The short answer is yes! But, when you add the guidance of professional business coaches to ensure that the job gets done right and on time, then the results are much bigger, better and faster!
VARs and MSPs should always exploit networking opportunities to connect with their peers. This could easily be half of the value that they get from attending any channel conference. We see this so many times at our channel conferences. We know that about 72% of our delegates tell us that they get huge value from just talking with their peers. It' seems clear that peer-to-peer exchanges can generate exciting ideas and lead to all sorts of partnerships.
That said, the magic seems to happens when you put 6 to 10 VARs and MSPs in a room together with a group of 3 to 6 business coaches who can help guide the process and content. This is called a VARMasterMind group. These small groups meet up live about 4 times per year any about 12 times virtually. The members can also connect with each other anytime and the coaches are available for support when needed. This is usually enough for a VAR or MSP to grow their business by 30%.
I recently had another chat with Randal Wark who runs some of these mastermind groups. While the Mastermind groups offer the full spectrum of business development skills, he said that some VARs and MSPs just want specific help. As such, the coaches offer 4 distinct business building courses – Transition, Traction, Growth and Optimization. Every VAR or MSP seems to fall under one of these categories.
You are lucky if you are in Britain as you have a chance to come meet our channel coaching partner Transmentum at our VARTrends event on June 21-22. You can experience taste of what it is like to be in a peer group session plus a lot more…
