachuk, author of Managed Services in a Month and many other books for MSPs – managed service providers.

SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday

The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday

Demo - Marketing Focus

You can always check out my YouTube Channel and subscribe at https://www.youtube.com/smallbizthoughts

OR my Relax-Focus-Succeed Channel at https://www.youtube.com/relaxfocussucceed

Your membership includes one free pass to each of our 5-week classes. Classes are taught over on our training site at https://www.itspu.com.

Classes are free - all 20 of them!

Certification exams are only $99 for Community members (Normally $199 for non-members). If you have questions, contact Kara or me.

-- -- --

If you haven't see the April news video, check it out here:

That's it for this week. I'll see you at the meeting on Thursday.

Thank you!

:-)

Apparently, Datto bought a truckload of Baby Yoda plush toys as their big give-away . . . in 2020.

Now they're collectable. Well, as collectable as those rare Datto pens and t-shirts.

Next year's big give-away will be Kaseya pull-overs that fit Baby Yoda plush toys.

This calendar lists two kinds of things: LIVE in-person events from any organization that focuses on the SMB consulting community; and MY events, whether live, webinar, etc.

Of course: Everything here is subject to change based on Covid. Click the links for the latest details. Please send updates so we can post them.

April 20-22, 2022

Orlando, FL

More Info: https://www.knowbe4.com/kb4-con

April 20-21

Chicago, IL

Moe Info: https://asciievents.com/

More Info: https://acesconf.com/

Chicago

May 5th

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

May 17-19

Miami Beach, FL

More Info: https://www.ingrammicrocloudsummit.com/

May 24-25

Boston, MA

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

June 6-9

San Francisco, CA

More Info: https://www.rsaconference.com/usa

Texas

June 7th

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

June 7-9

Location TBD

More Info: https://www.womentech.net/women-tech-conference

June 12-16

Las Vegas

More Info: https://www.ciscolive.com/us.html

June 14-15

London

More Info: https://www.channelevolutioneurope.com/

June 15-16

Long Beach, CA

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

June 23-24

Chicago, IL

More Info: https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event

July 21

Anaheim, CA

More Info: https://www.smbtechfest.com/karl

July 27-28

Toronto, ON

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

More Info: https://connect.comptia.org/channelcon/home

More Info: https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/2022/03/heads-up-making-non-roadshow-roadtrip.html

More Info: https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/2022/03/heads-up-making-non-roadshow-roadtrip.html

More Info: https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/2022/03/heads-up-making-non-roadshow-roadtrip.html

Charlotte NC

Aug 9

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

August 21-23

Denver, CO

More Info: https://event.thechannelco.com/xchange-plus-august

August 23-24

Miami, FL

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

Sept. 12-15, Orlando

More Info: https://www.themspsummit.com/

Washington DC area

Sept 8th

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

Sept. 14-15 --> was January 18 - 20, 2022

Phoenix

More Info: https://www.iotssa.com/cybersecurity-expo-phoenix/

September 28-29

Parsippany, NJ

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

Sept. 29-30

Omaha, NE

More Info: https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event

October 4-5

Dallas, TX

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

October 20

Anaheim, CA

More Info: https://www.smbtechfest.com/karl

More Info: https://www.smbitpro.org/smbit2022/

So Calif

Nov 3rd

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

November 7 - 9

Miami, FL

More Info: Coming Soon.

November 9 - 11

More Info: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/connect-na

Dec. 8-9

Las Vegas, NV

More Info: https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event