Ted Hulsy is the new product marketing lead at Dropbox. Before that, he was at SonicWall, eFolder, and most recently itopia. Now that Ted is at Dropbox, we should soon start to see interesting things for MSPs coming from there.
Today, we will be chatting about vendor relationships and how those relationships with your vendors can be leveraged to get more than your fair share of resources to fuel MSP growth.
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What’s Going On
[01:08] This edition of What’s Going On was recorded live in front of an MSP audience in New Orleans.
[02:17] Webroot released their 2018 cybersecurity report. Cyber criminals are finding new ways to infiltrate systems on a daily basis.
[02:36] It’s essential for MSPs to stay on top of these threats.
[02:45] Webroot analyzed more than 27 billion URLs, 600 million domains, 4.3 billion IP addresses, 62 million mobile apps, and 52 million connected servers.
[03:09] The interesting thing was the polymorphic attacks—these are attacks that are different every single time. They account for 98% of malware.
[03:41] We are so past the world of signatures.
[04:15] Cryptojacking is a fairly new phenomenon. This hijacks the machine for CPU power to mine cryptocurrencies.
[05:00] Small businesses are at the greatest danger of hijacking.
[05:23] Targeted phishing attempts are how many of the viruses are getting on machines.
[05:43] How do MSPs educate their clients about phishing?
[07:07] Teaching clients that the language used should correspond with how the sender actually talks.
[07:49] One of the worst technologies ever invented is hiding extensions. Especially when it comes to clicking on attachments.
[08:14] Everybody has somebody who will click on anything. Phishing attacks are getting more sophisticated.
[08:42] MSPs are seeing security fatigue in their clients. People are tired of being told to be more careful.
[09:01] Using humor, videos, and examples to get the word out.
[10:40] All of us can assume that our data has been stolen at least once and is in a database on the dark web.
[11:31] There’s a cyberstorm coming.
[13:13] MSPs may want to have bitcoins on hand in case their clients request that ransom be paid. Bitcoin is not quick to acquire so that’s why it might make sense to keep some handy.
[14:16] Advise clients to use a different domain for financial transactions.
[16:53] Or using a verbal password for money transfers.
[18:02] 70% of people hit by ransomware will get hit again.
[18:12] Clearing it once doesn’t mean it won’t come back. Some variants are a bomb, sitting in backup, waiting to activate.
Interview with Ted Hulsy: Using Vendor Relationships to Fuel Your MSP Growth
[20:51] Why vendor relationships important for MSPs
[21:18] One of the barriers to MSP growth is not focusing on relationships, and vendor relationships more specifically.
[21:50] Your vendors are your partners. Treat each other that way.
[22:28] Vendors have all kinds of sales resources. Access to a systems engineer can be vital in a pre-sales situation. You can bring your channel account manager in on deals. Or sometimes you need access to special pricing.
[23:21] All of these resources can help you win deals and gain traction.
[23:30] Training is another resource. Most vendors have a diversity of training resources.
[23:49] Having a good relationship with your vendor means you can often get those things comped.
[24:10] Once you have that vendor solution baked into your stack, the vendor will feel confident working with you.
[24:49] To make yourself stand out be really genuine about relationships.
[25:40] At the end of the day, we buy products from people.
[27:44] Being a partner will help you get more than your fair share of resources from the vendor.
[28:04] There are so many ways you can contribute to your vendor beyond giving delivering top line revenue growth.
[28:28] A lot of vendors want to know how they’re doing. You can give them genuine feedback. Participate in betas.
[29:33] Share a success story and write it up.
[30:08] Engage with the execs. Join their partner council.
[31:47] Have somebody on staff in charge of vendor relationships. Prioritize your top four vendors.
[33:08] Lyf Wildenberg, CEO of Mytech Partners, realized their vendors were the nationwide platform to help them grow.
[35:05] Don’t constrain your thinking. It’s not about how big you are, it’s about what you can give.
Links from this episode
What’s Going On
The Hosts
- Karl Palachuk: Small Biz Thoughts
- Karl Palachuk (Twitter)
- Richard Tubb: Tubblog
- Richard Tubb (Twitter)
Interview
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