The BrightGauge Blog

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard by now that sales and marketing processes are changing. People don’t want to be sold to anymore, instead they want to make informed buying decisions based on their own research from sources they feel are trustworthy. Almost 2 years ago, I started doing some research of my own when it came to marketing. I was working for a company that still focused on the old sales team approach, relying heavily on cold calls while crossing fingers and hoping that someone on the other end of the line would give them the time of day - “smiling and dialing” as we called it. Long story short, I knew how I handled those same types of cold calls from vendors when I received them and I couldn’t believe that any modern company still put most of their faith in this type of system. I decided that I needed to focus on fresh marketing ideas and a company that could ‘see the light’ so to speak, so I set my focus on the Inbound Marketing movement and never looked back. My first focus was getting Inbound Certified, an online course offered by HubSpot, one of the world’s most well-known marketing automation platforms. Inbound Evangelist I’ve learned so much in these last 2 years, and most importantly I’ve had a lot of fun doing it! With the Certification under my belt and also some freelance work experience focusing on content creation, I set out to find a company that valued the inbound methodology. Since joining the BrightGauge team 6 months ago (where we only focus on HubSpot’s inbound methodology), I’ve also completed my HubSpot Certification, started attending local events for the Tech community, and in general spent time explaining what my job is and why I love it to anyone willing to listen. So when I was recently invited to speak at an Inbound Marketing workshop in Miami, I was eager to help teach others about how inbound works and the results we see at BrightGauge. The feedback was great from the workshop attendees and with my new mission to help others who are curious about inbound, I decided to recap my presentation here. speaking at the Rebound with Inbound content marketing workshop at City Tech Miami What is Inbound? Put simply, inbound marketing focuses on producing and distributing valuable content that earns the attention of qualified prospects. It attracts those prospects to your business and keeps them coming back for more information while they are considering their options before ultimately making a purchase - i.e. the process of turning strangers into customers. I should also point out here that inbound can work for any type of company - whether you’re a B2B or B2C (or even a charitable organization). The key is to create quality content that focuses on the challenge your customers face and how your solution can play a role in resolving that challenge, instead of content based solely on your product features. Getting Started with Content At this point, your next question is probably something along the lines of But how do I really know what content to create? or you may be unsure about translating a product/service into the solution it provides… I’m just trying to sell ABC product, not fix their problems… According to HubSpot, the inbound methodology is built on the foundation of The Buyer’s Journey, a process of the 3 different stages that a buyer goes through when comparing their options before finally making a purchase: Awareness Stage: the buyer becomes aware of the problem at hand Consideration Stage: the buyer is focused on comparing all possible solutions for the problem identified Decision stage: the buyer is making a short list of options to consider for a purchase decision It’s important to note here that BrightGauge has been practicing inbound marketing for 3 years and we’re still evolving our content to meet buyers in all stages of the Journey, and do so at the right time in their individual journey. As you’re working on your content, another important factor to keep in mind is your audience. In a B2B environment, traditional (outbound) marketing would dictate that you use conventional attributes such as company size, job title, revenue, etc. as you are framing your audience. But inbound focuses on Buyer Personas to help you create the right content for your audience. HubSpot explains Buyer Personas as “semi-fictional representations of your ideal customer that include demographics, behavior patterns, motivations and goals.” Although at BrightGauge, we take it a step further and also do our best to follow the Jobs To Be Done framework, which tells you to focus on the problem your buyer is trying to solve by asking yourself what is the customer “hiring” us for? (check out this video featuring Harvard Business School’s Clay Christensen with a real-life example of Jobs To Be Done). Once you have content being produced regularly, don’t forget to share it! Of course a blog is the most obvious place to start, but don’t forget about website pages, landing pages, social media, calls to action and emails! You can always go back and reference The Buyer’s Journey for a closer look at what types of content are suited best for each stage. In Real Life: Results with Inbound You’ve read this far and hopefully most of you are on board with the inbound methodology because you understand the evolution of buying and selling in today’s world. But somewhere out there, I know there’s still a nay-sayer who just doesn’t get it. I know your type too well… so let’s get down to the heart of the matter and talk about the real results we’ve seen at BrightGauge. As reported by HubSpot, within the first year of adopting the inbound methodology, BrightGauge increased our customer count by 87%, at the same time that we increased revenue by 152%, and even managed to decrease our monthly attrition rate by 55%. Those are pretty incredible numbers but let’s also look at some of our most recent stats, comparing August 2014 to August 2015: As you can see, I’m not promoting inbound only because I’m partial to BrightGauge... these are facts from our data and proves that the methodology provides incredible results for a one-year period! And what about the big, red font showing a decrease in landing page conversions? That drop is to be somewhat expected, based on the significantly higher volume of visits to our site - but of course it also gives us something to focus on improving even more in the near future. These days, BrightGauge is thrilled to report that we have over 4,000 users found in 750+ cities across 5 continents… and we’re still growing (Inbound works)! Getting started with Inbound I know it can seem like an overwhelming task to launch a completely new marketing strategy, but it’s ok to start small. When BrightGauge first got started with inbound, they focused on 1 - 2 blog posts per week, some social posting and a couple of landing pages. Our founders, Brian and Eric Dosal, realized that something was working, but they weren’t sure exactly what. That’s where I came in! These days, we’re blogging 3 times every week, with a heavy focus on social sharing, we host a free educational (non-sales pitch) webinar once a month, emails are sent regularly based on list segmentations, we have several free white papers, webinars and eBooks on our website, and we also recently launched a podcast. So, we’re constantly producing fresh content, tracking our results (we’re a data company, after all), and being patient - it takes people time to turn into customers. My last piece of advice, as told to the audience at that workshop? Put the people first. Meaning that, yes, marketing is a numbers game and there are always statistics to analyze… but if you focus on creating valuable content that helps your audience learn or make informed decisions, and produce that content on a regular basis then you’ll see success in inbound. And remember, Inbound marketing is a marathon, not a sprint! A few free resources if you’re just getting started: These are by no means the only awesome, free resources out there, but I’ve used these before and found them to work well… MailChimp: an email marketing solution that’s free for up to 2,000 subscribers Google Analytics: for insights on how visitors find and use your site HootSuite: a social media management dashboard, free for up to 3 platforms Canva: a web-based graphic design tool And don’t forget to subscribe to the HubSpot blog, they offer fantastic insights to help you continually improve your inbound strategies! Have a question, suggestion, or want to chat about inbound marketing? I can be reached at amccluney [at] brightgauge [dot] com or follow me at @AjMcCluney

We’ve talked a lot lately about the need for transparency, trust and communication in order to build the best client relationships in your MSP business. But with so many MSPs on the market to compete with, and each one promising very similar results, how can you make your MSP stand out and start building the trust that is so vital for a strong business foundation? By showing your clients the information that they want, when they want it, client reports help to set the stage for better communication and more transparency - and as a result, help to build a solid foundation of trust. So we asked our Customer Success Manager, Randall Berg, to join our co-Founder and CEO, Eric Dosal, for a closer look at mastering client reports. During the webinar, Eric pulls the veil off of the 4 W’s of Client Reporting, with a closer look at: Who reports should be sent to What type of info should be sent When to send the info they want Why you should implement quickly After the 4 fundamentals of Client Reporting, Randall dives into How to create a Client Report in a step-by-step walk-through of the BrightGauge platform. Whether you’re new to the BrightGauge community, or seasoned in dashboardery, you’ll walk away with an in-depth view of how to best utilize our Client Reporting feature in your MSP. To see our free webinar on Client Reporting Best Practices, click the image above or here.

On the latest episode of The BrightGauge Podcast we asked Josh Kotler, Partner & CEO of Western Digitech, to join us for a closer look at growing a MSP business. As the head of a rapidly growing MSP practice, Josh knows all about the challenges and opportunities we hear from many other folks within the community. Getting ready to kick off episode 5 of The BrightGauge Podcast One of the topics Josh covers is the role of vCIO and how Western Digitech utilizes them along with Network Admins to ensure the right solutions are in place for each client. From developing a budget to aligning each client’s technology with their goals, Josh opens us his play book on a vCIO’s day-to-day contributions to his MSP. Besides diving into the vCIO role, Josh also chats about contract structures, dividing his team into key delivery areas, setting customer expectations and more. Growing an MSP Business: Episode Highlights Josh's background and experience (1:45) Team Structure and 4 key delivery areas (8:06) A closer look at the Network Admin role (10:39) How and when to set customer expectations / contract structure and exclusions (12:51) Network Admins in the Sales Process (16:24) Virtual CIO: role, day-to-day focus and work schedule (18:09) How different contract structures reflect value and ensure proper compensation (21:07) How MSPs benefit from peer groups (25:52) Q&A: Best business book, personal & business goals, professional resources, etc. (28:39) Books referenced in the episode: Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet David Maister - Professional Services guru (series of books) Contact info: Josh [at] westerndigitech [dot] com Want to find out more about The BrightGauge Podcast? Check out all the episodes here.

Recently we’ve talked a lot about Customer Success (check out our webinar on the topic here) and how our partners can benefit from implementing their own program. The topic has been very popular with our community, so we decided to bring in a local expert with years of experience in building, launching and maintaining a Customer Success program. Jorge Azcuy, Managing Director of All Covered in Miami joined our co-Founder and CEO, Eric Dosal to discuss how and why Technical Account Managers (TAMs) were used as the foundation for the Customer Success program he managed at Compuquip. Kicking off Episode 4 of The BrightGauge Podcast Whether you know them as Project Managers, Client Advocates, Client Experience Reps or by any other name - TAMs have proven to be an integral part of ensuring happy customers in the world of Managed Services. During this episode, Jorge and Eric chat about everything related to launching their Customer Success Program with TAMs and how to integrate them within your service team. From initial onboarding, to developing and utilizing Semi-Annual Business Reviews to project management advice, compensation and incentives for TAMs and even how to handle tension between TAMs and the service delivery team, Jorge and Eric cover everything you need to know. Leveraging Technical Account Managers to Ensure Customer Success: Episode Highlights How All Covered structures territories and responsibilities (1:40) A day in the life of a nation-wide service provider (3:26) Management tools & processes (4:57) Customer Survey process (5:51) The role of Technical Account Manager (TAM) at Compuquip (6:29) The benefits of implementing an onboarding process (8:34) Managing tension between the service delivery team and TAMs (10:35) A closer look at TAMs (11:45) The purpose of a Semi-Annual Business Reviews (SABR) (14:44) Project Management (16:54) Compensation and Incentives (18:04) Staying connected to the growing team as CEO (19:40) Q&A: favorite books, professional goals, biggest victory, self-improvement and more (22:22) Episode 4 Resources: Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business by Patrick Lencioni As mentioned in the episode, Jorge can be reached at jazcuy [at] allcovered [dot] com. Want to find out more about The BrightGauge Podcast? Check out all the episodes here.

[Case Study] Ask anyone who has been in the Service Provider game for a while about reporting capabilities, and without a doubt you’ll hear that most of the PSA vendors don’t provide a lot of flexibility. Yes, there are some standard options available but ‘standard’ options always have limitations. As it is, the Executive team at TUC Managed IT Solutions found themselves frustrated with their lack of choices shortly after the switch from NetSuite to ConnectWise a few years ago, not only because of the reporting limitations but also because the customer portal didn’t offer the visual appeal that TUC prioritizes as an integral part of any business application. Looking for a Solution It was not too long after the switch to ConnectWise that Shann Bosnell, TUC’s VP of Technology, attended IT Nation where he saw a BrightGauge demo by our co-Founders, Brian and Eric Dosal. Shann was in the market for a reporting solution that would offer visual appeal and ease of use, but he also realized that the only time a customer-facing solution would make sense is if his customers could also see the value in the service he provides. After speaking with the Dosals, Shann realized that the platform would solve a number of the issues that TUC was facing. Right then and there, Shann decided that he would utilize BrightGauge to manage the data he needed at his fingertips. After working with the BrightGauge team to ensure a proper setup and that information was being captured from both ConnectWise and LabTech, the TUC team was ready to get started with their new data solution. Building customer relationships through transparency Before BrightGauge, TUC’s reporting options left the team so frustrated that they decided to skip reports all together. After getting started with BrightGauge’s earlier version, the impact was immediately noticed and the results helped to set the stage for what TUC could offer their customers. Shann and his team had the ability to create impactful, actionable reporting that would show customers what work was being performed and the time and effort TUC was saving them. With the launch of BrightGauge’s newest release, 4.0, and customer dashboards, TUC now has the ability for their customers to see specific information that is important to them... in real time. Shann’s team started by offering reporting and dashboarding to one of their main customers; when the feedback proved the customer was blown away with the capabilities the team knew they had a way to solidify all of their business relationships. These days, TUC has 7 people creating reports and each person averages 2-3 hours spent each week producing them. Since reporting is now a priority, TUC hears that their customers are significantly happier based on the transparency they can offer. Whether results are good or bad, customers can easily see which parts of the business relationship are strong and which parts need improvement. As Shann explains, “this helps us be a better company each day.” Recommending BrightGauge “In the end, any tool is only as good as the development being put into it and the support you get, when you need it. BrightGauge is always in development. New benefits are coming monthly from my investment. Every time I’ve had to reach out to support they truly do meet 3 important parts of support I look for. 1 – Quick response. 2 – Empathetic to the situation. 3 – Offer a solution. It is for these reasons that BrightGauge is our chosen partner.”

After we recently featured a podcast about the BrightGauge sales process, the feedback was great from our community but folks still had questions and wanted to dive even deeper into the topic. So we invited Matt Gallo, Territory Sales Manager of the SMB Division of United Data Technologies (UDT), to join our co-Founder and CEO, Eric Dosal, for an in-depth discussion about his experience building a sales division for one of the largest Managed IT teams in South Florida. getting ready to kick off Episode 3 of The BrightGauge Podcast With a background in IT Sales at Compuquip and All Covered, Matt made the leap into Sales Management when he transitioned to UDT. During his conversation with Eric, Matt explains in detail how he ensured his success in the new position and offers insight into building a MSP sales division from scratch, keeping his team focused on hunting new business, the candidates he looks for in the hiring process, how to compensate a sales team to make sure they stay focused on bringing in the right business, and so much more! Building a Sales Team: Episode Highlights Sales team compensation (8:48) The transition from Sales to Sales Management (13:49) Hiring a Sales team (15:58) A typical day in Sales Management (17:16) Hunting new business & building business relationships (19:25) Sales tools (25:24) No easy way out (26:35) Fun Q & A (27:44) If you’re in charge of managing a sales team or even considering the next steps in your sales career, you’ll want to hear Matt’s advice based on years of experience in Managed Services! Want to find out more about The BrightGauge Podcast? Check out all the episodes here.

Finding the right customers begins during the sales process, but why is it important to find the right customers? More importantly, how do you spot a bad customer in the sales process? We know the sales process topic can be overwhelming… with so many ideas and opinions out there, it can be hard just figuring out where to start. So we invited Richard Tubb, one of the most well-known consultants in the British Managed Service Provider (MSP) business, to speak with the BrightGauge community about choosing the right customers for a Service Provider business. During the 50-minute discussion with our co-Founder and CEO, Eric Dosal, Richard gives first-hand advice from his days as a MSP Owner. From bad customers to budgeting woes, placing price over value or lack of communication, Richard has dealt with all the challenges that are so common in the Service Provider industry. You’ll walk away from the webinar with new ideas on how to address each issue, whether you’re the MSP Owner or the person in charge of Sales. The topics covered include: Understanding the different types of customers How to spot a bad customer in the sales process Finding a customer's budget and so much more! To download, click the image above or this link.

In the beginning, CadreNET was manually producing reports along with using built-in dashboard functionality from their PSA, Tigerpaw. They lacked an efficient way to produce internal reports, monitor their business or even make metrics-based decisions. Owner Richard Trivedi found a solution using BrightGauge to monitor not only his business, but his team as well. Needing a Consistent Business Update As a Managed Service Provider, it’s critical for CadreNET to process data quickly and accurately. But when it came to their built-in software resources at hand in Tigerpaw and Kaseya, they were missing a way to tie all their metrics into one easy-to-monitor resource. The management team was left to manually produce timesheets, income reports and more - a serious time commitment for a team focused on growing their business. With 12 metrics to check and a processing time of 10-15 minutes per metric, the minutes quickly turned into hours for each status update. Furthermore, they found that when they did run reports from their softwares the data was often inaccurate and never gave them the right figures. Building a Data Process As Richard immediately realized, he and his team were desperate for a dashboard solution that would keep them up to date throughout the day with real time data. After realizing that BrightGauge did not yet integrate with Tigerpaw, Richard evaluated other solutions in the market but was very disappointed by poor follow-up and customer communication when installations failed on deployments. After this frustrating experience he decided to put the project on hold and revisit in the future. Within a week of moving on, Richard received an invitation to be a Tigerpaw Beta tester with the BrightGauge team and instantly volunteered to help. He found the setup to be very simple: with our standard instructions plus a quick introduction call from our team, Richard was up and running by himself in less than 10 minutes. The BrightGauge Experience Using the BrightGauge platform, Richard now has real time information in front of him that helps significantly when it comes to making business decisions. Being able to monitor time entries made by his team also gave Richard access to tracking their performance, greatly reducing missed tickets entered into Tigerpaw. At roughly 10% of billable tickets being lost prior to BrightGauge, the money reclaimed moving forward was a notable win. But besides the money gain, Richard noticed an even larger feat when it came to his time savings. By using the BrightGauge gauges and dashboards as compared to running reports himself, Richard saves an average of 20-25 hours each week. Recommending BrightGauge “There are many reasons [to recommend the platform] but product performance and support are always the two main reasons, and BrightGauge has surpassed my expectations on both. My most positive experience has been working with the team - they are top notch and always willing to help. I was extremely pleased with the product and team from Day One.”

Join us on September 22nd at 11:00am EDT to learn about How Investing in Customer Success Drove our MSP Growth. In this 45-minute session, our co-Founder and CEO, Eric Dosal, will guide you through a closer look at why Customer Success is a key factor in the growth of any Service Provider business. As the former owner of a MSP business, Eric knows first hand about the need for account management and exceeding a customer’s expectations. He’ll open up his personal playbook and discuss the steps and the data that were behind each decision he made while managing to grow his MSP into one of the largest in South Florida. During this discussion, Eric will cover several topics that are essential to implementing and managing a Customer Success program, including: What is Customer Success? How Customer Success Impacts Churn Key parts to a winning Customer Success process What should a Customer Success person/team look like Customer Success KPIs Open Q & A and much more! You’ll walk away with actionable insights on the steps you should take to kick off a Customer Success program, whether you’re the MSP owner or the person in charge of Sales. We hope to see you at the next session in our ongoing BrightGauge Educational Webinar Series! To RSVP, click the image above or visit: How Investing in Customer Success Drove Our MSP Growth.

The team at BrightGauge really prides ourselves on being open-minded, especially when it comes to new ideas about how we can share content with our customers and friends. So during the course of a round of recent customer feedback interviews led by our Product Manager, Brian Dosal, I took note that a few of our customers referenced podcasts they listened to or had even been featured on. Around the same time our CEO, Eric Dosal, happened to mention a possible BrightGauge podcast by coincidence. Armed with the customer feedback, a mutual passion for sharing information and a complete lack of marketing inhibition, the conversation was short and the excitement was high. We were going to launch The BrightGauge Podcast! Since we’ve always had a lot of ideas for content to share with our community, having another platform to do so was an obvious choice for communication and education. Welcome to the show [Cut to a few weeks later] With topics laid out, a recommended podcasting microphone on deck and a little research under our belts, we were ready to introduce ourselves to the world. Episode # 1 featured Eric and I explaining how and why BrightGauge was founded and where we are going in the near future, as well as our company and team growth over the last few years. Episode # 2: The BrightGauge Sales Process We’re constantly speaking to MSPs and ITSPs from all over the world. While time zones and accents change, the challenges seen by each one are usually parallel and one of those challenges is how to implement or improve a sales process. So, what better way to begin giving some insights on the topic than to open up about what works for us in the BrightGauge sales process? We called in our expert, Larry Garcia, our Director of Sales, to share some tips and actionable insights about his sales pipeline. From using storytelling in the sales process to helpful sales tools and even how to process a cold lead, Larry lays out his best advice in this episode. We hope you enjoy the latest episode of The BrightGauge Podcast, and don’t forget to send us your ideas for topics to be covered on future episodes! I can be reached at amccluney[at]brightgauge[dot]com for suggestions. Episode 2 Resources: Spin Selling by Neil Rackham The Joshua Principle by Tony Hughes Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross Software: CirrusInsight.com Want to find out more about The BrightGauge Podcast? Check out all the episodes here.