Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Buckle your chin straps for this episode. We're about to delve deeper into the topic and possibly ruffle some MSP feathers in the process.
Lead gen failures are partially the fault of MSPs.
Running an MSP or IT Service Provider is incredibly hard 😖
(yet also VERY rewarding at the same time 😁)
Join Pete, Scott, Richard, and Andrew for this light-hearted, entertaining show full of lessons, mistakes, stories, & craziness from the trenches of running and selling our own MSPs.
Each week, we'll dig into the latest MSP news of the week and we'll then deep dive into a HOT topic that's super relevant to the MSP space.
(including Marketing, Sales, Pricing, Packaging, People, Service Delivery, Mindset, and more).
Andrew Moon: Good morning, We are back.
It's actually afternoon for you guys.
So welcome to the Not an MSP show with
my gangstas and crime, Pete Matheson.
It's Scott Riley.
Uh, we are gonna come in hot today,
but we'll come in a little slow.
Would it be a slow bird into
the beginning of the show today?
So give a shout out to a few people.
Greetings from Marco from
Toronto in the land of Canada.
So glad to have you with us.
Richard Sarkisian.
I actually, you guys may not know
Richard, I had a chance to meet
him at people of video, uh, in
New York a couple months ago.
Uh, also fellow IT guy, cybersecurity guy.
Uh, we'll have to get him
introduced over to the tech drive.
I figured we would just let everybody
know what we've all been up to over
the last couple months as to why
the hiatus, all that good fun stuff.
So we'll do rock paper scissors.
Since Pete, since your your center stage,
we're gonna, we're gonna let you go first.
Tell us what you've been up to.
Um, cuz you got a lot to say today.
So,
Pete Matheson: Oh God, I, I was
gonna, um, I was gonna start off
saying I'm now TikTok famous.
I, um, uh, I mean, I, I've just
been busy with like, with the
video side of things of work.
Um, so I run like an MSP course.
People, you know, sign up and there's like
a hundred plus videos of things in there.
And the number of times I go on a call
with Nigel from the tech tribe and he
says, Pete, have you done your course yet?
Like the video course?
And I'm just like, Noah, no, but I've
done this other thing that's really good.
Come have a look at this.
Um, so eventually and finally I took the
time off to try and get this course going.
We ran our first course last
month, I think it was, and we,
we got 10 people signed up, which
is like the number I wanted.
Cause I wanted to keep a small group
to make sure we can actually do so.
And, um, went really well.
And now we're looking to run it
again in January, which is awesome.
So that's been one thing.
And then, um, there's,
now I now have, oh Christ.
Um, there's now a short that
we, Cause we're playing with
shorts in terms of video content.
I now have a short that's
approaching 3 million.
Ah, I did this earlier, the BLI camera,
but there's a, there's approaching 3
million views on, uh, on YouTube and
it's gone past 3 million views on TikTok.
So we're trying some more, uh,
short strategy kind of con content
the moment, which is, it's fun.
It's fun shooting 32nd videos instead
of like, Oh, my camera's gone way out.
Uh, over to you Scott.
Let go fix my camera.
It's like there's someone's
Scott Riley: keep doing
Andrew Moon: I'll flip over.
Let Scott do that.
There you.
Scott's, he's, he got a new
background there, so, so little,
little things have changed for you.
Scott Riley: Yeah.
Well, so we, we had to
move offices, uh, quickly.
Um, so we're in a whole new space and
we spent this, uh, whole lot of time.
Fitting out the previous office.
It was beautiful.
It was huge.
Um, and we put so much time and effort
into getting the place right, but we
always knew it was a one year lease.
We always knew that.
But the people who were like in
the office next to us had been on
a one year lease for seven years.
We were like, Ah, okay.
You know, this is, this is just how it is.
Okay.
That the, um, the owner
just does one year leases.
We get it fine.
Um, except this time around, it was a one
year lease, and at the end of 12 months
he was like, Right out you go, We're,
um, we're gonna completely refurbish the
building and, you know, we're in this big
area of regeneration here in the city.
And so there were new buildings
coming up all over the place.
Uh, and I think he just figure.
He's got this beautiful old building,
he'll rip it to pieces, fit it out
really nicely, and then he'll get to
charge, you know, new, new lead city
center money for it, I guess instead
of the low rates we were paying.
But this is the same guy
in our building, right?
You would go to the bathroom and the
toilet was not even bolted to the floor.
So like, I mean, you'd
tick me chances, man.
You, you'd sit on that.
Whoa.
Um,
Andrew Moon: coaster ride
Scott Riley: I just, I don't,
he's not the guy, right?
He's not the guy that's gonna fit
out a brand new city center office.
He's just not.
Um, so we've had to move and then,
Like in the middle of all that,
I've just been finding my passion
for being on stage at live events,
uh, which has been really nice.
So I've been out at, uh, cybersecurity
conferences and comper conferences,
um, and just getting on stage
and, and chatting to people.
It's been really nice just
to get out and see people.
Um, but Pete, you and I ended up on a
shared call, I can't even remember what
it was, a couple of weeks ago, and we
were just like, We need to get this back.
We've missed this and
we've missed you, Andrew.
And I'm just like, ah, we like, and that's
when we were straight on the WhatsApps.
Come on, let's, let's get, we,
we put the hiatus in, but it's
time to get back going again.
Andrew Moon: M with
Pete Matheson: So, Scott, you're as,
as it comes to, uh, talent, I guess
in, are you where you are summoned
to be in front of the camera for, for
various vendors and things at the.
Scott Riley: It's, it's,
it's getting that way.
I've, I went to Comper e e a
conference last week and I, I mean,
I'm terrible with names and faces.
I now have so many book goes,
Hey Scott, how are you doing?
Oh, it's great to see you in person.
I've been watching your videos
and I'm like, Oh, this, this must
be how Brad Pitt feels, except,
you know, rich and handsome.
Um, so no, it's been, it's been
really nice just to like really
get to see people in person.
But yeah, I'm getting called up for a
lot of, uh, conferences and stage events
now, uh, and some other things that
I can't talk about at the minute, but
hopefully, you know, some good stuff.
But yeah, it, it's really nice.
I love it.
I love just spending time
with our MSP community.
Um, so yeah, it's been really, it's
been a great few weeks, but, um, I think
we, we originally put this hiatus in
a sort of a couple of weeks, maybe a
month, and then it's just, it's just
stretched and like, we're at the point
going, No, guys, we need to get back.
And I've had so many people,
like we had messages in the tech
tribe saying, What happened?
Where are you guys?
Why aren't you back on?
So, you know, and so we missed
you guys too, genuinely.
It's lovely to see everyone jumping
straight back in on the live.
Pete Matheson: It is very surprising
I had that because, and I was saying
to um, Andrew just before he jumps on
the call here as well, that you don't
realize how many people are listening
or watching or, you know, hearing,
hearing us in their car or whatever.
Cuz we only really get the interaction
currently either in the chat.
So if you are listening in the
chat, then please do let us know.
Um, or yeah, when we're out and
about and people say, Oh, you know,
listen to that and I loved it.
Other than that, you don't really know
or hear anything, so you kind of feel
like you're kind of just talking to
yourself, which we are really just
talking to ourselves for like an hour.
Um, but it's nice to know
other people care as well.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
What's kinda surprising?
I was like, alright.
I was like, we probably need
to do something with that.
So I had been mulling over.
I took some time off myself, went,
did, just, did some traveling.
Went to people of video conference,
uh, which was really cool.
Um, yeah, I met some
really cool people there.
Tim Schmoyer was there.
Uh, the guy who runs video creators.
Yeah, there's a lot I
learned from him there.
Uh, Roberto Blake a lot.
I learned from him too.
Uh, got his new book.
So yeah, it was, I liked that conference.
It was a, it was a small conference.
I think there was like a hundred
people, so it wasn't, I think
you went to VidCon, didn't you?
Yeah.
That's
Pete Matheson: So I went to Vid Summit,
um, which was, that was quite busy, but I
think not anywhere near as busy as Scott.
Where did Caleb go recently?
Wasn't that, um,
Scott Riley: Oh, she went to,
um, she's right there as well
and she's not even gonna tell me.
What, where did you go?
Courageous content Live,
Courageous content.
Live.
That was it.
Yeah.
So content marketing.
Um, and then straight off the back
of that, we've signed up for Atomic
on next year, uh, which is another
fantastic content marketing event,
uh, that's happening, but that's
happening on the exact same dates
that PAX eight have just announced.
Global event over in Denver where they're
trying to get all partners from all
around the world to come together and
they've got 24,000 partners now and they
want to get like a thousand attendees
to their event in Denver, Colorado.
Andrew Moon: Well, it's,
Pete Matheson: decisions.
Andrew Moon: Yeah, Everybody's missed it.
Marco said, Hey, live conferences
are coming back to Canada.
He missed the cool swag.
getting those vendor t-shirts, the
bags, the mugs, all the good stuff.
So
Scott Riley: It worked out with so
much like over the last few weeks.
My house is just full of vendor giveaways,
Andrew Moon: Yep.
Pete Matheson: There was a,
um, It was Ian, Ian, Ian Lucky.
Put a video up on LinkedIn
where I just saw him.
He basically was wearing all
the different vendor kit.
Um, every, like, every time
he talked about the vendor.
Here's the T-shirt, here's
the cap, here's the socks.
Andrew Moon: He's got his
all vack and his vendor swag.
He'll need some sponsors soon then . So.
Well, good.
Okay.
So without further ado, we're gonna,
we're gonna go ahead and breach
the hot topic for, for this week.
Um, cuz I think that this is one
that, when I saw the video, I'm
like, okay, we, we gotta talk
a little bit more about this.
If you haven't seen the video, I'm gonna
play the first few, uh, seconds of the.
Hopefully I won't get copyright.
Strike from you, Pete.
So,
Pete Matheson: That would be worse.
Oh, no audio.
Andrew Moon: Oh, that's no audio.
Hold on a sec.
All right, let's see.
Wait, we got no audio.
Just gimme a second here.
Pete Matheson: Bu
Andrew Moon: Go into, It's the
first time I played a video
out of a browser, so it it is
Pete Matheson: teasing
Scott Riley: give us time to
settle in before the explosion
Andrew Moon: Exactly.
So everybody's really
gonna know what's up.
Pete Matheson: I, I, I'll answer.
We're, um, whilst we're delaying
things, I will answer Marco's question
of what's up with thet watches.
So I am currently trying to run the
battery down on the, on the second watch.
And the only way I'm doing this is
by, I'm, I'm currently doing a workout
right now, , I just thought that's
the only way to try and get it to run
the battery down because one of my.
The, the tick that blew up was
basically a showing, which is
really simple idea, taking the new
pixel watch and showing people how
it charges on different charges.
And tons of people have asked me to
do the same one, but on the Galaxy,
uh, watch, which is great if it wasn't
already at a hundred percent battery.
So I'm trying to run it down so I can
then go and shoot the video after this.
Uh, yeah, it looks stupid.
I know, but it's, Yeah, you
kind of have to have to do it.
Andrew Moon: It's orange though.
Let me see why the system
Pete Matheson: Oh, that's
the, uh, the Apple Watch.
I've got the Ultra, it's the,
this is the most amount of money
I've ever spent on any watch ever.
Cause I don't do like designer watches and
I've delayed buying one, mainly because
I think it's an unnecessary purchase.
But with my job being what it is
nowadays, it gets a lot of views.
So I bought one because it might get
a lot of views, and that, that's like
such a stupid purchasing decision.
But, um, yeah, that's,
that's my life now.
Andrew Moon: Cool.
I'm gonna go try this
Scott Riley: no, I have to buy
Pete Matheson: Oh, you,
you think this is stupid?
Um,
Andrew Moon: Oh, I gotta
zoom in on that one.
Hold on a second.
Scott Riley: Oh, is that a, that a pro?
Is that a, Is that a meta pro?
Andrew Moon: Did you have fighter pilot?
Pete Matheson: the, Yeah, it's, it is
just another stupid expense though.
If anyone has a Meta Pro headset and
would like to have a meeting together so
I can show off the meeting features, then
uh, please let me get, get in touch.
Andrew Moon: All right, let's
try this one more time here.
So I'm gonna close that and reopen it.
That's could have been what did it.
So
Pete Matheson: The other, I'm getting
a ton of Amex points right now.
Andrew Moon: there you go.
All right, So I'm gonna unmute this and
we'll see if we can get this to work.
Now you got sound.
Pete Matheson: Like,
Scott Riley: Nope.
Andrew Moon: It's sound,
that's really weird.
So here's what we're gonna do.
Scott Riley: I would've
thought the uh, Samsung.
Isn't it the Samsung Arc that you have?
Is it the Samsung, The ARC
Pete Matheson: Oh, behind
in that video I did, Yes.
So I had it on loan for, I think
it was a week, maybe two weeks.
Um, in interesting fact.
So this, this is from Samsung Direct,
um, Samsung loan, their devices
through Hamilton's, which I've
always used for like, IT rentals.
Um, but that, that includes
apparently massive five inch
screens, which go like vertical.
So you can watch TikTok, full screen It
was a very interesting one to review.
It was, yeah.
I, it felt more of a TV than
a, uh, Uh, than, than a screen.
Cause it, it had four h i inputs
and one of those one connect boxes.
You know, when you get TV has
the separate box, so you plug
Scott Riley: Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Pete Matheson: boxes and one
cable from the box is the tv.
Um, it had that and there
was no display port, no usbc.
It just seemed a bit odd when it's a
Scott Riley: The,
Pete Matheson: do you want me to, um,
Scott Riley: three point.
Pete Matheson: instead?
Andrew Moon: this one more time.
I'm
Pete Matheson: Okay, cool.
Andrew Moon: I think it's doing Mix Minus
and it's taking the browser out of a
mix, so hopefully it won't get any echo.
So let's try this one more time.
I should have just downloaded the
video and played it, uh, instead of
trying to plate it through the browser.
So just gimme one second.
We will go to multi-track.
Let's see if we can get that.
The gloves are off, and I'm sorry if
this offends you, but this video pretty
much sums up how bad every single
IT company in the world has become.
And I'm sorry that
there's every possibility.
This includes you as well.
Now, one of the biggest challenges I
hear almost daily from IT business owners
is willing new clients, marketing and
sales, more business, more customers,
more, more, more so when an opportunity
arises to dramatically improve the
situation for your customers, for
your prospects, what do you do?
You do the same old . Here's
how to stay safe online.
Here's a 10 step guide to
find a good IT provider.
No, wait, I know what you need.
So here is a video all about
us and what we do for Okay?
Get out my bleed button for that
Scott Riley: you get off the fence
and tell us what you really think?
Andrew Moon: Don't sugarcoat it, bro.
Pete Matheson: drove me nuts.
I think to, to be fair, I think I saw
somebody upload, and it might have,
even when you commented on Scott,
somebody uploaded an About us video,
like an MSP and uploaded an Bounce
Us video that looked really good.
Like I watched it and
thought that's really cool.
Like I, I really enjoyed that.
Um, but it then kind of also made me
think you've probably spent a good few
grand on making a shiny video that makes
yourself look very good, um, when you
could have spent actually trying to
help your customers in fixing things.
Um, I know that might be, might be
the wrong approach, but, um, Yeah,
Scott Riley: the one, like with the
wizard and the map that got drawn?
There was a really nice
one that came out recently,
Pete Matheson: yeah, possibly.
Scott Riley: it looked like
they, they, they brought in an
external agency and spent a lot
Pete Matheson: I mean,
it was a good video.
Like I'll, I'll definitely give them
that and, and I'd be very happy and
proud and, you know, it's, it is
one of those ones that can go on the
webpage and it look amazing and you
can share, show off and everything.
Like it looks really, really great.
But then the other side, side
of me, And this is kind of where
the rest of the video came from.
Like we're going through an energy crisis.
People are trying to figure out how
they're gonna pay their energy bills.
Are they gonna have to close
their offices down over Christmas?
Are you gonna send your staff home cuz
it's cheaper for them to work at home,
maybe pay for their energy at home?
Are you gonna need UPS, backup batteries?
Because we're gonna be maybe having
these like four hour power outages.
We need to kind of, you know, either
give them laptops or ups, batteries
or there's just all of these
things going on and I'm just like,
ah, here's a video all about us.
Like that's really like not
helping anybody personally.
Like when, when instead you could be
going, here's a marketing campaign
that shows you here's all the
stuff you've got in your office.
Here's how expensive it is.
Um, here's the cost to have a server rack.
Here's the cost to have
your access points.
Like we as IT businesses, we can do things
like power cycle, the switch ports on poe
switches so we can switch off the access
points overnight when the office is empty.
, which we're probably not doing at
the moment, and most people probably
can't be bothered to do that.
But if there's ways of doing that and
if you can schedule that, particularly
with some smart switches where you
can schedule these things, then you
can save a hell of a lot of energy.
Um, and I know obviously with cloud
computing you can kinda spin down
things, which affects us a little
bit more, I guess, because we're
paying for the usage in cloud.
Um, but then equally, I don't think
there have been any, Have there been
any increases in cloud costs in terms
like Microsoft haven't turned around
yet to bump up there as costs or.
Scott Riley: It, it is happening.
The costs are going up consistently.
And then they've just announced this week,
um, that they're gonna be increasing.
Well, sorry.
No, they're gonna be reviewing the
costs every six months, starting in
2023 for their subscription and as
your services because the pound and
euro and yen and the other compared to
the dollar are all low and they feel
like they're not making enough money.
Let's just park that for a second.
Um, and so they they're going to
realign costs every six months.
They may go up, they may go down.
I know which way they're going.
Sorry.
Anyway, you carry.
Andrew Moon: carry,
Pete Matheson: But exactly that.
Exactly that.
But, but yeah, to, to that point,
it's just cost are obviously going
up to the stages where I'm sat here.
I mean, I don't have an office
anymore here, but I'm even sat here
going, Okay, what can we do around
the house to switch things off?
And like gas, gas and heating, Like,
we still haven't put our heating on.
We've used the fire a few times and
decided that actually buying a, a sack of
wood that's like 80 pounds worth that can
get us through a month, is probably gonna
be cheaper to have the fire on for months
than it's to have the heating system on.
It's gonna be like 200 pounds.
But I'm like, Hey, if I'm thinking about
that in my home, then what our actual,
like if I, and I, I know because I
speak to a lot of s p a is still, um,
they're going through the exact same
thing of like, Oh, my energy costs
have gone from like three to 30 K for
like electricity and then like for gas
again, another three to 30 K for gas.
And most people, you know,
certainly running like the
nimble MSPs, the smaller Ms.
You're lucky to turn maybe a hundred
k profit a year, and if now 60 grand
of that has suddenly gone to energy
costs, you, you're not really left with
much cost to like pay yourself anymore.
Um, which is obviously a big, big issue.
And so like, I'm just thinking if,
if we are worrying about that, if
MSP owners are worrying about that,
then quite likely your customers are
gonna be worrying about that as well.
Particularly when you as the like
technology provider are in, like I
feel like the biggest position to
be able to help people out and help
your clients out, get through this.
And I'm sure there'll be like the
energy consultants and I know that's
like a, there's people that do come in
and assess your energy usage more from,
um, certainly from like a, you know,
your company's wanting to go green.
They normally come in and put energy
monitors and everything and they'll
try and track all your carbon
usage and those kind of things.
But I mean, more from a, you
know, from an IT point of.
More from an actual, this is how much
money you are spending on the technology.
Like this is how much cost
it, it costs to run a pc.
Particularly like the, you know, I
had seen that screen itself behind
me is quite bad, but I had the 55
inch Samsung arc screen, which is,
you know, whopping great screen.
If you're on a bad energy tariff,
that can cost a pound of day to run.
And if you combine that with like
a really, uh, really very energy
inefficient PC behind that, that's two
pounds a day to run that one machine.
And you multiply that out, you know, by
how many PCs you got, 50 or a hundred
PCs, whatever it's gonna be, that can
easily add up to like thousands or
tens of thousands of pounds a month
or a year to be running the same
thing that last year was gonna be
costing you like 10 pence because of
the way the costs have just scaled.
And so there are things like, you know,
I know the app, the, I dunno if there
are any good intel machines anymore,
but on the Mac side of things, lots of
the Mac are very, very energy efficient.
Like literally the, the, the power that
you it takes to run this M one, uh, macer.
Is literally a 10th of what it costs to
run a PC and a screen, like maybe even
more than that because it's so much more
energy efficient with the processor.
Now, I'm not saying that this is your
opportunity to go and sell Max to all
your customers, but I'm sure there
is some still energy savings you can
provide kind of on the um, uh, the
Boris Johnson approach of just go and
buy a, buy another kettle or something,
buy a cheaper kettle, but in a way
that you can at least give them the
reports to show them what's being used.
Um, it does help of course if
you're standardizing your computers.
Cause if you're selling one particular
make or model of pc, then you know you've
got that across all your client base
that makes your calculation super easy.
Just go, here's the standard
PC and monitor we sell.
Let's just give them a report.
Take that cost, multiply it
with the number of staff you've
got, and now you know roughly
what you're gonna be spending a.
Versus here is our more energy
efficient version, which is yes,
you obviously have to stamp up some
money and pay for it up front or
finance it, whatever you're gonna do.
But that will bring your running
costs down going forward.
Similar with things like the, um, UPS
batteries, like backup batteries, I'm
sure we are probably gonna, Well, I
feel like we're gonna, if not already
be at the stage where we were at
with the laptops like two years ago.
Everyone's trying to get a
laptop pull all a sudden.
Cause they realize now it's a priority.
Well, as soon as the power outages
hit in December or January, which
I, I kind of don't think they
will because I think the way, you
know, media's just misreported it.
But also knowing the government here,
they probably have planned it as well.
So it's just the case of like, You might
as well get ahead of the curve if you've
got the budget for it, if you know,
certainly if you've got key workers,
particularly on, uh, I know some of the
clients we used to have things like, you
know, recovery companies where you have
to, you have to have the phone there and
available in case you know, someone's
broken down and, you know, recovery.
That's like your business and if you can't
do the recovery, you don't make money.
So having UPS's on those key workers
that can answer the call, that can log
the cases, maybe battery back up a good
as well to make sure they've got their,
um, internet and, and stuff covered at
home, or 3G or 4G SIM card, but making
sure that your business can still
survive with a half a day power outage.
I just feel like that's such a, a
massive, I've been saying it to like
my coaching clients and I just haven't
had time to do it myself, but I feel
that is such a massive thing that MSP
should be focusing on and it businesses
should be focusing on right now.
And I don't see, like, I log onto
LinkedIn, I don't see a single
person show, Hey, here's our, you
know, downloadable PDF for like
LeadGen that shows you the costs.
And you know, that, that's
such an attractive thing to
me, like I would download it.
If someone gave me a PDF where I have to
go to their website, I have to give 'em
my details and download a PDF that says,
here's the PC you've got in your office.
You know, you've probably got a
toaster and a kettle in there as well.
Maybe you've got oven,
here's some access points.
Like breaks down all the costs.
I, I'd sign up for that.
So why are people not doing
that with their customers?
That is such a perfect bit of lead gen
and like, I really wish I had more time
to just go and pay someone to do that.
And maybe that's something the tech
drive might do at some point in the
future, but it feels like a golden
missed opportunity, uh, that a lot of
people are gonna like, wish they did
in a month's time when everyone's like,
Oh, we can't get ahold of a UPS anymore.
Like, Yes.
Cause they've all gone already.
Everyone's bought them.
Andrew Moon: Yeah, so I think there's two,
there's two stems to that conversation.
One is finding topics that are
relevant to what's going on in your
prospect's head, rather than, Excuse
me, rather than what we just did.
We just came off
cybersecurity awareness month.
So I saw a lot of that.
Unfortunately, I don't think people care.
Pete Matheson: No.
Andrew Moon: just my gut feeling is
your, your potential customers don't.
And you're talking about
something, they don't care.
Scott, you're still an msp.
Can you talk to that?
That's everybody's doing the
cybersecurity, and I'm not
saying it's not important.
I'm just, Yeah.
You know, you see it, you
talk to customers, so.
Scott Riley: Yeah, 100%.
They don't care.
Um, and it's, it's, it may
be less that they don't care.
It's, it's what they think
is, um, I'm too small.
I'm not interesting.
We don't have anything worth stealing.
Therefore, I'm not a target.
And so no matter how much good content
we try and put together around,
Hey, look, here's a real simple
way to protect yourself from 99% of
attacks despite ticking this one box.
They're not interested because they
don't see themselves as a target.
They don't understand that these guys
that are actually doing the hacks
are just really just broad brush.
They're using like spray attacks and
they'll just, they'll try anything
and they'll get a hit and then
they'll latch on and then they'll
start compromising something.
It was never about the
target in the first place.
And so it's so hard to get the customers
to even slightly care about cybersecurity
and until like someone they know gets
hit and they experience it personally,
it, it just doesn't matter to them.
It's ethereal.
GTA got hit and you know, GTA six's
source code is out on the internet.
Okay.
Marriott lost half a
million records last year.
Yeah, yeah.
That happens.
It's become every day.
It's in the news every day, and so
therefore it doesn't matter anymore.
Um, and so yeah, it's, it's, it's a real
hard conversation to have with them.
We've gotta, we, we've almost gotta
shift and go, Look, they don't care.
It needs to be wrapped
into the managed service.
We're just gonna do it and charge for it.
And if they like, this is the
conversations that MSPs are having
now, which is like, if you don't
want to take our secure service with
this proper package, you know, if
it's good, better, best, or just,
this is our bundle and our stack.
If you don't want that, we don't wanna
work with you because it's, it's, it's
gonna go wrong and you're gonna come and
blame us and we're, we're not interested.
Andrew Moon: Yeah, I
Pete Matheson: I think that approach
is exactly what people should be doing.
The, the, the minimum recommended
like thing is, is more for a case.
And I think when I was starting to
do that, it was more a case of I want
to go and sleep and not worry that
my clients are gonna get hacked and
then blame me versus the customers at
the moment, which are, um, they, they
just, they just think they can get
by cuz it's, yeah, we don't need it.
It's never happened to us.
All those same kind of com
you know, all those same kind
of points you've just made.
Um, I, I do wonder if the, I mean
ultimately they don't care cuz they don't
care , it's nothing that interests them.
It doesn't make them money.
It, it saves them money, but
only when it happens to them and
that's when they do care about it.
But it, I think it comes down to
like the communication point of
how do you get the message across
and I think the majority, like vast
majority of the marketing out there.
Yeah.
The, like the cybersecurity
awareness month and those kind of.
Andrew Moon: Yep.
Pete Matheson: It's just a bit below Tosh.
It's the same kind of thing.
Here's our webinar, who's
how to stay safe online.
Like nobody cares about that.
But I wonder, and I'm, I'm like speaking
out loud now, but maybe something like
going to speak with your local police
department, asking if they could share
anonymously, of course, stories of,
of things that have happened to local
businesses, like all around where you live
or where you service and find out real
stories of real things that have happened.
Then could you perhaps do like a, uh,
a podcast or a, an interview show?
Maybe you bring on some local business
owners, uh, as a bit of, bit of fun.
And again, it's a good way to
engage with the local community
and bring some businesses in.
Um, kinda like the, the chicken thing
that, that me and Scott did a while back.
What you do instead is you bring
them on and you have like a true,
true or false and you give them
a true story of something that's
happened and a a fake made up story.
And they've gotta try and
guess which one is true.
And when they find out that it's, you
know, all the stories are from like
your local area, they've happened to
businesses of your size in, in your
kind of niche or whatever it's gonna be.
Um, you can potentially even tailor
it towards the niche of the business
that's come in to talk to you.
Although that might, might feel like
you are kind of scaremongering of
getting them to sign up as a customer.
Um, but, but there's
better ways of marketing.
I think that's, that's fundamentally it.
There is better ways of marketing
rather than just sharing these
generic cybersecurity guides.
Um, I, I think what you are doing
Scott, is really good as well because
you are sharing people how to, how to
do the thing and that's, that's what
works so well because we as MSPs, we
know we need to do it, but we need
to know the best way of doing it so
we don't have to go back through and
find we've missed a setting somewhere
or, you know, not, not enforce things.
And now someone slips through the net.
I think there was one I saw in LinkedIn.
Maybe it was on LinkedIn this week where
someone had slipped through and it was the
director of the company and everyone else
was too fa protected, but he was always
the one that's like, Ah, I'm too busy.
I don't have time, It's not for me.
And yet it was the director then got
stung and obviously things happen to the
Scott Riley: it.
It's so similar to the, I I, when I
did the, um, I did the cybersecurity
conference hearing leads, and I got
to be keynote, which was really nice.
Um, and I, I, I have this opportunity
to go, well, I've got a 20 minute
talk and I don't wanna do stats.
I don't wanna do statistics.
And my opening statement and my
opening picture was like a cherry
pie, like a quarter of a cherry pie.
And I was like, This is the only pie
chart you're gonna get from me today,
because there are no statistics, right?
You're at a cybersecurity conference,
it's gonna be nonstop statistics
boring into your brain all day.
See, I promise you I'm
gonna start and not do that.
And I told them a story instead.
And it was a story of a guy called
Peter who runs a business here in
leads, um, who's been running it for
12 years and he's been growing it.
And I won't tell the whole story,
but essentially I told it from that
perspective of someone who's worked really
hard and poured blood, sweat, and tears
into their business to grow it, to get to
this revenue, to get to all this staff.
And, you know, he was
taking security seriously.
He.
Brought someone into setup 365 and put
all the tools and everything in place.
Um, but ultimately they did get hacked.
They had a business email compromise
and they started to find emails that
were going from Peter to his accounts
team to say, Hey, you know, pay
this person 6,000 pounds, pay that
person 6,000 pounds, pay this person.
And the accounting were
just going, Sure, done.
Paid, paid, paid.
And so this money was just
going out of the bank account.
So this is a real story of a
real business here in Yorkshire.
Um, and that was actually quite powerful
because people in the room could go,
Oh, you've kind of taken the hang on.
This guy's really worked hard.
Real people are involved.
You know, it's people that you've
seen face to face here in this city.
Um, and it did make some sense, but
still no one was coming up to us
afterwards and going, Oh, hey, you know,
I'm really worried about my business.
They said That was a great
story, really good talk.
Oh, I really enjoyed that.
It was fascinating.
Thank you.
And no statistics.
Not one of them said, I'm
worried about my business.
Pete Matheson: Hmm.
Scott Riley: It's just they don't care.
They don't see it.
Um, and so I, I do like the MSPs and I'm
talking to a lot of them now who are just
going, Look, it's my way or the highway.
We, we know what's best.
Okay.
If you were going to a lawyer or you
were going to, um, you know, some
other specialist and an accountant,
they would tell you what's best
and you would just go, Sure.
When, when you are buying a house,
you don't go to the lawyer and say,
Well, I think we can skip these steps
and I can probably do this bit myself,
so let's save, let's shave a few,
you know, pounds off here and there.
You just take their word for it.
They are the experts.
And I think we need, This is why
I'd love regulation in our industry.
This is where we need to get to as
MSPs to go, No, this is the right way.
I, I'm not doing it for the money.
I'm doing it cuz this is what's best
for your business and my business
for the long term of protecting
us both in this relationship.
And if you don't want that, that's cool.
But we only work with people
who do want this kind of setup.
And I'm seeing more and more MSPs kind
of going down that track now because
I think we're all worried that when
it does happen, because the, the,
you know, the client gets hacked
or does something silly with their
credentials, it comes back to us.
Because when they're in the news
or they're in the local press, or
they're, you know, they're in their
vertical market as someone who got
hacked, Oh, who looks after your it?
Oh, it's these guys.
Well I ain't working with them then.
Pete Matheson: Yeah,
Andrew Moon: Yep.
Yeah, so I, you know, I think,
you know, Marco, Ryan, Richard,
they all agree with that.
You know, save a penny, spend
a dollar, uh, same story.
They're, they're running into that.
So I think, you know, the key that,
from what I hear too, is context, not,
not more content about cybersecurity.
People have to have that context
of how does this affect me and how
it could this affect my business.
Um, and I don't think, you
know, I agree with you.
There's not enough of
that type of content.
Even if you take, you know, I, I think
I like your idea too, in the video.
If, if people watch the rest of the
video, which I do recommend you watch,
Pete, you're talking about something
that has kind of not it related when
you're talking about energy consumption.
And that is a real problem that
every business has right now.
So I love the fact you're, you're taking
that is context, that is real context
of how it could affect a business.
People don't really, they don't want it.
People have tuned out
the cybersecurity stuff.
They want other things
that are, that affect them.
And I, I totally agree with going,
that's just one idea of something
that you could do for content.
Um, and just kind of brainstorming, going
on that idea, that's what got Mary said,
uh, let me pull up her comment here.
She said, I love what Pete said, but will
the client understand what you just said?
It's very technical.
Simplify the message so
it makes sense to them.
And I think you know that
right there is where you have.
You may not be an industry expert,
is in a, in the building industry,
but why not contact a, a company that
manages and builds buildings that
does those things and get on a live
stream like this where people can
Pete Matheson: Similar thing with, um,
when I was talking about like heating
systems as well, cuz that's another one.
Heating is obviously a huge cost,
particularly with gas being so high
at the moment and people now switching
to, maybe I can heat my office with my
air conditioning units instead and that
that weirdly is possibly even cheaper.
Um, but the fact is you can bring in,
you know, external contractors that can
come in and do these assessments for you.
They can look at the costs and see if
there are better ways of doing things.
So I'm not saying you have to go and like,
deliver all the work yourself, but partner
with people who, who can do that for you.
Um, and I certainly think in terms
of like, yeah, don't get technical.
Um, make it as simple that
that's, that's your job is to
make it as simple as you can do.
Here is the typical pc.
Here is the cost to run it per month.
Multiply this by how many computers
you've got in your office and
roughly speaking, that's like
what you'll be spending a month.
Whereas the alternative, here's
a more efficient version.
Here's the cost per month to run that pc.
And you kind of make it as simple.
You could even do like an online form
if you, I mean that might be getting
too technical now, but have an online
form where you just plum in number
of PCs, spit out number, and that's
gonna be rough, rough savings you have.
But there are things that
you can do around that.
Um, and it applies to all areas.
Um, like I said, with the heating side
of things, I'm a, a governor at my local
school and I mentioned in their budget,
I was like, What's your heating system?
Like, Oh, we can't do
anything with our heating.
It's an old system, but hang on,
you've got radiators and you've got,
you know, valves on the radiators.
You can put smart SmartTV, it's the
asset valves on there so that when
the room, the one single room reaches
temperature, the radiator shuts off
and you can put them in all the rooms
and you can switch off individual
rooms that could save them potentially
hundreds or thousands on their, you
know, cost per month for something.
They've just gone, ah, it's old.
We can't do anything about that.
Andrew Moon: Yeah, and I,
Pete Matheson: Not saying you can
do it yourself, but again, you
can bring in a company that can
do those kind of things for you.
Um, you know, you shouldn't turn
into a, now we're gonna assess
your entire heating system cuz
that is not your area of expertise.
But there are people that can do that.
Andrew Moon: Yeah, that's what Ryan
said to use as storytelling brings up
local, but people still don't care.
So that should tell us something.
As content creators, as marketers, which
MSPs are that we need to change the
story, we have to change the content.
People have tuned out and, and there's
been comments that agree that people
tune out until it affects them.
And if it never affects them,
they're just gonna keep tuning
out no matter how much we say.
So I, That's what I loved
where you went with that video.
I was like, Okay, when I first watched
your video, Pete, I was like, Okay,
where's he gonna go with that one?
But it's completely off topic, but
that allows you to be, you know, that,
that trusted advisor, which I really,
really hate that term, but you're the
general contractor that allows you a
higher stake with a business if you are
finding solutions to problems that may
or may not put more money in your wallet.
And
Pete Matheson: this is the thing because
fundamentally it comes down to knowing
your clients or your prospects, and an
easy one is the energy because everyone,
that that's a problem for everybody.
Whereas taking that a level deeper,
like, and they might sound silly, but
you get to know them on a personal
level of note, what their interests are.
If you know that your, you know,
particular target prospects are,
I dunno, into their cars or into
their golf or whatever it might be.
Then if you are marketing around
those topics, those are topics they're
actually interested in and will watch.
They're not gonna watch a half an hour
webinar of you talking about cybersecurity
or you know how to protect your business.
Or even like the, the guides I've
seen of like, here's the 10 step
guides to find your best IT company.
No one gives a shit about a 10 step
guide for finding an IT company.
They know what's gonna happen.
You're gonna reach the end of the
guide and it's gonna say, And you
should phone us to be your IT company.
Here's the number, here's email address.
No.
Like people aren't gonna watch
that or listen to that or read it.
Whereas if it was something that was
interesting to them, like hey, here's
the, I say the top 10 golf clubs.
I dunno, I'm not into golf, but
you know, those kind of things.
Something that is actually
interesting to them.
There was, um, oh, I can't remember
who it was, It might have been a Gary
V thing, but I've seen some people
have literally taken the approach
where they have set up an entire
website talking about like the topic,
like a golf topic or whatever it is.
And that brings the audience in because
typically maybe, you know, golfers are
business owners and they will have other
businesses or be involved in businesses.
So therefore you are kind of building
the audience around that and then,
oh hey, he runs an IT company.
I need it for that business.
I'm gonna go and ask him to do that.
That's like that, that's the approach
in terms of marketing and it feels
horrible because you do it, you,
you need to market it and sell it.
But it became very, very apparent
after, which is now stupid for me.
After I sold my msp, I've kind of learned
that cuz I was still doing much of this.
You know, maybe we're pushing
boundaries a little bit with the
podcast and videos and those things,
but it was always the stuff that was.
Uh, very, very loosely related to us.
That got the interest.
It was more the, you know, showing behind
the scenes, like the personality, the,
oh, we're thinking about turning the, this
patch of grass behind our office into a,
like a, a lunch area or, I dunno, just,
just random stuff like that, that's not,
Hey, you need a password, You need to
sign up for this cyber security thing.
You need to buy stuff from us.
You need this free review.
We're doing a free review that we're
gonna try not to sell you on our it at
the end of it that we all know is coming.
It's that
Scott Riley: could you stop
ruining all my sales tactics?
Come on,
Andrew Moon: or, Or how
about an assessment?
You need an assessment or
an audit not happening.
hate that one.
I mean, but I do think it takes
a little bit of effort, but I
don't think it takes much effort.
I agree with you, Pete.
I don't think it takes much effort for
an IT provider to be different and to
start having different conversations.
I don't.
Um, yeah, I got the golf club one.
That's, that's a great analogy.
One of the things that, uh, I started
seeing throughout my attorney clients when
you would go in, I don't have one here.
A lot of 'em were had, it's called leng.
It's basically a stationary pen company
or high end like Mont Blanc pens.
I started seeing a lot of those on desks
in their offices when we were in there.
So I reached out to Lavender and I'm
like, Hey, let's, I'd like to put together
some type of offer, you know, that we
could do for our customers because I,
all my customers are your customers,
and we put together a special offer.
We put it at, you know, send
it out to all of our customers.
But that was something, again, it was
just one of those little things that
you're solving, you're there to solve
problems for them and if, as more, as
many problems as you're able to solve,
even if you're not doing it yourself.
But like you said, getting people
involved, other subject matter experts
that can come in and help them.
Um, and I think that that, that to me
is where I utilized LinkedIn to a great
degree because people would wonder why
am I connecting with cleaning companies?
Pete Matheson: Hmm.
Andrew Moon: Every office needs
a cleaning company, don't they?
So I partnered with cleaning companies.
So whenever that need came up, and
I would hear that or see cleaning
company contracts on the receptionist
desk when you go in there, you know,
they're looking for a cleaning company.
Hey, I got a guy.
I got a guy.
And you're solving a
Scott Riley: to be more insidious get, get
the cleaning company to leave USB sticks,
lying around the office while they clean.
and if someone plugs it in and
there's a hack, oh my good.
You know what?
You need a really good IT company.
Now there's some marketing come on.
Andrew Moon: You know,
But just any other ideas.
That's what I, I kind of wanna talk about.
You know, that how other ideas,
Pete, you had, that was a great idea.
Talking about energy, that is something,
it has real business teeth right now.
It ha provides great context.
Um, So how, how could we use ideas like
that to help MSPs kind of think outside
the norm of just taking the cookie
cutter stuff that we get from vendors?
And I'm not knocking, we're
not knocking any vendors.
What we're saying is, is at some point
you're gonna have to take those training
wheels off and do marketing and the new
LinkedIn report about the algorithm,
we've got data to back up the fact that
reposting content that's not yours is
very, very not effective on LinkedIn,
but the stuff that you post directly,
that's yours that gets higher engagement.
And we have data to back it up.
So how, how can we, what are some
other ideas that maybe we could help
MSPs with as we kind of wrap this,
uh, this show up about what are
some other things that you guys can
think of that an MSP energy for one.
Pete Matheson: I think I've got two.
I mean, it kind of follows
on from energy to be fair.
But um, cuz again, it's, it
is things that, you know, the
business owners, um, might have
or might be interested in as well.
So there's um, a guy called Phil.
He posts his solar updates.
He's kind of tracking his savings
from having solar panels on the roof.
Um, I've got solar, I've got, I'm
not shared anything, but I still
read his posts every single time.
Cuz it's interesting to see, okay,
I've invested money in solar, is
it actually paying for itself?
Or I'm thinking about investing in
solar, Is it actually paying for itself?
Again, I'm getting to know Phil because
I'm seeing his posts all the time.
I'm following him.
Um, so that's like one of the ideas.
And then similar things
with, um, electric cars.
The mainly for me, I've just bought,
I'm literally this week bought
another car, but I've been doing so
much research because the car prices
obviously have just, the markets just
shot up because no one can buy a car.
So used prices gone through the roof,
new car prices have gone through the roof
and you've gotta wait a year for them.
Um, so now I'm still weighing up.
Is a regular car versus an electric
car, are they still the same?
Is one still better?
What about the tax incentives you get?
We've lost half the, um, like the
government funded tax incentives,
but still do we still get some
back from buying electric car?
So it's just, you know, putting
out content of your experience of
what you've done and what you've
seen because of those things.
Again, that's the stuff that people
are interested in because, oh, hang on.
While I'm thinking of getting
electric car, I'm thinking about
getting, uh, a fleet of electric
car for all my guys on the road.
Maybe that's cheaper than
buying the gas guzzling cars.
It, it's, it's just that, it's,
it's what's interesting to you as
a business owner versus the here's
some IT stuff you should know, which.
You don't care about.
Nobody cares about it.
Unfortunately.
It's, but, but it feels so
counterintuitive because you wanna do a
Google ad campaign and spend some money
on that, you know, some money into Google
Ads to get some direct clicks to people
that are actually interested in the it.
But there's such a fine line, you,
you're trying to, it's almost like
trying to catch their, which is
apparent right now trying to catch
a falling knife with a stock market.
Um, you're trying to catch a falling knife
of catching that client at the moment
when they're really not happy or their
contracts lapse and they're just kind
of looking around and, and, you know,
shopping around to find what's out there.
Why not spend the effort
in the content marketing?
And this is, I think, where the whole
shift with marketing's certainly changed
in the last, oh, maybe three years or so.
Um, content marketing is
where I feel it's at now.
Like all, all of the other
traditional types of marketing, I
feel they still have their place.
But they are by no main, no means as good
as doing some good content marketing.
That's things like email marketing,
newsletter marketing, you know,
printed new mailshot marketing, Google
ad campaigns, those kind of things.
They've all still got their place, but
if you can lead with a good content
marketing strategy and then use the the
content marketing strategy to then kind
of dissolve your other kind of marketing
campaigns around them, so you've got your
email and your print based around the
video marketing content you're making,
then I just think that's like that.
That's the magic, that's
the magic combination.
Nowadays,
Andrew Moon: Yep.
Yeah, I agree.
Any ideas you can think of?
Scott Yeah,
Scott Riley: So I think.
For me, there's a couple of basics.
I think one is really giving people
insight into who you are and what you do.
I, um, I met a, and for God's
sake, I don't mean like, Oh, we
configure computers and we set up
networks and they're super, No, no.
Um, I met with a great MSP yesterday.
Uh, I met them a couple of times and they
were telling me what fantastic success
they'd had using Instagram as a platform.
Um, and I was like, Instagram to
generate leads for your MSP business.
And he was like, Yeah, you know what
we post is like, um, here's what's
happening in the office today.
They do those videos of here's what time
everyone gets in office opens at nine,
and then they have the little video comes
in, Oh, eight 50 comes in at nine o'clock.
And like, but that stuff is just showing
their personality and who they are.
And we all know that you, you work
with people that you know, like, and
trust and they're just building that,
um, What's the word I'm looking for?
But they're just building that trust
there, you know, straight away by
just giving an insight into us.
We're a friendly bunch, we're really nice.
And actually now when it comes, then
when they're growing and recruiting,
they've already got an inbound set of
people who would love to work there cuz
they can see what it really looks like.
And just giving people that
insight is really important.
It's far more important than, you
know, you can configure a computer,
we can all configure computers,
we can all set up it stuff.
That's what everybody says that they do
really well and we've got case studies
and blah, blah, blah, and we've got
statistics about our service desk.
Yay.
What they don't have is that personality
and that, that authenticity of just
shining through in the content.
The second thing is, and, and I
think you made this point in part
of your video, Pete, but it's
the what's in it for me factor.
Because if that isn't the first thing
that they see, as a consumer of your
content, you've done something wrong.
Like, what's in it for me?
The second I'm looking for
this, it's gotta be about me.
And in it and, and generally as
presenters, people are awful because
they'll stand up and they'll go, Well,
Dave and Co IT company was founded
in 1986 when Dave and and his friend
Steve, they had a dream that they could
reinvent it services and what Dave
would continue to do for the next.
And it's shoot me now.
Honestly, I'm not sitting through 20
minutes of this because what they then,
then do after that is go and, Hi, I'm
Dave, I'm now the vice principal of sales.
I got here through my established career.
Dave, no one.
We've been here for 20 minutes now.
You haven't told me a single
thing that I care about.
What's in it for me?
And so I would genuinely
say get some authenticity.
And then by that I mean just show
people who you are, like genuinely
who you are, not the corporate
staged version of who you are.
Although I dread to turn the camera
around into what our office looks
like today, but show people like
what's happening behind scenes.
What's that?
Andrew Moon: that's reality though.
And that's kind of, that's kind of what
I've seen too, is like testimonial videos.
I mean, I did some where I had, you know,
videographers come in and do testimonial
videos and then I did some where I just
turned on my phone and said, Here, you
know, and people just talk about us.
Those ones were, they're off the phone.
Those had more credibility.
I had people tell me that those are
more real than this staged content.
And
Scott Riley: No, absolutely.
Andrew Moon: you know, um, let's see here.
Marco said, Yeah, lots of
people have contract fatigue.
Last time I met with a prospect and the
very first thing they told me was, Please
don't try to sell me a service contract.
Scott Riley: Yeah.
Andrew Moon: My idea there
is be an UN contract.
Do what?
Do what T-Mobile did.
They're the uncarrier.
Scott Riley: Yeah.
Andrew Moon: Just a thought.
Pete Matheson: is why I like the, um,
when Scott mentioned there about the, I, I
love the idea of the, like filming people
as they turn up and like clocking them.
Cause that's, that's, that's super simple
because you can literally just like, grab
your phone, hold your watch up, and as
they're walking in, you're like, Oh, it's,
uh, it's our service desk team leader.
He's turned in at 9 0 2 and you just, you
know, keep keeping ways of away together.
But to that point of the, um,
all you're trying to do is get
people's, people's attention.
And even though like vanity
numbers are subscribers and
followers and those kind of.
If you can put out
regular content like that.
That's funny.
And yeah, maybe it isn't relevant
to the business per se, but
it's showing your personality.
Like that's the kind of thing
that people would follow.
They'd be like, Oh, they're the
funny IT company that like their
staff getting late all the time.
Maybe not the best message you're
trying to produce, but it's funny
and people will follow that.
And then, you know, when your contract
does come up for renewal or you don't
like your IT company, hopefully you
are sharing some stuff that also shows
how good you are in there as well.
But you, you'll, you'll be the
one on their, their thoughts
they'll be like, okay, that's the
funny IT company from Instagram.
That's the kind of thing that's
approach that works cuz Yeah, exactly.
Selling people on
contracts, tying people in.
Like people don't really think about that.
They they are, Yeah.
Very fatigued by it cuz everyone's,
everyone's tied in contracts and
uh, yeah, I love that idea of
being the un the UN contract.
It's brilliant idea.
Andrew Moon: Yeah.
I
Scott Riley: also like the
idea, Oh, sorry, Andrew.
Andrew Moon: No, go Scott.
Go
Scott Riley: I was gonna say,
I, I like the idea, Can I,
Kaylee, can I get a cloud deal?
I like the idea of having a gimmick
Andrew Moon: Yes.
I was gonna, I was gonna mention that.
Scott Riley: Because, because
we've managed to turn this.
Into, into an icon where I
go to events now and people
are asking me, How's cloudy?
Where's cloudy been?
What adventures has he been on?
Did you bring cloud today?
I wanna see cloud.
And we've managed to make like this
into something that people wanna see.
Like I'm, I'm getting asked cuz we have
these customer welcome boxes and like
partner welcome boxes when we work with
people and everyone gets a cloudier.
Um, and then they're posting photos.
I can see Pete's looking for a
cloud, but they, yeah, they're um,
Andrew Moon: There we go.
Scott Riley: they're posting photos of
where he is and what he is been up to.
And he's been like all over the world.
And now I go to events and
people think, How's cloud?
Where's cloudier?
What, what?
And I'll just get other people in
the marketing team just going genius.
Anyone could have thought of that
when you picked up that thing
and said, Right, what's his name?
It's cloudy.
It's so obvious.
But it's just about being that, and I'm
not saying gimmicks are everything but.
It just for us, it's become one of those
things where it's, it's totally different.
It's got nothing to do with IT
services, but it's made us a
memorable brand in some way.
So much that people come up and ask.
I, I, I got two people at the comp
tier, e e a conference in a mood with me
because I haven't sent them a cloud yet.
And why not?
Andrew Moon: Fear of missing out.
Fear of missing out.
Scott Riley: exactly.
Exactly.
Andrew Moon: as Mary said,
giving back, telling your story
whether you're a veteran animal
rescue, there's, there's one.
People love animals.
I mean, okay, just do something.
Here's, here's some really
cool gadgets for your pet.
I don't know, just those types of
things that have nothing to do with
selling it are gonna go way further.
So I get asked that all the time.
Okay.
Where if I was, had a thousand dollars
to spend on marketing, what would you do?
I mean, do do something like that.
I mean, it's just that
wouldn't cost a whole lot.
Get an animal rescue place to jump
on a live stream with you and show
puppies from the animal rescue from
their, like, this doesn't have to be
a choreograph two gram production.
Pete Matheson: Mm-hmm.
Andrew Moon: could, you know,
stream right from their phone.
But yeah, it's all
about that trust factor.
That's the biggest thing that an MSP
has to overcome is the trust thing.
Um, and, and I think that we
just gotta stop, think taking the
canned content that keeps coming
and do something more original.
Um, so I, I totally agree
with you guys there.
Just as you guys, it
doesn't take a whole lot.
Scott Riley: No,
Andrew Moon: how much was, was cloudy?
Was 10 bucks, 15 bucks a pop?
Scott Riley: can, this,
this is embarrassing, right?
So I've had people say, Oh,
how did you get cloud made?
Did you have him custom produced?
And, and all this kind of stuff.
And I'm like, There's no.
I found something that already existed
and I turned it into something and
those guys gimme, gimme the actual, So
these are the ones we actually send out
to people, These little cloudier guys.
Andrew Moon: one.
There we go.
Scott Riley: There he is.
This is Cloudier with his little legs.
Okay?
He is about $3.
Okay?
We get them in bulk from China.
Um, they come in a gigantic bag
of a hundred Cloud os , okay?
We have them shipped over and that's
just, that is the funnest thing I've ever
opened is like a bag of a hundred Cloud
os and they're all just smiling at you.
But when you put it together and you
put the message together and you put
the well pack together in the box
and the water bottles and everything,
it means something to people.
And I've, I've got people of their dog
and cloudy who are now best friends.
And I get updates.
They send me pictures, Look, look, you
know, it's been like two months and he's
still sleeping with cloudy every day.
He loves him.
It's just that kind of stuff.
Just, just be a bit different, a bit more,
What's this got to do with computers?
It's a cloud, I suppose.
I guess that's something.
yeah, it's, it's been a great exercise
of just developing personality
and showing people, Yeah, you know
what, We're not all about computers.
We're something else.
Just a bit fun, a bit interesting.
Andrew Moon: Yep.
Well, good.
I've got straight up on the hour.
I know you guys got a jet, so I appreciate
everybody hanging out with us today.
Uh, yeah, hopefully we didn't offend
too many people today, so, and
hopefully you'll tune into the next one.
So
Scott Riley: We didn't
offend people enough.
I think we, we, we promised to go
hard and I think we were really soft.
So next week,
Andrew Moon: That's right.
We're, we're gonna have to really
bring the heat next week, so I'm
gonna have to turn up the flames on,
on everything, so, but yeah, I, it is
just, you know, I think that if, if,
if, especially with Nimble MSPs have an
advantage because you don't have, you
don't have to go through corporate to
get things approved, all that stuff.
Just go do something different.
And that needs to be the,
you know, our mantra.
We've been teaching that for
a while, Pete, you and I, you
gotta have a unique story.
Something that is not the cookie
cutter stuff that is, continues
to be chucked out there.
Uh, we, we got, we got a branding
problem in the MSP space, so,
Scott Riley: Can I just point out the in
chat they're already coming up with, with,
with sidekicks and names for sidekicks.
I love this.
Andrew Moon: Cloudy goes sidekick bolt.
There you go.
Pete Matheson: I think bolt's a great one.
Yeah.
Andrew Moon: lightning.
Scott Riley: amazing.
Andrew Moon: So there you go.
And that's the beautiful thing
too, Mary, I'm sure they probably
come in different colors.
Just buy your different colors
and there you any, any MSP can
take that idea and run with it.
Like that's, you know, that's
the beautiful thing there.
There we go.
You need some lightning bolts.
Marco said he, we just get the cloud
with a lightning bolt coming in there.
Scott Riley: Love it.
Andrew Moon: Mary taught for 20 years, she
said she's full of puns, so Yeah, she, she
sounds like she's got some great ideas so.
Right.
Well, that's gonna wrap
us for this week's show.
Hopefully we're gonna keep everything
going and moving even through the end of
the year here for Wednesdays at 11:00 AM
Eastern, which is what, 4:00 PM UK time.
Um, but we will see you all next week.
Thanks for hanging out with us, and
if there's topics that you would
like us to cover, please let us know.
We're happy to, to drill through
any topics and bring the heat when
we, when needed and necessary.
So, all right folks, We
will see you all next week.
Take care.
Pete Matheson: Thank you.
Awesome.
That was good.
Scott Riley: That was really good.
Oh, it's so nice to see you guys.
Pete Matheson: Yeah.
Same.
It's been, uh, yeah.
Far too long.
Scott Riley: It really has.
I think we had some, yeah, like
some nice interaction there as well.
Pete Matheson: Mm.
Yeah, lots of, um, I guess
that must have been mostly
your audience, I guess, Andrew.
Cause I don't recognize
lots of those names.
Andrew Moon: might have come up.
Scott Riley: there was, uh,
yeah, Texas, Canada, I think.
Yeah,
Pete Matheson: Hmm.
Andrew Moon: I'll have to look up Mary.
Um,
Scott Riley: she said Texas.