Is Microsoft finally showing their ability to be innovative or are they simply playing catch up to their competition?  You decide.

How effective is free antivirus software? I had a chance to see a real, in-the-wild example just this month, and the results were, to put it mildly, unexpected. The bottom line? Microsoft’s free antivirus solution found and removed a threat that two well-known paid products missed. Here are the details. [Update: After I publlished this post, a second example appeared, courtesy of a rogue commenter in the Talkback section. See the results at the end of this post.]

I’ve had Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) installed on my main working PC for most of the past year. Mostly, I use it for real-time protection. I typically disable the scheduled virus scans on my PCs and instead occasionally do a manual scan just to confirm that nothing out of the ordinary has snuck through. Last month I decided to perform a scan using the Full option. Because I have 2.5 terabytes of hard disk space, with roughly 40% of it in use, I knew the scan would take a long time. So I scheduled it to run while I was out running errands.

When I came back, here’s a snippet of what I found:

MSE had detected several files files that it considered malicious. One was a rigged PDF file (not shown here). The other was a single file in the Java cache folder on this system that contained three separate exploits. Using the information in the MSE history pane, I found the file and uploaded it to Virustotal.com, which is a free service that allows you to scan a suspicious file using 43 separate antivirus engines. The file, identified by a unique hash, had already been analyzed, so I got the results immediately:

Only 17 of 43 antivirus products detected this as a threat. The full results page showed the identification, if any, for each product on the list. Microsoft, Symantec, Avast, and F-Secure were among the engines that flagged the file. But the majority didn’t. That means one of two things. Either the file was a false positive, and I was about to delete something harmless and perhaps even necessary. Or it was real, and most AV programs were missing it.

To get to the bottom of the issue, I sent e-mail messages to contacts at three companies. I asked Microsoft to reanalyze the file and confirm that it was indeed malicious. I also asked McAfee and Sunbelt to look at the file; both of them had reported the file as clean, according to VirusTotal.

Microsoft had two analysts review the file. Here’s a portion of their response:

We have confirmed that the threat detection you received from Microsoft Security Essentials is indeed valid. There were more than 3.5 million reported CVE-2008-5353 attacks in Q3 2010, and Java vulnerability exploitations like these, while once a rare occurrence, have spiked this year. … [T]his exact file is something we have seen in the wild more than 40,000 times in the past six months.

This October 18 post by Holly Stewart on the Microsoft Malware Protection Center blog provides useful additional detail on why these types of attacks can be challenging for IDS/IPS vendors, as well as the steps customers should take to ensure that they are protected.

According to the scan results, this threat was first identified in definition 1.85.1774.0, which was released by Microsoft on July 9, 2010.

McAfee responded quickly to my e-mail as well. A spokesperson sent this reply:

Our Labs team took a look at the file you referenced and it is malicious. We are in the process of developing new heuristics to combat the effects from a stream of recent malicious JAR files more proactively, the file corresponding with the hash you mentioned is in the queue.

Sunbelt’s Malware Response Manager, Dodi Glenn, reported that this file was in the company’s repository and submitted it for detailed analysis. Here are the results:

This file contains a malicious java.class … that exploits the CVE-2008-5353 vulnerability. … We are currently testing our updated detection for this exploit and expect to release it shortly.

The good news is that my system wasn’t compromised in any way. The exploit in question was blocked by a Java update that I had installed last year. Likewise, the booby-trapped PDF file (which all of the antivirus programs detected) relied on the user having a very outdated version of Adobe Reader installed, and mine was fully up-to-date.

Last week, when I wrote about Microsoft’s decision to expand its distribution of Microsoft Security Essentials via Microsoft Update, McAfee complained that free software simply isn’t as good as its paid protection. Here’s what a spokesperson told me:

McAfee wants consumers to be safe online. Options that provide an elementary level of security are free products including Microsoft Security Essentials, however these mostly rely on traditional protection mechanisms.  McAfee products offer not only more features but most importantly, McAfee products offer real-time protection using cloud-based Global Threat Intelligence to combat even the most sophisticated threats thus ensuring complete protection and peace of mind.

In this case, at least, that protection wasn’t as complete as the free Microsoft product it was comparing itself to.

As an aside, it’s worth noting that criticizing Microsoft Security Essentials because it’s free misses an important point. MSE uses the same scanning engine and definitions as its enterprise-grade Forefront product, which is most assuredly not free.

One certainly shouldn’t draw definitive conclusions from a single anecdotal example, but as this case shows, the gap between antivirus products isn’t as simple as free versus paid, and even the best and brightest researchers can miss a threat.

Update 15-Nov 7:00AM PST: Another real world example just dropped into my lap. A commenter in the Talkback section of this thread posted a link to a news website claiming to offer a video of the full Sunbelt report. (The malicious comment and link were deleted almost immediately.) Visiting that page (which is hosted on a legitimate website that has clearly been compromised) displayed a video window with the message “Sorry, this video cannot be played. Problem: plugin is not found.” It then helpfully included a “Download plugin” link. Here’s what the browser displayed:

Source:  Microsoft vs. McAfee: How free antivirus outperformed paid

To what do I attribute this growth, you ask?  Here are a few thoughts.

• Outsourcing Saves Money:  In most cases, our newer clients are those that have downsized dramatically (our most recent was from 1100 employees to currently 80) over the last couple of years and no longer have a need for in house IT departments.  The are looking to outsource that department in an effort to save hard earned money.  AndersonPC has been able to save companies 30-60% of what they were spending with their in-house staff.  We are also able to expand the services they were receiving.

• If They Can’t Find You They Can’t Hire You:  More and more companies turn to the web and particulary gooogle.com to find what they need.  Its important to constantly work on SEO and PPC campaigns.  AndersonPC has seen great success this year with search engine marketing.  It accounts for approximately 50% of our new business opportunites.

• On Boarding Will Kill You If You Let It:  The on-boarding process is the first impression you make with a new client.  Do it wrong and it can set the wrong tone for the entire engagement.  Do be afraid of standing your ground and making sure the process runs smoothly.  The first 90 days should include a lot of  ’touch’ points.  Lots of follow-up, over-communicate, stress documentation and complete roll-out before moving on to the next client.  It costs a lot to get a new client, don’t waste the investment by moving through on-boarding too quickly.

• Process, Process, Process:  As AndersonPC has grown we have been increasingly aware of how important it is to have documented processes.  Each new hire needs to see how you want each process handled.  Why make the same decisions over and over again on how best to roll-out a new server or services?  Make it once, document, train, and deploy.  Tweak as needed.

• Manage The Numbers:  A friend of mine is a Dentist.  We recently spoke and, as often does, our discussion moved to how business is going for each other.  He mentioned he hasn’t seen a P&L (Profit & Loss) statement this year.  He assumes he made money if there is cash left in the bank at the end of paying his bills.  While that may be true there is so much to gain from reviewing everything about your business that you can calculate.  Manage the numbers today, manage the numbers this week, manage the numbers this month.

• Set Goals:  Without goals, you’re adrift.  Floating on the waves going whichever way they take you.  Know what you want out of your business and make goals that will take you there.  Make S.M.A.R.T goals.  If you start with the larger goals then work back to daily tasks its a lot easier to meet those goals.  Our HelpDesk manager often says, “Aim Small, Miss Small”.  That holds true, focus on todays numbers and goals and you’ll reach what you are after.

While none of these are great secrets to any of you reading this, I think it’s important to review what works.  Learn to build processes, make a good first impression through good on-boarding, manage your numbers, make it easy for people to find you and your services, and set SMART goals.  Its time for a middle of the year review.  Take stock in what you’ve accomplished and reset for the remainder of the year.

Good Luck.

I suppose the basic level of Managed Services can be defined by wikipedia:

“Managed services is the practice of transferring day-to-day related management responsibility as a strategic method for improved effective and efficient operations.  The person or organization who owns or has direct oversight of the organization or system being managed is referred to as the offerer, client, or customer.  The person or organization that accepts and provides the managed service is regarded as the service provider.”

To me, this definition just defines IT Outsourcing at its basic level.  Is that all that MSP’s (Managed Service Providers) do?   Are we just and IT Outsource provider standing under a different tent?

I suppose the question is:  how do I define managed services?  It seems to me its got to be much more than just IT Outsourcing.

I believe Managed Service Providers should have at least following services:

1. Full IT Management
2. An Accountability System that requires the provider prove each month their work.
3. RMM (Remote Monitoring and Management) like n-central from n-able.com
4. PSA (Professional Service Automation) tool like Autotask.
5. Integration of toolsets that allow information shared across platforms.
6. Flat-fee IT Services (not averages of spending but defined services)
7. Definition of Services
8. Vendor Management
9. Guaranteed Response based upon criticalities
10. Guaranteed Uptimes with Penalty

While its not required that all these services are provided in house, its critical that a wide-range of services be provided to cover the needs of your client base.

Recently I’m running up against competition that are one-two man shows, have RMM and Fixed-Fee in place, and somehow believe that makes them a Managed Services Provider.  They lack the accountability component, lack true integration amongst tools, and don’t have the staff required to actually respond to the needs of the client and RMM alerts.  Without those components you lack key instruments in a Managed Services Business model.

I’m sure each company and parts of the industry would define managed services differently, however, there are key components that must be included in any definition.  Whatever your definition, the business model works when developed and deployed properly.  It’s here to stay and there is still room for a break/fix model.  I believe it is being pushed down the food chain to the SOHO business space.  SMB’s need MSP’s to be productive and competitive.

Paul AndersonFounder & President

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During his senior year at Chapman University, Paul Anderson founded ApexMicro in 1996 as an online computer hardware store.  That business eventually evolved into AndersonPC, a technology consulting firm specializing in delivering Managed IT services.  Along with other community involvement, Paul was elected to the Nevada State Assembly in 2012.

“At 211 degrees, water is hot.  At 212 degrees, it boils.  And with boiling water comes steam.  And steam can power a locomotive.  It’s that one extra degree, just one, that makes all the difference.  And so many times, it’s that one extra degree of effort in business, and in life, that separates the good from the great.”

In order for this concept to take shape at AndersonPC, we have to know where we stand.  Are we at 199 degrees or 211 degrees?  This makes an enormous difference when deciding where to focus our team’s efforts.  Our office has adopted another motto.

“IF WE CAN’T MEASURE IT, WE CAN’T MANAGE IT.”

We follow that with what I call the 3 cardinal principals of business growth:

1. Drive the Numbers Today
2. Drive the Numbers Tomorrow
3. Drive the Numbers Higher this Week.

After we develop a long term plan it’s important to “aim small miss small” (a popular quote used by our Helpdesk Manager).  If we focus on short term business growth, built around a long-term plan, long term business growth will take care of itself.

Develop a reporting metric tracking system that will allow for decision making ability based on data collected as accurately and timely as possible.

Give your team feedback on goal progress and achievement.  They are part of the process.  Everyone on the team must be held accountable and you do this through a ‘return and report’ workflow.  Each task accomplished must have a way of feeding back into the metric system and keeping the whole team on track.

Finally, numbers can often become cold and impersonal.  A team must find a way to keep the excitement of the goal and understand that the numbers represent individual efforts and accomplishments.  There must be rewards that focus on that understanding.

I think AndersonPC is getting ready to boil over.  Since 2007 we have been migrating our services from a Break/Fix model to the Managed Service Provider business model (See 5 Reasons to Implement a Managed IT Services Solution for details) and have spent the last several years fine-tuning that message and delivery.  We have accomplished much and have much more to improve on however, I believe our offering has matured significantly and brings value to each of our clients’  businesses.  It’s now time we step up that 1 extra degree.  Our new marketing efforts will show our commitment to expanding AndersonPC into a regionally recognized leader in Managed IT Services.

Paul Anderson
CEO, AndersonPC.com

Great Blog post about business growth secrets…here.

• 6% of all PCs will suffer an episode of data loss in any given year. Given the number of PCs used in US businesses in 2003, that translates to approximately 6.6 million data loss episodes. At a conservative estimate, data loss cost US businesses $17.8 billion in 2003. (The Cost Of Lost Data, David M. Smith)
• 30% of all businesses that have a major fire go out of business within a year. 70% fail within five years. (Home Office Computing Magazine)
• 93% of companies that lost their server room / data center for 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. 50% of businesses that found themselves without data management for this same time period filed for bankruptcy immediately. (National Archives & Records Administration in Washington)
• American business lost more than $7.6 billion as a result of viruses during first six months of 2003. (Research by Computer Economics)
• Companies that aren’t able to resume operations within ten days (of a disaster hit) are not likely to survive. (Strategic Research Institute)

A couple weeks ago I had been working on a spreadsheet that took me a day and a half to create the fields and forumulas and put in all my data.  It was information I had gathered from several sources between accounting programs, PSA, and CRM sources.  I had then projected out some sales opportunties that we had within our existing client base.

I was excited because I felt we had discovered some hidden opportunities to provide a new service to our clients and give them added benefit.  That was started on Friday then completed on Monday.  On Friday, a fellow employee had opened the spreadsheet to edit some data then went home for the weekend.  On Monday, that employee was out sick and the spreadsheet was still open on his desktop.  Surprisingly, when I opened the spreadsheet it didnt give me a notification that someone had the spreadsheet open and I continued through the whole day inputing data.  On Tuesday when that employee returned, he noticed he had the spreadsheet open and clicked save and close; OVERWRITING ALL THE CHANGES I HAD MADE ALL DAY MONDAY!!  When I re-opened the file on Tuesday afternoon the file was blank.  Nothing from Monday was there.  I was panicked and frustrated to say the least.  The thought of spending another day re-creating that spreadsheet was daunting.  The restore game began.  For some reason our local backup had failed the night before making that spreadsheet potentially lost.

 Last resort, off-site backup restoration.  We logged in and restored the file from ouroff-site backup, and viola, there it was in all its glory, my spreadsheet.

Now this was not going to shut my business down if had we lost this spreadheet but it really got me thinking about the importance of the backup process.  And more importantly the testing and restoration process.  Here at AndersonPC we follow this process:

• All backup solutions must be able to report into our monitoring systems
• Each month a test restore is done to ensure our backups are truely there
• Tape Backups must be replaced by disk backups (for speed of restoration and testing and reliability.)
• Off-site backups (at least critical files) are now a required part of each of our new Anderson360 packages

We have a detail process of reporting and accountability to make sure our clients backups are happening and available when a restore is required.

Remember, it’s not if, but when systems fail, you will need your backups for restore.  Make sure they are there and ready to go.

Ol’2010 has already turned into an exciting and challenging year.

In 1970, the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois began construction.  For almost 2 years workers moved earth and dug down 100 feet to the bedrock below.  Some 2 million cubic feet of concrete went into the foundation to support the enormous structure.  It took 12,000 construction workers just short of another 2 years to complete the entire building.  Almost as much time and effort went into building the foundation as did the rest of the structure.  When completed, it was a 110-story building and the tallest of its time.

That’s how I feel about AndersonPC.  I’ve been building a foundation of people, processes and tools to get the foundation ready for what we plan to become.  Sometimes I feel like that construction worker filling concrete in the foundation.  Mud on my face, tired, stressed, working the hardest I ever have and can barely see the sun out of the hole I’ve dug for myself.  Other days however, I feel I’m sitting at the top of my tower and catch a glimpse of my company and teams’ potential and abilities.  That vision is inspiring.  It motivates me to push through the tough days and work towards loftier goals.

With the exciting challenges that 2010 has brought, I find myself struggling to keep a healthy balance between work, family, and personal time.  Here at AndersonPC we have grown beyond the transitional phase of a break-fix to Managed Service Provider.  We are slowly, but surely, becoming the mature pure-play MSP we strive to become.  However, we still have a long way to go.  The real question is how can I keep that vision and stay focused?

When I’m motivated I find myself putting in 15-18 hour days and being productive.  I then get burned out mid-way through the week or month.  The rest of the time is then powered by RockStars instead of a desire to achieve.

The great thing about this problem (if there is something great about it) is that I own it.  It’s not externally driven.  No one else can fix the problem.  I have to take the baton and run.  Realize a change is needed and do it.

So what’s the answer?  I believe, balance.  Here are some ways I believe I can achieve it.

1. Slow down.  Create a schedule for myself that shows what I believe.  There are some things just worth the wait.  Building a great company just takes time.
2. Delegate.  There are many cogs in the wheel and I don’t have to spin them all myself.
3. Empower.  I have built a team at AndersonPC that is talented and capable.  Believe in their abilities to get the job done right.  After I delegate to them, make sure they have the tools and authority to accomplish their tasks.
4. Life Is Not A Business.  I love business and this is my biggest challenge.  If it’s not related to work I often have to force myself to be interested.  Schedule time away from work that allows me to explore other opportunities that can enrich my life.
5. Family First.  This really is the #1 spot but I wanted to emphasis its importance so I put it here.  It really draws a circle around everything else I do.  Why be accomplished or successful if I have no one to share it with.  My family and our goals should come above all.

Far too often we celebrate what some people have accomplished in so little a time.  What we never see is what they have sacrificed to get there.  Sometimes when they make it to the top, they realized the cost was too much.

It takes time to build something great. Be willing to wait for the good things in life. Allocate time to keep life in perspective put first things first.

Successful Pay-per-click Campaigns

Almost 15 years have gone by since I started AndersonPC.  With the many transitions we have made from online hardware reseller, to VAR, to break-fix contract services, to Managed Service Provider the techniques we have used to sell our products or services have drastically changed.  Almost as fast as our industry changes it seems the tactics for sales and marketing change as well.

In 1996, when we launched AndersonPC, you could manipulate the search engines (WebCrawler & Yahoo) frequently based upon some basic SEO principles.  It was extremely effective.  Many times when you searched for a particular hard drive, our site would come up more frequently than the manufacture and our sales were a direct reflection of how effective we were that week or day for that matter.

Things changed in the late 90′s as search engines like Google start taking more and more market share and the search engines began to find ways to grow their revenue with all the eyeballs visiting their sites..  The task became more difficult as the search engines changed the way they indexed sites.  We had to come up with more effective ways of getting in front of clients.  At the same time our business model was changing and we were leaving the hardware business behind for a focus on IT services.

IT Services sales opened up a completely different sales cycle and process.  Setting your company apart from the competition is very difficult when your service offerings look just the same on paper.  Regardless of what you think, as a VAR or break-fix provider, you compete directly with all the other comparable IT companies as well as the owners brother-in-law, so-and-so brothers’ son, one-man-shops, and national chains, etc.  They all take part of the pie and the business consumer has a hard time telling them apart.  Their differentiators largely come down to ‘with whom they fell the most comfortable’.

In 2007, AndersonPC, migrated from this business model to Managed Services, and yet again, our sales & marketing practices had to change.  While I agree that direct mail, print, TV, radio, etc all have their place, recently we have been aggressively working our PPC (pay-per-click) advertising campaigns.  My difficulty in selling IT Services has always been that you need to be in front of the client when they are feeling some IT related pain.  Rarely do potential clients shop for IT services when everything is running great and they love their provider.  Take that in comparison to the real estate industry.  It’s easy to tell who wants to sell their home (of course, nowadays, that may be everyone in the nation but lets forget that part for a moment).  If I’m a Realtor, I can look in the MLS and tell which home listings are ready to expire, I can look at “for sale by owner” listings, I can check foreclosure notices, etc.  There are an unlimited list of indicators and daily lead opportunities.  Not so in our market.  No one advertises that, “I’m ready to make a switch.”

So what’s the answer?

Thought you’d never ask.  Google Adwords, plain and simple.  Between PPC and SEO advertising tactics you can find a client that is indeed ready to make a switch or searching for alternatives.  Here is an example of what we are doing at AndersonPC.

In February we launched a PPC advertising campaign.

Here is a list of resources I am using in no particular order:

• Google Adwords – Google Adwords is my campaign manager for all that is PPC.  While an interface for this is in Kutenda I’ve chose to use the google tools directly.
• Kutenda – Kutenda is a great resource for training and a whole host of tools to get you started.  I use Kutenda for research, keyword generation help, training my staff to assist and understand PPC and SEO key components.
• trixbox – asterisk-based VoiP PBX giving you complete control of your tele-presence.  trixbox is our pbx.  It allows me to track all calls and customize my call plans.  Features that are just not available with any other non-voip PBX.
• QueueMetrics – Call Center queue monitoring, tracking, and reporting  QueueMetrics is used to run the reports and see exactly where the calls come from and what keywords are generating calls.
• Autotask – Our PSA and CRM tool.  Autotask is our PSA (professional service automation) tool where we track all of the processes.
• Sightmax – Live chat

So let’s see how it we put it all together.

1. Building My Campaign.  Using Kutenda & Google Adwords I put together my online campaign.  I use both of these tools to determine the best mix of keywords and potential traffic.  I also use Kutenda for reference on campaign training, coaching, etc.  This is a series of keywords that I believe potential  clients will search for to find their next IT provider.  All of this traffic is directed to specific landing pages NOT to my home page of the web site.  In fact, I create small barriers to my direct web site in the form of ‘call now’ and ‘action forms’.  I don’t want the potential client window shopping, I want them to ACT!
   
2. Landing Pages.  Each list of keywords is tied to a Google Ad and that GoogleAd is tied to a landing page specific to the keyword.  So when someone searches for keyword ‘XYZ’ they land on a page that talks about ‘XYZ’ NOT a home page or ‘about andersonpc’ or just a list of our services.  Very specific.  Each landing page has a unique DID (Vanity number) that is directed to our PBX over SIP traffic.  These unique numbers are assigned to each page.
   
3. Tracking.  While each landing page has a unique phone queuemetrics and trixbox I can see how many calls where received for each number it also has a unique form and tracking from Google analytics and oursightmax chat software.  When someone clicks on an Ad and visits a landing page, we immediately can see a visitor, their location, browser, and can even co-browse with them.  We can also invite them to instantly-chat if it seems appropriate.
   
4. Forms & Inbound Calls.  When a potential client takes action, they can fill out a form or call.   The form is built through Autotask and directly inputs the information in our database.  It creates the lead, opportunity, follow-up to do’s, due dates for action and tracks the source.  We can then track all the progress and status of  this lead through the Autotask CRM tool from sales calls to drip emails.  Now I think this is pretty cool here! When an inbound call comes in, the call is directed to our PBX which then logs the call, tags the CallerID with the keyword and then sends it to the sales phones.  So when a sales call comes in it shows “Sales:  XYZ keyword: CallerID info”.  Immediately the person answering the phone knows what keyword was searched for and can begin to think about those pain-points that we train on for specific calls.
   
5. Reporting.  This is the most important part.  I can get  feel for how things are going but that may not always match with reality.Besides, this method of advertising allows your to track results every step of the way AND IN REAL-TIME!  Through Google-ads I can see how many times my ad is shown, then how many times it was clicked on and my cost per click.  I can manage conversions and see how much each prospect cost me.  Through keyword  and the outcome of each call (answered, by whom, went to voice-mail, time of day, etc).  I can also listen to the recorded sales call for training and review.

No other method of advertising gives me this much control over directing my new potential client to the appropriate resource, giving them the information they are seeking, and seeing my actual cost per lead;  again, ALL IN REAL-TIME!

If you’re not doing PPC advertising its time to start.  Get help, get trained, and get in the game!

• Movies.  One of the more obvious thoughts is music and movies.  Even now with Netflix you can stream a full length DVD movie through your PC, DVD player, or TV.  It would take less than 5 min to stream that same movie over 1 Gg.
• Live Video.  Can you imagine being in virtual classroom that is full screen, live streaming complete with interactive conversations and no delay?  Thousands could be viewing the professors PowerPoint presentation while watching the professor live and interact with that professor.  While there is Skype (not great for more than 2 people talking with each other) and other multi-person video conferences today, bandwidth is one of their major obstacles.
• Let’s talk business.  Google is working hard to deploy business level applications like GoogleApps.  If you now have a gigabit connection to that data, do I need a server at my office anymore?  Can I use any PC to work on and access my data?  One of the obstacles for cloud technologies is simply the speed of access.  This project seeks to eliminate that obstacle.
• Telecommuters.  If my connection is the same at home as it is at the office, then why drive to the office to do what I can do at a home office.  This opens the doors to working and living in smaller communities that are limited to job growth due to locale.

All said, I’m excited about this project.  I think it will force local carriers to expand their services and stay competitive.  Any additional competition can only help advance the technology and create new and unique opportunities.

I, for one,  VOTE FOR LAS VEGAS  for a test site!

If you want to read the announcement you can find it here.  You can nominate your community here.

Ask Yourself More Questions

When you first started your business, you were likely inclined to thoroughly consider your short and long-term goals, as well as create lists of what steps were needed to accomplish those goals. These steps were an important part of your business plan, and they were important for a reason. Asking yourself tough questions that you were forced to answer honestly help you make the critical business decisions during your business’ start-up. As time goes on, it is just as important that you continue to ask yourself relevant questions about your goals and brainstorm new ideas daily about how to accomplish those goals.

Brainstorming ideas is not just limited to marketing or sales tactics. Consider how to handle physical growth as well as innovative ways to handle current issues that have arisen since the business opened, such as customer service and personnel issues.

Get Reviews

The one clear way to understand how your customers feel about you is to ask them. Getting customer feedback from the people who actually do business with you is invaluable in finding out what is working for them and what is not. For the most objective feedback, develop the ability to conduct regular customer surveys anonymously. Be innovative and use your creative mindset to identify what kind of questions to ask your clientele and customers to get the information you need to improve. And don’t use the same old survey time and again. Update your questions and craft them so that your customers perceive their feedback is important to your business. Not only are your customers’ responses important to your business’ improvement; you should also continually research what your competition’s customers are saying online about their services and your industry as a whole. This kind of information can be found on blogs and online forums.

Compile And Add To Your Network List

Sure, you may have a few business cards you’ve collected that can be helpful to promote your services through other complimentary businesses, but if you are only sticking with those few resources, you are certainly limiting your potential. You should always be networking and adding to your promotional resources. Do not limit yourself to in-person events, either. Social networking sites are among the fastest growing ways to network these days, and other online resources such as blogs can be effective places to find out what people are looking for and what you might be lacking to provide in your business.

Be consistent in your promotions

- don’t sign up for social networking sites and then fail to use them. Plan your messaging ahead of time and implement those services into your daily marketing routine. Creativity comes into play when you develop your keywords, write eye-catching posts that include interesting tidbits to help create a solid social network. Staying on the cutting edge of what’s new and leveraging these opportunities creatively can seriously change the direction of your business. This is also true about simply listening to your customers and taking proactive action based on the information you learn. Educating yourself about what can make your business better is only half the battle. You have to brainstorm ways to be innovative in the ways you make this information work for your business.

Here at AndersonPC…

We are working hard to force ourselves to go through a continual process of improvement in all areas of concern. Over the next few months we will be launching some very exciting marketing campaigns. We have grown quickly over the last 6-12 months and have worked to keep that growth under control however, its been all organic and referral growth. We are reaching farther than before and using our web site to generate leads and revenue. I’ll keep you posted on our progress and post ‘tips & tricks’ as we navigate the world of SEO traffic generation and prospect / lead conversion.

Paul Anderson
CEO & President, AndersonPC.com

Thank you to Managed Services Provider University for contributing to this post.