Nothing Happens by Itself
Copyright © 2021 Karl W. Palachuk
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Pricing is Always a Tricky Subject
. . . until you decide to make it easy.
(Note: It's illegal to collude on pricing, so that's not what I'm here to do. But a lot of people in this industry could use a dollop of reality.)
I have been advising people to raise their rates for about twenty years now. Here are a few truths that people like to argue about. They're still true, but people like to argue.
Unless you are the most expensive company in town, you can raise your rates.
And even then, you can still raise your rates. Stop worrying about raising rates! Almost everyone who reads this newsletter has one thing in common: If you got one more client, it would improve your business and your bottom line.
So, if you need just one more client, then now is a great time to raise your rates and sign that new client at the new rate. When you see that they don't bat an eye, it will be easier to go get the next one more client at the new rate. Try it.
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Your competition really is irrelevant.
One of the Absolutely Unbreakable Rules of Service Delivery is, "Your competition is irrelevant."
The only relevance they have is the relevance you give them. In every town, every city, every county, you will find a wide range of prices on virtually every service offering.
Even if prospects ask about pricing, it's rarely the deciding factor in the buying decision. Quality of service, timely response, consistency, professionalism, and reputation are just a few factors that can push price aside.
If you sell managed services (or cloud services), it's easy to raise rates more often.
The reason is simple: The more people spend on flat-fee services, the fewer hours they will need to buy. For example, let's say you spend 250 hours per year on a client's technology, but they only buy ten of those hours on a per-hour basis. If you raise your rates $10/hour, they will expect to pay only $100 more over the next year.
A client like that is probably spending $35,000 per year with you. If they walk out because of a $100 increase, they were already headed for the door.
Your costs ARE going up.
With compliance laws springing up all over, your cost to deliver good service within the law is going up as well. And, due to compliance and ransomware, your insurance rates are probably also going through the roof. Those are legitimate business expenses. And whether you like it or not, that justifies a rate increase.
If you have different clients on different rates, that's the best place to start.
You limit the ability of your company to scale when everyone is paying a different rate. So the first thing you should do is to begin moving everyone to the highest rate you charge anyone. Then, next year, you can raise it a little more.
The growth of "larger players" makes you more valuable.
With Staples, AT&T, Best Buy, and even your own distributor starting to call themselves managed service providers, you stand out as a real consultant and a real small business. People love to do business with businesses their own size. Take advantage of that.
The larger players are often not motivated by profit. They might be trying to sell seats, reach new territories, or become a regional powerhouse. In general, these strategies are intended to get the business large enough to sell to a mega-MSP. And all of these behaviors lead to bad service, slow service, inconsistent service, and clients falling out of compliance with all the new laws.
One of my favorite signs of all time was spotted in a Toyota dealership's service department: "We fix $49 brake jobs." Clients know that it costs money to be trained, certified, secure, and professional. So when they have a choice between big, bad service and smaller, better service, they're going to choose you.
Go get a price list from Best Buy or Staples. Assuming you are better qualified, you should also be more expensive.
The easiest way to make more money is to increase your prices.
This seems obvious, but people feel the need to argue with it.
Yes, you might lose a client if you raise your rates. But you will only lose clients who are borderline anyway. And everyone who stays will be paying the higher rates. So just do it.
After twenty-six years of being self-employed, I know that every fear I've ever had about raising my rates was simply a fear that I made up inside my head. I also know that I always made more money after raising rates than I made before.
Do yourself a favor in 2021. Make is easy: Raise your rates.
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Calendar Events!
I saw a LinkedIn promo from Nerdio. A collection of vendors, including bvoip, Pax8, Compliancy Group, RocketCyber, Acronis, and Nerdio are hosting another Channel Strong roadshow. Dates are March 15-26. The road trip is from Texas to Georgia via Florida.
See the March Calendar below.
If you know of other in-person events, please let me know and I'll post them.
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Have you checked out our online Community yet?
I invite you to take a look. In addition to all of my books in all available formats, we have massive educational programs and unique content.
Over the last three years, we have creating many programs that are for members-only and quite valuable. We're working on some major new programs right now, to be released this month.
Just because you're in business for yourself doesn't mean you have to go it alone.
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I think that's all the news for now.
Stay well, and have a great week.
-- Karl W. Palachuk
:-)
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Next Five-Week LIVE Class:
Managing Your Service Board
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Starts March 23rd
Sign up Today
Managing Your Service Board – Setup, Core SOPs, and Daily Procedures
Course 5W10
Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk
This course covers the most important pieces of making your PSA (Professional Services Administration) service board work effectively. Your PSA is the brain center of your entire operation.
Most Managed Service Providers don't use their PSA systems efficiently. In fact, most of them only use 10-20% of the capabilities of their PSA. This costs you money because you have the tool to run everything in your business more effectively. But if you don't put the right information into the tool, then you can't get the reports you need to improve your business.
This course covers the daily operation of a managed service business - or any IT shop with a service board and one or more technicians who execute the service. It assumes you have a service board or PSA (Professional Services Administration) and a service manager.
Whether you sell “break fix” or flat fee services, a service board will take your company to the next level – if you use it right. In addition to covering setup and core standard operating procedures, we'll get into the "nitty gritty" of running a service board and managing the service department.
Which PSA?
This course is not PSA-specific. I used ConnectWise for four years in my business. Then I switched to Autotask and used that for five years. Eventually, I move to SolarWinds and used that for more than five years.
On top of all that, I've worked closely with coaching client who have used all of these products. This course is intended to apply to all PSAs. I will point out areas where differences are most obvious.
You will learn
- How tickets should flow into, through, and off of the service board
- How to set up the core components of a service board
- Priorities
- Statuses
- Workflows
- Time Estimates
- The most important processes and procedures for making the board work effectively once it's set up
- Introducing new processes to you employees
- Getting clients to understand the new processes
- Time tracking the right way
- The most important reports you need to run
- Every Day
- Every Week
- Every Month
- When it's time for client renewals
- Avoiding the biggest pitfalls with service board management
- Building an Action Plan that works
Additional Topics Include:
- Welcome to the Service Department
- After Hours Work
- On Call and Night Staff
- Managing Internal Administrative Tasks
- Assign Techs or Rotate Them?
- Approved Tools
- Employees in The Tech Department
- Technician Daily Time Management -- includes daily work flow
- Time Tracking for Employees
- The Tech on Call for The Day - Managing Daily Workflow
- How to Maximize Billability of Technicians
- Email Rules and Etiquette for the Consultant
- Technician Supplies
- Final Friday Training
- Troubleshooting Guidelines
- Troubleshooting and Repair Logs
- Service Delivery Policies and Procedures
- The First Client Visit
- Guide to a Service Call
- The Network Documentation Binder - NDB
- Response Times - Guarantees and Delivery
- Time Entry and Note Entry in Service Tickets
- Information Sharing
- Service Board Backlog Management
- Daily Monitoring of Client Machines
- Patch Management Philosophy and Procedures
- Setting Up Alerts in Your PSA and RMM
- New PC Checklists
- Server Down Procedures
- Third Party Tech Support - Documenting Calls
- Third Party Tech Support - Rules of Engagement
- Document Pouches
- Service Focus: Monthly Maintenance
- Why We Do Monthly Maintenance
- Scheduling Monthly Maintenance and On Site Visits
- Checklist for Major Scheduled Maintenance
- The Monthly Maintenance Checklist
- Monthly Single Checklist
- Outsourcing (some) of Your Monthly Maintenance
- Backup Monitoring, Testing, and Management
- Disaster Recovery - An Overview
Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, blogger and author of the very popular "SOP Friday" posts at https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com.
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 managers. It is particularly useful for the Service Manager or Operations Manager.
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Weekly Agenda
Week One
- Core Components
- Building Blocks of a Great Service Board
- Documentation
Week Two
- Core Processes and Procedures for Success
- Time Tracking the Right Way
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Week Three
- Implementation and Daily Processes
Week Four
- A Day In the Life of the Service Desk
- Policies that Drive Profitability
Week Five
- Build and Maintain a Well-Oiled Machine
- Getting the Details Right
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Only $299 per student
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 managers. It is particularly useful for the Service Manager or Operations Manager.
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: Financial Processes - The Bigger Picture |
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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 700 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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March News - and More March News |
The Community Newsletter went out last Friday. If you're a member of the Community and didn't get one, check your filters. If you need help getting back on our list, contact Kara.
Remember - Live Community meetings every Thursday. I am still working on Client Referral Materials and other "homework" I've received from the Community meetings. Join us. The links are right at the top of your Dashboard.
THIS Thursday is totally open forum.
If you're a member, join us.
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The Roundtable with Janet Schijns is Posted
As of this writing, I think Kara is still going through it to create complete notes. This conversation was filled with information, links, and references. So it takes awhile. But the recording is up for sure.
I have a long slate of great future Roundtable guests. Block off that First Thursday at 9AM Pacific (Noon Eastern).
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Ecommerce moving forward.
We are proceeding to build a model ecommerce site. Of course we'll be documenting everything along the way. Follow my blog for full details of what we're up to.
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Because the News went out Friday, the March News Video is also posted. This video is open to everyone, not just Community members.
As always, our goal is to help you to be as successful as possible!
If you need something, please post a question in a forum or email Kara (your Community Manager) or me.
:-)
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Keep the Ducks Away
My local mastermind friend Stephanie Chandler moved to a new house and loved the ducks in her new pool. But everyone on Facebook said "Get rid of the ducks!"
So she went on Amazon and bought a floating alligator head for the pool.
No ducks . . . or neighbor kids either.
:-)
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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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March
Harry's Digital Inclusion Roadshow
Mar 10
Austin, TX
XChange +
March 7-9 / Live + Virtual event
Orlando, FL
Register now and don't miss my presentation!
Channel Strong Tour
March 15
Plano, TX
Channel Strong Tour
March 16
Forth Worth, TX
Channel Strong Tour
March 17
San Antonio, TX
Channel Strong Tour
March 18
Houston, TX
Channel Strong Tour
March 19
New Orleans, LA
Channel Strong Tour
March 22
Tampa, FL
Channel Strong Tour
March 23
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Channel Strong Tour
March 24
Orlando, FL
Channel Strong Tour
March 25
Jacksonville, FL
Channel Strong Tour
March 26
Atlanta, GA
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April
If you know of in-person events we should list, please let us know.
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May
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
May 6, 2021
Chicago, Il
SMB Roadshow - Vancouver
May 11th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Toronto
May 13th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Montreal
May 18th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
Join me Live!
ASCII Success Summit
May 19 & 20
Bethesda, MD
SMB Roadshow - Providence, RI
May 20th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
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June
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
June 9, 2021
Houston, Tx
ASCII Success Summit
June 16 & 17
Cincinnati, OH
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
Omaha, NE
June 24-25th
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July
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
July 8, 2021
Raleigh, NC
ASCII Success Summit
July 21 & 22
Chicago, IL
Black Hat USA
July 31-August 5
Las Vegas, NV
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August
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
SMB Roadshow - Amsterdam, NE
August 19th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Berlin, Germany
August 21st
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
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September
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
Sept 2, 2021
Boston, MA
ITBOG (Business Owners Group) Cruise Conference
Sept. 3-6
Departs Miami
ASCII Success Summit
September 22 & 23
NY / NJ area
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
San Diego, CA
Sept 23-24th
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October
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
Oct 6, 2021
Atlanta, GA
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!
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
ASCII Success Summit
November 3 & 4
Houston, TX
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
Nov 4, 2021
Los Angeles, CA
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid 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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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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