Okay. The Super Bowl's over. Time to get back to work. I hope your team won, or at least came in second.

-- -- --

Old joke: In Scotland, they're not call Scotty Dogs. They're just called dogs.

And that's reminds me of my theme for the new Customer Service class: Customers just call it service!

My new course has the name "Customer Service," but it's a lot more than that. I take a wholistic approach: I'll show you how to completely restructure every element of your IT business from the customer service perspective.

Customer service should always be profitable - by design.

Customer service should never be an add-on or after-thought.

The magic trio - People, Processes, and Programs - can be used to turn your company into a super-successful (and profitable) client focused machine.

There are lots of juicy details in this video:

and this blog post:

and this podcast:

. . . But here's the deal: You REALLY should attend the first week live. So sign up right now and join us tomorrow. The perspective and plan is guaranteed to improve you business.

And if you don't get $299 worth of great information, we'll give you your money back.

This course is going to be so central to your success that we've made it eligible to fulfill a core requirement for ALL of the certification pathways at IT Service Provider University.

Register now - www.itspu.com.

First: Thank you to everyone who registered for the big meeting. It was great, and provided some spectacular information and discussion.

Second: I'm sorry for the licensing mess-up. That was 100% on me. I verified that we had 500 licenses . . . but failed to verify that they worked in both meetings and webinars. The checklist is updated and it won't happen again.

The All-Member Meeting for Feb. 9th is posted here: https://www.nsitsp.org/meetings/. This includes the entire transcript of the meetings, captions on the video, and a download of the chat - which is very informative!

The Mission, Vision, and Values will be integrated into the web site soon.

In the meantime, Join us as a professional member for only $100!

Thank you to everyone who made the meeting happen and everyone who registered!

I've added a few travel items to my agenda. I'm headed to Mexico for a little over a week. That's mostly vacation, although I will have a few meetings. The time zone is a bit off but still very US-friendly.

In March I'm headed to Chicago (Brrrrrrr) for the CompTIA Committees and Counsels Forum (CCF). The first in-person CCF since 2019. Join us! Link on the calendar below.

In April, I'm off to Las Vegas for Channel Partners. The last time I was in Vegas was for the CompTIA ChannelCon - also 2019. Link on the calendar below.

-- -- --

Las Vegas has a new attraction - Omega Mart - since I was there last. So I'm hoping to see that. There might also be gambling since MGM is paying for my room based on previous behavior.

They gave me four nights in a king suite. The least I could do is to spend a dollar or two at the tables. :-)

-- -- --

If you have calendar updates, let me know!

Have a great week.

- Karl P.

:-)

Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk, Author and Coach

- Five Tuesdays - February 15 - March 15, 2022

- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific

Features

As I always remind people: Customers just call it service. Among other things, that means "customer service" cannot be bolted on to your business after the fact. It also means you can't assign it to one specific person or department.

Customer service should be built into every piece of you business, from marketing and sales all the way through service delivery and invoicing. We'll walk through this wholistic approach to great service an show you how to build - or rebuild - your business with customer service as the ultimate profit center for your company.

Great customer service doesn’t just happen. It’s built from the bottom up with great processes, people, and programs. In this course, you’ll learn how to build a system that provides excellent customer service while keeping your company profitable. Most companies don’t design a customer-focused service delivery with intention. We’ll show you how to attract new clients based on your service delivery.

We use a framework that focuses on people, processes, and programs. “People” includes your employees, your clients, and your vendors. And that makes clear why you need to build a customer service system that’s totally consistent with your brand.

We’ll show you how to create a never-ending loop of brand-building, employee management, and customer management. And we’ll do all this with in a way that maximizes profitability.

And of course, all of this is presented in the context of an IT consulting business.

-- -- --

Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, author and coach. Karl has built and sold two successful managed service businesses in Sacramento, CA. He is the founder and president of the Sacramento SMB IT Professionals Group, and author of more than twenty books, including Managed Services in a Month.

This course Includes five weeks of Zoom webinar classes with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor.

This course is intended for business owners and managers, but is very useful for every single employee in your IT business. This course has an associated professional certification exam and may be applied to specialist certifications in Management, Sales & Marketing, Service Manager, Technician, or Front Office.

Class Content

Unit 1: What is Customer Service and Who Delivers It?

Unit 2: People: Clients and Employees

Unit 3: Processes for Success

Unit 4: Customer Service programs and automation

Unit 5: Consistent, Scalable, Reproducible, Amazing Customer Service

SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday

The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday

SOP: Build Your Business with Intention

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

First and third Thursdays are special programs. Every other Thursday is open forum. See the link on your dashboard.

-- -- --

Our upcoming March Roundtable with Dave Seibert is March 3rd. Stay tuned for details. But, for sure, don't miss it! This is an exclusive members-only event.

March 3, 2022 - 9:00 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern

The link is always at the top of your dashboard.

-- -- --

Thank you!

:-)

And I had two of them in a week. Actually a couple of days apart.

This is a great palindrome month: 2022-02.

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.

February 16-17

Houston, TX

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

February 17 - 18, 2022

Singapore, Singapore

More Info: https://promo.acronis.com/Summit2021.html

February 21-23

Cancun, Mexico

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

February 27 - March 1, 2022

Dallas, TX

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

March 2-3, 2022

London, UK

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

New Jersey

March 9th

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

More Info: https://www.comptia.org/events/all-events/comptia-communities-councils-forum-(ccf)-2022

March 23-24

Kansan City, MO

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

March 30-31, 2022

Austin, TX

More info: https://www.iotssa.com/cybersecurity-expo-austin/

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

April 14

Anaheim, CA

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

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/

July 21

Anaheim, CA

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

July 27-28

Toronto, ON

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

August 1-3, 2022

Houston, TX

More Info: Coming after ChennelCon 2021 ;-)

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/

October 4-5

Dallas, TX

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

October 20

Anaheim, CA

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

So Calif

Nov 3rd

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

November 9 - 11

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