Introduction: I Make No Assumptions

Posted on August 18, 2005

As you know we are in a very vertical industry, even if the services we offer continue to remain horizontal and we watch prices drop. Further, this material won’t appeal to the average business owner. Thus narrowing the market place to a few organizations that either want to learn more or work to expand and build additional profits.

The first thing you should know is that I am making no assumptions about your business, why you are reading this material, or what you hope to gain from it. What I am hoping is that you learn something new, try one of my ideas that have worked for me in the past, or ultimately earn additional profit, and keep your customers for longer terms. That is the real goal. Now with our goal in mind, please keep your hat on when I do make some assumptions later, as I do not know how large or small your company is, the number of your subscribers in your customer base, your average client term, etc. What we are going to focus on, however are two major areas of concern for all independent ISP/ISV organizations. Those are “acquiring new business, and keeping existing business through intuitive cross sell growth.

You might be asking why. Who am I and why do I think I can help or reinforce information you may already know. Well, I’ll tell you why. Fundamentally, I love this business. Yes, I am in the business, have been in the business, and will continue to be in the business. So I have a vested interest in succeeding. What I have also learned from being in the business with independents and not so independent companies is that they are all fundamentally similar in their needs. The small independent ISP with 1000 subscribers has the same needs as a division of a 100 million dollar organization with a division which sells to small businesses or large enterprises. They all need marketing, infrastructure, sales, and support, and they all want to succeed.

With all of that in mind we are going to focus on a couple of areas specifically while helping you to reduce costs increase profits and giving you more insight into your own business, while helping you to communicate more effectively with your staff and client base. Sound like a lot? It is, and many of these thoughts have come to me over time while in the employ of a small company, a mid size public company, or self employed. My career has spanned all types of organizations, but one thing remained the same through out. And that is that we simply serviced and sold solutions to small business. You should know I define small business in the literal sense as well. I consider a small business a one man operation up to 50 employees, while an SME to me is defined as 51 -100 employees, and a n enterprise is 100 employees and above. Your indexes, network OS organizations, etc. will define a small business as any business with one to 500 employees. I say that is too large as when I think of a small business I think of the business owner stocking his or her shelves, delivering supplies personally to his clients/customers, or servicing some type of equipment at their client’s site.

While we have just defined how I will segment the business size demographic you will hear me use the words “client” and “customer” over and over again. They are not interchangeable terms. Let me explain, when I had my first sales job in the technology industry back in the 1980’s selling computers in for a MicroAge franchise I made a comment in front of the owner about one of their “customers.” She quickly corrected me by explaining to me that they did not think of their customers as customers but as clients. The difference being, a client is a long term customer with a relationship with both the sales representative and the company. A customer might be someone who might come in and make a one time purchase of a piece of productivity software never to be heard from again. I never forgot that, and applied that simple theory from that day forward with every sale. It still remains part of my sales pitch today when meeting new prospects for the first time or not soon after meeting them. It is what helps to set me apart from my competitors, and part of my core purpose for being in front of them. And what is my core purpose? Simple, I have a belief that I truly want to help that prospect solve their business problem or problems by showing them there “might” be a better way. And it’s really that simple. I come across as sincere, because I believe why I am there.

So in conclusion, I will say that you do not have to adopt my core believe system, and that you have to be sincere in helping your client’s achieve their goals to succeed. If you can do that, then you will gain the respect of your client, earn referrals, and build your brand.

More to come in September…. Next up: “Why Am I Here” (Its not what you think)…