Consider Selling Your Goods on Amazon - Really

Follow this a bit. It does relate to every IT consultant . . .

This opportunity might take a bit of work.

If you have a book for sale on Amazon, you have the ability to create an Author's Page. Mine is here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Karl-W.-Palachuk/author/B002V6UP56

If your book is available on Kindle, you can purchase Kindle ads. The cool thing about that is that Amazon doesn't just display the Kindle format. So, for example, Managed Services in a Month is available as a paperback, Kindle, or Audible book. Therefore, the Kind ad points to the combined page, offering up all three formats.

All of that has been going on for some time. Recently, Amazon greatly expanded their ad program. You still can't advertise "anything" on the platform. But if you have an Amazon Store, you can advertise any item, all items, or the entire store itself.

You may have noticed that almost anything you want is available on Amazon. And, if you pay attention, you might notice that many things are not shipped by and from Amazon. They are shipped from specific stores.

For example, you might create a store that includes all the hardware and software you sell. Hardware is probably easier. Consider selling whatever brands you are authorized to sell of:

• Desktop PCs
• Laptops
• Monitors
• Web cameras
• Cables - (power, network, HDMI, USB, etc.)
• Printers - (laser or inkjet)
• Lights for videos
• Speakers
• Microphones
• Battery backups
• Firewalls
• Wifi routers
• Network repeaters
• Consumables - (printer paper, toner, ink, office equipment, shelving, and whatever else is available through your distributors)

. . . and so forth and so on.

You are (probably) already authorized to sell all these things. And many of them can be drop-shipped, which is awesome. It means you can take orders via an Amazon store and then simply have them drop shipped anywhere you need to. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of a modern, fully-functional platform that gives your business access to an audience far beyond the city where you live.

Amazon makes you easy to find. You can actually send your clients to your store, and give them special discount codes. Yes, Amazon takes more than you might like. But they can also bring you a massive audience you would never be able to build on your own.

Advertising Costs - and Reach

Here's the very good news. As of the end of August 2024, Amazon ads are both cheap and effective. AND you can generate reports of which ads led to specific sales on the platform. So you can literally see how much you sold as well as how much you spent on a specific ad. I don't know of any other platform that makes this so easy and obvious.

Another great feature is that you can use basic graphics or short videos. I've posted the video ads I'm using on my YouTube channel in case you want to take a look:

• 22 seconds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5rEOWCWVtQ
• 25 seconds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fi6UdoExi0
• 44 seconds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKfw3f9RrgY (attempt at humor)
• 14 seconds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MRPLrCvK30
• 20 seconds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmJeWnDN4X4

Note that these show up without sound on Amazon by default, so it doesn't make sense to write a script. If someone enables the sound, you should have something instrumental there. 

The final thing to consider is the power of Amazon's search engine. They make money when people find what they're looking for. No one goes to Amazon to find out how to build a table, change a tire, build a computer network. They are looking to acquire something. So, if you're selling that thing, there is some probability that those folks will find you.

Note that you can use your store to post videos, educational material, and the equivalent of blogs to educate possible future buyers. Yes, it involves work. But you can do. 

I'm not suggesting that you change your business model. I am suggesting that you expand your business in a way that allows you to increase sales, sell deeper into existing clients, and attract new clients who are not limited to your local geographic area.

. . . and you won't be the first to do this.

:-)

Is Your Business Customer Centric? Here's An Easy Test

I get a laugh when I say, "The best indicator of whether you have bad customer service is that you need a customer service department." But this is not a joke. For most businesses, the entire is business is built as needed. Products and services are defined. Delivery systems are put in place. Maintenance programs, sales programs, and financial management are all built up.

And then one day, when service failures are large enough, companies quietly admit failure in service delivery by bolting on a department dedicated to address the failures of the organization. This after-thought department is normally called Customer Service. 

For company owners that have drunk too much of their own marketing Kool-Aid, the department might be called Customer Success. The irony is overwhelming.

It's a long, winding path from building a company that works to bolting on a department to deal with your failures. If your company is headed in the wrong direction, there is a simple test to determine whether you have taken your eyes off your customers. Answer one question.

If you deliver less service, will you make less money?

For most people reading this, service IS your business. It's the primary thing you deliver. Service is your product. Service is everything in your business. And, therefore, service is the profit center of your business.

That’s not true for many businesses, or any big businesses. For Apple or Microsoft (and every other large corporation on earth), customer service is a cost center for them. And when they need to cut costs, they might cut customer service from time to time.

Don’t gloss over this point. Large companies often have bad service because service is a cost center. When they cut service, they increase profits (at least in the short-term). 

If you cut service, you cut revenue. In fact, when you increase the level of service you deliver, you can charge more money. Many (many) IT consultants I talk to describe their service with terms such as "white glove." They are proud of the service they deliver. In fact, they use it as a primary selling point for new clients.

Truly service-focused and customer-centric companies will always reduce their revenue (and generally their profit) when they cut service. Conversely, companies that are profit-centric have to view customer service as a cost center. And, therefore, it is as likely to be chopped as any other department when the company needs to increase profit.

Think about your suppliers, partners, and vendors. Many of them brag about service in their marketing. But when the time comes to make cuts, they cut the service (or customer service) department. They make more money when they give less service. 

Service Does Cost Something

It does cost money to deliver services. And it generally costs more to deliver better service. It's never free to hire good people, train them, and provide them with the tools they need to deliver your services. And you might save some money here and there with tools and training. 

But cutting service delivery is always a red flag, because it's always a short-term savings. Cutting service delivery will always result in lower customer satisfaction in the long run, and to lower profit in the long run. Large companies address this by increasing sales without regard to capacity or service delivery.

Perhaps the greatest example of the last fifty years is companies that sell connectivity and internet services. AT&T and Xfinity, for example, are famous for horrible customer service. They "make up" for this by simply hiring enough sales people to provide a never-ending flow of more customers to piss off and disappoint.

And it's a never ending story when these companies have a bad quarter: They start laying off workers. This gives them an immediate increase in profit. And please note: It's not just the customer service department that gets cut. ALL of the people who deliver services are cut, across all departments.

This is also why companies purchased by private equity investors cut services almost immediately. It saves them money - almost immediately. Some of them wait a while to cut services, but this is only so they can make other cuts first.

For example, the immediate reduction of development and investing in the future is an easy place to cut. That long list of new features on the development map? That gets frozen right away. New (especially expensive) initiatives? Gone. Anything that would make clients happy? LOL.

This Is Real - Even in Small Business

Don't think your company is immune because you run a small, customer-centric business today. The shift away from a customer-first attitude is slow and gradual. You grow, and make excuses about being behind. You take on more clients than you can serve with the historic levels of attention. You might train folks faster. You might outsource one too many things.

Gradually, over time, companies morph from customer-first to focusing on saving and squeezing pennies. And then one day, the idea is floated that you need to hire a customer service rep. 

This move FEELS like an attempt to increase customer service. It is not. It is an attempt to increase customer satisfaction. Those are not the same thing! 

Increasing customer service will always increase customer happiness with your company and the service you deliver. By definition, you have increased the service they can expect.

Customer satisfaction is a reaction, an after-the-fact attempt to make someone happy after you have failed to deliver the service they expected. This is one reason that customer satisfaction scores are generally useless and lead down an entire path of focusing on the wrong things. 

In manufacturing, you cannot fix the design after the product comes off the assembly line. You have to redesign it and build a new product the right way from the start. When you do this, there is no need for bolting on a fix after the manufacture is complete.

Service is the same way. Building service in from the start - and maintaining it at a high level - will always produce better service than bolting on a department at the end and calling is "customer service."

Action Step: Take time every quarter to example the service you deliver by design. Is it where it should be? Is it what you imagined when you designed your service? If not, fix the service. Don't gather CSAT scores, admit defeat, and bolt on a customer service department.

:-)

Tech Tribe Teams Up with MSP Camp at ScaleCon 2024 in Vegas

Mark your calendar for October 2-4 in Vegas, Baby! A brand new event - ScaleCon - will focus 100% on helping you grow you business.

Nigel over at the Tech Tribe has offered my readers a $50 discount on the price of registration. See the details at www.scalecon24.com.

The Tech Tribe has joined forces with MSP Camp to create a new MSP Industry Conference called ScaleCon. ScaleCon is solely focused on helping MSPs grow their MSP, focusing only on Sales, Marketing, and Account Management. 

From their marketing info, it looks like you should attend IF ...

• You are tired of spinning your wheels trying to get leads for your MSP

• You have great success closing referrals leads, but a lot less success when you generate leads 

• You have thousands of dollars of potential recurring revenue hiding in your current client base, but you’re not sure exactly how to unlock it

This event event is NOT about "all things MSP," but focused entirely on Marketing, Sales, and Account Management. These are key elements for growing you managed service business.

Check it out today - and save $50 at checkout with code

PARTNER50

... and tell them Karl sent you.

:-)

Now is the Time to Step Up! - Run for NSITSP Offices

It's election time over at the National Society of IT Service Providers.

We founded this organization three years ago to serve this industry. But, in return, we need the people who make up this industry to serve the non-profit membership organization. 

Here's a quick video I made, encouraging you to run:

(Or learn more at https://www.nsitsp.org/elections)

WHO can run? You can!

Anyone in the IT industry can run. You must be a paid member of the NSITSP. Memberships start at $125 per year for an individual and $150 for a company. That's pretty affordable in our industry. 

Please Note: It is not a small thing that you can choose to join today and run for office. This is 100% a member-run organization. We do not give you a slate of candidates and then ask you to vote yest or no. YOU get to choose who runs and YOU get to choose who to vote for.

WHY should you run? Because a professional industry is in your best interest.

Our industry has problems. All too often, we don't discuss them publicly. But we are all challenged on many fronts:

- Bad actors - including folks who make ransomware AND so-called MSPs who sign contracts and do not delivery managed services to their clients. One groups makes your job difficult and annoying. The other give you a bad reputation because clients don't know how to tell good MSPs from bad MSPs!

- The government - in fact, lots of governments. Regulation is everywhere. Not just laws like HIPAA and regulations on privacy. We see all kinds of guidelines and standards are emerging. And whether you like it or not, YOU are the implementation office for your clients.

- The media - They don't really know more about what you do for a living than your mother does. But they are happy to report on ransomware attacks and cybersecurity as if they understand it. With bad intentions, they sometimes casually blame you or your vendors for no reason other than the fact that they have an extra ten seconds of airtime to fill.

- Insurance Companies - While they have morphed into real friends of our industry (by making your clients take security seriously), they have also become very expensive. And, of course, it's their job to take care of their business, not yours.

All in all, we have a lot of challenges that come with moving from an industry made up of amateurs to a profession made up of people who are proud to brag about the industry they've built.

The NSITSP was founded to promote professionalism in the IT industry - and become the voice of this industry. You can find all the history, details, mission statement, and more at https://www.nsitsp.org. 

Join today, if you haven't already. And then sign up to run for an office NOW. Filing closes August 31st.

:-)

Take the Super-Quick Poll: What Do You Call Yourself?

In my newsletter, I started down a bit of a rabbit hole. 

Action Item: 

Please Take Our Poll - What do you call yourself?

and 

What should we call the industry?

https://www.smallbizthoughts.org/what-do-you-call-yourself/

• No name or email required

I have always been interested in the question: What should (do) we call our industry? What do you call yourself? As long as I can remember, I've referred to us as SMB IT consultants. Or sometimes SMB Consultants.

SMB = Small and Medium Business. In the UK, they prefer SME - Small and Medium Enterprise.

About twenty years ago, I loved the new moniker MSP - Managed Service Provider. I've become less happy with that every year since then. The primary reason for this is that so many people call themselves MSPs but only do break/fix. At the same time, we have a growing contingent of "MSPs" who only exist to rip off their clients and do the whole industry a disservice.

Ever since Dave Sobel, Ryan Morris, and I created the Killing IT Podcast, I've really like the term ITSP - IT Service Provider. I used this when I named IT Service Provider University and when I founded the National Society of IT Service Providers.

This term hasn't take the world by storm. I'll give it another twenty years before I pass judgement. Other terms I hear folks use with their clients or among themselves include Small Business Consultant, IT Consultant, or simply Consultant.

So I'm polling the universe: What do YOU call yourself? I am primarily interested in how you define yourself and your team internally. That is: Inside your company, what term(s) do you use?

The questionnaire is very simple. Boiling down this question might be difficult, so I've created a VERY straight forward questionnaire. It only has these questions:

1. How do you refer to yourself and your business?

2. Which one name would you like our industry to be known as?

There's also an open field to say anything else you wish on this topic (optional). If you want to get results, you can also drop your email address. Also optional. We will report the results here, obviously.

Please fill out this form: 

https://www.smallbizthoughts.org/what-do-you-call-yourself/

You are NOT required to give your name or email, but you may if you wish. 

And please go on forums, etc. and encourage others in our industry to fill out the form. 

Note: This poll closes Saturday, the 10th. So don't delay.

Thank you.

:-)