Vendor or Partner, With Ray Orsini & Sean Lardo of OIT

In this episode, Dan talks with Ray Orsini & Sean Lardo of OIT about vendors and partners.

The group talks about the importance of community, partner development, the importance of transparency and more.


Connect with Ray: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayorsini/

Connect with Sean: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanlardo/

OIT Website: https://oit.co/

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to the connecting it podcast. I'm your host, Dan Thomas Chesky. And joining me today, I got the guys from the OIT voice. Um, so I got Sean, the VP of partner development and Ray, the CEO and founder. So guys really excited to have you on today. Welcome. Hey,

Speaker 2 0:16

Thanks for having us. Yeah, thanks for having us seriously. Um, it's I mean, it took us a while to get here, right? We've only reschedule this four times. Yes.

Speaker 1 0:24

I know. We've well, it's the world's back in the MSP space. People are traveling again and things are happening. So it's a good thing, right?

Speaker 2 0:33

Yeah. I actually messaged Ray after ASPE Houston. I was like, dude, I'm out of web I'm I'm out of shape. I'm out of conference shape. I'm not, not shaped like fitness space shape, but yeah. Conference shape is a whole different way of life.

Speaker 1 0:47

It's changed for us all. And I know I'm looking forward to getting back on the road in that, uh, and seeing partners and talking, uh, why don't you guys re Sean, why don't you guys introduce OIT, VoIP and yourself. So our listeners know who you are and what's going on. And I think today we're going to have a pretty good conversation around, you know, vendor versus partner and all that good stuff. So, but I want the listeners to know a little bit more about you.

Speaker 3 1:11

So Ray, why don't we start with you? Sure. I'll,

Speaker 2 1:14

I'll definitely you start in rare on my start and I'm sorry,

Speaker 4 1:16

I'm just, you start age, age. You're more beautiful. You're older. So

Speaker 2 1:21

Silly. It's AGM. Beauty goes first, you know, you're always the gentlemen. Um, thank you, Ray. So yes, Sean lardo. I'm the VP of partner development here at OIT VoIP. Um, I've been in the channel space in one form or fashion for approximately 20 years now at this point, uh, and development of, of MSPs development of vendors. Uh, you know, I, I focused heavily on the enablement and the connection of disparate systems and processes and within vendors and partners. Uh, and actually the funny thing is that Ray was my client that became my friend. Well, it became client became champion for me and then friend and now I work for him. So I think I'm probably gliding for punishment, but yes. Um, I'll let you go, right?

Speaker 4 2:07

Yeah. Um, yeah, my name is Ray Arsenio, I'm CEO and founder of OIT, uh, weighty boy. Um, my background is, uh, an MSP, a network engineer. Um, I've for over 25 years, I've been building networks that span cities, states, countries, continents, um, doing it with other telcos, doing it with other companies and obviously for ourselves, um, when been doing this so long, went the full gamut, right? The break fix thing, the consulting thing, the MSP thing. Um, and then decided I liked working with MSPs much more than I liked looking, working with direct end users. Uh, so went into the vendor space, uh, several years ago and that's where we landed and we found our happy place. Oh, that's,

Speaker 1 2:50

That's awesome. You know, Ray, I kind of got a similar background, you know, I was an MSP CEO and I found that I actually liked working with the MSPs unlike and ideas and uh, than I did with, you know, not that I didn't like our customers, but it was just, I found that it was more exciting and it was like constantly being able to come up with new ideas and, and help people. So it's pretty cool that that's your background as well. Yeah, absolutely. So I want to talk to you guys, you know, you know about the responsibilities as a vendor and as a partner, I know you guys got some, some language around this are your feelings and your views on this. I'd like to hear, you know, what your guys' thoughts are, you know, vendor partner,

Speaker 3 3:31

You know, what, what,

Speaker 1 3:32

What's the industry, what should I be looking for as an MSP? I mean, that right.

Speaker 4 3:39

You know, and, and, and, um, Sean's view in my view while they are probably going to come back to the same end point, um, we definitely approach it differently, right? Like Sean's role has always been partner enablement, um, getting MSPs to, you know, uh, you know, shore up their success and finding better ways to do that. Um, mine is far less, uh, altruistic because as an MSP, I always have that view. Right. I always have that when I was an MSP, when I was doing it, I was looking at for the what's in it for me. So as the vendor now, I always still have that line. That's what, that's the goal we need to reach. And, you know, we did this right at the, um, we, we did this on the panel at ID agent where, um, there was talking about the same thing. It's what are the, you know, vendors have been talking about this for years saying we're partners, we're partners, we're partners. Well, how, right now that I send you an invoice and you pay me it's, how are you invested in my success? And at the end of the day, that's the metric for me. Am I invested in your success? And I fully invite other MSPs when they're, when they're looking for vendors, because let's be honest, any category you look at, there's a million of us to do the same thing, that what it has to boil down at the end of the day, besides reliability and features, and you know, that you have a good business proposition. It's how is that vendor going to invest in the success of the MSP? You have OB options in this space. And, you know, I think the MSP, you know, it can be very, uh, selective when it comes to vendor selection right now.

Speaker 1 5:09

Great points in terms of, you know, you see it, I mean, and watch Facebook, you watch all the groups and all the communities. And I mean, that's what MSPs are looking for. They're looking for someone to help them grow their business. And, uh, you know, it's important because like you said, there's hundreds of options, uh, now in this space. And it's more important than ever that you've, you know, as a, you know, a vendor slash partner, it's our job to go and make sure that they're successful and not just sell them a product. That's great, but what can we do and get in the trenches and, and really help you, and really help you succeed and, and see success and grow your MSP. That's that's important today. And they should be looking for that when they make a vendor selection, not just on product anymore. Sure.

Speaker 2 5:52

Well, you know, and can I add, let me add to that, uh, Ray had said about the investment part, right? Yeah. Um, I think far too often, uh, the investment can be one side for either side, by the way, it could be the vendor invests a lot, way too much, or the partner invest way too much. There has to be a mutual investment in this. Um, you know, because it is a selfish, motivation on both behalfs successes is going to happen for both sides if they actually invest in actually pushed the agenda. So one thing I, you know, and, and I'll, I'll get back leads the way every day about this. Uh, we do approach it differently, but Ray definitely had the ability and the foresight to see how the structure and any based off his business, him being the MSP and him being the partner and the experiences he had and the issues he had. And he built a very fundamental infrastructure for partners to succeed. Uh, you know, you know, you talk in order of, you know, the technology has to be sound well for us. It is, um, the service and support have to be on point. It is. Um, so that makes it easy for me when I come and do enable the partners and talk about their development and our production and their success. I, it gives me that confidence that I, a lot of, a lot of people you see out in space, don't have the confidence for their company when they talk on behalf of their company, that they feel they can really support the mission and say it as a matter of fact, to a partner. So it really helps us when we talk to them and, and, and actually it comes through to the partners because our partner base, there are friends that are family and they really respond and resonate well with it. Those

Speaker 1 7:22

Are great points. I mean, you gotta have confidence, your team, you know, it sounds like Ray and John, you guys got a great team and I see your team all the time on whether it's the, your guys is a, is it a podcast? Is it a TV? Like what, what do you guys call that? The tech bar I noticed the tech bar,

Speaker 4 7:38

We call it. Yeah, we, the tech bar is, is part of a series of shows that we're creating or have been creating over the last years. Uh, we call it a podcast, even though it's live, uh, on YouTube. Um, you know, the live collaboration stuff, it's a live stream, I guess, would be the proper name. Um, but that the partner first, um, the live Reddit AMS that we're going to be doing, uh, next, uh, next month, um, you know, it's, it's back into that, investing in the MSP success, whether it's educational content, um, social gathering, um, you know, market awareness, it's just giving the MSP more of what I think it takes to be successful in their, in their fields. Yeah.

Speaker 1 8:17

You guys are really involved and I think you can see that you got to use, you just mentioned all the different things you guys are doing, and it's cool to see you guys doing that stuff and your partners are, are in there, they're commenting and they're, you know, they are your friends and your family. And I think you guys got some of the best swag too in the industry. I mean, you guys got like your own store. Uh, so it's like, uh, I think the space loves that. And I think it's a way that you're connecting with, you know, again with your partners. So that's really cool. Thank you. We appreciate one

Speaker 4 8:46

Of the things I really love. It's connecting beyond just the invoice, right? It's not just, here's a product catalog, buy our product, sell to your clients and that's it. Um, it's connecting on a more personal level. Um, you know, Jamie Bain just does this yearly about the communities and the different engagements. He found over 140, uh, different communities. He's been listing these for 10 years. I was actually able to give him some of the communities that he didn't have on his list, uh, which is a little mind-boggling. Um, but to think, you know, I don't know about you Dan, but when I started MSP, we didn't have 140 communities. I mean, Spiceworks was barely, you know, uh, barely a thing that you can go get data from and go collaborate. Uh, now to think that there's almost 200, uh, is, is phenomenal. It's amazing.

Speaker 1 9:31

Yeah. Th th do you think there's a point where there's too many though, or do you think it's good that there's so many opening up?

Speaker 4 9:37

So, you know, I'm all about community. I'm all about being everywhere and, you know, um, my point is this, and it's very much just like social media marketing or any other kind of marketing. Um, it's be where they want to be. Right? Some people like the real-time format of a discord or a slack, right. And you have MSP geek, you have MOU, you have that kind of stuff. Um, some people like, you know, being able to read forums, right? So you have your Spiceworks, your technicals, Reddit, uh, slash MSR MSP, um, is a good example of that. Uh, you know, and some people want to be able to go watch videos live or follow Twitter, whatever the, or LinkedIn or Facebook Sean's all over Facebook. Um, it's not so much about that. There's so much, it's that finding the one that appeals to you on a personal level? Um, that's what we found is really been the good stick for us that, you know, we, I stick to Reddit and slack and discord. Shawn likes to Facebook, so LinkedIn, um, and it gives us a way to engage with partners where they want to be engaged. Um, and yeah, there's a lot, but there's so many niches in MSP, right. Um, whether you're doing low voltage cable and you're catering to retail or hospitality or legal medical, you know, and it's nice to have these communities to say, yeah, you you're in the medical vertical. We got you. These are 200 other MSPs to do exactly the same thing you do for collaboration. I think that's a beautiful thing.

Speaker 2 10:58

I agree. Can we add in the fact that it also provides healthy competition to make sure people will provide engaging content when they're doing things? Um, I mean, at the end of the day, the one, the people that don't re back to investment people that don't invest in their community to make it stronger and give with what the, what the viewers want, uh, will go away. And the cream will rise at a top regardless, but it does provide that it provides a different avenue and media for everyone to get involved where they feel comfortable. And actually Ray and I had that conversation. He was like, yeah, you should get on Reddit. And I tried to go on Reddit. I really did. I just, maybe because I'm old and too beautiful. Um, I, I just couldn't get into it. I couldn't, it w w it was like a mess for me, you know, and, and I was in, and I was in, and I was in, and finally, I was like, listen, right, I'll get, I'll just do the other things. You do those things. And, and obviously we overlap in some of that stuff, but not really like, we have our strengths, but, you know, I think that's, so I think I'm a prime example. You know, I tried Twitter, oh my goodness. I don't know what to do on Twitter. That's a lot of conversations. I don't know who has that much time in a day to do that. That works a job, unless your job is Twitter. But some people really do well in it. Um, and they get a lot of ratios. So I love the fact of having all the communities. And also it helps you to be introduced to people. You never might've met because of it too. So,

Speaker 1 12:15

But you guys bring up some points that I think MSPs, you know, we're talking about getting into the different communities, but reverse what you guys just said as the MSP, who's your target customer? Where are they at? What's their communities? What are they doing? And I think, you know, it's, uh, you know, try to flipping the script is something I've been preaching a lot lately to a lot of our partners is, is like, look, you want to go get a law firm? Like, where are the lawyers chatting? Where are their forums? Where are their communities like, you know, go and join their conversations at where they're at versus trying to bring them into your world of where they're not comfortable. Absolutely. I think it's a big thing that a lot of people are starting to do more of. And I think it's just, uh, you know, what we do as vendors and partners, you know, it can be our same process can be driven from the MSP side and go out and attract their target customers the same way. Uh, so I think those are really great points that you guys brought up.

Speaker 2 13:10

I couldn't agree more matter of fact, as my fights were on, um, we're on set. Obviously we are, as we said, engaged in tons of communities, but even in the Facebook MSP groups, uh, on everything was P with Dan, your brother, Dan Thomas, Jessica is not your brother. Um, although you guys have the exact same name, which is still baffling him from the same area. So I don't know how that worked, but we were on there talking about that one day when they were discussing the difference between like an MQL and SQL leads and what they mean. Uh, we started discussing the fishing hole, you know, and one thing we stress our partners is, you know, we're here to teach them how to fish, but you got to figure out what your fishing hole is too. Um, you have to engage in where, like you just mentioned, where, where are the attorneys talking to each other? And quite frankly, I'm in the MSP forums because I'm building friendships and relationships, of course, but also I'm talking to them to, you know, to do they know, to know that I'm a trusted advisor at some point. And when, when time comes, they want to talk about VoIP. They can talk to me about it. You know? So it's an, I told them I was quite Frank with them. I said, this is exactly why we do, why I do it. This is how we do it. And they should be taking note of that. I'm not saying you have to be on Facebook. I'm not saying to be on Twitter or LinkedIn. I, you know, it really based off what your approach is that MSP is, but there are tons of groups out there, communities that are engaging on a regular basis that they should be involved in the conversations on.

Speaker 1 14:26

I mean, that's, it's key today. I mean, it's, I think that's the hardest part. I mean, every survey, everything you look at MSPs are always saying,

Speaker 3 14:35

How do I, you know, I can't sell,

Speaker 1 14:37

You know, this product, not know I can't get this product out there. Nobody wants it. I can't get my prices up. So I think it's really important to, to look and see, and, and all those things you just said, you know, how do you go out there and do partner development? How do you acquire those new customers? It's really important in, uh, you know, learning strategies. And you've got people like us that, you know, yourself and others that are willing to help and, and show that blueprint to success. It's just, you know, how do you engage and actually follow through and commit on it? Um, and it kind of goes into the next question I wanted to ask you guys, you know, what do partners expect from like the relationship with the vendor or partner, you know, when we, we call it that, what, what has that MSP expecting now, if we're going into that partnership, what's that relationship look like? You want that, right? Um,

Speaker 4 15:26

Yeah. You know, it's funny cause I think Sean and I'll we'll have different takes on this. Um, neither one wrong, right? It's just, we approach it from different angles. Um, you know, I'll speak for myself first, but I definitely wanna hear what Sean has to say, because at least on my end, you know, it's about priorities, right? It's about making their priorities, your own. And it, and it sounds like a lot of marketing fluff and it sounds like, you know, stuff, unfortunately we've been hearing for, for decades in the space, but the truth of matter is when we're doing that personal engagement, weren't doing that, you know, like Sean says, building those relationships, building those friendships across multiple mediums, um, you know, we start to learn their priorities and it's not so much, can you do this, but it's, can you do this? And why? And you know, what's the ultimate goal we're trying to accomplish. Um, I believe that creates a more meaningful context, a more meaningful relationship and a more meaningful partnership, a cross between the vendor and the MSP. Um, and I think that's exactly what most MSPs today should are looking for, right? Because we, MSP is a consultative sale. It's a, it's a relationship based service where, you know, if you're going to do VCO, if you're gonna do QBR, if you're gonna do, you know, talk to the client about setting budgets and you're more than just the break fix person, well, you have to have a relationship. You have to have trust. And that comes with time. Well, we're teaching our MSPs to do exactly the same thing by setting the example. Um, and I, and I think that's giving that kind of perspective is something that a lot of other vendors don't do. Um, and I think that MSPs really want that even though they don't state, they don't state it overly, but they definitely need that. Um, so they can be successful. Uh, Sean

Speaker 2 17:05

Man, you took most of my talk points. Thanks Ray. Um, so yes, everything Ray said, but I think everything boils down to transparency first off, uh, very transparent that we, you know, when it's, it's the old, you know, if you've been in sales long enough, when you're younger, you think you have to trick people like when you're calling and you're calling the seldom, but you're trying to trick them. Like you're not there to sell them. In fact, the matter is they know you're a sales person, they can see you on LinkedIn. So you know that part. So just get through the fluff and, and, and be nice to somebody just, and just create a relationship first. And don't even, don't even pitch anything if you don't have to, right. Unless you're actually there for the pitch. However, transparency is crucial because, and I know it goes back to some of the top points where you just mentioned even, and this is marketing fluff. It sounds like again, right? But it's not. The fact is, is transparency, is that we're a vendor you're partner. We want to be friends. We want to able to get along. Well, we won't be able to have those candid conversations, but not at the detriment of not having success. You know, and success comes in a wide variety of shape and form shapes, forms of shapes, right? And it's not the same for everybody, but at the bottom, at the end of the day, for me, my, you know, consider my primary job, my responsibilities to help these MSPs grow and generate revenue. So obviously a lot of times it's talking about it's being transparent about the revenue and how to get there transparent about, and we don't talk just about voice by the way, because the reality is we know that when partners are reselling w you know, reselling, it makes up a portion of the revenue they make on our total annual revenue. So we're not naive that. So when we speak to them, we speak about their total operations on how they should be conducting business as an MSP, whether it's in processes or operations or marketing and sales or whatever. So, um, yeah, everything Ray said, and then just add on the transparency and the fact of talking about the, the nuts and bolts of, you know, compensation too. Cause they wanna know what we're doing and they wanna know we're going to be there to help them to as quick as possible.

Speaker 1 18:49

And Sean, I mean, I want to go into this a little bit more, you know, so we talk about partner success. Um, you know, what's that vendor doing though, you know, to enable it. I know you said there's many forms of success, but that's get into like, I like where you guys are going, because I think so many partners vendors that's go, I'll use that word. So many vendors in the space, they're worried about their product. Rightfully so that should be the main thing. But at the end of the day, an MSP is trying to let's use VoIP. They're trying to take voice into their whole package, their whole offering. We got to help them sell their whole solution in a way, in some respects, because if they don't get the whole solution deal, we're not getting the VoIP deal or you might not be getting that certain product or service. So how do you enable your partners to see that success and what are you doing that your partners really love?

Speaker 2 19:36

Um, so that's a great question. So Lee, early, mid last year, we launched partner central, which is a partner portal. Um, and we, we wrote up marketing content and sales content and also it, anybody knows, Ray knows that he's like the he's the process guru and documentation is everywhere. So we have 7,000 pieces of document on, on dog nation on everything and it's not branded so they can use it for their own knowledge base and whatnot. Um, so we did everything we could to enable them at the fundamental stage. Uh, but again, the content we made was VoIP related, right. And phones and stuff like that. So, but when we go through bringing them into the program, we actually offer trainings and they can schedule trainings with us at any given time they have access to our calendar. But it's part of the process. When we have white label partners that go through, they're required to go through these trainings. And when we start talking about it, we show, we teach them how to navigate through the portal. So they understand what to do there. Um, but then we have that conversation and about, I know you're using other vendors. I know you have other services. Who are you? And it's an education on how are you working with the other vendors today to have content? How are you working as an MSP with content and content is, is crucial because content teaches you your speak. And it also gives you the ability to share the stuff you can't speak to or in a better way, better manner at times. Um, so we talk about that. We talk about the strategy around it. You know, one, I think you saw, you'll see from most vendors, what part is struggle with is they get only their content and they don't know how to blend it. You and they don't know how to activate a leader. They don't know how to deliver it. Um, so you have to, so we have that conversation on strategy and tactical approaches, you know, cause again, if their MSP doesn't grow as a business, it's not going to grow as a business with them. Right. So it doesn't make any sense. You know, now we have big MSPs that come to us and work with those partners. And yeah, they're looking to migrate all their people over into the, and do the white label program. But eventually you hit, you hit your ceiling. What about net new? And we, and we really have that conversation around that and we show them how to use the content. We, and you know, if you haven't seen our partner first webinars, we have a lot of people that can help them with their growth that we bring in as vendors to talk on partner first webinars. So even referring people over or introducing them, you, not that I have to have the answer or Ray, or you have to have the answer as far as how we're going to solve it directly. But indirectly we partner, we have a friendship with company X and they do this for a living that can help you grow. You should meet them. You know, it's also that as well.

Speaker 3 21:59

Yeah. It sounds like you guys are doing

Speaker 1 22:00

A lot of stuff to really enable your partners and that's, that's refreshing. I mean, uh, you know, right. I don't know. I mean, Sean, even like, I can remember going back as my days and MSP and everything was great, uh, to go through the sales process. And then I felt like once you're through it, it was like, some people just left you hanging and like, you're trying to figure it out on your own. And it sounds like it, oh, I know that that's not the case with you guys that there's a whole team there to take you through the process and take you to that path of success. So that should be something people are looking for now as an MSP rate or Shawn, I mean, either one of you to chime in, you know, that should be one of the major deciding factors when you're partnering up with a vendor is to hear that success blueprint that Sean was just talking about.

Speaker 4 22:44

And that, that becomes, you know, in, when it goes back to the community stuff, you know, believe it or not. A lot of the conversations I have with partners on a daily basis and I'm not exaggerating at least. But when I say I talked to hundreds of MSPs every day, um, a lot of the conversations we have are far beyond voice. It's not even a, how do I sell this? It's a, how do I get in the door? How do I get past the gatekeeper? Part of the trainings we do is Shawn, you know, does a sales training with these MAs, with the MSP is a partner with us. Um, one of the things that we do, because there's always that tentative, right? There's that, that first period where you're getting to know each other and you're still not sure of the platform, you're still getting to know the new product. Um, so you're still discovering your value proposition. Doesn't matter if we gave you the documents and said, this is it. Here's the bullet points. Here's a, battlecard, there's still the comfort of being able to talk about it. Um, one of the things that we do, um, which I'm very proud of is, you know, whether it's white label or channel, we'll jump on the call as part of the clients or as part of the MSPs team, right. Branded as them. And we will sell whether it's in a sales capacity, a sales, engineering capacity app development capacity, we will jump on the call as part of their team, um, to be client facing for them. Um, you know, we very much put our, our, you know, our, our words, our actions, where our words are, because, you know, we'd like to show them, look, it's not just talk. This is practical use of the tools we're giving you. It's not just, we're saying, how do you do this? We're actually showing you, look shuttle, jump on a call and show you how to build a rapport and get past a gatekeeper and, you know, define the value, the objections, and get past them and define a solution. Sean will show you how to do that. He'll do it live on a call with a client. Um, you know, in any of my engineers would jump on a call to do POC and stuff like that. Um, but that extra level of engagement to show them, not just tell them, but show them it can be done. Um, sometimes that makes all the difference between a mediocre partner and a truly hyper successful partner is being able to see it. Cause when they see it live, then suddenly it clicks for them. Yeah, I can do that. Confidence

Speaker 1 24:47

Goes up. I mean, same thing, right. You know, I, I jump on hundreds of calls a month with partners and trying to help, you know, get through the gatekeeper like you're talking about or do a sales presentation as an extension of their team. And you watch, like you said, that light bulb go off. And next thing you know, they're like pumped, they're excited. They're going out and now they're replicating it and they're doing it. And then they're calling you. They're like, Hey, just closed another one. They just did this. And it's like, all it is is, you know, you're teaching them those success tips and you're practicing what you guys are preaching like, Hey, this is what we're saying. And look we'll even come do it for you in that way. You can see the success. And I think that makes the world of difference, uh, today in a, in a partnership

Speaker 4 25:30

And H how much more comfortable you're going to be when, you know, you go up to the plate, but you know, number three or number four behind you is babe Ruth, right? So how much more confident and comfortable you're going to be, that no matter what you do, you have that safety net behind you, that's going to hit a Homer and going to bring you home. I mean, come on that, that just, it helps them build that confidence. It's whether they see us doing it, or just having that extra level of comfort of saying, okay, I have extra staff on my team, plus it's nice to be able to walk into a sales call and say, this is my team. It's not me pitching something. This is, you know, I I'm, I'm rolling deep. So as they say, um, you know, here's my team to, to show the client we're invested in U2. Um, it, it's a beautiful thing. And

Speaker 1 26:11

Think from our perspective, from the vendor side of it, I think it's nice for,

Speaker 3 26:15

For Sean, for you, Ray,

Speaker 1 26:17

For us to be able to experience to the objections that are changing, you know, or what's going on. And sometimes, you know, the world or the sales process might change a little bit. And it's good for us to see that firsthand because we know what's going on and we can better serve our other partners. And through our marketing and through our content, we're creating things now that we know is what they're facing in the front lines. And that's really important is to be out there and in touch with the, you know, customers to know what, what objections are being thrown at them.

Speaker 4 26:49

Absolutely. A hundred percent.

Speaker 1 26:51

Yeah. This has been really great guys. I mean, you can really see that you guys are dedicated to your partner's success and that you guys are really invested in this community. Um, you know, two things, how do people learn more about the OIT voice? And if they have questions, how do they get ahold of you guys? And then I always like to end with, you know, final thoughts. So, uh, I'd like to go through, but first, how do people get ahold of you guys?

Speaker 2 27:15

Oh, that's easy. I mean, well, first we're everywhere. So it's pretty easy to find us, um, whether you're on discord, Facebook, slack, whatever, if you look at the MSP suburb even, but, uh, web going back to basic fundamentals, the website, oit.co, um, you can go right in there. And if you want to schedule a time to speak with us, as I mentioned, our calendars are public. You've got to click on the tab that says partners, and you'll see, you'll see my face on there. I have a nice suit on for that one. Um, and schedule time with me or anyone on my team, but you can find us as mentioned Facebook, everywhere. LinkedIn, we have our team represented everywhere. Um, what was the other question now? What else am I answering her

Speaker 1 27:53

Thoughts? We'll give you, give our listeners a final thought. Uh, anything you want to say?

Speaker 2 27:59

Sure. Uh, so I would say this, we don't typically boast about ourselves. This is actually, we probably have talked more about our approach as a company than we do publicly ever. So I thank you, Dan, for making us talk about it. Um, but when you're looking at doing things with vendors, the advice is still exactly what I mean. You just mentioned that you got to have a trusted partner involved with you and you gotta make sure we're ready to invest and your production as a, as an MSP. Um, don't be foolish. You have access to a lot of resources, take advantage of them.

Speaker 1 28:30

Great stuff. Ray, how about you? What are some final thoughts that you want to leave our listeners with?

Speaker 4 28:36

You know, just for the MSPs, remember you're not an island, you know, whether it's, you know, Reddit R slash MSP or, you know, hit us up on discord or, um, go to the YouTube channel, youtube.com/oat voice. Um, get to know you get to know the people in your space, see how they can help you. I promise that anything you're coming across, somebody else has to. And one of the things I love about the MSP community is they're, everybody's willing to share. Um, and I'm super easy to find some, one of our partners said if I was any more available, you'd wake up next to me. And that's actually a point of pride for me. I'm I'm OIT everywhere, OIT Ray, everywhere. Um, hit us up, say, let's start a conversation. Uh, so we can learn about you.

Speaker 1 29:16

This is great guys. I really appreciate you being on and, uh, keep doing what you guys are doing. Uh, it's, it's refreshing to hear other people in the space that are really taking care of the MSPs and helping them grow their business. So congrats again to you guys on all the success that you guys are seeing. Uh, and, uh, hopefully we can have you guys back again soon. Absolutely. Thanks so much, man. All right, everyone. So that's it for this episode of the connecting it podcast. Remember, go and look at your favorite app store a for podcast and find the connecting ID podcast. Give us five stars and leave us a comment we'd love to hear from you again, this is all about you, the MSP and what you guys want to hear and help you with, you know, information that's going on in the space. And I think this was a great one on how to leverage your partnership with your vendors. So until next time everyone have a great day.