May 2016 - In This Issue:

MONTHLY TO-DO LIST
► Finalise your Business Plan
► Know your Number; Close Your Gap
► Help another member succeed 
► Engage with HTG Vendors
►  Register for HTG Q3 meeting
SINCE YOU ASKED Q&A
Q:  I am interested in reviewing Nate Austin's presentation from the Q1 Building a Sales Engine session. Where can I find the resources?

A:   Nate's PowerPoint presentations are available to you in the Building a Sales Engine community on the HUB
CLOUD WATCHING: 
WHAT YOU NEED TO 
KNOW IN 2016

Once upon a time, the neighborhood of your business was made up entirely of the clients whose systems you could physically access. We've supported you through the shift from that limited break/fix space to a larger world of managed services, which opened up your IT neighborhood to include even more clients.
Technology never stops evolving. Now there is a new shift on the horizon, with cloud services paving the way to your new global marketplace. Maybe you've spent the last several years considering a move to the cloud and decided to stick with on premise service, but now is the time to start looking at your business as a player in the worldwide IT market by expanding to offer cloud services.

Diminishing Returns
Managed services aren't going away, but they will start to slide in the next few years. 50% of your clients will be running 100% of their IT from the cloud, according to recent surveys. Which means the demand starts now. If you aren't ready to meet it, you run the very real risk of losing clients to someone ready to start offering this new practice area sooner, rather than later.
I know you've come to know and love the recurring revenue associated with managed services. The good news is that the rise of the cloud doesn't have to mean losing out on that revenue. If you play your cards right-which means establishing a team 100% focused on delivering an incredible cloud experience to your customers-you'll see any loss in managed service revenue balanced, or even overtaken, by revenue from cloud services.
The transition from break/fix to managed services didn't happen overnight. In fact, it took more than eight years for the market to embrace that transition. If that was light speed, the opening up of cloud services will happen at warp speed. As clients look for cloud services, and massive entities like Microsoft advertise the necessity for it, you have to move fast to stay ahead of the change. Move on this now.

The Success Platform
If you're on a business trip, how do you cut down on travel time and reach your destination faster? You step onto the right platform at the train station. If you're on a business success journey, how do you stay agile in the face of hyper-speed market moves? You align with the tools and resources that allow you to get onto the Success Platform.
At ConnectWise, we've made it our mission to understand where the market is headed, and to make sure we're prepared to propel our partners to the forefront. To that regard, we recently announced additional capabilities for ConnectWise CloudConsole™, a tool that eases the management, monitoring and billing of cloud services. The new enhancements provide ConnectWise partners with expanded options to purchase Microsoft Office 365; improved reporting, billing and invoicing; and easier access via multiple ConnectWise screens.
 It's time to step up to the Success Platform!

Arnie Bellini
Chief Executive Officer
ConnectWise



PROSPECTIVE 
MEMBER LIST
New and prospective members are listed on the HTG HUB. As outlined in our membership agreement, HTG members at large have 48 hours following this email to communicate concerns to Scott Scrogin


A MESSAGE FROM STUART APPLEGATE   
Hi ANZ HTG'ers!

Well the year is bounding along with the HTG Online members (HTGO5) completing their fifth meeting for 2016 last week on May 11 and the Q2 Face-to-Face (F2F) meetings starting next week in Sydney using the new "split" format week. The end of fiscal year for Australian members is looming next month on June 30 and our NZ cousins have completed theirs ending March 31 - so it's open season on Business plans at Q2 !
 
The Q2 F2F meetings brings with it lots of activity which I will briefly summarise below, it's not too late to get involved...
  • We have Visitors and vendors from the US including - Arlin Sorensen HTG CEO, Jeanne Hopkins, Frank Bauer & Ryan McGill of Continuum Managed Services and Jennifer Bodell of StorageCraft US.
  • Our local visitors and vendors comprise - Russell & David from Finlease, James & Kultar from Datto, Robbie & Sim from Webroot and the local Storagecraft team of Marina, Stan and Dean.
  • Our 2016 ANZ vendor sponsors (Datto, Webroot, Storagecraft & Finlease) have each completed their HTG Plan on A Page and goals for 2016 - your facilitators can share more details during your Q2 meetings - take the time to understand a vendor and engage in a deeper relationship.
  • We have (2) new members joining HTG ANZ (DJC Systems and Synapse IT consultants of Melbourne area) who will be working with me on the HTG Jumpstart program over Thursday & Friday in Q2 - so please bend their ear, extend them a warm welcome and share with them your HTG wisdom.
  • Want to be an MVP?  In Q2 you'll have the chance. Come to your Q2 meeting prepared and be active in sharing and getting awkward in the room, and you could walk away with the MVP prize - your facilitator will explain more!
Our focus for the Q2 week is around the following topics:
  • Business plans
  • Part 2 of the Building a Sales Engine journey around Marketing & Lead Generation
  • Creating Business Value - Know Your Number! 
Of course, we haven't forgotten the social aspects of a HTG gathering...
We have arranged lunches together, multiple dinners sponsored by Datto plus additional dinners with vendor guests.
 
We are in a new venue, so I look forward to your feedback.  It will be a HUGE Q2!
  
As we look forward into 2016 please keep planning towards;
  • BASE Q1 Q&A - following on from Nate Austin's excellent Building a Sales Engine content in Q1, you can now submit your questions direct to Nate. A recording of all answers will be produced in June. Deadline to submit questions is May 27. Submit them here.
  • Q3 in Queenstown - get your ski legs ready to lead me down the mountain as we focus on Leadership plans in Q3 so get your Q3 Rego here if not already completed.
  • Q4 in Brisbane - the F2F meeting rego will open soon after Q2, and we will be kicking off Service Exec Peer Groups for your Service teams in Q4. You can register your interest here.
I look forward to catching up with you next week at the Q2 content day on Wednesday, or during the group meetings.
  
Travel safe.

Stu

A MESSAGE FROM ARLIN SORENSEN:
WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER? A BUSINESS VALUE CONVERSATION 
Greetings!

In the   April HTGWAY , I talked about two legacies that we'll leave as business owners - a personal legacy and a business legacy.  Both are critical and obviously related.  But let's focus on the reality of how most of us view our business in regard to provide a legacy - it is a major (if not the major) source of funding four our retirement and future.  It's that simple for most, if we miss in creating enough value in our company we will fall short in having enough dollars to fund our lifestyle in retirement the way we wish it to be.
 
In order to be sure you generate enough for the future, you need to answer some very important questions.  If there are multiple partners or principals in the business, obviously the answers have to include everyone.
  1. How much is the business worth today?
  2. When (years from now) would you like to sell and stop being an owner in this business?
  3. What is the reasonable expectation of what the business will be worth when you want to exit?
  4. What steps do you need to take to grow it each year by that amount to fill that gap?
  5. How much money do you need from the sale or financial planning or retirement?
  6. Will the sale proceeds be sufficient to support your retirement or do you need to downsize?
  7. What gap exists between your business contribution toward your retirement and what you really need to be happy?
These are some questions that help define the future. Lots of people have little to no idea what their company is really worth. Usually they believe it is worth far more than it truly is.
 
Of course the value of a company (or anything, for that matter) is what someone is willing to pay for it. Formulas can help put the number in a ballpark; but until there is an offer on the table and money in the bank, it is mere theory. 
 
The big word that comes from these questions is GAP.  In most cases, one does exist and often in two places.  You need to recognize the gap and create a plan for how you will address it. 
 
Hope is not a strategy. 
 
It takes hard work and a disciplined plan to be able to strategically impact that gap.  It also takes time, so the sooner you begin making the adjustments the more likely you are to achieve your end goals.
 
The key is to know what the number is that you would sell your business for, which hopefully is closely related to what you need for your future.
 
Your business should always be for sale, for the right price. 
 
That means you have to run it like you might sell it any day, which makes for good discipline and decision making.

But we need to have a number defined. How much would it take before you were willing to let the company go? 

If we wait until someone begins talking with us, it becomes too emotional. If we do the work ahead and have the number defined, it makes it a simple decision to execute. 
 
Do you know your gap(s)?  If not, now is the time to discover and define any that exist.  And if there are gaps, what's your plan to close them. 
 
It'll be worth the effort when you're relaxing on the beach someday!

I'm continuing this conversation on the Peer Power Blog soon, watch for:
Prepare for the 4D's: A Business Legacy Conversation
Considering an Exit Strategy: A Business Legacy Conversation

IMPROVE YOUR COMPANY VALUATION AND INDUSTRY IQ

Confidential - Active HTG Members Only

And more!
 
 
Service Leadership was privileged to be asked to visit with 23 out of the 24 groups meeting face to face in Dallas. In preparation for those visits, S-L created a fair amount of content we can present, in the rare event the groups did not have specific requests for content. And invariably we don't have the time to share that content as we stay focused on addressing the issues and topics voiced by each group.
 
Until now!
 
We are pleased to share the deck we've created for the Q2 meetings