Matt Koenig Shares Winning MSP Event Strategies for New IT Channel Vendors
Trade shows eat a huge chunk of a new vendor's marketing budget, and most of them get it wrong in the same handful of ways. This episode kicks off WIN's Fall 2026 relaunch with Matt Koenig, the channel sales veteran who built a 45-person team at RapidFire Tools, spent years as VP of Sales at Nodeware, and just launched his own practice, White Tiger Consulting (https://www.whitetigerchannelconsulting.com/) .
Matt (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkkoenig/) and Carrie get into what a brand-new IT channel vendor actually needs before committing sponsorship dollars: which shows are for branding versus lead generation, what belongs on a banner nobody's going to read anyway, how to build a $50,000 first-year event budget, why swag is either worth doing well or not worth doing, and how to avoid showing up with your booth stuck in customs.
Read more on the Fox & Crow Group website here. (https://foxcrowgroup.com/insights/msp-trade-show-strategy-new-it-vendors/)
In this episode:
• 00:00:00 - Welcome Back to WIN
• 00:00:55 - Catching Up Before ChannelCon
• 00:01:38 - Launching White Tiger Consulting
• 00:03:52 - What Vendors Can Expect From White Tiger
• 00:06:06 - Where New Vendors Should Start
• 00:08:31 - Getting Ready to Commit Sponsorship Dollars
• 00:11:57 - Bare-Bones Budget: Booth Basics and Banners
• 00:14:57 - Crafting Your Talk Track and Slides
• 00:16:05 - Stage Presence and Public Speaking Lessons
• 00:21:50 - Building a Marketing Budget and Picking Shows
• 00:24:55 - Working the Show Floor Between Booth Time
• 00:29:13 - Off-Site Dinners and Vendor Politics
• 00:32:15 - Swag Strategy That Actually Works
• 00:36:56 - Attracting Booth Traffic Without Swag
• 00:38:18 - Wrapping Up and Where to Find White Tiger
• 00:40:04 - Bonus: Event Logistics and Shipping Timelines
Matt is offering a free 30-minute consultation to vendors and MSPs, no strings attached. Learn more at White Tiger Consulting. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkkoenig/)
Carrie (https://linkedin.com/in/carrielynnrichardson) Richardson and Ian (https://linkedin.com/in/ianalexanderrichardson) Richardson host the WIN Podcast - What's Important Now?
They are the co-founders of Fox & Crow Group, a software development company building growth platforms for MSP and IT channel businesses.
Learn more at:
Fox & Crow Group (https://foxcrowgroup.com/) - the MSP Sales Process platform and all-in-one CRM solution
Fox & Crow Instinct (https://facinstinct.com/) - the MSP Decision Intelligence Platform for IT Channel Vendors
Fox & Crow Jackdaw (https://facjackdaw.com) - Competitive Intelligence Reports on Demand for MSP businesses
Book time with Carrie here! (https://randr.membrain.com/Meet/carrie@croocial.com)
Be a guest on WIN! (https://randr.membrain.com/Beacon/Form/4de426f6-c941-4583-9127-62dba3d00fc9) We host MSP channel founders, executives and sales and marketing leaders who are willing to share advice with other IT channel firms on how to build, grow or sell a business using examples from their own experience.