Managed Sales Pros Celebrates Five Years In Business!
We celebrated closing the books on our fifth year in business on October 31, 2018. No small feat! About 20% of small businesses fail in their first year, and 50% of small businesses fail by their fifth year. Come on, Lucky 7!
Ups, downs, good quarters, less than good quarters…it’s been quite a journey. My US call center, Everywhere Managed, celebrated three years on December 31st. (UPDATE: Everywhere Managed was acquited by EBQuickstart in September 2020)
Five Years In: Big Changes Coming.
We made some big changes in 2018. The change that made the biggest impact on our business was implementing Traction. Our facilitator is Jamison West, and if you’re looking for an EOS facilitator that has experience in the managed services space, you should probably have a chat with him next time you bump into him at a Connectwise event. If you’re not familiar with the Traction process, pick up a copy of the book and check it out! It’s completely changed our business, and I’m really excited for 2019.
Big Update: Sharon Lagace, Retiring.
The biggest change coming up in 2019 for Managed Sales Pros? We’ll be losing our Director of Operations. She’s retiring. She’s also my Mom, and I can’t tell you how much we’re going to miss her around here. Sharon took a big risk to leave her job – she left behind her pension, her health insurance, and her life in Boston (and a four hour round trip commute, ugh!), to come and support our small telemarketing company.
With her help we were able to grow at a much faster rate, and while we’re slowly but surely finding ways to fill her shoes, there’s really nothing like having the people you trust the most in the whole world on your team.
Working with family can be hard – and while I’m going to miss having an extremely competent woman with an incredible work ethic on my team, I’m also really looking forward to just having my Mom back as my Mom.
So, as we get ready to wish Sharon a happy retirement, we’re also getting ready to wish her a Happy Birthday, as that is her retirement day!
Celebrating Success By Giving Back
Our family stopped exchanging gifts many years ago, and opts instead to donate to charity. Our recent charities of choice include:
The Bail Project helps those who are eligible for bail but who can not afford to pay for their bail and “freedom tax” (there is a fee that you must pay to remain out of jail as you await trial, even though you are presumed innocent).
Annunciation House is a charity in El Paso, TX that supports migrants who are ineligible for US benefits of any kind. The group is run primarily by volunteers, and entirely on donations.
Sharon also personally supports:
Rosie’s place supports women in need of immediate shelter and meals, as well as those who require support with education, workforce readiness, and housing.
The Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber Cancer Research
Every year, Sharon walks a marathon distance to raise money for Team Brain Aid. Last year her team raised over 50,000 for brain cancer research.
So, in addition to supporting some of Sharon’s favorite charities for her birthday/retirement, I’m also sending her a birthday card for every year she’s been alive. I call it #65WaysIn65Days, and each card has a special memory of my Mom from sometime in the last 46 (where does the time go?) years of my life. If you’d like to send Sharon a birthday card (and I highly encourage you to do so, she really loves greeting cards!) you are welcome to send them to Sharon’s Las Vegas office (make sure they’re addressed to Sharon Lagace!) and we will make sure they get to her! The address:
Sharon Lagace
Director of Operations
Everywhere Managed LLC
1850 E Flamingo, Suite 201
89119
Other exciting changes for our business this year:
Our virtual team was slowly migrated over to our Las Vegas office, and we closed out our remote call center practice.
(2022 UPDATE: After Everywhere Managed – our US call center – was sold to EBQuickstart during the 2020 pandemic, our team once again pivoted back to remote!)
Ashley Battel now leads our Managed Services M&A practice. He connects managed services companies who are looking to be acquired, or who are looking to acquire other MSPs. Email hello@managedsalespros.com if you’d like to chat with him!
(2022 UPDATE: Ashley joined the team at Revenue Rocket to continue his work in the M&A space. Carrie consulted with MSPCorp on their Canadian acquisition plan. Richardson & Richardson Consulting continues to support companies looking to buy MSPs and companies looking to sell their MSPs.)
Sierra Pope was promoted to the executive team, and has fully embraced her new role as Call Center Operations Manager. This means our US call center is 100% owned and managed by women. In the technology space this is almost unheard of. Sierra supports the day to day requirements of the call center, including on-boarding new clients, developing outbound programs and supporting the call floor. Congratulations, Sierra. (Sierra’s also the proud Mom of an almost 2-year-old, and is getting married in July!)
(2022 UPDATE: Sierra now owns and operates Next Level Services, US. All Managed Sales Pros outbound calling campaign are now fulfilled in partnership with this fulfillment agency!)
2019 has started with a bang – we’re on target, we’ve added even more amazing vendor and MSP clients to our roster, we’re 100% on goal for the year, and we’re looking forward to our best year ever. If you’re located in Las Vegas, and you’re looking for a new career, I encourage you to explore opportunities with our US sister company: Everywhere Managed. We’re hiring, and we’d love to meet you!
(UPDATE: Everywhere Managed Is Now Part of EBQuickstart)
Thank you to all of our clients, past and present, who helped us get here. Thank you to those who guided us along the way. I remain as always, grateful to the first companies who took a chance on us. Here’s to an amazing 2019 for all of us.
I have the honour to be your obedient servant,
C.Sim.
(I saw Hamilton like four times last year and I’ll see it four more times this year, if the fates allow!)
(2022 UPDATE: Carrie Simpson is now Carrie Richardson, and I’ve seen Hamilton over 2o times now.)