@scottalanmiller said

You know, you could argue that some conferences your entrance fee isn't for the conference or training but just you purchasing the swag bag

I have no idea which specific conference you are referring to, My mind is blank.

I have my face back without uploading a new image

@scottalanmiller
The Fibre is for links between buildings, so the speed is consistent between all devices, not keen on trading down the Fibre bandwidth for cat-5 over distance.

Vlans are for guest wifi, that's the only reason why we need managed.

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1447219-which-of-these-3-msp-pricing-strategies-is-right-for-you?page=1#entry-5511693

I've not gotten a reply on that channel, maybe I'll get a reply on this one

@scottalanmiller said in website for MangoCon?:

@Danp said in website for MangoCon?:

@Dashrender Shows up for me after a page refresh...

Once cached it always seems to be fine. Something weird about the content there.

Yes...Get off backside and move onto permanent host

There's things that can be done to fix it but it'll make it a pain to move it elsewhere.

Ummm, yeah...

I don't use email for anything on any social site. I log on and check when I want Too many distractions otherwise.

@thecreativeone91 Well I don't know about that We never got that far, the initial issues scared us away.

Biggest let down was the awful setup/inventory.

@RojoLoco said:

@Breffni-Potter if you do, I'd bet it will be a copy/pasted blog entry...

I saw a thread asking about what it would take for us to buy into Continuum's product.

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1438673-what-would-it-take-to-get-you-to-buy-in-to-an-outsourced-noc

...No reply. - Social media is social, this is not a platform for you to preach, it is a place for you to have a conversation. Discuss with us.

@StuartJordan said in Live Streaming of Conference?:

Will you YouTube live, that works pretty well doesn't it?

Incredibly good for live streaming, we use it for events all the time and it auto records the stream to be released as a recording later.

The flip side is, charging for a web stream? Hmmmm.

@DustinB3403 said in Please Welcome/Be nice to Interns:

Can you confirm who the interns are so that everyone knows who they are?

Stated in the OP

@garak0410
https://www.manageengine.com/products/service-desk-msp/

Give the free edition a try.

@GlennBarley said:

@Breffni-Potter Happy to have a conversation. Apologies that you didn't get a reply to your previous post. You should have one soon.

It's a bit like talking in a circle.

I said "Nobody is talking about you outside of your platform, I need to hear from others that they trust and use you.

The reply I receive "Hey visit OUR website for these reviews"

Hence the frustration where it feels like the listening is not happening.

Google do penalise this and Chrome warns about it routinely.

For the sake of a single emoji...lets get rid of mixed content warnings

@BRRABill said

Can we be nasty to non interns who make mistakes?

It's fine, there's a team with rubber mallets who will be visiting regular members from now on and hitting them over the head until they are sorry.

http://www.ytddownloader.com/

Another mention for a good tool.

@scottalanmiller said:

these are the reason why we thought this. As a bespoke service, quoting pricing is dangerous.

I agree. Keeping the bespoke items unquote able
http://darait.co.uk/special-projects/

.

@scottalanmiller said:

Not really going against the grain, tons and tons of MSP model firms go for fixed pricing. They do so by enforcing rigid standards on customers.

I'm trying to have the conversation about price first and get it out of the way, then we can focus on how we add value rather than finding a lead, beginning the process and then "Oh...that much? Ok not interested"

More and more people want to find out the price of a service quickly, they don't want to dance around the traditional wait for a sales-man to sell you the moon.

What are you like when you sell to new clients?I have spent a lot of time over the past 6 months researching products, trying them out, giving them a test drive, speaking to different suppliers & vendors, to find the best solution for my clients.

In some cases I’ve had a great experience. Others my thought has been “meh” average. Some have just been bad.

Now different people have different preferences but try these things out when you are selling to potential customers. Have a think about the below.

What information do they want from you?

Listen, ask questions, find out. Don’t speak at them as to the virtues and benefits of the product. Be an active listener and respond to what they say.

Are they asking about price? Value? Features? How to use it Don’t send them a 5 page whitepaper just because “that’s what we do with everyone” find out what detail the customer actually is after. If they want detail, help them get it, if they want honest answers to questions, be ready to answer them.

Once you have found out what the information is, find out their preference to receive them, would they like a screen-share? Phone call? Webinar? PDF with 20 pages of detail for them to chew over, or a simple 1 page summary. Different people want different things.

Sell a solution not a product.

The customer is reaching out to you because they have a problem or need, your job is not to sell them a need they don’t have, it is to help them learn if your product, will address that need. If the client receives extra features or benefits, that is a good thing but don’t lose sight of their original need.

As tempting as it can be to close a sale, keep in mind what their goals are. Align your product with those goals don’t try to change their goals to suit your product.

Sometimes, you will not make a sale but if that potential client has a good experience with you, they could easily recommend you to their network of contacts.

Avoid Templates, Be personable.

Recently on Spiceworks.com – A thread was started by a member on how a particular vendor was sending multiple emails.

Unfortunately for the vendor, they had chosen to send multiple emails, all with identical content, from different members of their sales team, so the user in question felt like they were a cog in a machine Even worse was when other users posted screen-shots of identical emails they had received. The sales process was anything but tailored.

Your first impression will last a long time in someone’s mind, so be careful that how you choose to sell does not damage that first impression.

Respond to clients on their channel

Some clients, will not want to speak to you on the phone. They don’t have the time to spend on a “maybe I need this” – conversely if they reach out to you on a social media platform, don’t direct them to a contact form on your website, assist them on the channel they choose to talk to you on. Make sure you are not missing out on any opportunity to talk with clients.

If you fail to reply or force them to switch channels, you run the risk of switching them off from wanting to talk to you.

source: https://goblinbyte.com/2016/02/how-should-you-sell/

@travisdh1 said

Rubber mallets? You trying to be nice already?

For your first offence it's rubber mallets, you don't want to find out what happens to repeat offenders.

The scenario is this.

Windows 2012r2 server on site, running AD, DNS, File server.

The site has the capability for gateway/firewall site to site VPN.

Their server blows up due to PSU failure, hard drive, raid array failure, any number of reasons which could leave them out of action for a day, 2 days.

I'd like to see if I can bring that down-time to 4 hours, without a redundant hardware box on site, using hosted services.

What options are available? Azure seems to do things but they involve SSCM or backing up Azure based instances.

I guess I view the support as more of a commodity. Rather than bespoke, Conversely if someone wants an out of scope support package, the conversation will be had then.

Still...Can't believe we missed the Exchange logo. I guess too much time getting caught up in other areas that we lost the plot on that.

How embarrassing, I've got a stack of business cards with the logo nice and large. Imagine walking up to the Microsoft rep at Spiceworld this week with that, best troll ever.