This week, Sam, Jerry, and Joe are joined by Luis Giraldo of Ook Enterprises Ltd., based in Vancouver. Luis employs a business model based almost exclusively on offering Managed Services, as opposed to hourly billing. In addition, services outside the scope of his Service-Level Agreement (SLA) tend to be billed on a project basis rather than hourly.

Topics:

- Managed Services requires a change of mindset: it's a value-based approach to billing, not time-based

- references: Value-Based Fees, The Consulting Bible, and Million Dollar Consulting Proposals by Alan Weiss

- strategies for migrating break/fix clients to managed services model

- importance of trust, educating the client, and setting expectations

Memorable Lines:

"This is the amount of money we charge per month and it includes these services" - Luis

Episode three of Command-Control-power features a wide-ranging conversation with Joe, Sam, and Jerry discussing the topic of The ACN Office.

Topics:

marketing to existing clients, incentivizing referrals vs. mass marketing to public; relative quality of leads
Constant Contact, MailChimp, My Emma, Campaign Monitor
sticking with what you know vs. "the devil you don't know"; clients also trust a known entity
finding clients, never having needed to seek out clients before now
PR; marketing
press releases in local publications; working with non-profits to get one's name out
OnForce vs. ACN
Intro to Business at the Apple Store presentation includes an ACN slide; tip from Apple Store Business Manager
retail turnover in the Apple Store, especially in the Business Team
tip from local Apple Store about increasing ACN referrals
working harder to get new business?
"Sales"
Managed Services vs. Break/Fix
revenue streams; recurring fees
Wellness Visits, i.e. preventive maintenance
running a managed offsite backup service using CrashPlan
offering email and web hosting services
RackSpace offices in San Antonio, a former mall
recurring revenue streams, no matter how small; residuals
benefit of referrals from Apple Store; clients feel Apple endorses us
a day in the life of an ACN
next week: Live from Advanced Camp!