MSP Strategy: How HEIT Keeps Winning
I’m seated in an audience filled with thousands of VARs and MSPs. We’re watching John Chambers deliver the closing keynote at Cisco Partner Summit. Rewind 24 hours, and a top MSP — HEIT CEO Dan Holt (pictured) — told me he was leaving the Cisco conference a bit early. Why’s that? Here’s the answer.
Holt networked extensively at Cisco Partner Summit. But he also has an eye on the California Bankers Association conference, which kicks off today in Southern California. As you may know, HEIT successfully focused on the financial services and banking verticals — at a time when global financial markets were melting down.
The banker’s conference will feature bank presidents CEOs, chairpersons, senior executives and directors. Translation: It’s the perfect audience for Holt to promote HEIT’s managed services.
Here’s the irony: I spend a lot of time at MSP-centric and partner-centric conferences. I find them valuable. And I’ll keep going. But as I’ve stated before, MSPs need to push beyond their comfort zones.
Do you want to understand opportunities in health care, financial services, education and other verticals? Certainly, ask questions about those verticals at MSP conferences. But make the extra effort: Step outside of our tech comfort zone and start hanging out at vertical market conferences.
John Chambers’ keynote continues here at Cisco Partner Summit. I’m getting quite an education. But I understand why Dan Holt packed his bags and headed off to the banker’s conference. You can bet he’s networking right now with established customers and potential customers, in a vertical market that many MSPs haven’t had the confidence to enter.
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