Tools

Building a profitable SP/MSP business, just like building a house, is easier if you have the right tools. The tools below are designed to measure the impact of your operational methods today and allow you to play "what if" with many aspects of your company within the five functional areas of Strategy, Finance, Sales, Service, and Compensation.

These tools are conveniently packaged within SLIQ, the powerful, cloud-based performance improvement software that’s helping Solution Providers world-wide transform their business model and achieve Best-in-Class profitability. SLIQ not only provides the tools, but also maps the fastest, safest route to maximum profitability and guides your progress every step of the way.

Strategy

Solution Provider Value Creation Planner™

Top performing Solution Providers set the strategic foundation for all decisions by establishing: (1) the amount of stock value the shareholders wish to create in a defined timeframe and (2) the Target Customer Profile they will pursue to create it. This tool allows you to quickly and visually play "what if" with these major operational factors to speed the process of setting strategic direction to rapidly and safely meet these goals.

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Target Customer Profile Analysis Tool™

Top performing Solution Providers focus on a relatively narrow customer size range, allowing them to focus resources on delivering the highest value with the greatest differentiation while driving down Cost of Goods Sold. Quickly and clearly identify the customer size segments that produce the most revenue and represent most of your accounts, to determine which customer segments to leverage and/or protect in your business growth strategy.

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Solution Provider Business Simulator™

This tool can be used to perform an informal benchmark on your Solution Provider business as it is, since the "stoplighting" controls will indicate by color which aspects of the business are at Best-in-Class levels. It can then be used to test "what-if" scenarios for evolving the business model or improving poor performing factors in your revenue and cost model to see what Best-in-Class performance would deliver.

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Financial

Financial Forecasting - Revenue - Example Tool™

This tool will enable you to practice forecasting revenue over a two quarter period by line of business and then gauge the accuracy of your revenue forecasting to see how accurate your forecasts were by tracking your projections against actual results. Once you have done this, you can formalize the process using your own tools to carry on consistent, accurate forecasting.

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Service Multiple of Wages Calculator™

An effective "safety net" that can prevent costly pricing mistakes and dispel dangerous pricing notions, this calculator is easy to use and most helpful in running "what if" scenarios to test service profits and set service pricing. Premised on the Best-in-Class formula of generating revenue per person of 2.5 times their W-2 wages, the calculator will help your run scenarios around changes to the variables that ultimately impact EBITDA.

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Sales

Small Biz Cost of IT Operations Calculator™

Most Solution Providers offer multiple solutions and Services, and each must be sold enough to consume the full delivery capacity in which the company has invested in order to attain Best-in-Class return on each. This tool allows you to demonstrate to prospects (and clients up for renewal) what they are really spending on IT support and operations as compared to your Managed Services pricing.

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Sales Compensation Calculator™

Determine exactly what you need to pay your sales professionals based on your specific business model inputs. The Sales Compensation Calculator enables you to solve for the following variables based upon your inputs: Commission as % of Gross Margin, Commission as % of Wages, Wages as % of Gross Margin and sales expense as % of revenue.

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Sales Expense as Percent of GM Calculator™

Two items stand between your hard earned Gross Margin dollars and your bottom line: (1) Sales and Marketing expense, and (2) General & Administrative expense. Sales expense can vary wildly. To maximize the likelihood of achieving targeted profitability, this tool helps you determine what percent of GM$ you can pay in total compensation (base and commission) for a quota carrying salesperson and still arrive at your targeted bottom line.

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Service

Managed Services Financial Simulator™

Proper planning is important for a new service offering to have the best chance of attaining Best-in-Class growth, service quality and profit. This tool helps you (1) understand how many deals you will have to sell, and at what price and COGS, in what period of time; (2) make sure the new offering is cross-sellable to your Target Customer Profile; and (3) that the shareholders have approved the offer, the investment and ROI curve.

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Small Biz Cost of IT Operations Calculator™

Most Solution Providers offer multiple solutions and Services, and each must be sold enough to consume the full delivery capacity in which the company has invested in order to attain Best-in-Class return on each. This tool allows you to demonstrate to prospects (and clients up for renewal) what they are really spending on IT support and operations as compared to your Managed Services pricing.

View

Service Multiple of Wages Calculator™

An effective "safety net" that can prevent costly pricing mistakes and dispel dangerous pricing notions, this calculator is easy to use and most helpful in running "what if" scenarios to test service profits and set service pricing. Premised on the Best-in-Class formula of generating revenue per person of 2.5 times their W-2 wages, the calculator will help your run scenarios around changes to the variables that ultimately impact EBITDA.

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Solution Practice Profit Curve™

Top performing Solution Providers do not adopt a new offer without specifically committing to a sales volume sufficient to ensure an acceptable ROI in a meaningfully short time. They build an ROI model and then use the resulting profitability ramp as the budget against which their performance will be measured. This tool allows you to graphically depict the profitability curves (ramp) of any service and solution offering.

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Customer IT Operational Maturity Calculator™

Evaluate your client’s or prospect’s IT operational maturity to help determine their fit with your company and your likelihood of success in selling and delivering to them successfully, regardless of customer size.

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Compensation

Sales Compensation Calculator™

Determine exactly what you need to pay your sales professionals based on your specific business model. The Sales Compensation Calculator enables you to solve for the following variables based upon your inputs: Commission as % of Gross Margin, Commission as % of Wages, Wages as % of Gross Margin and sales expense as % of revenue.

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Technical Compensation Calculator™

Determine exactly what you need to pay your technical professionals based on your specific business model. The Technical Compensation Calculator enables you to solve for the following variables based upon your inputs: Utilization, Rates, Gross Margin percentage and Total Annual Earnings of technical professionals.

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Sales Expense as Percent of GM Calculator™

Two items stand between your hard earned Gross Margin dollars and your bottom line: (1) Sales and Marketing expense, and (2) General & Administrative expense. Sales expense can vary wildly. To maximize the likelihood of achieving targeted profitability, this tool helps you determine what percent of GM$ you can pay in total compensation (base and commission) for a quota carrying salesperson and still arrive at your targeted bottom line.

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