Annoyed . . . but only mildly |
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About four times per year, someone posts a fake Facebook profile with my name or photos or both. That happened again over the weekend. Luckily, several people alerted me to it and reported the profile.
Facebook has gotten better at finding these things and taking them down. At one point, they were taking down one million fake profiles per day. I'm not sure if that stat is true any more. At some point, they have to catch up, right?
As several people pointed out, it doesn't fit my brand to start messaging people on Facebook to tell them about a great investment opportunity. Not sure how people fall for this stuff.
. . . ANYWAY - it's irritating. My first thought with stuff like this is: Why don't you put the same kind of effort into working for a living? I might be odd in this, but I've never found it hard to make money if I am willing to work for it.
And I know it's not personal. I see other people post that someone has hijacked their account or created a fake one. The evil people are not after me specifically. It was just my turn.
But it IS irritating.
Let's all just focus on working together and making money the old fashioned way: Earn It!
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Speaking of Social Media - I am having a great time putting together an all-new class that starts next month:
This is one of three 5-week courses I'm putting together on social media. The focus here is to create an intentional strategy for your social media and to maximize its effectiveness at promoting your company.
As most of you know, I jumped into social media with both feet some time ago. And the same truth holds here as in everything else: There are many ways to be successful. I'll show you what I do and some of the options that others have found successful.
You do NOT have to spend hours per day on social media. I don't. But the fact that some people think I do is evidence that you can look like you're "everywhere" without putting in much effort.
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Calendar Notes
Join me tomorrow at Egnyte's first big MSP Forum!
Egnyte MSP Forum
May 11th - Online
Keynote by Karl W. Palachuk
Join me Online - plus a separate Q&A forum
Other updates . . .
- The IT Bog cruise has been put off for another year.
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Datto is still sending mixed messages about DattoCon. On one hand, they're hinting all over social media that you can count on it. And it's unofficially in Seattle. The DattoCon web site says October 11th - Save the Date - but lists no city.
. . . and so we tip-toe out of our houses as the pandemic
- My Roadshow has been moved around a bit. But I believe we can make a lot of progress between now and August. So I am planning to be in the UK in August. And I'm very hopeful that Canada will be back up to spec and inviting people in my September.
Keep sending your calendar updates! Thank you.
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Speaking of Getting Out . . .
I got my second Pfizer shot on Friday.
I am ready to get out into the world. I have some personal travel scheduled, and might add a bit to that.
For work travel, I'm going to wait until someone pays me to be somewhere. And the, by golly, I'll go!
If nothing else, I hope to hit the ChannelPro and ASCII events in the LA-area in November and December. That's a quick, cheap hop for me.
With luck, I'll see YOU somewhere this year.
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Thanks for reading. Feedback is always welcome.
If you like this newsletter, please share it with a colleague who might also enjoy it.
Have a great week.
-- Karl W. Palachuk
:-)
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Quick Commentary: Beware Prognosticators |
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One of the things I'm addressing in my presentation for Egnyte is the human tendency to think linearly - and how that's often a bad thing. It often makes for poor insight into the future.
A great example is the real estate market over the last year or so. People decided that they could work remotely, so a lot of them bought houses out in the country, away from the big cities. Pundits declared that the cities would soon be empty.
Now people are moving back. [I'm not sure who has the spare money to be buying and selling $500,000 houses on a whim, but it's more people than I would have guessed.]
Similarly, many people have declared that we'll be working remotely forever. The office of the future is here - and it's remote.
I have said since the pandemic "shut down" started that two things will happen: 1) SOME people will continue to work the new way; and 2) MOST people will happily go back to the way things were. It is always a mistake to confuse a short-term trend with a long-term trend. But that human weakness for linear thinking makes it easy to fool ourselves.
Remember (and our industry knows this better than most): No new technology suddenly emerged and made remote work possible. Most of us have been meeting via webinars for fifteen or twenty years. More people bought better cameras and microphones. And some even invested in background setups and signage. But the technology to work remotely has been around for a long time.
I bring that up for a simple reason: We, as a society, could have been working remotely in 2019, or 2015, or 2010. Nothing was stopping us, except the fact that we didn't see an advantage in it. And, to be honest, there are many advantages to actually having an office and going to the office.
It is easier to built a consistent culture when people react with each other on a regular basis. Sociologists will be analyzing the Zoom culture for the next fifty years. But the simple truth is: Online meetings are not the same. I hope that's obvious.
Here's the worst part about trying to figure out the future when you're in the middle of an upheaval: People answer polls based on what they feel at this moment. That results in a poll that says something like, "Eighty percent say they'll never go back."
But the moment passes. People get tired and bored. And, to be honest, a little lonely. So the next poll says that sixty percent will stay remote. Then people get vaccines and start feeling like it would be fun to be in a real meeting and go out for drinks with the office crowd. The next poll says forty percent will stay remote.
An Action Plan for You
Now is the perfect time to start scheduling calls, meetings, and even video meetings with your clients. Forget the headlines. Sit down with them and have honest, well-considered conversations about their plans. Will they be going back?
If not 100%, then how much?
If not everyone, then who?
If not all at once, then who first?
You did a great job getting your clients OUT of the office and kept them productive and safe. Now you need to help them get back to the office. Or whatever their next normal is.
A year from now, I think we'll look back and see that some people took this as an opportunity to make a shift, but most people will be back in offices, mostly doing what they did before. They will probably be more open to having people work from home a day or two per week.
But remember: We are creatures of habit. And humans are social animals. For the most part, we like being with others.
:-)
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Value Based Selling for
Managed Service Providers
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You only missed two weeks. They're recorded!
Sign up today.
Catch up and join us tomorrow!
Value Based Selling for Managed Service Providers
Course 5W22
Taught By: James Kernan
Five Tuesdays
- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific
Want to master MSP sales? Small Biz Thoughts has partnered with award-winning sales training company Kernan Consulting to offer the MSP Professional Sales Certification Program. This content-heavy, motivational program will reveal how top-producers succeed in 2021’s uncertain marketplace:
1. Bring new prospects into your pipeline
2. Shorten the sales cycles
3. Increase average deal size
4. Sell value so you do not have to compromise on price
Learn the industry’s best practices on the overall sales process from Prospecting, Qualifying, Needs Analysis and Assessments, Connecting your value proposition to the customers issues. Tips to get through the Sales Process faster and Closing the Deal!
The MSP Professional Sales Certification Program will include five live training sessions delivered in 60-minute classes. Designed for technology business owners, sales managers, and sales professionals, this training program covers industry best practices for selling contractual monthly recurring revenue.
The MSP Professional Sales Certification Program includes five 60-minute trainings. After completing all five sessions, you will receive a sales certification from Kernan Consulting. All five sessions will be recorded LIVE and delivered with a PDF workbook. For more information on James Kernan or Kernan Consulting please visit: www.KernanConsulting.com
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Weekly Agenda
Week One - What is Value Based Selling?
- Why value-based selling is best
- 5 principles of value-based selling
- Matching your solution to their business challenge
Week Two - Qualifying
- Why you do not chase after every opportunity
- 8 step process to qualify all opportunities
- The power of NO
Week Three - Sales Process
- 7 step sales cycle
- Emotional sales cycle
- The customers buying process
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Week Four - Framework for Successful Sales Departments
- Create your Sales Plan
- Goals/KPIs
- Unique Sales Proposition (USP)
- Compensation Plans
- Corporate Marketing Leads
- Sales Skill Training/Mentoring
- Communication/Meeting Schedule
- The Right Tools
- Staffing the sales team
- Documented Sales Process
Week Five - Negotiating/Closing
- How to overcome objections
- Trial closes
- How to ask for the order
- Letter of Understand technique
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Only $299 per student
Delivered by James Kernan
James Kernan is the author of the 36 Month Millionaire Program, and recently published books, Leadership Essentials for Successful Executives and Business Tips. For the past 12 years, James has served as a Principal Consultant for Kernan Consulting and provides Coaching, Advising and Mentoring programs to entrepreneurs and leaders. Kernan Consulting offers One on One Coaching, CEO Peer Groups, M&A Consulting and online training programs.
James is a frequent speaker for TechSelect, CompTIA, XChange, Convergence, Robin Robins Bootcamp, HTG, Mastermind Peer Groups, SMB Nation, SMB TechFest, and Microsoft IAMCP events. He has been recognized and written up as an extraordinary “example of success” in industry publications such as CRN, Business Solutions, VAR Business, CRM Today, and Inc. Magazine.
Includes five weeks of webinars with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor. All classes are recorded for download.
This course is intended for business owners and sales people.
A Few Details . . .
- Each course will be five one-hour Zoom webinars
- There will be handouts and "homework" assignments
- Class webinars will be recorded and made available to paid attendees only.
- All calls start at 9:00 AM Pacific Time
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All the Resources That Are Fit to Print |
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Recent Blog Posts, Podcasts, and Videos |
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Small Biz Thoughts Blog:
Relax Focus Succeed:
SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday
The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday
The Cheeky Sales Coach Podcast / Video - New episodes drop every Wednesday
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SOP: Serving Up DNS and DHCP |
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Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:
Note: We started auto-posting the podcasts to YouTube. Those are not listed here as YouTube Videos since they're listed under the podcasts above.
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: More than 730 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 275+ SOP videos
Plus . . .
- Training, Courses, Seminars on Managed Services
- Product Reviews
- and more
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Small Biz Thoughts Community News
SmallBizThoughts.org
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Big, Big, and Even Fun Stuff Coming to the Community |
The May news video is linked below.
We had a great SBT Community Roundtable meeting with Mike Semel. He is in the middle of moving from Vegas to Florida, so we were happy to catch up with him and give him a break from packing.
This Thursday is an open forum call for all Community members. If you want your topic addressed first, fill out the form at the top of the Community Dashboard. Your link to join is on the top of the dashboard.
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Our big ecommerce site is at about 98%, so we may actually be launching it officially this week. Stay tuned. Ask about it Thursday. ;-)
I think we have settled on the cost, hosting, and support services.
For those of you have haven't checked it out, please stay tuned. We are helping YOU set up an ecommerce site to sell more deeply into your client base - and to attract new clients and engage them in a discussion of the products and services you offer. With luck, we'll have our own site up in the next couple of weeks. Join us!
And this Fall . . . We have a completely new program coming out. And, of course, our members will be the first to get in on the benefits.
We really are committed to your success!
. . .
See you Thursday at 9AM Pacific time!
If you need something, please post a question in a forum or email Kara (your Community Manager) or me.
:-)
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Lots of signs have to do with human stupidity . . . This one is due to poor design
When things are not well designed, you have to tell people how to use them.
My normal example of this is the door Push or Pull sign: If you need to be told whether to pull or push, that door was designed wrong!
This shelf was clearly designed to put your foot on. And it's clearly not being used for anything else.
:-)
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What's Here?
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.
If you have live events on your calendar that may be useful to others in the SMB Community, please let us know. We'd be happy to list them.
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.
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May
Egnyte MSP Forum
May 11th - Online
Keynote by Karl W. Palachuk
Join me Online - plus a separate Q&A forum
Robin Robins Big Seminar 2021
May 11 - May 14
Orlando, FL
Channel Strong Tour
May 17
Nashville, TN
Channel Strong Tour
May 18
St. Louis, MO
Channel Strong Tour
May 19
Milwaukee, WI
ASCII Success Summit
May 19 & 20
Houston, TX
Channel Strong Tour
May 20
Chicago, IL
Channel Strong Tour
May 21
Milwaukee, WI
Channel Strong Tour
May 24
Cleveland, OH
More Info: https://mspinitiative.com/channel-strong/
Channel Strong Tour
May 25
Pittsburgh, PA
Channel Strong Tour
May 26
Columbus, OH
Channel Strong Tour
May 27
Cincinnati, OH
Channel Strong Tour
May 28
Indianapolis, IN
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June
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event - But you can attend LIVE!
June 9, 2021
Dallas, Tx
ASCII Success Summit
June 16 & 17
Cincinnati, OH
IT Nation Secure
June 21-23
Orlando, FL
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
Omaha, NE
June 24-25th
Channel Sec Europe
June 24th
London
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July
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Live Event
July 8, 2021
Raleigh, NC
ASCII Success Summit
July 21 & 22
Chicago, IL
Retail NOW 2021
July 25-27
Nashville, TN
Black Hat USA
July 31-August 5
Las Vegas, NV
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August
IT Nation (Connectwise) Evolve Peer Groups
August 2-6
Englewood, CO
Defcon 29
August 5-8
Las Vegas, NV
SMB Roadshow - Manchester, UK
August 10th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Cardiff, UK
August 12th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - London, UK
August 17th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
ASCII Success Summit
August 18 & 19
Raleigh, NC
IT By Design Build IT LIVE 2021
Aug 30 - Sept 1
Jersey City, NJ
IT Nation (Connectwise) Evolve Peer Groups
Aug 30 - Sept 1
Gold Coast, Aus
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September
CEDIA Expo
Sept 1-3
Indianapolis, IN
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Live Event
Sept 2, 2021
Boston, MA
SMB Roadshow - Vancouver
Sept 7th
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Toronto
Sept 9th
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Montreal
Sept 14th
Join me Live!
Managed Services Summit Live
Sept 15th
London
SMB Roadshow - Providence, RI
Sept. 16th
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
Channel Live
Sept 21-22
Birmingham, UK
ASCII Success Summit
September 22 & 23
NY / NJ area
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
San Diego, CA
Sept 23-24th
IT Partners
Sept. 29-30
Disneyland, Paris
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October
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Live Event
Oct 6, 2021
Atlanta, GA
DTX 2021 (Digital Transformation)
Oct. 6-7
London, UK
DattoCon 2021
Oct 11-13
Seattle, WA
SMB IT Professionals National Conference - Australia
Oct 15-16
Surfer's Paradise
Join me Live. I'm going to do my best to be there!
Sherweb Accelerate
Oct 18-20
Hollywood, FL
More Info: https://info.sherweb.com/accelerate.html
Kaseya Connect IT
Oct 19-22
Las Vegas
ASCII Success Summit
October 27 & 28
Orlando, FL
I'm hoping there's a trip to the Gold Coast in my future. Stay tuned.
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November
Channel Partners Evolution
Nov. 1-4
Las Vegas, NV
Managed Services Summit Live
November 2nd
Amsterdam
ASCII Success Summit
November 3 & 4
Houston, TX
IT Nation (Connectwise) Evolve Peer Groups
November 15-19
Sydney, Aus
Managed Services Summit North
November 16th
Manchester, UK
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Live Event
Nov 16, 2021
Los Angeles, CA
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December
ASCII Success Summit
Orange County, CA - December 8 & 9
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
Dallas, TX
Dec 9-10th
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If you know of in-person events we should list, please let us know.
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January
Send us your updates!
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February
Send us your updates!
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March
Cloud Expo Europe
March 2-3, 2022
London, UK
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April
Send us your updates!
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May
Send us your updates!
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June
Send us your updates!
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Note: If you know of any in-person event for SMB Consultants, please send info to karlp@greatlittlebook.com. |
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Small Biz Thoughts is a subsidiary of Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc. |
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