Schnizzfest? MSPs Value Insight At TruMethods Conference

About 175 MSP executives from six countries gathered in Philadelphia Friday for one of the channel's mostly uniquely-named events: Schnizzfest.

The conference, which uses the slogan "Eat, Sleep, Schnizz," is the brain child of Gary Pica (pictured), founder of TruMethods, a channel consulting organization that teaches MSPs how to improve their businesses utilizing TruMethods' proprietary sales, marketing and business strategies as well as peer-to-peer advice from other MSPs during their day-and-a-half together.

This year's show is the second annual Schnizzfest and attendance has doubled from last year, thanks to TruMethods' recruiting practices but also due to a strong word of mouth among MSPs.

Michael Drake, CEO of Memphis, Tenn.-based masterIT, chosen as one of CRN's 40 Most Innovative MSPs in 2010, said he heard of Schizzfest through the channel grapevine.

"We were in another training program for sales methodology that wasn't specific to MSPs and I was also in a peer group with Ted Swanson [CEO of IT Solutions, a Fort Washington, Pa.-based MSP]," Drake said. "Ted is one of my heroes and he was really turned on to [TruMethods]. Ted wanted to get better, so I figured I can get better."

So what is Schnizzfest? Think business school meets motivational speakers meets peer-to-peer group meets morning radio show with CEO Gary Pica and CTO Bob Penland, whose onstage banter together becomes a subject within a subject.

"We should do a whole Webinar with just our banter," Penland said after the pair went off on another tangent during their opening remarks.

In reality, SchnizzFest, and TruMethods, is first and foremost about helping MSPs be more successful, said Pica in an interview before the conference.

"The goal of the event is to give them more perspective on the business and change their expectations about what's possible and show them ways to leverage TruMethods to have more of an impact on their business. We don't have to provide a ton of content [at the show]. We already have a platform of content online. We do two Webinars every month. We get 30,000 page views a month from our portal. We can take this and change the kind of business people they are."

TruMethods has attracted about 500 MSPs members since launching two years ago under the helm of Pica, a former MSP executive himself at MindShift, which has since a $100 million company. He began TruMethods as a way to tailor some of MindShift's sales and marketing processes to help other MSPs also be more successful.

"It's almost cult-like from the outside looking in, but it's really thinking about the marketplace and not taking the easy way," said Pica. "There's no fluff in it. It's aimed exactly at [MSP] business owners to lay out the concepts for them that hold water."

Onstage at Schnizzfest, Pica and Penland rattled off some numbers highlighting the fruits of their labor. Attendees collectively have generated more than $1.5 million in new monthly revenue since joining TruMethods. The top 25 members have averaged an additional $40,000 in monthly recurring revenue. The top 10 companies have added $50,000 and the top three more than $75,000 in monthly recurring revenue.

Next: The TruMethods Way

Pica opened the conference by describing the "TruMethods way," which included advice to MSPs to take more control of their own business fortunes and not rely on external factors.

"The first thing to do is re-raise your expectations. If you're a business owner, you're already taking risk and putting time and effort into your business and you have high expectations," Pica said. "For some people in this room, your expectations have [lowered]. Your reality of business has changed."

As an example of how too many MSPs settle, Pica said 80 percent of what happens on a cold sales call happens before you even pick up the phone.

"If you raise expectations, things can happen. You can grow and change to meet those expectations. Results will follow closely behind. Or you don't and your expectations will fall to be who you are today," Pica said. "We want to reset those expectations in terms of what's possible in terms of sales, margins, service delivery and what's possible in terms of you."

In a later session, three MSPs took the stage to share results of how their business has improved utilizing TruMethods' practices.

Myles Keough, CEO of Spade Technology in Mansfield, Mass., and Pica offered an example in which Spade Technology had submitted a $2,200-per-month offer to a customer, when the customer called back to say his partner had a $1,500-per-month offer from a competitor and they needed more time to make a decision.

Instead of making another pitch or lowering its price, Keough told the customer he didn't have to wait. Maybe the customer only needed a $1,500 per month solution and if so, go with the competitor. Or maybe they think they can get $2,200 worth of support for only $1,500 and which is it.

"We met with the other partner for 45 minutes and came out with a signed agreement," Keough said.

MasterIT's Drake detailed how he customized a TruMethods bit of marketing chocolate cake instead of marketing the chocolate, sugar and eggs to help win him more brand in the market.

He explained the concept of offering the complete solution instead of the ingredients at a large business gathering in Memphis and then brought out 150 cupcakes to the attendees.

"I've never seen adults go so crazy over food. Now they see me and it's 'you're the cupcake guy.' It was simple and we're not talking bits and bytes," Drake said.

James Ford, President, ActiveCo, a Port Moody, B.C.-based MSP said he's had success by having clients visit his office to review his processes instead of the other way around. "It differentiates you and if someone is that interested [in traveling], you know they're for real," Ford said.

The path to changing your business is never an easy one, Pica said, and it's not good enough to just knock on the door. You need to kick it down, even if just leads to more doors to try to open.

"Once you understand the process of following the path, you will be confident of opening doors. It gets easier and easier. Setting new goals and having confidence to set them gets easier and easier," Pica said.