As the new year approaches, we pulled together a list of some eye-popping cybersecurity stats from 2015.

After you take a look at our SlideShare, let us know if we missed any!

Check out the SlideShare!

Original blog here

Just about everyone involved in sales is familiar with the “funnel” in some form or another – but when looking at MSPs and IT service providers, what exactly are potential SMB customers thinking about at each stage of their journey towards becoming a customer? And what can we do as marketers to ensure prospects are receiving the right content and messaging at the right time?

In this episode of Grow Your Business, we take a quick look at the three main stages of the MSP sales funnel and explore the various types of marketing collateral and messaging that should be leveraged with each.

Watch the video!

A full transcript of the episode is available below:

Episode Transcript:

Coming up on Grow Your Business, a look at the sales funnel for MSPs and IT service providers and how it correlates to your day to day marketing strategy.

Welcome to another edition of Grow Your Business, the show designed to provide MSPs and IT service providers with actionable marketing and sales insights you can use in your day to day business. Today we're going to take a look at the sales funnel. If you're involved in the sales process in any way at your practice, you may have seen these stages before, or you at a high level at least understand that prospects are moving through various stages and touchpoints on their way to becoming partners of yours. Today we're going to take a little bit more of a close look at each one of the three big stages in this funnel and really get a sense of where marketing can align with the sales process and what type of collateral and resources do you want to be using at each of these various stages.

Right up at the top of the funnel is our first touchpoint. At this point you have a business owner who's maybe identifying some sort of problem or challenge that they're having in their day to day lives. Maybe they want to make better use out of the technology they already have. Maybe they feel like they're spending too much money on an existing managed services provider, even a break fix provider who's taken a couple of days to come in and fix something when a machine goes offline or something like that. At some point or another there's going to be an issue identified. Someone's going to raise their hand and say, "Hey, you know, I could be doing better at this, we could be operating more efficiently or more effectively here, or we could be saving some cash flow here." There's going to be some issue identified.

The way that you're going to know that there's going to be an issue identified is really by looking at visits to your website and leads that are converting by filling out forms, by downloading an eBook, a white paper, subscribing to your blog, any of those content mediums that you have pushing out via the website. The type of materials and resources you want to be sharing at this point are high level and educational. From an MSP standpoint it could be the importance of patch management or how scripting can help save time or even the value of managed IT services for those customers that are still leveraging a break fix provider. It's not diving too deeply into your particular service offerings or your pricing or your business model. It's basically identifying and addressing a need and trying to help folks get a sense of hey, there may be a better solution out there.

After that they're going to be moving into this middle of the funnel or this second stage in the process. This is really where they're saying, "Okay, I've identified that there's some issue, something I can be doing a little bit better here. What are my options to actually improve that? How can I get out there and learn a little bit more? What providers, what services, and what support's available to help me do a little bit better?"

At this point you want to start pushing your products and services. You want to get a sense of, "Hey, these are the solutions that I actually have available. This is some of my pricing," if folks are interested enough at that point. "These are how we can help you solve the problem that you've identified and raised with us." Sales collateral, product data sheets, information that says, "This is actually how we do business, this is how our customers like to engage with us and how they work with us."

Once you provide a little bit of that information, they'll be interested and ready to really make a decision and get to that final step or the bottom of the funnel. At this point they've already identified a need. They want to get out there and partner with someone or find a solution to that problem. This last part is really about identifying why you're the right tool for the job or the right provider for the job, why your solutions are the best fit ones to solve this prospect's particular problems or pain points.

Here they're going to make a decision. They're ready to take action. They're ready to close the deal. They're ready to come on as a partner. At this point it's about looking at case studies, testimonials, social proof, things that are going to say, "Hey, we are as capable as we say we are in some of these pieces we are showing you earlier. We have customers that are happy and engaged. This is what they have to say about working with us." Things that are really going to help get folks across the finish line and basically sign that deal with you and come on board or at least get into an eval or a trial, raise their hand and say, "Hey, you seem like the right fit for me here, let's learn more, let's get started."

That was a very high level look at some of these three main basic stages of a funnel. What's unique and important for MSPs to remember and for service providers to remember is that in a lot of traditional lines of business, this is really the end of the line and this is where the transaction ends, but MSPs are really in the customer service business, the relationship business. There's often no shortage of opportunities to upsell, cross sell, have various touchpoints throughout the year, business reviews, compiling technology road maps and things like that. It's important to remember that even when you've reached this point with a particular customer, the process really comes right back up to the top and you can reset that clock and have an opportunity to constantly be in touch with folks and continue to upsell.

What's unique here and what's valuable here is that when you circle back up to the top of the funnel, you already know these folks. They're already doing business with you. You already have an understanding of what their business is like and who they are and what they need. It's a great way to continue this process and to continue building more revenue out of each of these customers.

That's a pretty quick look at the funnel here. Thanks again for watching. Be sure to check out our other episodes. We'll see you next time on Grow Your Business.

@scottalanmiller Thanks. I suppose we could embed the images, just seems a lot easier to post the link... But I understand that people may see it as "click bait," which we don't want to be perceived as posting. Will use this thread as a learning exprience and improve posting practices going forward. I looked as some of the other posts in "self promotion" and see how including the entire post in the thread can be done. Thanks!

Article Originally Publish on: Continuum's MSP Blog

People use tools to make their jobs easier. A carpenter might use a SKILSAW to more easily complete a project, a director may take advantage of an Arri 35mm camera to shoot a movie and you might seek out remote monitoring and management (RMM) software to more easily monitor your clients' endpoints. When these tools work properly, you are able to complete projects much more effectively than you would be able to without them. But what happens when things go wrong?If the SKILSAW stops working, the carpenter needs to spend time and money repairing it. This is probably fine if it happens once or twice, but what if it's happening consistently throughout the course of the year? And what if the saw takes two weeks to repair every time it breaks? Soon, the gap between the time and money spent fixing the saw and the revenue earned building houses starts to grow smaller. In other words, the carpenter's margins are shrinking. The same ideology can be applied when MSPs use software-only solutions.

What's the Issue?

Okay, so software-only RMM software might not completely stop working the way that a power tool might, but it certainly could require a lengthy setup process, hands-on management, frequent updates, or even a full-time employee to make sure that things are always running smoothly. Over time, those costs start to add up. Like, way up.

Often times, MSP business owners look at the cost per agent when it comes time to select an RMM solution. Sure, this is important, but it certainly shouldn't be the only consideration. What are you getting for that cost? What is built in to the software that you're paying for? It's more important to think about the long term costs of the tools that you select. In the end, what will cost more? A few more bucks per agent for a fully-managed solution that you never have to worry about, or a full-time employee to oversee the software-only solution that you're paying less per agent for?

Shrinking margins are the real concern when it comes to software-only solutions. Even if you don't spend the money to hire a new employee, your existing technicians are going to be spending their time working on the tool instead of taking care of projects that they should be working on or investing time in relationships they should be building. On a per-day basis, the time spent updating or maintaining the tool may not seem like much, but add it all up at the end of the year. That little number looks a lot bigger now, doesn't it?

When considering an RMM solution, or any other MSP tool for that matter, there are a few questions that you should always ask yourself...

• How much time do you spend setting up this solution?
• How much time are you (or your techs) spending managing this software solution?
• How fast does it allow you and/or your technicians to work vs. another solution?
• What tasks are you and/or your technicians spending time on with this solution?

If the carpenter could have spent more money on a saw that had a built-in maintenance system that could automatically take care of any issues as they occurred, without him even knowing, don't you think he would?

What's the Solution?

Again, software-only solutions can be attractive because they are able to be purchased for lower prices. When you dig a bit deeper, you'll find that for a higher cost per agent, you're able to save yourself a LOT of money in the long run. Fully-managed solutions allow you to receive the same benefit that you would with a software-only solution, but you also get an entire team maintaining your system behind the scenes. The software needs an update? Don't lift a finger. It's taken care of for you.

Some of you business owners may have an issue with relinquishing complete management of the tools that you're using to monitor your clients. If this is the case, you can always step in. Fully-managed solutions allow you to have as much or as little involvement in the software as you'd like.

If you're currently using a software-only solution and don't agree with these points, simply start tracking these expenditures. Track how much time your employees are spending with the software. Come up with some sort of a tracking mechanism that will allow you to calculate the real cost of the solution that you have in place. You might end up realizing that it's worth it to spend a little more upfront on the saw that will save you money in the long haul.

Original post at: MSP Blog

Tis the season for unprecedented snow fall! As children, we obsessively watched the weather forecast when there was the slightest mention of snow, hoping that 67% chance crystallized into a sure thing. Then the next morning, we'd get up earlier than our parents would normally have to drag us out of our beds to race to the window, hoping to see nothing but white.

As MSPs you don't often have snow days. The biggest snow storms actually wreak havoc for the IT environments you monitor and manage. Are you prepared when they do? In a recent Channele2e post about business continuity, Joe Panettieri recaps the results of Jonas - the blizzard that rocked the east coast this past weekend - and highlights specific MSPs who proactively updated their disaster recovery (DR) plan in preparation. They, like many other MSPs and IT solutions providers, recognized room for improvement and increased responsiveness in the event of an emergency. Have you revisited and revised your own business continuity processes? Is your backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solution Jonas-tested and safe from any other disaster triggered by natural disaster, malicious attack or user error?

Let's see just how robust your disaster recovery plan really is...

1. Have you properly defined and documented what you consider a disaster scenario to be?

You can't know when and how to act when you don't know what to act upon. It may seem like common sense, but you can never be too thorough when recovery planning.

2. Have you identified all of the risks that necessitate an IT disaster recovery plan?

Thinking back to Jonas, we know that by the time Joe had written his article, almost 72,000 customers had already lost power. In this scenario, the risk is systems going offline as a result of the power outage. A snow storm is just one case that tests how strong your plan is. Don't forget about the other threats to your clients' network uptime, such as a phishing email that's clicked and installs ransomware or hardware failure.

3. Have you conducted a Business Impact Analysis (BIA)?

With each of these risks, you want to know how likely they are to occur and what the impact would be if they actually did. Just as different geographic locations may be subject to different weather calamities, different IT environments may have varying levels of susceptibility to outside threats. If your client doesn't have a BDR solution in place, for instance, the impact of an unexpected power outage is critical - if their server and local backup fails, their data can't be recovered. If they do have a BDR solution in place, while they'll experience downtime with workstations being offline, there's not as big a risk of data loss. Once you've conducted the BIA for each risk, you can prioritize which vulnerabilities to address first.

Keep reading!

The hackers responsible for the 2013 attacks on South Korea are believed to be back at it. Meanwhile, a security company has discovered two tools that may have been used to bypass security in the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack.

To hear more, and to watch the video, just click here!

I recently came across an article on eWeek that talked about Malware attacks shifting back toward the end user.

One of the quotes that really resonated with me was the following...

He also said that he was disappointed that education didn’t work as well as it should and that the only thing that seemed to work was after people had been the victims of an attack. This means that companies need to perform more realistic training, he said.

What does "more realistic" training look like? Does anyone have any examples of effective security training? What can you do to make security training "more realistic?"

@Dominica Guilty as charged...

We just moved into a new office in Boston. THIS is our view!

Lets see yours!

Spinning off of my other thread, I wanted to know what people are doing in light of the return of CryptoWall...

How are you educating your clients?
What advice are you giving them?
What do you do if a client becomes a victim of CryptoWall?
In what scenario, if any, would you advise a client to just pay the ransom?

Original Source: Continuum Blog

@scottalanmiller said:

"We don't require the people who manufacture paper shredders to have a chip that records and scans that document so it's recoverable,"

Not yet...

What do you think about this push for a encryption committee?

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3037470/security/lawmakers-push-for-encryption-commission-to-find-compromise.html

@NattNatt I struggled to find a reason for that too..

We just posted this "Would You Rather" quiz on our blog. It's interactive if you click the link, so you can click to vote, but here are some of the questions.

Would you rather...

See the rest of the list!

@Dashrender We have a bunch of our partners on this case study page - http://www.continuum.net/partner-success-stories

Is this helpful?

@RojoLoco I wish I could help you out more, but as I said, you can easily get pricing from a quick conversation. We're not keeping them top secret, I just don't have the authority to share that information on a public forum.

@BRRABill Oh yeah, I read that too. That will be interested to see develop.

@RojoLoco Unfortunately not, since we are a channel exclusive provider we would never want to share pricing and potentially put our Partner’s margins at risk if an end-user were to see the costs are. The account executive team can share pricing without giving you a long sales pitch, they just need to verify who they share that information with

@GlennBarley Interested to hear what others have to say on the topic.