Do you have a PSA Tool?
If you don’t have a PSA tool for your IT business, then you will be “out of business”, sorry to be so blunt however I fully believe this is going to be the reality. If you think messing around with a CRM tool like salesforce.com or even Microsoft CRM is the way to go, or even worse you go on the cheap and try to do things with an open source solution you are going to be one hurtin puppy. That is the reality of the world guys, especially for those of you in the IT industry.
I really don’t like to come across this way, however I need to be frank about the importance of understanding what is happening in your business from the minute an opportunity is presented to your business right through to the end of life with that client. In the oilpatch, we call this “cradle to grave”. How are you managing your clients out there?
Now, in the IT business there are some good ones. ConnectWise, Autotask and Tigerpaw. I can’t speak on Tigerpaw, don’t know that system at all, however, I do know about the others. Autotask and ConnectWise are the leaders in the industry, and you need to figure out which one works for you and commit to using it to build you IT business. Plain and Simple…but why do many of us fail to execute. That is a whole different story for another day!
Jeannine is simply AWESOME
Over the past day and a bit, I have been in Tampa with Sean (Bulletproof’s Senior Network Engineer) and hanging with the great people at ConnectWise. Jeannine Edwards, who is a sweetheart played host to us this week as we toured the ConnectWise office, discussed the solution with executives and learned about the product at a different level than just installing it.
Why is having ConnectWise important to our business
Bulletproof uses ConnectWise
Since I am a sales focused individual I am more about keeping a close eye on what is happening with our clients. So ConnectWise allows me to understand everything that happens at a client site, what is going on with them, what challenges are they continuing to have plus many more day to day and strategic focal points that I need to keep in my scope at all times.
You see business today, in this new economy is coming back to service. It has to, for way to long client put up with crappy service. This is very much the reality of the world. The thought pattern of many IT Professionals is that “clients are going to be upset about something” was what I was told over and over and over again from my my peers. This is so not true, why can’t you go out of your way to please a clients, WOW them, impress them, take care of them and everything else. Remember: Who signs your pay cheque!
Remember, what I spoke about the other day and why I carry my Blackberry with me at all times…if I can respond faster, take care of things quicker, even just acknowledged their issues immediately (maybe I am not fixing it right away) – I have the advantage.
What are you going to do to gain the competitive advantage today!
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Stuart – great point. If you don’t have a PSA tool today, do the due diligence and get one (obviously i’d like you to go with ConnectWise
, but evaluate and choose the best one for your business). The right PSA tool is essential for growth and scale…and profitability. ConnectWise is consumable on premise as well as hosted, so take a look: ConnectWise.com
ps – Stuart, you know I feel like I’ve REALLY made it now that you’ve given me a shout out in your blog. We loved having you in Tampa!!
Commenting usually isnt my thing, but ive spent an hour on the site, so thanks for the info