Becoming a Partner

As a former I.T. VAR and small business owner, one of the duties I love about my job at ExchangeDefender is talking to current business owners about their technology offerings. You see, I know how difficult it is to choose the right vendor for your business. There are tons of I.T. conferences, webinars, seminars, mailers, emails, phone calls, and yes; promises, that are made to you on a daily basis by vendors. The absolute worst thing that can happen is that you get involved with a vendor without knowing all the details:

• Is there partnership program fee-based?
• Are there minimum requirements, either financial or otherwise, to maintain that partnership?
• Are you paying for items you really do not need or use in your everyday workflow process?
• How easy (or difficult) is it to receive help when needed?

Having been in your shoes before, I empathize with you. What baffles me, however, is when you know who I am and who I work for, but never tried ExchangeDefender products and services!

“Yeah, I see yours and Vlad’s posts on Facebook. I’ve been meaning to check you guys out.”

“I’ve been thinking of signing up as an ExchangeDefender partner, but I haven’t had the time.”

“The Moon isn’t in the ninth house. It’s not a good time.”

While I’ve heard the gamut of excuses answers when asked, “Why haven’t you signed up to be an ExchangeDefender partner;” my favorite by far is, “I don’t know how…” Well folks, I’m here to tell you that it’s as easy as visiting our website: www.exchangedefender.com. If you’re still reading this post, then you’re half way there! From our homepage, you click on the “Become a Partner” link and sign up. From start to finish, the process should not take more than 5 minutes—depending on your typing skills.

The best part about becoming an ExchangeDefender partner is that it’s FREE! So, in a way, we are giving you a way to make ‘money for nothing’ (for the Millennial Generation, see: “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits.) The only time our partners are billed is when they order products or services. There are no long term contracts, no annual commitment fees, and no hidden costs. Plus, ExchangeDefender is up 24/7, 365 days of the year. For all support, presale and urgent matters; partners have around the clock access to their support portal. If you would like to talk to a human being, pick up the phone and call us: (877) 546-0316.

To put the process in perspective, you could have signed up as a partner in the time it took you to read this post! So sign up, get familiar with our products, and expand your technical portfolio by offering ExchangeDefender solutions.

—

Michael D. Alligood,

Partner Sales and Support

ExchangeDefender | Shockey Monkey

(877) 546-0316 x707

michael@ownwebnow.com

Finding Your Niche to Create New Business

Most IT businesses are started by technical people that branch out on their own in search of creating a successful business, but more to do what they love. This passion for the industry can sometimes be overshadowed by the day-to-day ins and outs of running a business. Finding new business is one of the hardest parts of running an IT solution company and can cause many tech minded individuals to struggle even after they are well established.

Carving out a niche is a good way to create repeatable new business. This can be accomplished in several ways.

Find your Specialization

This may be a specific platform you are good at, software or hardware solution specializations provide ways to differentiate you and allow you to focus your marketing efforts.

Learn a Vertical

Getting familiar with a specific vertical can easily create sustainable and repeatable business through networking, word of mouth, and specific advertising. It is important to learn the lingo of the trade/vertical and the common tools used. This will assure you are looked at as a subject matter expert rather than just a general tech.

Focus Marketing

Once you have a specialization utilize focused marketing to drive new leads. Advertising in trade magazines or on trade related websites can provide a captive audience. Get involved with organizations and community groups specific to the vertical. Purchase a marketing email and address list for your specialization and create a marketing campaign to create brand awareness.

By finding your niche you can assure repeatable business, differentiate your business in your market, and drive new sales. If you have been, or your area is vertical horizontal, consider specializing in specific platforms. Becoming an expert and carving out a niche will provide opportunity and drive new sales, while allowing you to get the most bang for your buck out of marketing efforts.

Frank Gurnee
VP, Channel Services, ExchangeDefender
(877) 546-0316 x4777
frank@ownwebnow.com

Come Visit Us at SMB Nation!!!

Starting this Thursday, October 11th, ExchangeDefender is going to Las Vegas! Stop by and visit me, Stephanie Hasenour, and Anastasia Wiggins as we represent ExchangeDefender as a proud sponsor for SMB Nation in Las Vegas, NV!

We have recently added a lot of new features and products to our solution stack and we are very excited to talk about everything with all of the attendees. We will have a ton of information and giveaways so make sure you stop by our booth #422!!!

All the noise, lights, and slot machines aside, we know that it will be a fabulous event!!!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Stephanie Hasenour
VP Marketing, ExchangeDefender
stephanie@ownwebnow.com

How To Maintain a Company Blog & Why It’s Important

Most companies have great intentions when creating their websites to “get more social.” If you head to most business based websites you will see the usual Facebook and twitter buttons, links about products and services, and then, like a lost puppy all sad and alone there is the blog tab. A click on this link will many times bring you to a page with a number of posts, usually with sporadic dates and the last post being somewhere aroundY2K. Ok maybe it’s not quite that bad but you get the picture.

Many consider blogging to be a difficult task. Most will use excuses like “I don’t have time to write” or “I can’t think of anything to post.” The reality is these are just excuses and there are many reasons for keeping your company blog updated.

Why are Blogs Important?

1. Google loves Blogs

Fresh content to your site is favorable in getting your page organically to the top of Google. The more often you post the better you will fair and being higher on the list equals more business.

2. Blogs help keep customers informed

Though a company blog may not be the best place to open up about social, religious, or political topics; they are a great place to discuss emerging trends, new products and services, as well and local outreach.

3. Self Promotion and Employee Recognition

A blog is a great place to recognize employee accomplishments, announce big wins, and show off work. It adds a touch of personalization and can allow potential as well as current customers insight into the day-to-day business.

How to Maintain a Blog

1. Post something Daily

This may sound harder than it actually is but many of us post to social sites like Facebook everyday so why not to our websites? Easy ways to post daily can be to create photo based posts or video posts not only are these easy, but they are also great for Google.

2. Recruit Employees to Help

Assign employees a day of the week in which they are responsible to have a post written. Make sure that you provide expectations upfront and hold them accountable for the posts.

3. Make a list of Topics

It is much easier to get inspiration when you know what you want to write about. Some people find it easier to write down titles or topics of posts to be written. This can help the creative process and remind you of the things that are most important.

4. Write about your New and Existing Customers

Linking to your customer’s sites and providing promotion is a great way to drive traffic, add exposure, and give customers some additional love. They will appreciate the effort and it will provide an all around good feel to your site.

Either Do it or Don’t

1. Having a Blog post from Y2K as your last entry will not look good to anyone who goes to your blog page. If you aren’t going to be somewhat consistent you may consider removing the page.

2. Don’t get over opinionated in a business blog save those rants for a personal blog.

3. Do provide industry news and trends to keep customers informed.

4. Do have fun!

With a little effort and planning it is easy to turn that blog tab into a thriving part of your website. It will help breathe new life into your business as well as social makeup and give visitors an added benefit to your site. The advantage of climbing the ladder on Google will payoff in more business and revenue. Don’t expect results over night, but if you stay consistent and follow some of the advice outlined, you will be sure to have success with your company blog.

Frank Gurnee
VP, Channel Services, ExchangeDefender
(877) 546-0316 x4777
frank@ownwebnow.com

How Do I Send Emails from Our Scanner/Monitoring/Dog House After Switching to Hosted Exchange?

One of the common questions we get asked from partners after setting up Hosted Exchange is “How do I setup XYZ device to send mail now that we switched to Hosted Exchange?” For most setups, the easiest way (if the client has a static IP) is to add the clients IP as an additional “outbound IP” in ExchangeDefender under the domain configuration section.

Alternatively, partners can also refer to the SMTP list for Hosted Exchange for the SMTP settings for each Hosted Exchange network. If the device being setup does not support authentication or SSL encryption then the partner would have to create a support request to see if there is any way we can accommodate the client’s request.

Travis Sheldon
VP, Network Operations, ExchangeDefender
(877) 546-0316 x757
travis@ownwebnow.com

Selling Cloud Services… “Easy as Pie!”

Cloud services have become a big part of most IT provider’s solution stacks, requiring most to rethink certain sales strategies and opportunities. Traditional means of selling services still apply, but there are a few things that can be tweaked and some things to think about when looking to fill your pipeline.

First, you would be surprised at how many potential opportunities you may have from previous proposals that you may have presented but the options at the time were just not right for the client. This seems to be especially true in the SMB space where it was easy to propose solutions that were outside of small business owners budget. With the adoption of cloud services things like expensive hardware upgrades can be circumvented and easy monthly solutions can now be provided.

You most likely have already created some kind of relationship with these previous potential clients so getting a second meeting to offer a new low cost solution should be as easy as pie. Start by picking up the phone and reaching out, let them know that you were thinking about their situation and came up with a new low cost solution that requires little to no out of pocket investment and will fill all of their needs within their budget. Make sure to let them know that it is “the cloud” that everyone’s been talking about that makes it all possible.

Make sure to go over their previous proposal and convert the solution into a budget friendly cloud opportunity. Be prepared to talk about the cloud and know how to answer potential objections like:

“What is the Cloud?”

“Is my data safe?”

“Am I stuck in long-term contracts?”

“What happens if my Internet goes out?”

Next focus some marketing efforts on cloud services to create new leads. This is another important step to filling the sales funnel. Utilize efforts already provided by large companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Cisco, which are educating consumers about cloud services. Marketing efforts should use the word “Cloud” and play to the lower cost of cloud services.

Do not get too technical! In the SMB space the easier you make any given solution the better. Remember you are not dealing with corporate IT guys but Small business owners that just want a solution for their technology at a fair price. Focus on their problems and how your company will solve them with ease. So pick up the phone and call some of those previous potential clients. What’s the worst that could happen? They say we went with another solution? Or better yet they say, “No come on by we are still looking for something that meets our budget.” You might just be surprised how many people do nothing when presented with something they feel is out of their budget.

Frank Gurnee
VP, Channel Services, ExchangeDefender
(877) 546-0316 x4777
frank@ownwebnow.com

How To Deploy an Ordered Hosted Exchange Account…Without Wasting Time

Once you have ordered the mailboxes there are two places you (your techs) want to keep handy.

First you want to keep this page up:

http://www.exchangedefender.com/Exchange+SharePoint_Deployment_Guide2010.php

This link contains a screen by screen walkthrough of the Outlook deployment. These are examples of the information you will need. Now to fill in the blanks you will need the information from the Service Manager:

Go to our support portal at https://support.ownwebnow.com

Click on Service Manager => Hosted Exchange

Click on the blue “I” button.

This will give you all the settings needed for the account in question.

If you need to also set up mobile devices, you can find that in our documentation section. They are there, also screen by screen.

Carlos Lascano
VP Support Services, ExchangeDefender
carlos@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x737

Creating an Image Through Dress

IT companies can sometimes get a bad rap for their image, often times being known for or labeled as geeky tech guys, or ultra computer geeks. The truth is that this image is changing. With the education, training, and adoption of managed services, companies found themselves dressing up to be seen as technology consultants rather than techs.

This “dressing up” had many IT companies wearing business suits and ties to set themselves apart from the everyday competing tech companies, and gained attention both good and bad with clients. The biggest issue with this was many felt it was too dressy, and potential or existing clients would find it uncomfortable, often labeling people with more terms like “insurance salesman.”

The fact is that there is a happy medium to be found that will suggest professionalism, comfort, style, branding, and confidence. The key is to focus and keep in mind each one of these areas when creating your company image.

Professionalism:

All employees that have customer-facing roles should represent your company in the most professional manner. Generally it is a good idea to provide a standardized dress for these employees. A long sleeve business shirt will cover any visible tattoos and provide a level of professionalism.

Comfort:

Ties may be too dressy, uncomfortable, and not practical for technical jobs unless it is tied into your branding and used for image; stay away from ties. Though many technical companies prefer polo shirts, which are comfortable the look is truly synonymous with the stereotypes; try to avoid polos if possible. Slacks are a perfect option for most companies but getting the wrong slacks will cause comfort issues. Look into breathable, moving slacks. Check out golf slacks they tend to be comfortable, have deep and multiple pockets, and are made for an active lifestyle.

Style:

Style is important; you must create a unique memorable style. You want people to know your unique look so your company is always represented. Do something that stands out; black shirts with red buttons or buttons that match your company colors is an idea. Use bold, seasonal colors. Just no bedazzle!

Branding:

Your company must always be represented and your logo and brand is the key to your image. Embroidered logos are far superior to screen printed logos and are well worth the added cost. Make sure to brand shirts with your logo. The standard is on the chest to the left. Play with sizes, designs, and placement; a bold move may be to place a tag line on the sleeve just below the shoulder on the left.

Confidence:

When your employees look good and they are complimented they will gain and represent confidence.

A dress policy is important to creating a standardized image and brand. Have fun with your style but keep it professional while still being memorable. Don’t be afraid to spend a little money on R&D until you get the right mix for the image you would like to portray.

Frank Gurnee
VP, Channel Services, ExchangeDefender
(877) 546-0316 x4777
frank@ownwebnow.com