Chat Log
00:02:01 Marc Pickard - CBTech Support: Getting ready to leave the northeast for a few weeks
00:02:26 Marc Pickard - CBTech Support: Leaving NJ to head to FL
00:04:08 Marc Pickard - CBTech Support: Excellent question
00:04:18 Neil Murray: 100% great topic for today.
00:11:36 Rob Wagnon: Do some people quote before the meeting?
00:12:51 James Flegle: I make heavy HEAVY use of Opportunities in ConnectWise Manage with Activities tied to them. Post-QBR we send out an internal email with any tasks that need delegated (and appropriate tickets linked in)
00:13:27 Jared Belcher: We do some quoting before the meeting like for trainings that are a consistent price. BUt generally specific numbers don't come until after the TBR
00:13:42 Jennifer Berry: same, we give estimates based on past projects
00:15:03 IanThomson: We use our ticketing system and have a que for design desk. When something needs more info it goes in to the DD que with a clear description, and time frame. IE DD Request - Azure Migration - Review High Level Budget Mid-December. Then the expectation is DD prioritizes there tickets and either taps the vCiO on the shoulder when this is ready, or they may even reach out direct to the client
00:17:25 Rob Danser: @rob yes some do but its an easy way to get yourself into trouble and create a lot of work that may not get approved. Sometimes and for some clients its a good tactic but you want to be wary
00:19:00 Greg Bartlett: Now is MyITProcess cricket or is it baseball?
00:19:18 Rob Danser: Rugby
00:19:24 Rob Danser: 😀
00:19:29 jthrall: Scrum
00:19:30 Mark R: lol
00:20:04 Kirk Lesser: BASEketball
00:20:26 Rob Danser: lol love that movie
00:23:17 Jennifer Berry: so do we
00:23:22 Jennifer Berry: weekly PM meeting
00:23:37 Kirk Lesser: weekly huddle going over EVERY client and discuss tickets, projects, etc
00:23:46 Keala: I'm a stakeholder on the project just like the client contacts, I get updates from the project manager just like the clients do.
00:25:51 Dan Seafoot: Does anyone use a Project Management software on top of their CRM?
00:26:07 Jennifer Berry: we budget an hour, but we have the PMs and both vCIOs in the meeting, so we're going over all clients
00:26:23 Jennifer Berry: depending on how much discussion, sometimes it doesn't take more than 30, but sometimes it takes the full hour
00:26:59 Kirk Lesser: Oh jeez Steve Rogers is here...
00:27:02 Jared Belcher: Those 20 minute meetings are pushing 30 and 40 now since we have so much hardware we are waiting on. So lots of juggling of priority
00:28:57 Dan Seafoot: We don't track vCIO time :(
00:29:06 David Wallach: 3/4 of my time is against clients as vCIO
00:29:20 Jennifer Berry: We SHOULD be tracking everything....
00:29:36 Keala: I track the meeting and travel, but I should do more.
00:29:42 Jennifer Berry: same, trying to get better about tracking
00:29:44 David Wallach: Only other time we use is Admin, Training and lunch
00:30:19 David Wallach: BTW, if I don't track ALL time, I don't get paid!!!!
00:30:20 Jennifer Berry: I would like to track everything I do for the client so that we can more easily show the breaking point where we need another vCIO or if clients are way too much work for the MRR
00:30:58 Dave Ellis: If it's applicable to multiple clients, we track it against our company as the client
00:31:45 Jennifer Berry: yea, if you're doing a campaign of sorts and are going to recommend things to multiple clients, then we would track that against our company, but otherwise I agree with Jorge
00:32:10 Keala: We have internal projects for product development research that would affect multiple clients.
00:32:50 Keala: @jared, where you do you put your time for this vcio call?
00:33:02 Jared Belcher: Gives my Controller heartburn for every hour of "research" I tack on to a client - LOL
00:33:26 Jared Belcher: This call is "Admin" vCIO general bucket. Billed to my company time.
00:33:50 Jared Belcher: We don't bill clients for my time either. Just "Tracked" against a client as well.
00:34:03 IanThomson: I should be tracking time... I'm not very good at that, but what I have done more for my use is started tracking in my playbook which clients are getting my touch points, and then I look at if that makes sense for what their MRR is.
00:35:26 Bob Tukin: Charge more
00:35:53 Scott Chester: Sounds like you need to be tracking the time, but that “board” or something should be excluded when you’re looking at profitability.
00:37:30 Kirk Lesser: It is built into the picanomics numbers too
00:39:45 C: All Time is tracked for us, doesn't matter what you are doing.
00:39:48 Dave Ellis: Have to track the time spent tracking time ;)
00:40:14 Jared Belcher: @Dave I put that in my comments sometimes in my time tracker just for fun!
00:40:29 Dave Ellis: I used to also haha
00:42:06 Rob Wagnon: Where is the playbook in the TruMethods web site?
00:42:42 Rob Danser: https://members.trumethods.com/step/vcio-playbook/
00:44:11 Jared Belcher: Audit for IT
00:44:22 C: https://www.auditforit.com/
00:45:20 C: magic
00:45:28 C: super helpful in the sales process
00:46:09 J.Mac Brown: Anybody got reference docs on setting up Exchange MFA?
00:46:41 Lee Wegener: yes
00:46:46 Jorge: Exchange or M365?
00:47:15 J.Mac Brown: Exchange… two clients, will not go to 0365
00:48:12 J.Mac Brown: Lee would you mind sharing to jbrown@affinitytechpartners.com
00:48:33 Kirk Lesser: If you use audit look at https://lifecycleinsights.io/, it does a LOT more and I think for less.. (sorry for the pitch)
00:48:58 Kirk Lesser: or stick with MyITProcess so Rob doesn't kick my ass later ;)
00:49:24 Robert Macalino: you can filter the Bomb report based on Security items. within IT Process
00:49:30 Scott Chester: Give them myITp report that shows they are at 60% and all the areas they need to improve.
00:49:39 Jennifer Berry: yea, that was my thought too
00:50:11 Jennifer Berry: we go through the CIS IG1 questions for clients and I would just show them that
00:50:31 Jennifer Berry: you could filter out that section only so they're not seeing something from business continuity or hardware or whatever
00:51:05 Kirk Lesser: My MSA/SOW covers that discussion AND I also tell EVERY client they can't be 100% covered
00:54:10 Keala: I imported CIS 8.0 questions into MyITprocess to give a report from there.
00:54:28 Dan Seafoot: Pro Services
00:54:34 Dan Seafoot: Project team
00:54:41 IanThomson: I used to do it for the client, but now I have a referral partner I lean on
00:54:45 Marc Pickard - CBTech Support: Master agent
00:54:59 Chuck: vCIO for us or lead tech working it for that client
00:55:00 Jared Belcher: It's a mess here as well
00:55:06 Jennifer Berry: I used a broker at my last MSP
00:55:16 Jennifer Berry: Haven't run into it at Attentus yet
00:55:41 Ashli Clubine: Either me or the CEO - we used to have a Business Development guy but he quit and has not been replaced....
00:56:02 Jared Belcher: We aren't getting compensated enough either. Our Account Manager/Internal Sales has those relationships with local ISP's and does that part. As far as the actual cutover it's sometimes Reactive, sometimes Project team and we haven't been doing a good job of quoting and billing for it.
00:56:26 Jared Belcher: I do a ton of walkthroughs though as well like Jorge
00:57:05 Ashli Clubine: Does anyone use Design Desk to do this?
00:57:16 Lee Wegener: Walkthroughs are something TAMs do usually
00:57:34 Chuck: Nothing better than the client just saying hey they cutover our internet and nothing works
00:57:39 Jared Belcher: We just set up a good ticket template of all the tasks for our cutover that we need.
00:57:50 IanThomson: I do the walkthroughs but get DD to prepare specs and drawings for contractors based on client needs learned during the walkthrough
00:58:05 Jared Belcher: @Chuck Agreed Reactive or on call ends up dealing with it in that case as well.
00:58:24 Jared Belcher: Our account manager/Inside Sales is also Design desk here
00:58:27 Ashli Clubine: our end goal is, TAM does the "scoping" of the site and needs, and DD will do the vendor interaction
00:58:55 Jared Belcher: Our TAM doesn't have enough bandwidth but we can't quite hire a new one LOL so that's why others do it.
00:59:49 Dan Seafoot: We bill for it. new ISP
01:00:07 Jared Belcher: We are trying to make ISP change toa billable but haven't done it yet
01:00:45 Dan Seafoot: This meeting as 2 hours right?
01:00:53 Jorge: 2.5
01:00:54 Marc Pickard - CBTech Support: 2.5 hours
01:00:56 Jorge: with follow up
01:00:56 David Wallach: 3
01:01:17 CIO Landing: Is 9pm here in France & I'm here! On a Friday :-(
01:01:33 Jared Belcher: Lunchtime - my favorite time of day and I still come
01:01:41 Michael Sylvester: Bonjours!