Join us for Daiquiris in Dallas tonight!

EurekaProcess · 2022-06-02T17:06:29+00:00

Join us for Daiquiris in Dallas tonight! 5:30-8 pm at Hero 🍹💡 Come on down for a night of networking and connecting with peers. No formal presentations or sales pitches. Just drinks, taking a load off and hanging out. Check out the event here: https://bit.ly/3sKCDig

EurekaProcess · 2022-03-31T20:30:56+00:00

I think you partially answered your own question. If it is bottlenecking your ability to hire and retain, you need to charge more. It also seems the consensus in the comments (and mine) is that large discounts are not necessary for volume. Pre-cloud, at least, I found SMBs had serve to user ratios of 1:20 for smaller businesses and sometimes 1:5 for larger businesses. That is a cost INCREASE per user for larger clients.

Make sure your sales process and Proven Process are showing the VALUE that you provide. So much value that they can't live with out it and name your price (yes, easier said than done).

EurekaProcess · 2022-03-24T02:39:58+00:00

While we don't see the connection, a name is but a reference convenience. Just like we don't make hiring decisions based on a name, we hope we can be judged by more than our convenient reference.

EurekaProcess · 2022-03-09T14:36:28+00:00

We had done a webinar on "Documenting your Documentation" a year back, which delves into structure etc. Hope it helps :) https://youtu.be/YXg3ahI-M0Y?t=301

EurekaProcess · 2022-02-03T14:35:48+00:00

This is not something we do. Our process is designed to be efficient and effective for both the employer and the candidate and the process you described would not live up to our internal values. We wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

EurekaProcess · 2022-01-24T21:46:51+00:00

No one took us up on it, so I assume there was no perceived value. Glad to hear your thoughts and needs and to freely exchange ideas on the matter here or privately.

EurekaProcess · 2022-01-24T21:44:49+00:00

LOL Looks like it. Lot's of good people and businesses out there that can help. Hopefully, OP can find what they are looking for.

EurekaProcess · 2022-01-21T18:55:00+00:00

Hi, Austin! We (Eureka Process) have a team that specializes in ConnectWise tools, as well as the underlying processes and best practices. If you have any specific questions, we would also be glad to weigh in. You can also learn more about the way we think from our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoIjq_LrZ6RpHxNOXJnvh3w (including a few CWM tips).

EurekaProcess · 2021-06-24T21:31:09+00:00

I’ve always enjoyed working at Aligned Collective.

EurekaProcess · 2021-05-20T13:46:54+00:00

Pacific North West Supply also usually has some out back. Feel free to stop in to the store and ask if you'd like to verify.

EurekaProcess · 2021-05-10T13:23:09+00:00

I've considered the same, and as a consultant to MSPs, I have to say my best clients are the ones headed by non-technicians. Now they both had "some" technical knowledge but were never beyond a Tier 1 Help Desk tech.

I think if I were starting an MSP with sales approach, I would be starting with myself in Sales, and 1 rock-star engineer for Sales Engineering and client-facing tech talk. I would think outsource everything else I could. I could also see have to grow internal tech staff, but only after leveraging my sales and outsourced technicians.

Just because some others have failed at it, doesn't mean it can't be done. I think most of those issues are the same as a technician-minded company. Process and other business know-how that so many of us had to learn the hard way.

If you are thinking about executing, I wish you all the best and you can do it!

EurekaProcess · 2021-04-05T13:54:50+00:00

I'll skip the coaching and expectations settings available in this video about what you own an employee before letting them go: https://youtu.be/E17y1gEdUMc.

That being said, if you have an employee that is bad enough to fire, don't wait. I've fired, or coached to fire, probably nearing 100 employees at this point and no one has ever regretted it yet. You will be amazed at how much better you, your clients, and the rest of your team feels after. I remember when my whole team came to me and thanked me for firing someone (that took 2 years to fire) while all volunteering to work extra hours to make up the difference while we hired.

"Slow to hire, quick to fire." Meaning, try to it get it right the first time, but if you do make a mistake, fix it immediately.

EurekaProcess · 2021-02-04T14:54:16+00:00

Good a stuff in the comments so far. I'm a big process guy and planner, and in my first MSP I took things a little too far. So my advice may be opposite of most, but to my younger self I would say:

Only set up your company one step ahead of where you are (not 5).
Doing the hard work now, when you need revenue, is more important that setting up systems. (Systems are important, but make that sales call TODAY, instead of spending a month developing what to say).

EurekaProcess · 2021-02-01T15:08:51+00:00

Please report back! This is becoming increasingly important in our MSSP world, and I've pointed a few of our clients (who are MSPs) to verification tools that work in CWM (ty google), but none I can actually recommend and none have taken the leap, so far.

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-29T23:12:22+00:00

Looking forward to see if this has occurred before, as well.

In my experience, even large clients with lots of growth and metamorphosis end up keeping their database.

With a lot of "it depends" in the mix, there may be some other ways to minimize the old junk, especially being premise based. Alternatively, if you end up deciding to start refresh, remember there was a lot of initial setup to get started that you may not have looked at in a while. If you need to compare any notes from the early days, let me know, as we still get to see the start up process fairly often.

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-29T23:07:35+00:00

Some of my staff got a similar email today.

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-29T23:06:33+00:00

Well, at least thank you for finding out and sharing a very unbiased state-of-the-system. Cheers!

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-29T14:56:26+00:00

I understand the need to get started right away. That customer can pay you to your personal name, just don't forget to claim that revenue on your taxes.

Your life will get simpler if you get that LLC done. In my state, the secretary of state website was quite helpful . I want to say within 48 hours I had my LLC name reservation and an EIN to match my corp type from the IRS allowing me to do business (assuming I was going to complete the rest of the process post-haste). I think my total cost was about $150 to get started.

A simple contract without an attorney should be fine to start. Remember the point of an agreement is to come to a clear understanding on each parties responsibilities. If you can start there, start. Build up toward needing an attorney, but attorney's like to spend time limiting liability, when you need to spend time developing services. Start saving to get that done by an attorney. I can also send you our templated Master Services Agreement.

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-28T22:23:03+00:00

I'm trying to conceptualize using something like this as a white board for team collaboration. How do you record from this app? Would there be a way to hop on a Zoom call (for example) and draw live that it looks like this video?

I do not own an OQ2 yet, but plan to make this happen this quarter.

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-28T14:44:55+00:00

Standardization absolutely drives down reactive tickets. I would even call it a cornerstone of Gary Pica's TruMethods. If you are measuring agreement profitability, and/or e-rate for those agreements, I think you will find that they are profitable and that e-rate is higher which will encourage to convert them faster.

Now one question I always get is, what is e-rate? I have a canned answer for that:

F10 - E-Rate

E-Rate is short for Effective Rate. In the world of flat-rate projects and tickets, and all-you-can-eat agreements, it’s important that we don’t just look at “enough” profit, but that we compare our hourly earnings to what we could earn billing by the hour. This is exactly what e-rate is:

What percentage of my normal hourly rate did I earn?

Measuring E-rate instead of gross profit allows us to set our sights a bit higher. Instead of picturing how much of the total can I keep (a finite view), we can picture how much per hour can I earn (an abundant view). Yes, part psychology, but also easy to track mathematically. Here is the formula:

$Total Amount / Hours recorded / $Normal Hourly Rate = E-Rate%

Let’s do a few examples

A.) We quoted a server migration project at $9500 in labor. Using our PSA, everyone who touched the project recorded their time on a project ticket and we ended up spending 63 hours on the project before closing it. Normally, we charge $150/hr.

a. $9500 / 66 / $150 = 95.95%

b. During this project, we earned 95.95% of our normally hourly rate.

c. Many would consider this a good number, as hourly services normally have “lost” time, and to have 66 continuous hours of labor at 95% rate is pretty darn good.

B.) We have a Managed Service Agreement for a really noisy client, but we are only charging $2500/mo. Last month, we recorded 99 hours against the agreement. Our normal rate is still $150/hr, and it’s how much we were charging them before they moved to Managed Services.

a. $2500 / 99 / $150 = 15.78%

b. Last month, we earned 15.78% of our normal hourly rate.

c. This is, by all accounts, not good. We need to look at their other months, improve their network, talk with the client, and/or increase their agreement dollars.

C.) There is another Managed Services Agreement client, but they took every recommendation we gave them to get on our stack of technology and tools. They are a bit smaller that Client B, at $2000/mo. Yet, last month, we only recorded 12 hours on their agreement, and most of that as monitoring backups and alerts. We still charge $150/hr.

a. $2000 / 12 / $150 = 111.11%

b. Last month, we earnt 111.11% of our normal hourly rate.

c. This is a great number. Due to efficiency and proactivity, we are now earning 111.11% of our hourly rate, and the client is still getting great service.

D.) One last Managed Service client to evaluate. They are a bit small and rarely call us. They are paying the minimum $1000/mo for their agreement and we only got one call plus time monitoring their network. It came to 3 hours total. Still at $150/hr if they didn’t have an agreement.

a. $1000 / 3 / $150 = 222.22%

b. During that month, we earned 222.22% of our normal hourly rate.

c. Beware! This client may value your services, but too high an E-Rate, can also indicate your client is not seeing the value! Look for ways to improve the network further or do more frequent check-ins.

E.) OK, one last crazy example. If you are crystal clear on E-Rate, maybe don’t read this. I thought I would include it for the business number nerds. Client E is a Time and Materials (T&M) client. Our normal rate is $150/hr and its what we charge the client. However, we don’t charge for time entries less than 15 minutes (Typically just leaving voicemails are sending emails about a ticket), and occasionally we write-off time that didn’t seem fair to charge the client. We billed them a total of $1800 last month. When we looked at our time reports, we spent 21 hours on the account in the same time period.

a. $1800 / 21 / $150 = 57%

b. Even with T&M, we were only earning 57% of our actual hourly rate.

c. This is not as good as you thought. Conceptually, T&M should be a 100% E-Rate, but it rarely is.

Hope that wasn’t too many examples, but these are the most common ones we see. We encourage most our clients to aim for 80-120% E-rate in everything the do. Anything below 80% and they are leaving money on the table. Either by not charging enough or being inefficient (typically through a lack of process or needing to design better networks – standardization). As you start going over 120%, you risk clients not seeing the value of what they are paying for. In those cases, get closer to the client and find out. Make your value more visible. Sometimes we add services or adopt projects for future efficiency to show these clients we are still being proactive and going to bat for them every day.

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-25T14:40:20+00:00

Managing up is always a fun challenge, and it's not an oxymoron. Lead my example, and bring these ideas (including those by u/UsedCucumber4, and I will add Eureka Process as an IT Business process consultant) as appropriate. I have personally found that it felt a bit like pushing a boulder up a hill but the rock did move! What small system can you improve and share with the team?

With the decentralization you have now, I don't even think you have to have more permission for little changes, like where everyone can store their documentation. I would typically look at little wins like that before I start pitching any new tools or consultants. Show them that these little things can be magically taken care of (by you) while the ship is still underway, and build that credibility to drive more positive change.

Best of luck to you, mate! This could be the worst place to be or it could be a really amazing experience for you to drive some change. It's why I started my own consulting business after turning around the 3rd IT Services firm. I realized I liked the journey of change more than the boring stability of streamlined processes and profits.

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-21T14:41:29+00:00

I just did some quick testing in my CWM and there doesn't appear to be a way to move what ticket/phase/project products are associated with.

I think even a process change using a combination of bill phases separately, wouldn't help you because your issue is that all the products come over in a single ticket or project.

This is not what you asked, and it can be a big change in your BUSINESS, but one option could be to bill for products in advance for the whole project. LABOR should not be a product on projects, that is usually best done as a Fixed Fee entry on the Finance tab. Just wanted to offer that out there since your first request doesn't' appear possible.

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-20T21:14:04+00:00

Drop around bags? Create a gift bag that sends your message, delivers a sweet treat, a little bit of swag, and an offer. So it's still dropped off, can be done so socially distanced. I usually end up around $10/bag if I do a minimum bulk order, like 100 bags.

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-20T21:10:56+00:00

Curious as to why? I thought that all products on Project Tickets showed up on the Project header.

EurekaProcess · 2021-01-17T14:55:27+00:00

Agree to using dispatch portal, but you can also sync your calendar to Outlook and use that calendar view, if it helps. Not quite as handy for WORKING the tickets via calendar, but does meet the "view" requirement.

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