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Nick Wolf Shares MSP Event Engagement Strategies

• Ian Richardson

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Join channel veteran Nick Wolf as he shares MSP event engagement strategies with Carrie Richardson from Fox & Crow Group.

Learn how Nick's career progressed from sales intern at Datto (Nick was employee 17 at Datto...) through to his current role with Cork.  

Nick shares his pre-event process, his on-site tips and his follow-up expertise.

At 32, Nick is already a channel veteran, having spent ten years with Datto, then another 2 years with Scout Security prior to their exit.  Now Nick is bringing his expertise to a whole new category of MSP solutions: cyber-warranty.

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Carrie Richardson and Ian Richardson host the WIN Podcast - What's Important Now?

Serial entrepreneurs, life partners and business partners, they have successfully exited from multiple businesses (IT, call center, real estate, marketing) and they help other business owners create their own versions of success.

Ian is certified in Eagle Center For Leadership Making A Difference, Paterson StratOp, and LifePlan.

Carrie has helped create and execute successful outbound sales strategies for over 1200 technology-focused businesses including MSPs, manufacturers, distributors and SaaS firms.

Learn more at www.foxcrowgroup.com
Book time with Carrie here!


Be a guest on WIN! We host successful entrepreneurs who share advice with other entrepreneurs on how to build, grow or sell a business using examples from their own experience.

Carrie Richardson:

Hi, good afternoon everybody. My name is Carrie Richardson. I'm your host for Win. With me today is Nick Wolf, who is the Director of Partner Acquisition for Cork. Nick, how are you doing today?

Nick Wolf:

Thanks for having me on.

Carrie Richardson:

thanks for joining us. We're talking about Getting better ROI out of events, and specifically how to get the best return on your investment when you're sponsoring an event the size of PAX 8 beyond which we are both going to be at in three weeks or so. What are you doing to get ready for PAX 8 beyond Nick?

Nick Wolf:

I'm doing a lot of outbound reach right now, especially based off of the leads we engaged with last year. the prospects we gave demos to last summer after PAX 8 beyond, weren't ready for cork. A lot of changes to our platform have been made. So encouraging them to stop by the booth. Maybe meet up with us for a drink to have that one-on-one interaction, because those are some of our warmer leads since they already had a first pass look at us.

Carrie Richardson:

tell me about your career in the IT channel for people who may not be familiar with you.

Nick Wolf:

Yeah, so I started my, career in the channel when I was in high school. I was one of the first beta testers of the Datto backup appliance, the very first one in 2008. I went to the same, high school as the founder of Datto: Austin McChord. When I graduated high school, I started at Datto as a sales intern, and I spent about 10 years at the company. I started off as, employee number 16 at the company, and by the time I left we were around 2000 employees around the globe. it was quite the fun, period of my life. I got to learn hand in hand from Urvish Bandavi and Rob Rae and a whole bunch of other people that are gonna be at PAX 8 as well. I learned more during my early days at Datto than I did actually going into college. And I knew that during my time as an intern that, staying in the IT space specifically with managed service providers is what I wanted to do with my career.

Carrie Richardson:

Wow. Just thinking back, I think I've been in the IT channel for 12 years now and I am 52. So if you started right outta high school

Nick Wolf:

Yeah.

Carrie Richardson:

It's gotta make you under 35.

Nick Wolf:

yeah. I'm 32. Yep.

Carrie Richardson:

That's an early career accelerator for sure. You learned from some of the best people in the channel.

Nick Wolf:

Yeah, I'm extremely fortunate.

Carrie Richardson:

So tell us how you've taken all those learnings and applied it to your new role with Cork. What will you specifically do once you get on site?

Nick Wolf:

aside from working the bar, we also plan on having some key dinners. When we're out to dinner, what we really like to do is we like to do a 50 50 split with both prospects and our existing partners. That way our partners can strengthen the message going to our prospects because they're living, breathing, eating cork daily basis. And what we've noticed with our existing partners is we actually like to do a revenue share with them. So around a third of our new customers are referred from our existing MSP partners, which we love here at Cork. Referral based business is really how a lot of MSPs themselves grow as well, because they encourage their end clients to refer other customers to their organizations. So for us, getting those referrals from our MSPs and meeting with our existing customers at the event is definitely key. I hear about it all the time. Sometimes our MSPs reach out to us. Hey, Nick, are you gonna be at PAX 8 beyond? Are you gonna be at Dattocon, IT Nation? There's a couple MSP buddies of mine that are going as well that I would love to introduce you to. And for me, that's an absolutely, great relationship to have.

Carrie Richardson:

Oh, that's an absolute gift. when you transitioned outta Datto and into the next phase of your career. how loyal are MSPs when you change organizations like that?

Nick Wolf:

Surprisingly loyal. Loyal. Every time I've ever attended a demo with an MSP, I always add them on LinkedIn, whether I'm a fit for them today or down the line. I always wanna make that connection. So I'm connected to over 10,000 MSPs on LinkedIn right now. when I left Datto, I joined an XDR cybersecurity startup with a bunch of other X alumni. It was a vendor called scout Cybersecurity. They specialized in SOC sim, XDR technologies for MSPs. when I made that transition, my LinkedIn blew up. Wow. Nick, you were one of the early guys at Datto and now you're at this new thing called Scout. let's hear what it's all about. Scout was another success story where in a matter of two years, we were able to grow the business rapidly to the point where Barracuda Networks acquired us. we grew the organization from about 10 MSPs to 250 MSPs, utilizing the platform in about 18 months. So it was a real fast, rocket ship. when I came over here at Cork, it was the same thing. There's some MSPs in my book of business that I probably sold three or four different vendors to, over the last 10 years They'll tell me, Nick, you didn't steer me wrong when you sold me Datto. You didn't steer me wrong when you sold me, Evo security, if you're at Cork, it's gotta be something cool. Let me check it out because I'm all about, relationship building, when I'm selling to a customer Yeah, I like swiping your credit card, but I don't want to sell a lousy product that's not really gonna fit into an MSP stack just for the sake of hitting quota. I wanna sell something that's actually gonna be a meaningful impact for their organization and their clients. So as crazy as this sounds coming from a sales rep, I'm okay saying no. I'm okay saying, you know what? To be honest, this product isn't a great fit for your use case right now. I don't want to take your money.

Carrie Richardson:

i'd much rather engage with a company at the exact right time for them

Nick Wolf:

yeah. And when I'm on these conversations with MSPs, after you've been doing this for so long, you're less of a sales rep and you're more of a subject matter expert, In a lot of cases, us as vendors, we go to more channel events than most MSPs do, right? They might be going to two or three events a year. If you're a vendor, I'm probably going to 15 events this year. I'm always on the road traveling. So every now and then I'll have an MSP give a call saying, Hey Nick, I got a question. I want to get your feedback on how duo, compares to Microsoft Authenticator for MFA? I'll just give them my honest feedback. I don't get paid from other vendors. I'll just say, yeah, that vendor's doing cool things, or No, that's a vendor you might wanna avoid.

Carrie Richardson:

There is one thing that I learned in the last five years that I wish I'd known early in my career Nobody leaves the channel. We just circulate.

Nick Wolf:

So same faces, different shirts, because there's a really big vendor in the space that likes to buy some smaller vendors. So every now and then you'll see that same, face, just wearing a different hat or a different shirt.

Carrie Richardson:

So you mentioned that you're doing some outbound engagement prior to PAX 8. Is that normally how you prepare? Do you plan out your own outbound engagement, or is that something that's given to you by someone else at Cork and you're following a process?

Nick Wolf:

it's really a multi, person approach. So the BDR team, that are. Basically reaching out to cold outbound people that have never taken a cork demo before. They're encouraging the local list to meet up with us at the event. for me personally, I'm working on the people that I already closed because of last event, or the people that are still in my pipeline that are maybe in that demo completed stage or negotiation stage that they know Cork, they've seen the demo, they just haven't made it over the finish line yet. So I'll be personally reaching out to them, inviting them to have some. one-on-one FaceTime with our CEO or director of technology or coming to dinner with us.

Carrie Richardson:

So there's a different strategy for cold non-engaged leads?

Nick Wolf:

Correct. I'll work those warmer leads and then the BDR team will be more of that, engagement, and typically if it's not something like PAX 8 beyond, they'll be pushing those colder leads to something else, attend this webinar, that we're

Carrie Richardson:

So what is your conversion rate like from someone hands you a card at the booth or you scan their badge? Through to signed closed deal?

Nick Wolf:

Yeah, so for us getting the scanned badge and the business card, typically goes to the BDR team. we consider that, a cold lead if it's just a scanned badge. Our major focus for the people attending the actual event is. If you're serious, let's book the demo now. That's why we'll have the iPads out. the laptops out if we're going to an event that has, a thousand, 2000, attendees, we're shooting to get, 50 real solid book demos and beyond. And when they're booking those demos, we're asking some qualifying questions as well. who are you using for RMM and EDR? Do you have cyber insurance? How many endpoints do you manage? That way we get some real visible data, real time at the event that shows, Hey, was this event worth our time? Is it our target market? Yeah, because we got 50 demos booked within three days. Of those 50 demos, 75% have over a thousand endpoints. If you're a vendor, I highly recommend trying to get that demo on the books there at the event, 'cause you're gonna be there. You don't have to play phone tag. The MSP will have their calendar on their phone. That's the way to do it. And if they're at a point where they're not writing to book a demo, then okay, you know what? That's an MSP that's gonna be on the back burner. they might take an extra month or two of follow ups from your BDR team before they're ready to get that next step of, booking the demo.

Carrie Richardson:

And have you got those sequences prebuilt in your CRM or do you leave it up to personal opinion or feeling?

Nick Wolf:

The BDR team has that already prebuilt. once the lead is on my calendar as a sales rep, it's my responsibility to make sure that they attend or try to rebook them if there are no show, if there's a scheduling conflict.

Carrie Richardson:

So your handoff point is qualified and agreed to meet?

Nick Wolf:

Absolutely.

Carrie Richardson:

The BDR takes it from initial cold call to qualified meeting booked on your calendar. You take it from qualified meeting booked on your calendar, all the way to contract closing, correct?

Nick Wolf:

Yep.

Carrie Richardson:

And then is it handed off to onboarding?

Nick Wolf:

Typically, we would introduce Zoe from our partner success team, who's responsible for getting the account onboarded set up and trained properly. I'm always going to be there 'cause a lot of partners like to leverage someone like me to do a webinar for their clients or a podcast to explain cork's, new service offering to their end clients. I'm happy to do that as well after the sale closes.

Carrie Richardson:

How does the cork sales process from initial cold call to, final close deal compare to some of the other places that you've worked with?

Nick Wolf:

Yeah, great question. I would say our close rates are actually higher, even than what I experienced as Datto, as great of a product as data was back in the day. Backup and Disaster Recovery was a highly competitive market. There was a lot of other backup solutions out there. And even though Datto had some key unique differentiators, it was still a backup disaster recovery solution. With Cork and our compliance monitoring and cyber warranty. it's a very interesting approach because we don't really have any competition. with our $500,000 cyber warranty. It's vendor agnostic. We're providing fast payouts regardless of the client and who they're utilizing. It doesn't matter to us if they're using Webroot Sentinel One Huntress or Bit Defender, we pay out across everything. typically the only minor competition would be if an individual product has some version of a cyber warranty. Sentinel One offers a million dollar cyber warranty, but it's only for the Sentinel One installed products. Whereas us, we're protecting everything, whether Sentinel One's sold or not. That's something that is leading to our higher close rates because it's new unique and different to the market.

Carrie Richardson:

So you've already begun planning or outreach for the event. How early do you usually begin?

Nick Wolf:

Usually a month out.

Carrie Richardson:

Have you noticed a difference if you begin earlier or later?

Nick Wolf:

Yeah, I would say if you're doing it two or three months in advance, sometimes the MSPs don't even have their tickets booked by then. MSPs are like a spur of the moment. I just decided this month that I'm going. and you don't wanna wait until the week of, because if you're trying to do a dinner or something, it's possible that another vendor already, got that MSP, you're looking to target on their schedule as well. At this point, you wouldn't be able to get a hotel reservation, let alone, the dinner reservations are likely gone on property. I registered for PAX 8 a couple weeks ago, and I'm staying offsite as a veteran. So you definitely gotta hook those things in advance for sure. Yeah, I like that property. it's well laid out. PAX 8 really does a lot to make it their own during the event. what are some of the things that you've seen. that had great impact for vendors. So swag, for example. what do people love this year? What should people avoid? Yeah. for me, I'm a sucker for, charging cables. Like I feel like I'm always in need of a charging cable when I'm traveling. So this is what I got for Barracuda Networks, and it has USPC, it has the old fashioned iPhone. It has, for your Apple watches, the little puck thing. So I am definitely a sucker for, charging cables. 'cause I always lose and need charging cables. So I think our last question needs to be, who is performing at PAX 8? Do we know yet?

Carrie Richardson:

I don't,

Nick Wolf:

I don't think it's been announced. I don't think they advertised that, last year when it was ludicrous, like it wasn't publicly available, that it was ludicrous. We, there was just a whole bunch of rumors floating around. We gotta figure out, who is gonna be, the key performer this time around. Do you have any, I have zero bet.

Carrie Richardson:

know what, I had somebody from the advisory council on the podcast, a couple of weeks ago. He might have known, but he wasn't sharing. Okay. So do we wanna place bets? We had ludicrous last year. We had what? Nelly? The year before that. Yep. What other 8ies, nineties popular, not too profane rappers. Can we bring in

Nick Wolf:

Yeah, and I know at IT Nation there was Flow Rider. Yeah.

Carrie Richardson:

MSP Block Party brought that in. Yeah.

Nick Wolf:

is a great time. I'll go with LL cool. J

Carrie Richardson:

I think our last question needs to be, what should people come to talk to you about at PAX 8 Beyond?

Nick Wolf:

Yeah. Come check us out our booth if you wanna learn how we're able to monitor your client's environments. That way they could instantly qualify for a cyber insurance policy at a discounted rate. as well as talk to us about our cyber warranties, which could supplement and lower the cost of cyber insurance overall for clients. we'll be there. feel free to stop by.

Carrie Richardson:

thanks so much for joining us today, Nick. It's always a pleasure to talk to you I'll look forward to seeing you in Denver in June.

Nick Wolf:

We'll see you soon. Bye.

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Carrie Richardson

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Ian Richardson

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