Karl's SMB Email December 13th

Nothing Happens by Itself

Did someone say raising rates?

A lot of the hallway chatter at the ASCII event in Anaheim was about rates. I was very happy to hear that, after all these years, many people have standard increases in their rates every year. That should be the norm. It's not yet, but it's a growing trend.

Since I left Anaheim, the inflation report came out. Looks like 6.8% (insert a hundred explanations and definitions here). IF you raised rates last year, then 6-7% is totally appropriate and keeps you at break-even.

If you did not raise your rates last year, then a 10% increase would keep you even with 2020 or 2019. If you haven't raised your rates in a period beyond that, then you really need a catch-up. I talked to more than one person at the show who was implementing a 30% increase.

This is the reality of the world you live in. Do not fear that your clients will leave you over a price increase. As ransomware continues to spread and government regulations begin to pile up, everything is going to get more expensive - and more difficult. Those without skills will compete on price. You need to compete on competence and customer service.

And remember that education is always a great sales tool. Now more than ever, helping your clients understand the changes in technology will make you a valuable business partner. In a world of rapidly-expanding information, you are valuable as a filter for this information. Play that role and you will increase your value.

-- -- --

Forget 10x Customer Experience if you haven't mastered 1x Customer Service

I've been digging into a lot of "customer service" and "customer experience" books lately. If you have recommendations, send them my way.

One of my important rules for developing processes is to avoid creating processes based on the exception to the rule. So it's pretty frustrating to read a lot of the books on CS/CX. More often than not, they're filled with examples that are over the top. For example:

Customer complained that the fries were cold at the drive thru? Given them fresh, hot fries AND and all expense paid vacation to a tropical island! They'll never forget your extreme customer service. In fact, they'll hire you to serve French fries at their daughter's wedding, and tell all their friends about your amazing service.

That's only a tiny exaggeration of an example from one book.

Other examples are heavily waited to restaurants and theme parks. I'm not sure why that is, but I don't run either of these venues. And while it's amazing to hear the things that Disney can do with billions of dollars at their disposal, that really doesn't apply to my little business every day.

I think teaching Customer Service is a bit like teaching basic personal health. It's boring to tell people to have empathy, treat people with respect, and make the customer feel that they've been heard. Expensive programs and gimmicks are much more fun and exciting.

In fact, little things matter. A lot. To quote Tom Peters . . .

I always encourage people to read books. But you also to remember that your real-world experience is extremely important. Take the golden nuggets you find and mix them with your hard-earned experience.

I'm happy to hear your experiences on this matter.

-- -- --

Field Effect Update

I hinted last week. Now I'm happy to announce that Field Effect (one of our advertisers) will be making quarterly appearances on the SMB Community Podcast in 2022. In fact, they're going to do a total of six appearances.

Stay tuned and you won't miss their first cybersecurity update.

Of course you can always find the SMB Community Podcast at https://www.smbcommunitypodcast.com - or on your favorite podcatcher.

SBT Community Prices Go Up Jan. 1st

Thursday, December 16th, we're making a major announcement in the Community for a GREAT new program. And, of course, it will increase member benefits by potentially thousands of dollars per year.

Now is a great time to join the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community.

We're going to raise our rates on January 1st. If you join before then, you lock in the current price for life.

Starting January 1st, the Annual Membership is going to $1199 and the monthly is moving to $129. All existing members will continue at the price they're already paying.

Join us! www.smallbizthoughts.org

More live events listed on the calendar. Please keep sending updates.

Note two biggies in January: My annual State of the Nation Address and an all-new Killing IT Live!

Have a great week. - Karl P.

:-)

You can still join us!

Service Agreements for I.T. Consultants

Course 5W16

Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk

Five Tuesdays

November 23 - December 21 - Register Now

All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific

You're guaranteed to learn something that will make or save you the price of admission!

Based on the best-selling book Service Agreements for SMB Consultants, this course covers everything you need to know about developing your service agreements. And the book subtitle is important, too: A Quick Start Guide to Managed Services.

Most IT Professionals sign - or don't sign - contracts for the wrong reasons. Most think contracts are intended to draw battle lines for when you have a disagreement with your clients. In fact, that piece of the relationship is almost always outside the contract! We'll explore why you really need contracts or service agreements.

We'll also look at various options, including a 2-page "terms of service" as well as managed services, programming agreements, and more.

Tuition for this course include the ebook version of the newly revised and expanded Service Agreements for SMB Consultants! That includes all the downloads from the book as well.

You will learn

Defining Yourself and Your Relationships
Define Yourself
Define Client Relationships
The Language of Service Agreements
The Service Agreement Construction Kit
A Sample Credit Agreement
Boilerplate: A Sample Service Agreement
Flat Fee or Managed Services Parts
The Managed Service Agreement
Getting Help and Managing Agreements
Getting Help - Lawyers, Accountants, etc.
Managing Your Service Agreements

PLUS lots more.

This class is filled with great advice and tips on running your I.T. company and moving into the world of recurring revenue with managed services.

Includes five weeks of webinars with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor. All classes are recorded for download.

This course is intended for business owners and managers. It is particularly useful for the Service Manager or Operations Manager.

Week One: Introduction and Defining Relationships

Week Two: Money, Money, Money

Week Three: The Parts – Part 1

Week Four: The Parts – Part 2

Week Five: Managing Contracts . . . And Relationships

For the week-by-week agenda, see www.greatlittleseminar.com

Only $299

Only $299 per student

Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, blogger and author of the very popular "SOP Friday" posts at http://sopfriday.com.

Includes five weeks of webinars with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor. All classes are recorded for download. All classes include suggested "homework" that is totally action-focused and intended to move your company's marketing forward.

This course is intended for business owners and managers. It is particularly useful for front office and financial managers.

A Few Details . . .

Each course will be five one-hour Zoom webinars
There will be handouts and "homework" assignments
Class webinars will be recorded and made available to paid attendees only.
All calls start at 9:00 AM Pacific Time

Questions? Email concierge@smallbizthoughts.com

All the Resources That Are Fit to Print

Recent Blog Posts, Podcasts, and Videos

Small Biz Thoughts Blog:

SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday

The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday

National Society of IT Service Providers News Blog

Relax Focus Succeed:

SOP Train Techs with Templated Email

Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:

A quick guide to my Playlists:

Total: More than 780 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
320+ SOP videos
100+ Relax Focus Success videos

Plus . . .

Training, Courses, Seminars on Managed Services
Product Reviews
and more

You can always check out my YouTube Channel and subscribe at https://www.youtube.com/smallbizthoughts

OR my Relax-Focus-Succeed Channel at https://www.youtube.com/relaxfocussucceed

Small Biz Thoughts Community News

SmallBizThoughts.org

Prices Go Up January 1st

Members always lock in their price for life.

Annual membership will go to $1199 on January first. Monthly membership will go to $129.

Join now and you can lock in the lower rate forever!

Big Announcement Thursday - Join Us!

We are launching a major new program in January.

But Community Members find out about it this Thursday - December 16th

Plan to join us on the regular monthly Zoom meeting. The link is at the top of your dashboard.

Also Note: We have another amazing SBT Roundtable scheduled for January 6th - the first Thursday of the month.

Join us Thursday to find out who our next amazing guest is going to be.

And if you missed the December news video, check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJBpBWDeipQ

:-)

Picture of the Day

Made some improvements to my Honda Accord

No actual rockets, but the stickers are cheap on Amazon. I had three blank button covers. I gave the rest of the decals to my daughter so she can upgrade her car.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099WBS9B7/

:-)

Live Events Calendar

What's Here?

This calendar lists two kinds of things: LIVE in-person events from any organization that focuses on the SMB consulting community; and MY events, whether live, webinar, etc.

If you have live events on your calendar that may be useful to others in the SMB Community, please let us know. We'd be happy to list them.

Of course: Everything here is subject to change based on Covid. Click the links for the latest details. Please send updates so we can post them.