Ingram’s SMB Alliance group just ended their annual event in Charlotte. It was a very well executed and valuable event for the couple hundred partners who attended, and in that mix were a number of HTG members who took advantage of the membership they have in SMBA because of the HTG-Ingram relationship and partnership. I was honored to deliver a keynote on Friday morning as part of the event, and would like to share a bit of the content I shared since many were not in attendance. I would encourage you now to put a hold on August 29-31, 2010 for the next event to be held in Orlando.
The first topic is the value of community.
HTS (our VAR reseller company) has grown to our present state because of our participation in community. We have been active in Ingram’s VTN, HTG, Exchange, CompTIA and others. Community gives us a lot of value and has been key to our growth. So what kinds of things do we get from spending time with our peers?
Community has provided perspective. Without it you don’t know what “good” is. So many partners operate their organizations in a vacuum and have no way to know if they are doing well or not. Both SMBA and HTG offer benchmarking opportunities provided by Service Leadership for members to be able to compare how they are doing with their peers. That information is critical to be able to make adjustments in how you run your business. Without it, you are guessing at best. The opportunity goes further in a peer group when you really “get naked” with each other and openly disclose and discuss those numbers and benchmarks in complete and total detail.
Community has provided relationships. Because of our participation in channel communities, we have been able to build deep and valuable relationships with key executives and staff at our distributors, vendors, peer organizations, subject matter experts and media folks. We would never have had the opportunity to even meet many of these people if it weren’t for the opportunity to connect through community.
Community has provided guidance. Without it the ability to stay relevant is more difficult. Through community we have been able to share and receive many best practices from companies that have already figured out the problems we were facing. There is no reason for anyone to figure out every mistake on their own. We need to learn from one another. In HTG we talk about the go giver version of SWIPE – share with intent and purpose every day.
Community has provided growth for us at HTS. We have completed 5 M&A’s as a result of relationships in communities we participate in. Good things happen when you spend time with others. It allows for sharing of values and life, and provides the opportunity to get acquainted with other business owners and find those compatible and interested in working together or even joining forces. The risk goes way down because there is a great trust level and deeper understanding of each other.
Community has provided success. That is the bottom line. Our company would be nowhere close to where it is today if we had not got involved in community. It takes work. It requires time. It costs money. But all things that matter do. And the more you invest, the more you will receive. Community is where the Go Giver mentality really works best. But thinking about getting involved, wishing you would take the step, pondering what it might do for your company – none of that matters. You have to take the time and be part of community to gain the benefits. Thinking about it doesn’t count.
Showing posts with label SMB Alliance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SMB Alliance. Show all posts
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Next Up - Ingram SMBA in Charlotte
Next week three of our HTG groups - 6 - 18 - 19 - will be holding their Q3 meetings in Charlotte ahead of the Ingram Micro SMB Alliance event. HTG has had a strategic alliance with Ingram now for over a year, and our participation in this event is an exciting part of that continuing to grow to fruition. We will have 50 or so HTG green shirts in attendance at the event on Thursday and Friday and will experience a great agenda filled with content.
Over 200 partners from Ingram's SMBA channel will be on hand to share and learn together. We will hear from key industry leaders like John Fago and Ryan Grant from Ingram Micro, Mike Parrotino from HP, Justin Crotty from Ingram Seismic, Paul Dippell from Service Leadership, David Russell from MANAGEtoWIN and many others. There will be dozens of vendors on hand to connect with and understand how we together can succeed. Breakouts will cover all sorts of timely topics and feature industry experts. I even get some time on stage to talk about the power of community and how peers can make a difference during these challenging times.
I often get asked about the value of communities like VTN or SMBA compared to that of HTG. My answer is always that they are designed to do different things and are complimentary in nature. HTG is focused on business skills and peer mentoring and accountability. Channel communities are typically focused at a higher altitude and provide significant connections to vendor and industry relationships as well as high value educational content from speakers that HTG cannot afford nor fit into our peer focused agenda. So there is plenty of reason to be part of a peer group like HTG and a channel community like SMBA, thus our strategic alliance. They give partners two legs up on competitors who are trying to run their business in a vaccum and are struggling to know how to survive.
I hope to see many of you in Charlotte at the SMBA event Aug 26-28. I know the HTG and Ingram teams have been working hard to be prepared to offer unprecedented value to those who attend. If you are in the crowd there - no tomatoes or heckling allowed. Wear those HTG green shirts on Thursday, and let's have a great time learning, sharing and go-giving together.
Over 200 partners from Ingram's SMBA channel will be on hand to share and learn together. We will hear from key industry leaders like John Fago and Ryan Grant from Ingram Micro, Mike Parrotino from HP, Justin Crotty from Ingram Seismic, Paul Dippell from Service Leadership, David Russell from MANAGEtoWIN and many others. There will be dozens of vendors on hand to connect with and understand how we together can succeed. Breakouts will cover all sorts of timely topics and feature industry experts. I even get some time on stage to talk about the power of community and how peers can make a difference during these challenging times.
I often get asked about the value of communities like VTN or SMBA compared to that of HTG. My answer is always that they are designed to do different things and are complimentary in nature. HTG is focused on business skills and peer mentoring and accountability. Channel communities are typically focused at a higher altitude and provide significant connections to vendor and industry relationships as well as high value educational content from speakers that HTG cannot afford nor fit into our peer focused agenda. So there is plenty of reason to be part of a peer group like HTG and a channel community like SMBA, thus our strategic alliance. They give partners two legs up on competitors who are trying to run their business in a vaccum and are struggling to know how to survive.
I hope to see many of you in Charlotte at the SMBA event Aug 26-28. I know the HTG and Ingram teams have been working hard to be prepared to offer unprecedented value to those who attend. If you are in the crowd there - no tomatoes or heckling allowed. Wear those HTG green shirts on Thursday, and let's have a great time learning, sharing and go-giving together.
Monday, December 15, 2008
A Word of Correction or at Least Reason
Ingram Micro released a press release today about the relationship with HTG (which we announced months ago actually – July in Houston to be exact) and because of their clout it is on every news service known to mankind. That is one of the benefits of working with Ingram – they do know how to get attention from press and vendors. If you haven’t read it, check it out at these two links currently with more coming I am sure:
CRN Story - http://www.crn.com/it-channel/212500324;jsessionid=OIG5Q1TGN12OGQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN
Echannel Story - http://www.echannelline.com/usa/story.cfm?item=24025
So there is need for a few words of clarification. Always interesting to see how news comes out. Here is the real skinny.
- HTG is still HTG and will be called such and continues to be totally independent from Ingram – they are contracting with HTG to provide peer group services for their members that qualify
- HTG is managing all peer groups and activities (contrary to what the story in CRN says)
- Much of the activity will involve online groups
- Ingram is providing help with vendor management and backend infrastructure
- Ingram is allowing all HTG members to receive the benefits of their SMBA program and will help recruit partners that are a fit
- Ingram is helping with vendor recruitment, vendor contracts and fundraising
So the reality is that we as HTG are getting the industry leader’s help in building out our program and bringing additional benefits to our members, and we are helping them provide value to partners in their program that want and qualify to get involved in a peer group. It really is that simple. A win for both of us. So if you read the article and got excited – take a deep breath – it is business as usual for HTG. We didn’t sell out or give away the farm. Quite the opposite. Actually it is not just business as usual but business much better than usual with HTG 2.0. We are going to have a fantastic year as we add more and more value to this program. There are some fantastic changes happening to companies that leverage their peers in our community, and the best is just beginning. I look forward to making it even better as we continue down the path together. Have a Merry Christmas!
CRN Story - http://www.crn.com/it-channel/212500324;jsessionid=OIG5Q1TGN12OGQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN
Echannel Story - http://www.echannelline.com/usa/story.cfm?item=24025
So there is need for a few words of clarification. Always interesting to see how news comes out. Here is the real skinny.
- HTG is still HTG and will be called such and continues to be totally independent from Ingram – they are contracting with HTG to provide peer group services for their members that qualify
- HTG is managing all peer groups and activities (contrary to what the story in CRN says)
- Much of the activity will involve online groups
- Ingram is providing help with vendor management and backend infrastructure
- Ingram is allowing all HTG members to receive the benefits of their SMBA program and will help recruit partners that are a fit
- Ingram is helping with vendor recruitment, vendor contracts and fundraising
So the reality is that we as HTG are getting the industry leader’s help in building out our program and bringing additional benefits to our members, and we are helping them provide value to partners in their program that want and qualify to get involved in a peer group. It really is that simple. A win for both of us. So if you read the article and got excited – take a deep breath – it is business as usual for HTG. We didn’t sell out or give away the farm. Quite the opposite. Actually it is not just business as usual but business much better than usual with HTG 2.0. We are going to have a fantastic year as we add more and more value to this program. There are some fantastic changes happening to companies that leverage their peers in our community, and the best is just beginning. I look forward to making it even better as we continue down the path together. Have a Merry Christmas!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Another New HTG Group
This week we started another chapter in the HTG playbook as we began a new peer group in cooperation with Ingram Micro. As a part of their focus on the SMB Alliance program they offer their VAR's, Ingram is starting to roll out the HTG peer group experience to their membership. They are helping drive the recruitment and making investment in the members that join through their program. This is a happy day for HTG and particularly the channel.
Success for all of us is dependent on VAR's and disty/vendors partnering for success. Part of the key to that success is helping us grow as solution providers in our business skills and giving us tools for success. Ingram is stepping up to help begin that investment in the channel. A majority of us began life in either a sales or technical role. We were good at what we did, got some customers and then decided we wanted to be our own boss. So we started a company and began to have success. Pretty soon we were hiring a person or two and then we had a small group we were responsible for. About that point panic sets in. We have not capitalized our business properly, we just had a few bucks and started doing business. We have no formal business education, particularly around HR and finance. So the value of being part of a peer group to help get answers to questions and realize we are not facing a bunch of unique problems is huge.
We were fortunate to have a couple Ingram folks in the room as resources for our two days. They were able to answer questions, email out documentation on different programs and services, do email intro's to people in different parts of Ingram's huge resource team and just make things happen as we walked through our agenda. A special thanks to John, Janice and Erin for helping partners leverage the resources Ingram has available. So many things are built for us as partners by disty and vendors that we fail to use - primarily because we are too busy to find out they exist. The interaction with people on the street as part of the peer meeting was huge in that the information was timely and enabled us to put it to work immediately. So a big thanks to Ingram for seeing the value and making the investment. I look forward to many great things in the days ahead as we partner together to grow the channel.
Success for all of us is dependent on VAR's and disty/vendors partnering for success. Part of the key to that success is helping us grow as solution providers in our business skills and giving us tools for success. Ingram is stepping up to help begin that investment in the channel. A majority of us began life in either a sales or technical role. We were good at what we did, got some customers and then decided we wanted to be our own boss. So we started a company and began to have success. Pretty soon we were hiring a person or two and then we had a small group we were responsible for. About that point panic sets in. We have not capitalized our business properly, we just had a few bucks and started doing business. We have no formal business education, particularly around HR and finance. So the value of being part of a peer group to help get answers to questions and realize we are not facing a bunch of unique problems is huge.
We were fortunate to have a couple Ingram folks in the room as resources for our two days. They were able to answer questions, email out documentation on different programs and services, do email intro's to people in different parts of Ingram's huge resource team and just make things happen as we walked through our agenda. A special thanks to John, Janice and Erin for helping partners leverage the resources Ingram has available. So many things are built for us as partners by disty and vendors that we fail to use - primarily because we are too busy to find out they exist. The interaction with people on the street as part of the peer meeting was huge in that the information was timely and enabled us to put it to work immediately. So a big thanks to Ingram for seeing the value and making the investment. I look forward to many great things in the days ahead as we partner together to grow the channel.
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