Six months ago I would have said I would never work with a partner in the same industry as I am which many of you know is Managed Services. Then I ran into this crazy (in a good way), insane (in even a better way), unorthodox (they broke the mold), company CharTec. So, I find myself sitting at a CharTec academy down South, I think this was their second academy. I’m listening to this guy you may have heard of him Alex Rogers? It’s not important now. Anyways he looks like he is on Red Bull, Monster and EVERY energy drink known to every IT professional, as my friend Jim calls it “The Elixir of Life” (he loves Pepsi). So I’m listening to this guy and honestly a lot of it makes sense, but... in my head I am super skeptical and thinking It’s to good to be true! No one in their right mind is going to give every single competitor in the world all this training, advice, access to his staff, one-on-one training anytime I need it? There has to be a catch.... There has to be.. or this guy is just full of BS and just a good sales person.
So I meet a few new people at the training event, CharTec has their engineers at the event, Yes, these are the guys you talk to on the phone, not paid actors I found out! Everyone is huddled around the UTM solution which is powered by Untangled, we have John logging into his house from the event none the less showing us how he has his VPN acess setup, becase the demo box has no real true Internet connection. So, I’m intrigued... Why you ask? Because I developed the same damn box and now I have 20 of them that I PERSONALLY have to manage, I like their solution because it’s uniform and ANYONE including my dog could manage it, it’s that simple! Again, I’m still skeptical.
Next I head up to room B I think it was for the dreaded sales training. Yes, they put you through sales training. I can’t remember who I was partnered with but in the scenario I think I was in Tipa in a taxi trying to hold a conversation about the price of tea or something crazy! (at least I was not the two guys who had to talk about hair products! LOL) Frank was demonstrating how to ping-pong questions back and forth, answer a question with a question. I had never been in a training environment like this before. Then I heard one of the other partners talk about how he just had a sales deal that he was preparing for and how he was able to call Frank while he was on the way to the appointment to review some key points and roll play before he got there. I’m thinking, humm.. he’s a plant, he’s a CharTec employee just in plain clothes. Then there was Xaviar, NEVER done sales before in his life... Man this guy could sell if he had too and he just blew me away.... I just saw him last night at a training event and I always think back to the academy. Wonder if they have him on film? Again, this is cool, but I still think as soon as I leave here they will not offer any of this stuff they say they do. It just makes no sense, why do they offer all this? It’s too good to be true.
It’s now the final day, we are wrapping things up and I get to talking to this guy and find out he lives in Florida. I think hey I have clients in Florida, I wonder what part of Florida does he live in? can he help me? Is he competition? Is he a spy? LOL just kidding I didn’t think that, but I was thinking I might be able to leverage his company if I need help. Guess what..... I forgot to get his business card! By now I’m getting a bit more excited about CharTec, but I still think it’s all smoke an mirrors. I keep thinking why would CharTec give me all this? Why, WHY, WHY!?!?! What’s the catch?
I take all this information back to the office and I start learning about the solutions CharTec has to offer. Some good, some okay, Some not for us WE CAN DO IT BETTER! (Ya, okay... I’m past that now!) We end up doing 14 deals in the first four months. Computers, Phone Systems, UPS’s, Switches, Firewalls you name it we have either sold it outright or HaaS’d it. Can you imagine ordering equipment from professionals who know what you are taking about? Get that from HP or Dell! Oh, don’t even get me started. Can you imagine talking to a team of people that really know their stuff and really care when you have a problem? How about people who have follow through and make sure the issue is resolved!? (Thanks ConnectWise, LOL) Well CharTec is all that and a bag of fries, and a quarter-pounder and a shake and a apple pie!
So, I’m at a Robin Robins event a few months back. I see CharTec and of course I go say Hi to Brian, Frank and the entire team. So I’m talking another lady who is talking with Brian and she is a CharTec partner. She’s drank the coolaid too and she believes in CharTec and get’s it. You have to get it or CharTec is not for you and it’s NOT for everyone! So I get introduced to Deana Pizzo from IT Solutions of South Florida. South Florida I think... nah.... I tell her my story about this guy I met in California at the academy and how I didn’t get his information. Guess what.... Yup... Jason Pizzo is his name... Her husband! What are the chances? So we continue to talk and we get on the topic of ConnectWise. She tells me OH OH OH have you tried the new ConnectWise Shared Templates? Ya, we have played with them. She says, we found this great SBS 2008 Migration swing project that we are reviewing right now. I say, “Really? How many hours is it?” She says, oh about 32 hours or so the guys back at the office know. I extend my hand and say, “Hi, my name is Ted Freitas, I posted that project to the ConnectWise Shared Templates Site.” WOW... Small world!
So back to the entire reason for this post that I started 30 minutes ago. Just the other day we had a failed SATA drive on one of our CharTec servers. Yes, guys they do fail and if you think they don’t your retarted! GET OUT NOW! Guess who it was? Our South Florida customer. Guess who I called? Yes, Jason. Guess what my customer said when I had to dispatch another company (I’ve had to do this before so he expected it) and I quote “I thought you’d like to know that Jason is a pro and you should feel very comfortable using him as needed”. That’s powerful! Here is the key the only way this was possible and I’m dead serious is because of CharTec. I truly believe that CharTec needs to or really already has started to set standards in the MSP industry. If we all work together as an IT Nation as Arnie Bellini says think of the POWER that us small companies can have over the competition! Dell, HP, Lenovo, cannot touch us! Hell they can’t even complete a service call in just one appointment! Our last one was 3 service calls and I think thank god that I didn’t have to send my tech out there! Even though it’s a Dell or HP issue though three calls, what does the client think? It becomes our problem and reflects on us! They are so bloated it makes me sick, further I can’t believe that people still want to buy from them! Will I ever cut them out of my business no, becuase I just have to accept they are there. But guess what? Within 12 months I can typically get them repalced with CharTec Intel equipment! HAHAHA
Oh and all the things that Alex Rogers promised in the presentation, it’s all true. I do have the keys to his castle! I just got back from two training classes with his engineers on their CharTec VMS solution. I sent my staff down to his office for the training, I talked with Alex and Jamie about a sales question / problem I have. I talked to Shane for a good hour or more I think about DISC and the wealth of information and their wiliness to share is something like I have never seen before! Me and my ENTIRE staff are grateful to Alex and Monique’s team!
My names Ted Freitas and I approve this message, I was not asked by CharTech, Alex, Monique, Jamie, Shane, Xavier, Deana, Jason ConnectWise and especially not Dell or HP to write this!
Ted G. Freitas
ted.freitas@cpnllc.com
Central Point Networks, LLC.
www.cpnllc.com
559.274.9700 / 877.463.8727
So I meet a few new people at the training event, CharTec has their engineers at the event, Yes, these are the guys you talk to on the phone, not paid actors I found out! Everyone is huddled around the UTM solution which is powered by Untangled, we have John logging into his house from the event none the less showing us how he has his VPN acess setup, becase the demo box has no real true Internet connection. So, I’m intrigued... Why you ask? Because I developed the same damn box and now I have 20 of them that I PERSONALLY have to manage, I like their solution because it’s uniform and ANYONE including my dog could manage it, it’s that simple! Again, I’m still skeptical.
Next I head up to room B I think it was for the dreaded sales training. Yes, they put you through sales training. I can’t remember who I was partnered with but in the scenario I think I was in Tipa in a taxi trying to hold a conversation about the price of tea or something crazy! (at least I was not the two guys who had to talk about hair products! LOL) Frank was demonstrating how to ping-pong questions back and forth, answer a question with a question. I had never been in a training environment like this before. Then I heard one of the other partners talk about how he just had a sales deal that he was preparing for and how he was able to call Frank while he was on the way to the appointment to review some key points and roll play before he got there. I’m thinking, humm.. he’s a plant, he’s a CharTec employee just in plain clothes. Then there was Xaviar, NEVER done sales before in his life... Man this guy could sell if he had too and he just blew me away.... I just saw him last night at a training event and I always think back to the academy. Wonder if they have him on film? Again, this is cool, but I still think as soon as I leave here they will not offer any of this stuff they say they do. It just makes no sense, why do they offer all this? It’s too good to be true.
It’s now the final day, we are wrapping things up and I get to talking to this guy and find out he lives in Florida. I think hey I have clients in Florida, I wonder what part of Florida does he live in? can he help me? Is he competition? Is he a spy? LOL just kidding I didn’t think that, but I was thinking I might be able to leverage his company if I need help. Guess what..... I forgot to get his business card! By now I’m getting a bit more excited about CharTec, but I still think it’s all smoke an mirrors. I keep thinking why would CharTec give me all this? Why, WHY, WHY!?!?! What’s the catch?
I take all this information back to the office and I start learning about the solutions CharTec has to offer. Some good, some okay, Some not for us WE CAN DO IT BETTER! (Ya, okay... I’m past that now!) We end up doing 14 deals in the first four months. Computers, Phone Systems, UPS’s, Switches, Firewalls you name it we have either sold it outright or HaaS’d it. Can you imagine ordering equipment from professionals who know what you are taking about? Get that from HP or Dell! Oh, don’t even get me started. Can you imagine talking to a team of people that really know their stuff and really care when you have a problem? How about people who have follow through and make sure the issue is resolved!? (Thanks ConnectWise, LOL) Well CharTec is all that and a bag of fries, and a quarter-pounder and a shake and a apple pie!
So, I’m at a Robin Robins event a few months back. I see CharTec and of course I go say Hi to Brian, Frank and the entire team. So I’m talking another lady who is talking with Brian and she is a CharTec partner. She’s drank the coolaid too and she believes in CharTec and get’s it. You have to get it or CharTec is not for you and it’s NOT for everyone! So I get introduced to Deana Pizzo from IT Solutions of South Florida. South Florida I think... nah.... I tell her my story about this guy I met in California at the academy and how I didn’t get his information. Guess what.... Yup... Jason Pizzo is his name... Her husband! What are the chances? So we continue to talk and we get on the topic of ConnectWise. She tells me OH OH OH have you tried the new ConnectWise Shared Templates? Ya, we have played with them. She says, we found this great SBS 2008 Migration swing project that we are reviewing right now. I say, “Really? How many hours is it?” She says, oh about 32 hours or so the guys back at the office know. I extend my hand and say, “Hi, my name is Ted Freitas, I posted that project to the ConnectWise Shared Templates Site.” WOW... Small world!
So back to the entire reason for this post that I started 30 minutes ago. Just the other day we had a failed SATA drive on one of our CharTec servers. Yes, guys they do fail and if you think they don’t your retarted! GET OUT NOW! Guess who it was? Our South Florida customer. Guess who I called? Yes, Jason. Guess what my customer said when I had to dispatch another company (I’ve had to do this before so he expected it) and I quote “I thought you’d like to know that Jason is a pro and you should feel very comfortable using him as needed”. That’s powerful! Here is the key the only way this was possible and I’m dead serious is because of CharTec. I truly believe that CharTec needs to or really already has started to set standards in the MSP industry. If we all work together as an IT Nation as Arnie Bellini says think of the POWER that us small companies can have over the competition! Dell, HP, Lenovo, cannot touch us! Hell they can’t even complete a service call in just one appointment! Our last one was 3 service calls and I think thank god that I didn’t have to send my tech out there! Even though it’s a Dell or HP issue though three calls, what does the client think? It becomes our problem and reflects on us! They are so bloated it makes me sick, further I can’t believe that people still want to buy from them! Will I ever cut them out of my business no, becuase I just have to accept they are there. But guess what? Within 12 months I can typically get them repalced with CharTec Intel equipment! HAHAHA
Oh and all the things that Alex Rogers promised in the presentation, it’s all true. I do have the keys to his castle! I just got back from two training classes with his engineers on their CharTec VMS solution. I sent my staff down to his office for the training, I talked with Alex and Jamie about a sales question / problem I have. I talked to Shane for a good hour or more I think about DISC and the wealth of information and their wiliness to share is something like I have never seen before! Me and my ENTIRE staff are grateful to Alex and Monique’s team!
My names Ted Freitas and I approve this message, I was not asked by CharTech, Alex, Monique, Jamie, Shane, Xavier, Deana, Jason ConnectWise and especially not Dell or HP to write this!
Ted G. Freitas
ted.freitas@cpnllc.com
Central Point Networks, LLC.
www.cpnllc.com
559.274.9700 / 877.463.8727
