Best-selling author Jim Collins and ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini spent much of last week's IT Nation conference talking ab

Joe Panettieri, Former Editorial Director

November 13, 2012

1 Min Read
What's Your SMaC Business Recipe for Success?

SMaC Recipe for Success

Best-selling author Jim Collins and ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini spent much of last week's IT Nation conference talking about SMaC: A specific, methodical and consistent (SMaC) recipe for success. Bellini even shared his SMaC recipe for success as an IT service provider in Tampa, Fla. Here it is.

The SMaC recipe includes:

  1. Service clients within 50 mile radius of our office.

  2. System engineers must be 80% billable.

  3. Hire ONLY fast, smart people. They must pass our testing.

  4. Make our colleagues happy; achieve super-low employee turnover.

  5. Create accountability for servicing clients; establish an owner of an issue — hand-offs cause fumbles.

  6. We will sell hardware with a 20 percent margin target.

  7. We should get recurring revenue from EVERY client.

  8. Customers must leverage more than one of our offerings: Service, hardware, agreement, development.

  9. Avoid lawyers and doctors as clientele.

  10. Don't take on clients that have their own IT departments — though that changed when ConnectWise introduced a co-managed IT tool.

Then Bellini quipped that many IT service providers typically have the following SMaC recipe:

  1. Don't know.

  2. Not sure.

  3. Still thinking.

  4. Uhh…

  5. Give me a second.

  6. Probably something with the cloud.

  7. Dude, why are you asking me this stupid question?

  8. I'm too busy right now.

  9. I know Joe knows; hey Joe!

  10. We'll figure it out later.

Bottom line: You'll notice that a SMaC recipe for success is pretty boring and straightforward. There's  no need to chase shiny new technologies. Instead with the mundane but do it with fanatical focus.

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About the Author(s)

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri

Former Editorial Director, Nine Lives Media, a division of Penton Media

See more from Joe Panettieri
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