My favorite baseball team was and always will be the Montreal Expos. They had heart. With one of the lowest payrolls in major league baseball, they had to be smart, where other teams could simply spend. They were quirky – where else in major league baseball was it 99 meters to the right field fence and you could buy a chien chaud (literally “hot dog” in French)? Year after year they developed great baseball players, such as Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Rusty Staub, Tim Raines and Vladimir Guerrero. Ever the underdog, they managed to find a way to win and be contenders for the championship.
If you’ve been faithfully reading this best practice series, you may have noticed that this was strangely the ninth of eight blog entries (as an aside, please post a comment if you can identify the famous trilogy that broke similar rules). You may also have been thinking, “I’ve been building a managed services practice for a number of years, but it still seems really difficult.” I’d like you to take inspiration from the pluckiness of my Montreal Expos; Keep at it, don’t give up, and work with the resources you’ve got.
In case you missed the CompTIA MSP Partners seven best practices, here they are again (you can read a detailed blog about each of them by looking through past blog entries):
- Define and Execute a Strategy for Growth
- Develop and Deploy New Technology Solutions
- Invest in and Execute Marketing Programs
- Sell Beyond the IT Department
- Invest to Build a Services Practice
- Optimize your Organization and Billable Resources
- Invest in and Develop Your Humans
The first thing I’d like you to consider is, just like a major league batter staring past the infield, where is my biggest gap? Of these seven best practices, identify the one area where you are most exposed and work to address this opportunity. If you feel each is of equal importance to implement in your business, start with the first (they are written in order of importance).
Don’t be afraid to take baby steps. The Montreal Expos had a tremendous farm system and identified great players years before they took to the major league field. They seemed to know just the right time to bring someone up to “the show” and also when to send someone down to “ride the buses”. Introduce change deliberately and evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, but be quick to make adjustments when necessary.
Lastly, focus on execution. Montreal was always a great strategic team to watch. Being in the National League, they could not rely on a DH (designated hitter) to bail them out of a tough situation. They would work every advantage and compensate for every weakness. Through great coaching, they squeezed out runs from what seemed like impossible situations and won ball games. Similarly, you need a laser like focus on execution to succeed. Whether it’s your first time launching a marketing program, selling deeper into established accounts, or launching a companywide training program, build a plan and focus on implementing it to perfection.
The Montreal Expos found a new home in Washington, D.C. in 2005. Renamed the Washington Nationals, a whole new generation of fans is discovering the special nature of this team. On July 25th of this year, Andre Dawson will join four other Expos in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, ensuring the Expos legacy continues to live on. At the end of the day, it’s not about what we do, but how we do it that defines us. Let’s all take a little bit of inspiration from this team as we seek to leave a lasting legacy with customers and the industry.
You can read more about managed services best practices at CompTIA’s MSP Partners website.
