Some examples of what you could earn yourself through referrals:

New Total Network Care Client

• OLD: 1 Month Service Fee (up to $1000)
• NEW: 1.5 Months Service Fee (up to $1500)

New Hosted Exchange Client

• OLD: $5 per Mailbox
• NEW: $7.50 per Mailbox

New Remote Server Backup Client

• OLD: $50 per Server
• NEW: $75 per Server

New Business Disaster Recovery Client

• OLD: $200 to $600 (Depending on Model)
• NEW: $300 to $900 (Depending on Model)

New SIP Trunking Client

• OLD: $10 per Trunk
• NEW: $15 per Trunk

These are only some of the increased referral payments that we are offering only during the month of September. Program extends to all services offered by Foundations Technologies. Give us a call at 443.921.3001 if you want more information on the updates to our Referral Program for this month, or have a referral.

I’m not the only one excited by the news as Andy over at Downhome Computer and Mark from TechCare Team have both expressed their excitement over this announcement. I’ personally will be looking forward to welcoming the new partners into the Calyptix Partner fold as one of the grizzled old time partners that has been here since the pre-2.0 release days.

Calyptix powers our Managed Firewall platform, and it’ll be good to see even more people out there knowledgeable on the product, as we are competing on a daily basis with people selling solutions from some of the other vendors like SonicWALL, FortiNet, et al. I feel with our solid product and this new marketing effort being put forth, we will have a well known brand that people will know and respect, and will make our efforts of selling our clients on this product even easier.

I’m sure there will be even more news on this and other topics to share after the SMB Nation show next week. Look forward to a lot of blogging next week as I post and dissect all the information that will be flowing from the conference.

What really shocked me was how easy Comcast is to work with once you reach someone whose true job is to work with the customer and make sure they are happy. Today I received an even bigger surprise when I got home to find a huge box from UPS that had Comcast Customer Care Department listed as the sender. Upon opening the box I found a huge tin of flavored popcorn, which my kids have been happily devouring for the last hour.

The box also included a letter with an apology from Comcast for the “recent inconvenience”. I really do have to say that I am impressed by the level of customer service I received from the “big bad cable company” in this matter, and really feel the popcorn was really just a bonus. Maybe this is a sign of Comcast truly trying to turn over a new leaf and improve their service and image. Either way, for once, I can’t say a single bad thing about my experience with Comcast in this matter. Now maybe if Comcast can move to the level of Zappos and give their first tier employees nearly limitless powers to ensure customer satisfaction, there may be a chance for a truly unstoppable force.

This is the type of service I wish every company would give all their customers all the time, and something I strive for in my dealings with my clients on a daily basis. Always go that extra mile, always give them more than what they asked for. And in closing I should mention that Dale and Thomas make some mighty fine popcorn! Again, thank you Comcast, you really didn’t have to do this, but thank you. Now, will you come vacuum my floor in the morning?:)

I believe we may have found the name that is owned by someone in Australia that is basically letting the domain stagnate. Hopefully he’ll see my offer as a valid one and in a few weeks we may be doing business under a new name. We don’t have a huge budget for the name change, but hopefully the owner will see that since he is doing nothing with the domain, he’ll be willing to part with it for what I believe was a reasonable offer.

Has anyone out there ever changed their business name to something new and in the process purchased a domain from another person? This is something new to me and something I’d be interested in hearing more about peoples experiences.

The question then becomes, how can two companies, with very similar business models and similar service structure charge prices that vary between 33% to 50%? I’ve gotten quotes from both companies for the exact same services, and had Rackspace very clearly be the more expensive of the two options. So again, the question should be poised, “How can Rackspace charge so much more than a very comparable competitor?”

Because people will pay. Rackspace has spent a fortune in marketing and advertising themselves as a premiere hosting provider, with their Fanatical Support. You ask around, and almost anyone in IT will be able to tell you who and what Rackspace is, while unless you are from the Delaware, Northern Maryland or South Eastern PA areas, you may not have a clue as to who is HostMySite.com.

Rackspace has spent a lot of time and money to build their brand as a premium solution. This instantly puts people in the mindset that they will be paying a premium price. So when Rackspace tells someone it will be $800/month for a server, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

Personally, I like both companies and find them both to do their jobs admirably. Do I think Rackspace is 33% or more a better solution than HostMySite.com? Absolutely not. Rackspace is a great company, with a great product, but they are also a larger company, with over 2000 Rackers and have an international focus. Even with as much as I have talked to my Account Manager there, I still feel like each time I’m talking to her anew. I really don’t feel like I as an individual have made any sort of impression on anyone there.

Scott over at HostMySite.com has always treated me well, and even recognizes my number when I call on occasion. Maybe it is because of the fact that we have met in person, or simply because HostMySite.com doesn’t require their account reps to support the same volume of clients, it always feels like he is remembering me every time I call.

Both companies have always provided everything they promise to me, and I can’t say anything bad about either. All I can say, is that Rackspace is more expensive than HostMySite.com, mostly for the fact of solid marketing, and ensuring that their name has crossed the eyes of every IT professional out there.

I actually got some time away from the booth on this day and got too sit in on some of the SBS 2008 information, which really I have to say looks like SBS is finally at the Microsoft got it right stage! I really think that with what I saw, 2008 has a chance to bring the smaller side of SMB up to the point they can play with the big dogs.

I also got a chance to listen to the first half of Matt from Ambition Consulting’s presentation on selling managed services. I have to say that he really has his stuff together and is a great example to our industry. I’m really interested in picking up a copy of his book, and will be doing so once I get a few personal expenses out of the way.

All things considered, I am very much planning on how to make a trip out to Seattle this fall to go to the next SMB Nation conference. I definitely need to thank Harry, Cyndi and Jennie from SMB Nation for the great conference, the guys from Autotask for being great neighbors during the conference, the people from Kaseya for being loads of fun, and the reps from HP for being a part of our partying crowd. And of course I can’t forget Calyptix for inviting me up, and giving me a chance to help them sell a product that I truly believe in, and think has a ton of potential.

Between the look at the new Microsoft SBS 2008 product and the sheer amount of networking opportunities that have presented themselves from traveling to this conference have more than made it worthwhile. Having had the chance this evening to go out to dinner with Matt Makowicz from Ambition Consulting, numerous members of the SMB Nation staff, people from HP, and representatives from Kaseya made for what amounted to many months of traditional attempts at marketing. And of course that doesn’t count the numerous other consultants that came to dinner with us all as well.
In addition to all the marketing and learning opportunities, I got myself a Google branded pen, got a chance to talk to some of the vendors I currently use in Autotask and Level Platforms. I also stepped into a bit of a sales role today to help attempt to answer all the questions being asked by people at the Calyptix booth. From the time we finally started receiving traffic to the booths it was non-stop till 7PM when the event ended.

All told, it’s been a great day, a great learning event, and a great networking event. If a SMB Nation conference comes to an event near you, I definitely make it a point to travel to the event and spent some time talking to the vendors and meeting other members of the community that are attending. You’d be amazed at the number of cross-beneficial oppurtunities that crop up from all the connections that you can make.

I’m definitely looking forward to tomorrow and the second day of the conference. A lot of the same people will be back, and I’m sure we’ll all have more time to chat about stories, and ideas that we all have. Who knows, maybe someone attending has the next great plan for Managed Services or the next evolution there of.