Last week we had the honor of sponsoring the 2015 Schnizzfest Conference hosted by Gary Pica and the team at TruMethods. This is our 2nd time sponsoring a TruMethods event as last year we participated in their fall Winner’s Circle Peer Group Meeting. Schnizzfest did not disappoint this year and both Larry and I really enjoyed spending time with the TruMethods members. It’s safe to say our schnizzing is nearly perfected at this point and as always we walked away with several key themes that we wanted to share:
Transparency & Sharing - By far, the majority of our conversations with attendees was around transparency. The common thread? Each leader wants to ensure that every member of their team knows where they stand at all times based on individual performance and to also see at a glance how the entire team is performing. Given that one of our main functions at BrightGauge is our dashboards, which help hold people accountable, we were very excited to learn more about the challenges each service provider experiences and then share ways that data visualization can help solve those challenges.
Sales Focused - While most conferences we sponsor focus on operations and service management, Schnizzfest was a refreshing change because most of the people we met were either business owners or team members in sales / business development. I had several folks that wanted to learn more about the Sales Best Practices Webinar we hosted last month and our ongoing Sales Best Practices Blog Series. On a side note, these topics have been so well-received that we’re looking forward to bringing you more content soon in our ongoing Educational Webinar Series.
Moving Up The Stack - The industry landscape known in years past to typical Service Providers is changing quickly, and this was a major theme of the conference which Gary brought up several times. Both MSPs and ITSPs are being commoditized and the services they are offering are being pinched on pricing. Gary’s suggestion for providers was to “move up the stack” and become a true business partner to their customers. Those who have adopted this mindset are thriving better than ever. Over the few days of the conference, I spoke with several people who have implemented some very unique ideas to move up the stack and present their business partnership as a valuable necessity rather than an extra support expense.
All in all, Larry and I had a great time visiting with the TruMethods community and learning more about their goals and what they are focused on. We’re excited to continue the partnership and we look forward to more schnizzing and finding more ways to get integrated with the community.
