One of the questions I get all the time from MSPs when they’re building a sales team is “Robin, who should be my first hire when I’m growing my sales and marketing team? Who’s going to give me the biggest ROI?” It’s not going to be what you think, but this one hire on your sales team can add half …
If you’re an MSP thinking about fully outsourcing your marketing, I’m going to share with you why that could be a complete and total disaster and why you should rethink that strategy. Most marketing agencies that do a complete, “fully outsourced model” are not strategy firms. They are fulfillment firms. I know because I spent the better part of 10 …
There’s an old sales joke about a hotshot sales guy sitting down with a little old lady to sell her a new heater. He tells her all about how the heater is made in America and has the highest-quality ratings for efficiency and safety, about the BTUs, construction, warranties and other features. When he finally shuts up, she says, “I …
Much of our society incorrectly describes small business owners as “entrepreneurs.” But as Gerber famously pointed out, most entrepreneurs are not entrepreneurs at all – they’re technicians suffering from an entrepreneurial seizure. Nothing is truer in our industry, where most (roughly 80%) are self-employed with helpers, generating under a couple million in sales, who are busy doing it, doing it, doing …
Salespeople do all sorts of stupid things that cause them to lose sales on a NORMAL day, but when the world is facing a crisis like the one we’re all in now with the coronavirus, these behaviors are unforgivable and need to end. #1. Prospecting as though nothing is going on (click to watch video). Let’s consider what might be going …
Here’s a real e-mail I received from a client this week: “Robin, do you think not hitting sales quota for the past year is a reason to let my salesperson go?” Don’t laugh – we’ve ALL kept an employee long past their expiration date. On several occasions I made the mistake of keeping someone with the hopes that they – …
Two-time Heavyweight Champion and genius entrepreneur George Foreman will be ONE of the keynote speakers at our upcoming Boot Camp. Some have criticized the decision, saying, “We’re IT guys – not a room full of professional boxers or TV personalities, so why waste time listening to THIS guy?” So, please allow me to address that AND serve the dual purpose …
Whoever is going around teaching people to use “grab a coffee” as a reason for getting entrance to a meeting with them needs to stop. Worse yet, “I’ll buy you lunch,” as if they’re doing me a HUGE favor. Last month I received multiple SPAM e-mails similar to the one below: Hi Robin, my CTO and I will be in …
How many times have you been told by your Mum, “It’s the thought that counts,” as counsel after getting a worthless piece of crap for a gift? Maybe that’s a good mantra to live by for casual gifts, but in business, it’s the worst piece of advice you can get, the worst excuse you can give. Next month at our …
By Robin Robins, President, Technology Marketing Toolkit, Inc. www.technologymarketingtoolkit.com Are you familiar with the late, U.S. President Garfield’s story on margins? James Garfield was born in a log cabin to poor, uneducated parents, yet he went on to become a scholar, a Civil War hero, a U.S. congressman for 18 years and, eventually, the 20th President of the United States. …
