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IT and Managed Services Newsletter
MSP University helps MSPs
succeed...period.
December 2008 |
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Welcome to MSP University |
Merry Christmas!
Christmas is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates
the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The day marks the beginning of the larger
season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus,
which is the basis for the anno Domini system of dating, is thought to have
occurred between 7 and 2 BC.
Modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, Church celebrations, and
the display of various decorations-including the Christmas tree, lights,
mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. Santa Claus (also referred to as
Father Christmas, although the two figures have different origins) is a
popular mythological figure often associated with bringing gifts at
Christmas for children. Santa is generally believed to be the result of a
syncretization between Saint Nicholas and elements from pagan Nordic and
Christian mythology, and his modern appearance is believed to have
originated in 19th century media.
Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but is also
celebrated by many non-Christians as a secular, cultural festival. Because
gift-giving and several other aspects of the holiday involve heightened
economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, Christmas has
become a major event for many retailers.
The word Christmas originated as a compound meaning "Christ's Mass". It is
derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes m©죛se,
a phrase first recorded in 1038. "Cristes" is from Greek Christos and
"m©죛se" is from Latin missa. In Greek, the letter ¥Ö (chi), is the first
letter of Christ, and it, or the similar Roman letter X, has been used as an
abbreviation for Christ since the mid-16th century. Hence, Xmas is often
used as an abbreviation for Christmas.
For many centuries, Christian writers accepted that Christmas was the
actual date on which Jesus was born. However, in the early eighteenth
century, some scholars began proposing alternative explanations. Isaac
Newton argued that the date of Christmas was selected to correspond with the
winter solstice, which in ancient times was marked on December 25. In 1743,
German Protestant Paul Ernst Jablonski argued Christmas was placed on
December 25 to correspond with the Roman solar holiday Dies Natalis Solis
Invicti and was therefore a "paganization" that debased the true church. In
1889, Louis Duchesne suggested that the date of Christmas was calculated as
nine months after the Annunciation on March 25, the traditional date of the
conception of Jesus.
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FREE MSP University Membership! |
 Have
you created your FREE MSP University account yet? Just browse over to
www.mspu.us and sign up to receive access to IT and Managed Services
webinars, tools, forms and collateral to help you transform or improve your
IT practice with valuable resources in areas of business operations, HR and
hiring, sales and marketing and service delivery, project management and
help desk operations.
Learn how to:
- Revolutionize your existing business model
- Transition existing break-fix customers to Managed Services clients
- Market to the right prospects and close Managed Services business
- Choose the right tools and technology to maximize your efficiencies as an
MSP
- Build closer relationships with vendors and fulfillment partners
- Grow your revenue month after month, year after year
How much annuity-based revenue is your IT practice currently
generating?
What is your company worth?
What are your plans for improvement?
Evaluate your options as an MSP with our FREE membership offer - why wait
any longer?
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New MSP University Marketing Collateral for December! |
 Be
sure to check out the newest additions to our ever-expanding library of
marketing collateral for Corporate MSP University members at
www.mspu.us/en/collateral. We are constantly creating and
updating our marketing collateral with new services and solutions to provide
you the best in marketing resources for your I.T. services practice. Each type of customizable marketing collateral piece is available in 20
different color variations to match your organization's branded look and
feel, and focuses on delivering compelling marketing messages for Managed
Services as well as other more specific I.T. solutions and services such as
VoIP, Disaster Recovery, Hosted Exchange, SharePoint, CRM and numerous
others.
Our Downloadable Marketing Collateral Consists of:
Thousands of Downloadable Marketing Collateral Pieces Available
Now:
New and unique types of collateral are added to our
ever-expanding marketing library on a monthly basis in 20 different color
schemes, focused on all of the I.T. services and solutions your prospects and
clients are asking about!
And the best part? Unlimited access to download the
collateral you need is available FREE to MSP University
Corporate Members!
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Secrets to Improving Your I.T. Services Practice Part 4 |
Last time we discussed the characteristics of the 4 service delivery
models in our discussion:
1. Resellers/System Builders
2. Break-Fix Services Providers
3. Professional Services Providers
4. Managed Services Providers
Now let's discuss the tools and technologies of each of these
service delivery models.
Tools and technology
In order to provide the best services possible for customers, and
continually improve their internal efficiencies and capabilities in order to
scale, all service providers should consistently evaluate new tools and
technologies and budget for investments in these yearly. These investments
should be business decisions based upon a clear ROI or benefit to the
provider and/or their customers.
Resellers/System Builders
An effective reseller/system builder will be able to document,
inventory and manage warranted assets in customer environments and execute a
consistent problem management process, insuring service delivery remains
within agreed-upon SLA's. Software tools utilized by the provider to
accomplish these activities will include asset management, problem
management and remote access/control and remediation solutions. Some remote
monitoring and management (RMM) and professional service automation (PSA)
solutions provide all of these capabilities.
The reseller/system builder's PSA solution may provide the
following capabilities:
- Customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities
- Service request or trouble ticketing capabilities
- Scheduling & dispatching capabilities
- Time & expense tracking capabilities
- Inventory control capabilities
- Asset management capabilities
- Configuration & change management capabilities
- Knowledgebase capabilities
- Resource management capabilities
- Integration of quoting & invoicing with accounting systems capabilities
- Sales funnel capabilities
- Robust, customizable reporting capabilities
Dependent upon the specific hardware and associated components the
reseller/system builder warrants, there may be additional software
imaging,test, update and remediation tools required or beneficial in order
to provide diagnostic, troubleshooting and repair services for their
customers. Leveraging these types of software tools help the reseller/system
builder gain efficiency and speeds problem identification and resolution,
increasing customer satisfaction.
In addition to software tools, the reseller/system builder will require
both standard, as well as specialized hardware tools in order to service
warranted equipment.
Break-Fix Service Providers
An effective break-fix services provider will be able to
manage the I.T. infrastructure in their customer environments and execute a
consistent problem management process.
Read more to find out how each of the 4 different service providers utilize
specific tools and technologies to improve the deliverables and
profitability of their service practices... |
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MSP University FREE December Webinar Course Highlight |
Leveraging the Microsoft Events Engine to Increase Your Sales
Opportunities with MJ Murphy from Microsoft
If you aren't familiar with all of the
ways that Microsoft can help you increase sales through their numerous
marketing and events intitiatives, you owe it to yourself to watch this
insightful Webinar...
Our special guest on this Webinar is MJ Murphy, a Microsoft
Business Development Manager and Local Engagement Team Member.
During this Webinar, MJ walks you through all of the ways you can
leverage Microsoft's resources and reveal how to maximize your Microsoft
partnering relationship to receive the benefits that the LET initiative can
provide.
After completing this Webinar, you will understand Microsoft's
Events Engine, and how to effectively leverage Microsoft resources to market
your services more effectively and increase your sales opportunities.
If you're interested in maximizing your marketing ROI and
leveraging the business partnerships that Microsoft is building in your
local community to differentiate yourself and increase sales, then you need
to watch this Webinar! |
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HOLIDAY SALE - 50% OFF ALL BOOKS AND AUDIOBOOKS! |
 That's
right - 50% off for the Holidays! Act now to receive an
AMAZING 50% discount on all of our valuable books and audiobooks!
These savings can be had on the following best-selling resources:
Book - The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice
- normally $99.95 - now only $49.98!
Book - The Best I.T. Sales & Marketing BOOK EVER!
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normally $149.99 - now only $74.99!
Book - The Best I.T. Service Delivery BOOK EVER!
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normally $149.99 - now only $74.99!
Audiobook - The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice
- normally $59.99 - now only $29.99!
Audiobook - The Best I.T. Sales & Marketing BOOK EVER!
- normally $79.99 - now only $39.99!
Audiobook - The Best I.T. Service Delivery BOOK EVER!-
normally $79.99 - now only $39.99!
If you've been waiting to pick up any of our books or audiobooks,
wait no longer!
This limited offer is so unique that I can't think of a
similar offer from anywhere in recent memory that provides you the ability
to invest in such highly-demanded educational and training resources to
improve your I.T. practice and profitability at such an incredible
discount!
This offer ends on December 31st, 2008 - just in time
for the Holidays, and allowing you the opportunity to benefit from these
incredible materials during the break and prepare you for success
in 2009!
IMMEDIATE SHIPPING!
*Prices do not include nominal
shipping and handling fees.
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Find out how to attend our next 3-Day Sales & Marketing Boot Camp for FREE! |
What would it mean to your business if you could shorten your
existing sales cycles, improve your closing ratios, and successfully
increase up-sell and cross-sell results to your prospects and clients?
If you're like most of our partners, the overwhelming answer to this
question has been along the lines of "it would change our business!"
Join us on February 25th-27th 2009 in Orange County, California
where attendees will participate in a variety of multimedia training
processes and work with their instructors as they learn through direct
presentation, audio and video training, and work with forms and PowerPoint
presentations to perform mock Client presentations on Managed Services and
other annuity-based products and services, and are judged by their
instructors as well as their peers.
Normally a $2,995 value, click here to find out how to attend our next 3-Day
I.T. Solutions and Managed Services Sales & Marketing Boot Camp absolutely
FREE!
Based upon MSP University's successful business, technical and sales
and marketing methodologies, our comprehensive boot camps provide attendees
the knowledge they need to shorten sales cycles and close more
business.
Give us 3 days, and we'll give you the tools
and techniques to transform your IT sales process into an effective,
repeatable revenue generator.
Our IT Solutions and
Managed Services Sales and Marketing Boot Camps:
- Walk you through each step of your first appointment-and your second, and
your third
- Teach you to conduct a client needs analysis that reveals you as the expert
- Provide you with key talking points and strategic answers to every possible
objection
- Clarify the details of the IT solutions and managed services sales process
- Cover the strategic details of Proposal, ROI Analysis, and Service Agreement
- including business-winning PowerPoint presentations
- Allow you to practice your client presentations in role playing sessions
with our experts and your peers
- Empower you to close the deal
Bonus Sales Training:
- How to sell your 3rd-Party Help Desk Services
- How to sell Hardware as a Service (HaaS) effectively
"The tools that you give us are incredible, and the way you've put this
together to go out and do a presentation - it's the best I've ever seen."
- Pam Tappan, Director of Sales, ANS Solutions
Our IT Solutions and Managed Services Sales and Marketing Boot Camps
deep-dive into the sales process, and cover:
- The Proper Way to Prospect
- Call Scripts
- Appointment Setting - Objections
- The 7 Step Sales Cycle Part 1
- The First Visit
- The Warm Up
- Qualifying
- The 7 Step Sales Cycle Part 2
- The Second Visit
- Presentation Basics
- Presentation Slide Deck
- The Cost Savings Analysis
- Overcoming Objections
- Closing
- Follow Up
There is simply no other IT Solutions and Managed Services-focused training
of this type anywhere!
Click here to find out more about our IT Solutions and Managed Services
Sales & Marketing Boot Camps. |
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MSP University Industry News |
Here are just a few of the accomplishments MSP University achieved
in the month of December:
- MSP University delivers service desk teleseminar during
SMB Conference Call
- MSP University delivers Improving Service Delivery Profits During Economic
Downturns teleseminar for
MSPSN Masters General Session
- MSP University conducts
Microsoft 5W/50 Webcast on Improving Service Delivery Profits During
Economic Downturns
- MSP University conducts 1-day onsite consulting engagement for partner in
Milwaukee, WI
- MSP University conducts 1-day onsite consulting engagement for partner in
Keyport, NJ
- MSP University Blog syndicated in
Autotask CommunITy portal
- MSP University Blog syndicated in
SMBTN portal
- MSP University Blog syndicated in
Intel Communities portal
Keep up with our latest news at
www.mspu.us/news | |
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If you know anyone that might benefit from reading our newsletter, please
forward it to them, and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Erick Simpson
MSP University
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