Unique Small Business Climate

Before you start planning how you’ll build your consulting business, it’s important to understand some of the idiosyncrasies of small businesses. Unlike medium-sized and large corporations, a small business staff often takes on a variety of functions that would be the domain of multiple people or departments in larger firms even within the same industry. For example, in a small law firm the office manager may be charged with handling purchasing, human resources, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll. In a small advertising agency, the sales manager may oversee such diverse areas as technology, marketing, public relations, and asset management.

Clients Wearing Lots of Hats

Small business owners tend to focus on what they do best. Whether it’s selling houses, running restaurants, manufacturing specialty chemicals, practicing law, or preparing tax audits, small business owners generally devote nearly all their attention to their core business objectives and rarely leave time or energy to think about how technology fits into the competitive landscape. Many small business owners still perceive technology spending as expenses as opposed to investments.

Because small business owners are usually more resource-constrained than Fortune 1000 CEOs, small businesses look to get immediate return on investment (ROI) on their technology projects. So when implementing small business IT solutions, you need to provide some tangible, instant gratification. For many small businesses, this means e-mail, Web browsing, and network-based faxing.

When the small business owner does have first hand experience with computer or networking issues, the owner tends to only see a very small piece of the whole puzzle. For example, the small business owner may be familiar with how to use a checkbook management program such as Microsoft Money. Installation of this kind of program is very simple: just run the set-up program and you’re recording transactions 15 minutes later. Because that might be the full extent of the owner’s experience with computers and networks, the small business owner often overlooks such hidden, soft costs such as total cost of ownership (TCO). This includes testing, training, deployment, downtime, knowledge transfer, and ongoing support.

The small business owner also often tries to equate hourly billing rates from technology providers with those of his own internal staff. Part of your challenge is to educate the small business owner on why continual investments in training and retraining are such a critical component of making the best use of small business networks. Ultimately, it’s this training and the scarcity of those with similar skills that drives the levels of hourly billing rates for technology providers. Keeping current also is a big part of building a successful computer consulting practice.

Most small businesses generally don’t have the resources or the need to hire a full-time staff person dedicated to installing, upgrading, and maintaining their office PCs or network. Also bear in mind that clients generally don’t tell you the whole story. It’s your job to ask open-ended questions about the state of the technology used by the small business. Before you call on a small business prospect, it’s important to understand some of the key players in small business technology—the people you’ll likely run into providing day-to-day computer support. Generally these technology support functions are taken care of in one of three ways.

• The Volunteer: The owner or manager has a spouse, relative, or friend, who may be a teenager, plumber, actuary, or teacher (or any other conceivable profession for that matter), who dabbles in computers as a hobby, and who volunteers to help with occasional computer support needs after-hours.
• The Moonlighter: The owner or manager hires a moonlighter who has a day job in a related field with a larger organization. This person may be a SQL database administrator for a large brokerage house or a help desk manager for a hospital. Although the main difference between the volunteer and the moonlighter is compensation, moonlighters will often charge hourly rates substantially below market rates because they perceive the income to be supplemental. In addition, the lower hourly rate often offsets the small business’ inconvenience of having access to the moonlighter only after-hours, just like the volunteer. Small businesses generally only hire moonlighters when they can’t find a qualified volunteer who can step up to the plate for their support needs.
• The Internal Guru: Someone on staff knows just enough to handle many of the basic daily computer support needs. Usually this owner, manager, accountant, sales rep, or other staff member feels comfortable with routine tasks like updating antivirus software definitions, recovering lost Office toolbars, or creating user logon accounts. This same person, however, often lacks formal or on-the-job training on intermediate to advanced level topics and generally shies away from more complicated tasks like configuring DHCP scopes or Exchange Server public folders.

Sizing Up the Client’s Internal Guru

Regardless of the specific small business accounts that you’re servicing, the person who is currently providing network or computer support to these businesses probably doesn’t make his or her living servicing small business networks. This is where your firm comes into the picture. You’re the expert-in-training when it comes to installing, customizing, and supporting small business networks.

Although you may be the undisputed expert when it comes to TCP/IP, database-driven Web sites, or virtual private networks (VPN), it’s important to tread lightly when first beginning your engagement with the small business. Although your new client’s internal guru may have limited or in some cases totally inaccurate or inadequate knowledge of small business networks, the client’s guru has been the trusted technology advisor so far. Before you get too far along in sizing up whether the internal guru knows what he or she is talking about, you’ll want to subtly determine whether your firm is being brought in to supplement the internal guru or replace the guru.

If your firm will be supplementing the internal guru and your efforts will be collaborative in nature, you’ll want to spend some time getting to know this key, internal resource person. As you get further along in discussions, the guru will be able to tell you how the technology was installed, what’s the history behind the implementation, and how the technology was supported before you arrived. You’ll also want to find out what the guru’s real job is.

While each small business is unique, the following guidelines should help you gain a better understanding of the role of the internal guru.

1. Is the guru a decision-maker? A techie? Or both?
2. Does the guru feel threatened by your firm? How does the guru feel about external IT vendors?
3. Does the guru have aspirations to someday assume a full-time IT position?
4. How strong is the guru’s technical knowledge in various areas? Does the guru feel comfortable asking for help when overwhelmed?
5. Does the guru’s boss make the computer-support part of the guru’s job a priority? Or is it just a task that the guru gets to when time permits?
6. Has the guru ever had any formal training?

It’s also extremely important to find out the relationship between the internal guru and the owner(s) of the small business. Often the internal computer guru is a family member, relative, or longtime personal friend of one of the principals in the business.

Regardless of whether you’ll now be providing all of the computer or network support to this small business or just serving as an escalation point, it’s important for you to get the political lay of the land before voicing any controversial opinions, such as “That guy Bob is a total idiot when it comes to routers.”

Becoming an IT Consultant? Ask Your Prospects These 4 Key Questions [New YouTube Video]

Are you becoming an IT consultant? Congratulations!

It’s  a great business and career, with lots of fun and excitement.

However a few words of advice… make sure that you pay attention to the business side of the responsibilities, and not just the technology.

This new YouTube video shows you how to get more great clients with 4 key qualifying questions.

Then learn more proven tips on becoming an IT consultant now at http://BecomingAnITConsultant.com

Small IT Business Start-Up Game Plan for Avoiding Distractions

Own a small IT business?  This short video helps you fend off freeloaders that can destroy your business, so you can focus on high-paying, steady prospective clients. Then learn more proven small IT business tips now at http://SmallITBusiness.com

Computer Repair Business Forms That Every IT Business Needs

Are you using computer repair business forms to help you run your company?

If not, you need to stop re-inventing the wheel for every customer’s whim … and start working more efficiently.  This way you can focus on building long-term relationships and getting repeat business.

Many new computer repair entrepreneurs are so excited to get up and running that they don’t develop streamlined documents for working with customers and clients.   Then, when business picks up, they realize there really isn’t time in the day to start from scratch every time a new customer comes in the door.  It’s really important to your company’s future to plan and customize  computer repair business forms, so you can better organize the work you do.  This way, you’ll be able to respond quickly and efficiently to client needs as your business grows and changes.

At the minimum, you’ll need 3 important computer repair business forms if you want to attract long-term small business clients.

1. Rate Card Template. Developing a very clear and concise rate card should be one of your main priorities as you start your computer repair company.  If you want to attract long-term clients and move beyond the short-term payout of one-shot deal customers, make sure you aim to have a roster full of clients on annual service/repair agreements.  In order to attract these types of clients, make sure your  rate card template stresses the EXTREME difference between annual service agreement rates and regular, “pay-as-you-go” rates.  Make sure your rate card focuses on the benefits you provide to your long-term clients such as prioritized response time, emergency service, monthly planning sessions, etc. at no extra cost.   A properly-designed rate card accomplishes a variety of goals sets the tone for your level of professionalism, fully discloses and clearly communicates your fees, ensures that you are fairly compensated for after-hours and emergency repair services, allows you to bill more for highly-skilled work, and reinforces the value proposition of your long-term, annual repair agreement.
2. Annual Service Agreement Template. Many technology repair professionals don’t realize how crucial it is to base their businesses on serving long-term clients.  When you have a roster of clients that have agreed to entrust you with their on-going maintenance needs, you get steady, predictable revenue and give your clients the benefit of knowing they have someone there on a weekly, monthly and annual basis to take care of their complex technology needs.  Service agreements provide the foundation to develop long-term mutually-beneficial relationships, so you know where your next billable project is coming from at all times.   This way, you can plan your growth and stop scrambling to find the next short-term customer.  So, you really need to include an annual service agreement template in your list of computer repair business forms.
3. Change Order Form. Even with the most thorough up-front needs analysis and project planning, your clients will inevitably come up with additional work items once a major project is underway.  These “oh, by the way” types of items are why you need a change order form.  You may not think so at first, but change orders can make or break a project.  And the “make” or “break” really depends on how well you are able to handle the requests.  At a bare minimum, change orders require anywhere from minor to major revisions to any time and materials budgets in initial proposals and price quotes.  Change orders also can monumentally impact projected milestones and estimated completion dates.  In order to protect you and your clients, and manage their expectations, you need to establish from the outset how you and your clients will deal with change order requests.  Change order forms can also help you discourage clients from making little changes on a regular basis; they will have to think before they act and ask themselves, “Is the desired change really worth the cost of the change order?”

In this article, we talked about 3 important forms every PC repair company needs to help efficiently and profitably run a business and build more long-term client relationships.  Learn more about how to use computer repair business forms to attract steady, high-paying clients now at  http://www.ComputerRepairBusinessForms.com

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Computer Training Business Tips for Adding Consulting Revenue

If you are in the IT business, you are at least partially in the computer training business.  You are training your small business clients to use their IT assets.  And you are probably dealing with a lot of small business owners that don’t know the first thing about technology, so you have to be able to teach your clients in business-focused language.

Which technical skills do you need to help your clients work better with their own IT assets and run a successful computer training business?

Consider the following 4  tips to figure out which technical skills you need to help your clients best utilize their computers and other IT assets.

1. Know Which Technical Skills Help Your Computer Training Business.  Most profitable small business customers, those with 10 or more systems, need basic hardware, software, and networking support.  They need you to provide cost-effective IT training and consulting, so they can learn how to use what they have. So investigate the needs of your target clients and see which software packages they use.

2. Part of Your Computer Training Business is Teaching Clients about Accounting Applications.  Clients need to know how to manage their accounting needs.  Therefore, you will need to train yourself on popular accounting applications and share your knowledge with small business owners.

3. Learn About CRM Applications to Improve Your Computer Training Business.  Many small business computer consultants make CRM applications a part of their supported software. Always share important information about what you know in business terms with your valued clients.
   
   
4. Position Your Company for Long-Term, Ongoing Relationships. Most computer training businesses just focus on selling and delivering classroom training. The problem with this… the opportunity for repeat business is pretty limited. However by setting up a consulting division, you’ll be in a much better position to assist your clients in their initial installations and ongoing, long-term support needs.

In this article, we talked about 4 tips that help you run a computer training business along with your outsourced virtual IT consulting business. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients for your computer training business and consulting services now at the attached link.  

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IT Services Contract Secrets for Managing Client Expectations

1. Build Your Confidence by Planning Ahead. The best way to manage your IT services contract relationships is to figure out exactly what you can do today and throughout the course of the year. Inventory your services and skills. Then look at what your competitors offer. Where are the gaps? Which of your services would be most useful to a small business with a real network and advanced IT needs? A well-planned IT services contract business program is one that takes into account not only what you can offer. But it also takes in account what you can offer that no one else in your area is offering. In other words, create valuable services that address your competitors’ deficiencies.

2. Build Your Confidence by Gaining Real Experience. As you start to offer IT service contracts, go slowly until you build up your confidence level. Confidence will not come from excessive technology training or from reading a report or preparing a well thought-out contract template. You only get experience when you just dive in and start selling contracts and providing long-term solutions to small business clients. Ease into larger accounts by starting small. Don’t turn down a large opportunity if it falls in your lap. But know that the best way to start is to go with accounts that are on the small side, but can still afford your premium services.

3. Remember That Certifications Are Not Vital. Most small businesses do not have formal in-house IT departments. They are also typically a few years behind the curve when it comes to technology. This means you and your technicians don’t need to have advanced certifications or skills on brand-new software versions. In fact, your clients will probably see advanced skills as an unnecessary quality that makes them feel they are paying you too much to fulfill their simple IT needs. Imagine going to a cardiothoracic surgeon just to get your blood pressure checked. In terms of which certifications you will need to feel confident about your IT services contract program, a basic MCP credential (Microsoft Certified Professional) or something equivalent is usually sufficient.

Computer Marketing Secrets that Attract Great Clients

Are you starting a computer-related business and you’re not sure how to build a solid computer marketing plan?
 
When you first start out marketing your business, you need to make sure you know exactly which type of small business owners you are trying to reach and come up with a targeted marketing message. This means you need to think about the characteristics of your ideal prospective clients and figure out how you can best reach them.
 
If you are just getting started, you might feel overwhelmed when you realize there are as many as 30 computer marketing tasks you can do as a business owner. You should make a list of all the possibilities and then find four or five that appeal to you most. The main thing to remember is that you must diversify. Never put all of your eggs in one basket. You should always have a few different computer marketing campaigns running at all times.
 
The following 3 tips can help you design a computer marketing plan that will work with your unique business and bring you the best prospects, customers and clients.

1. Consider Your Many Computer Marketing Options. Think about which marketing strategies you can use and consider how they would work to grow your specific business. Some of the tactics to consider include outbound telemarketing; targeted direct postcard or letter mailings where you send a set number of postcards/letters to a targeted group and do a follow-up a few weeks later; B2B trade shows in your area; expos or industry events; organizational marketing; seminars you host yourself or co-host with trusted business advisers or partners. There are many other creative options you can select, so think about how you can best reach your target audience.

2. Diversify and Track Your Marketing Campaigns. One of the most important characteristics of a great computer marketing plan is that it is diverse. Again, never spend your entire annual marketing budget on a single campaign. You want to hit different areas and then figure out a way you can track and measure what you’re doing. Figure out how much time and money you are investing in each campaign and which type of leads you are getting as a direct result of your investment. Basically, you need to figure out which marketing strategies work and which do not so you can do more of those that are working and eliminate what just isn’t bringing in business.
3. Evaluate Your Marketing Results Each Quarter. No matter which computer marketing strategies and campaigns you choose, you need to give each one a chance to generate results. This means that, in most cases, you need stick with each campaign for at least two to three months to see how it develops. Once the quarter is over, stick with the campaigns that worked and abandon those that did not. Then add a couple new campaigns to the mix, so that you’re constantly testing out new client-attraction strategies. Remember that marketing is an on-going, evolutionary process that will be refined over time.

In this article, we talked about 3 ways to develop a strong computer marketing plan that will help you build a solid client list. Learn more about how you can build a great computer marketing plan that gets you steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link. 
 
Copyright (C), ComputerMarketingSecrets.com, All Rights Reserved.

IT Consultants: 7 Business-Building Secrets for 2009 (and Beyond)

IT consultants that own or manage their own consulting companies often face challenges when growing their profits and client base.
 
If you are like many IT consultants, you may have trouble with the key ingredient of successful consulting firms — being able to focus on your company’s profit and bottom line. Many in the IT services industry fall in love with technology gadgetry, or get seduced by attractive channel programs, often at the expense of their businesses’ profits. If you have fallen into this trap, you need to remember that your computer consulting company is a business, not charity and not a hobby, so you need to run it like a business.
 
The following 7 profit secrets can help IT consultants trying to build their client lists and grow their businesses exponentially.

   1. IT Consultants Need to Be Proactive with Their Clients. You can’t afford to be labeled as another clueless geek. So you need to make sure you act as a Virtual CIO for hire. Be vigilant about finding new ways to enhance your clients’ businesses rather than just fixing broken desktops or servers.

   2. IT Consultants Are Dedicated to Their Task and Relentless about Improving the Status Quo. Getting and keeping great computer consulting clients takes a lot of work. You need to stay away from one-shot deal sales and focus on the value to your business of lifetime clients. Remember that you are offering total, complex business solutions. You are a long-term visionary that needs to plan ahead and have tremendous staying power and perseverance.

   3. IT Consultants Are Creative with Client Relationships. Small business technology solutions need to be low cost, but incredibly effective. These IT solutions also need to work without the need for an in-house IT staff. In order to meet these challenges, you will often need to think outside the box and be incredibly resourceful.

   4. IT Consultants Evaluate How Their Clients’ Paper-Based Systems and Computer-Based Systems Work. Part of your role as a Virtual CIO is to see how existing client systems are meeting or not meeting present and future needs. Most of this work will be done during initial technology assessments, which will need to also be a point of focus as you are growing relationships with small businesses and setting you apart from the competition.

   5. IT Consultants Think About What Their Clients Need from Them. As a computer consulting business owner, you must have good people skills and empathy for your clients’ business problems. But true Virtual CIO’s dig in and learn about their clients’ customers’ business problems when designing solutions.

   6. IT Consultants Keep Up with Technology Advances and New Versions. If you are going to be a real Virtual CIO, you need to advise clients on which tools can best help their businesses grow. While you can’t let this R & D and training eat up your entire weekly schedule, you need to stay a few steps ahead of your clients’ needs.

   7. IT Consultants Summarize and Share New Advances with Clients. Your R & D and training on new technology has to have one objective: finding out how a new platform or tool can add value to your clients’ existing or future installations. You need to be able to describe how new products or services can benefit non-technical small business owners in language they can understand.

 
In this article, we introduced 7 business-building secrets that can help IT consultants grow their businesses. Learn more about how IT consultants can get great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.
 
Copyright (C), ITConsultantsSecrets.com, All Rights Reserved

Computer Reseller Tips for Selling High-Margin Services

Many technology consultants decide to add being a computer reseller to their list of client solutions. This can help give consultants control over the total solution and solve very complex business problems.
 
But if you want to be a computer reseller who is profitable and successful at catering to the needs of your small business clients, you will need to pay attention to many different responsibilities besides just those related to products. How can you make sure you are balancing your function as a computer reseller with your job to solve bigger small business problems through technology?
 
The following 4 tips can help you manage all the responsibilities that go along with being a successful computer reseller and consultant in the small business market.

   1.  Coordinate Telecommunications and Internet Solutions. With your small business clients, you will probably need to coordinate your own technology support and product installation with the local telephone company or Internet service provider. You will need to research which types of connections are needed and how they will work together to facilitate a sophisticated network.

   2.  Test, Test, Test. As part of delivering a complete, soup-to-nuts IT solution, your computer reseller firm should get involved in vertical industry-niched applications. You may bring the vertical applications in, but your clients might also ask you to test the application before they make a major investment. This way, you’ll control application selection and be able to coordinate application selection with other products you recommend, sell or purchase for them. You will also have to evaluate how vertical applications fit in with your clients’ networks.

   3.  Be Prepared to Train the Guru … or the Masses. Even if you think training won’t be a part of your duties as a computer reseller or you don’t want to do it, you will inevitably have to be involved at some point. Sometimes you will have to conduct formal end-user training where you take small groups aside and show new users an application or a new piece of hardware. Other times, you will have to help the internal guru through informal training. Training the internal guru can often help train others on routine technology matters – i.e., lost toolbar or taskbar recovery, simple troubleshooting – so you can free up time to help with more complicated issues that more easily cost-justify your high hourly billing rates.

   4.  Expect Disaster. Another responsibility you will have to take on with small businesses is disaster recovery planning. You will have to check out the data backup system, the antivirus software, the power protection and the security. You will also need to develop a proactive maintenance plan for your clients.
 
Your biggest value to your clients, even if you decide to be a computer reseller alongside other services, is in your problem solving and strategic planning. In order to build a strong company, you need to make selling complete small business solutions a priority over just reselling products.
 
In this short article we discussed 4 tips to help you manage all the responsibilities that go along with being a successful computer reseller and consultant in the small business market. Learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients as a computer reseller at the attached link.
 
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Network Consultant Career-Building Tips

If you want to really make a decent living as a network consultant, you need to narrow down your marketing focus and develop very keen business development intuition. In order to build a successful and viable network consultant business you also have to get really good at spotting the best small business accounts.
 
But how do you fine-tune the process of finding ideal clients as a network consultant, so you can build your business efficiently? The following 3 network consultant tips can help you determine which types of clients you need to target to build a solid career and a stable consulting business.

   1. Remember, There are a Lot of Small Businesses Out There. As you are thinking about yourself as a network consultant, remember there are millions of small businesses in the U.S. and millions more abroad. There’s a pretty good chance there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of companies that would qualify as small businesses within a one hour’s drive of your local area. But if you latch onto the wrong ones, you’re not going to be able to build a very good career as a network consultant. You need to really fine-tune your focus and find a specialty and a unique twist on consulting that no one else has in your local area. This will help you narrow down the field of potential prospects, target your marketing campaigns much more time-efficiently and cost-effectively and allow you to really stand out among your competitors.

   2. Know How and Where to Find the Best Accounts. You need to know where to find the best accounts as a network consultant. Often this means knowing how to say, “No Thanks.” You need to know your target prospects very well and be able to verify through a consistent, diligent lead qualification process that a small business will be a gratifying client for your network consultant business. Your goal is obviously to feel a certain sense of career satisfaction as a network consultant. This sense of gratification is probably one of the reasons you decided to go out on your own, as opposed to sticking with a traditional corporate IT career. If you want to experience the joy of success, you really need to establish a good process for building healthy client-consultant relationships. The first step is admitting that you can’t possibly be all things to all people.

   3. Think About Finances. Your career as a network consultant has to be lucrative financially. You need to have a profitable business and stable sources of recurring consulting revenue. All small businesses are not created equal, and your job is not to be the Mother Teresa of Network Support. You are probably not becoming a network consultant to start a career in charity or accidentally launch a non-profit agency. So you must consider your own financial health when determining which types of clients you should target with your marketing campaigns.
 
You certainly need to have empathy for customers and clients you support. And you need to do a great job for your clients. But you have to be very careful and very targeted about marketing your business, and choosing clients, if you want to build a long-lasting career as a network consultant.
 
In this short article we discussed 3 tips to help you with marketing and building a stable career as a network consultant. Learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients as a network consultant now at the attached link.

Copyright (C), NetworkConsultantMarketing.com, All Rights Reserved

How to Start a Computer Business

Want to learn how to start a computer business?  If you are like many others trying to get into computer consulting, you might be wondering, “Can I cut it?”

The truth is, if you have a basic understanding of computers, great problem-solving skills and a true desire to help others, you already have the ingredients for a great computer business.  The following four steps can help you learn how to start a computer business.

   1. Start a Computer Business to Enjoy Great Opportunities.  In a typical corporate computer or IT job, your earnings potential and career advancement possibilities are constrained by elements you can’t control:  lazy, incompetent peers; ineffective management; and a seniority system that is not necessarily based on the hard work of employees.  When you decide to start a computer business, you get rid of many of these annoyances and barriers.  You get to be your own boss, find your own peers and clients, and be appreciated for what you do.  Plus, the market for those trying to start a computer business is diverse and continues to grow.  Today, no business can exist without some type of computer help.  So you will be needed and have many opportunities to earn substantial revenue from great, loyal clients.

   2. You Need Specific Skills to Know How to Start a Computer Business.  When you are planning the future of your computer business, list your own current computer-related skills.  Are you the one those in your office, or your friends and family members, turn to when they need technology help?  If the answer is, “Yes,” you already have a lot of marketable skills.  You don’t have to be a complete expert in every single detail of using and repairing computers.  In fact, this level of knowledge is nearly impossible given how diverse the technology industry is.  If you are fairly skilled at working with computers and have specific areas of expertise, you can always find partners and subcontractors with complimentary specialties to help you fill in the skills gaps and build a strong computer business.

   3. Think About the Move from Employee to Business Owner.  If you are currently the employee of a business within the computer industry, learning how to start a computer business could be a really smart move.  When you make that choice, you increase your income potential for the same work you are already doing and get to work for yourself.  But how do you handle the transition?  Many technology professionals start by moonlighting, so they can try out what having this type of business is like before leaving the safety of a full-time day job.  Moonlighting can also help you build a steady client list and get reference accounts to give yourself a head start in building a long-lasting computer business.

   4. Don’t Forget about Non-Technical Skills.  If you want to know how to start a computer business, you need to think about more than just your knowledge of technology.  A few traits can help:  the ability to be self motivated; the drive to work without having an employer looking over your shoulder; the ability to wear multiple hats to manage all the different elements of your business; strong marketing skills; excellent administrative and planning skills; and the ability to efficiently delegate tasks to other employees, contractors, and partners as your business grows.

This article introduced you to four important action items to think about as you plan how to start a computer business.  To learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients, sign up for free tips on How to Start a Computer Business now at the attached link.

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IT Sales Secrets to Set Yourself apart from the Competition

Would you like to close more IT sales? One of the best ways for selling IT is to differentiate yourself from others in your local marketplace.
 
An important method for closing more IT sales is to focus on your unique expertise and communicate it with your marketing materials. Because your clients are buying you and not products or simple "services" or "features," you need to really let your prospective clients get to know you by setting yourself apart from the competition.

This article explores 4 ways you can close more IT sales by customizing your marketing strategies to fit your IT company’s unique identity.

1.    Don’t Be a Commodity. The word “commodity” implies “cheap,” and if you set your company up as just another purchasable item, you will attract price shoppers and not those willing to invest in real, high-end IT support. To avoid getting the attention of prospects looking for the lowest perceived price, focus on selling IT through your expertise and your own brand of problem solving. Present your services in terms of real benefits to the clients you serve.

2.    Don’t Hide Behind Your Marketing Materials. You need to make sure that your marketing materials list you as the owner. Your Web site, business cards and any brochures you provide need to have a personality if you want to be successful with IT sales. Don’t try to hide the size of your company or your identity by keeping details anonymous. You need to sell your legitimate background and the background of those working for you. Communicate your unique beliefs and philosophies about how you help small businesses with their IT challenges.

3.    Being Unique is Key. A lot of computer consultants ask, “Is there one cost-effective way to get great leads no matter where you are in the world when selling IT?” One of the biggest problems IT consultants have is that they neglect to come up with their own unique IT sales pitch and just use something they heard worked for someone else. You need to come up with a pitch that reflects who you are and what you do… and most important of all: what problems you solve for your clients.

4.    Your IT Marketing Materials Must Be Unique. Put your marketing materials to the test. Look at your business card and your home page. Then gather a couple business cards and home pages from local competitors and create a list of differences. A lot of people are selling “PC hardware and software, networks, and service” when selling IT. While this might be what you do too, you need to say something that will set you apart from the competition.

If you want to close more IT sales for your computer consulting business, ask this question: “Do I want to compete against 5-10 local competitors … or a few hundred?” If you can make yourself truly unique as an IT consulting business, you will be well on your way to getting high-paying, steady clients to invest in your sophisticated business solutions.

In this article, we outlined 4 tips that can help you close more IT sales and get better clients for your computer consulting business.

To learn more about proven IT sales techniques that help you close more IT sales faster, sign up for free IT sales tips now at the attached link.

Copyright (C), ITSalesKit.com, All Rights Reserved.

What Does it Mean to Become a Laptop Reseller?

While the most profitable way to be a small business IT professional does not typically happen when you want to become a laptop reseller, there are ways you can add reselling to your business.  However, the most successful IT professionals working with small businesses find that the money is in building relationships with steady, high-paying clients that need your expertise in helping them build and maintain stable networks.

If you decide to become a laptop reseller or to resell any sort of products, you need to think carefully about how you will use it as part of your services. Many resellers negotiate with companies for a certain quantity of product at a certain percentage off the list price.  But you typically have to sell a LOT of laptops to make this worth your while.  And the amount you will spend on marketing will typically far exceed the profit you will get.

The truth is, margins in the electronics business unless you are a HUGE company are not great.  Your best bet if you really want to become a laptop reseller is to work on building relationships with clients and offer advice on the right products to help them round out sophisticated solutions and help procuring them.

To learn more about reselling and what it means to become a laptop reseller (or a reseller of any other product!) visit the attached link.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit

IT Management: What Are Your Responsibilities

IT management involves a lot of responsibilities.  Which should you make part of your comprehensive services?

1.    Coordinating Telecommunications Solutions.  When you’re dealing with small business clients and providing a comprehensive IT management plan, you will probably have to coordinate your own services with local telephone companies, ISPs and other providers.  You will also probably have to coordinate tech support with ISP’s for Internet access.    

2.    Testing.  As part of your IT management duties, you will have to get involved in vertical industry-niched applications.  You will either have to bring them in yourself or test applications already explored by your clients before they make a huge IT investment.  You need to evaluate how vertical applications fit into their networks.  

3.    Training the Guru … or Other Users.  Your firm will have to be involved in training if you are going to provide good IT management services.  This might be either formal end-user training or informal internal guru training (the person everyone in the small business comes to typically with tech problems).  When you train the guru, you can help train others on more routine matters.  

4.     Planning for Disasters.  As part of your IT management duties, you will have to be involved in disaster recovery planning, checking out data backup systems, antivirus software, power protection and security.  You also can’t neglect proactive maintenance which can help avoid disaster!

Providing effective IT management will be a huge part of your job as a computer consultant for small business clients.  For more information on this topic, visit the attached link.

Blogged By:  Joshua Feinberg

Systems Integrators: 3 Things You Should Know

There are many different types of computer consultants that perform a variety of functions for small businesses, and some of them are systems integrators.  If you are just starting out in the IT consulting world, you might be wondering which area of computer consulting is right for you and which type of computer consultant you want to be.

Being a specialist and marketing yourself as such in small business computer consulting is essential to solving complex problems, and systems integrators perform a lot of complex tasks that can be very rewarding.

Three Things to Know about Systems Integrators

1.    Systems integrators specialize in bringing together subsystems that are part of larger systems and making sure everything works together.  In the IT industry, systems integrators typically integrate multiple systems that contribute to inputting, processing, interpreting, storing and putting data into categories.  

2.    Systems Integrators have to excel at putting clients’ needs together with technology products.  While systems integrators are specialists, they need to be very good at generalist tasks, and like many other computer consultants will find themselves doing a lot of “generalist” tasks such as diagnostic and troubleshooting work.  

3.    Good small business systems integrators excel at presenting technical information in easy-to-understand business terms.  Communication – as it is with any other IT consulting specialty – is critical to building successful relationships with clients.

Today we talked a little bit about what systems integrators do and the skills you might need to participate successfully in this specialized IT field.  To learn more about this subject and many more, visit the attached link!

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Improve Your Computer Consulting Services with 3 Key Questions

If you want to provide the best computer small business consulting services possible for your clients, there are three key questions you can ask that will help you grow your business and keep those steady, high-paying clients.  These questions are best asked as part of regular surveys (sent with invoices, support contract renewal reminders, etc.) and can really help you gauge the health of your relationships and the strength of your solutions.

1.    “How can we improve the level of service we provide your company?”

You need to ask this question on a regular basis, both in surveys and in person as you are doing work, at least a couple times per year.  The suggestions you get will be incredibly enlightening!  Usually they will tell you things you can implement without charging them another cent like e-mail reminders about scheduled visits, etc.  Other times you might get suggestions on how you can improve the benefits you offer, such as response time or specific specialties.  Take to heart those that would actually improve your business and consider which ones just won’t work.

2.    “Is there anything else IT-related that your company needs?”

Even if you’ve been providing stellar service, sometimes you might overlook something that is really bothering them (or maybe they’ve been too afraid to ask!) related to their IT assets.  Make sure you regularly ask for their concerns with their IT assets and how it is working to inform the sophisticated solutions you provide.

3.    “Do you know anyone else – business associates, friends, family members, etc. in the area that could use some help with computer problems?”

To give your clients some help as your extended sales force, spend a minute or two when you ask this question (and any other time it’s appropriate!) reminding your clients what to look out for when they are talking to their friends and professional acquaintances.  For example, if they are on the phone with a vendor or supplier or family member that is complaining that everything is slow or the LAN’s down again, etc., this is an excellent time for them to point the person in your direction!

Today we talked about how to improve your computer consulting services by asking important questions of your clients on a regular basis.  To learn more about this subject, visit the attached link!

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg

Is an IT Franchise a Good Idea?

When you are deciding how to set up your IT consulting business, one of your options is to build an IT franchise.  Many consultants wonder, “Is an IT franchise a good idea?”

The Benefits of an IT Franchise

1.    You get the perks of being part of a larger company;

2.    You get a built-in organizational peer support network;

3.    You get access to a LOT of tools and resources;

4.    You already have people (clients) to go with problems.

The Negatives of Being Part of an IT Franchise

While there certainly can be big benefits to owning an IT franchise, there can also be some significant “cons.”

1.    You need a substantial capital investment to start an IT franchise.

2.    You will be paying a percentage of your revenue or profit every month to a franchiser in the form of a royalty.

3.    You will be restricted as to what you can and cannot do with your business.  

The Main Point about Buying into an IT Franchise

Usually, starting a computer consulting business from scratch is a much lower overhead investment than starting an IT franchise.  However, you can expect to spend significant TIME on this type of business, when much of the work of starting an IT franchise has already been done because you are buying into an existent, thriving organization.

Today we talked about some pros and cons of buying into an IT franchise.  To get more business development tips and learn more about IT consulting, visit the attached link.

Blogged By: Computer Consulting Kit

Tips to Help You Build Your IT Business with Micro Small Clients

While the sweet spot of computer consulting is best for most that want to run a profitable small business IT business, many consultants have to start small and build.  Micro small businesses can often be a jumping off point for those with an IT business.

Tip 1:  Know What "Micro Small Businesses" Are

Micro small businesses are companies with 1-10 computers that are typically Windows based or 1-10 employees and $100,000 – $1 million in annual revenue.  Micro small businesses are different from others when it comes to your IT business because they will not have dedicated servers and will be running a peer-to-peer (P2P) server.  Often your purpose in being there is to get them to the point of being able to manage a dedicated server. 

Tip 2:  Know Your Hardware with Micro Small Businesses

You have to know which type of hardware your micro small clients will be using and how your IT business will handle it. 

What will you need to know?  You’ll need to know basic desktop PC support, notebooks, PDAs, printers, how to set up servers, DSL, cable modems and a little about surge protection, data protection and entry-level battery backup. 

Tip 3:  Software You Need to Know for Your New IT Business

When you start an IT business and work with micro-small businesses you will need to know the most popular desktop and notebook operating systems, but mostly just the basic Microsoft Windows products on desktops, some notebooks and PDAs.  Micro-small businesses will also be looking for heavy desktop office automation applications support, basic PC support, basic notebook support and the whole Microsoft Office family or products.

Today we talked about some tips for those starting a new IT business that want to use micro-small businesses as a starting point.  To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link. 

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Becoming an IT Consultant: Skills You Need

When you’re thinking about becoming an IT consultant, remember – it really doesn’t matter if you lack advanced technical computer skills.  This can be remedied through self study … and many business and social skills are going to be a lot more important to building the relationships you need to sustain your business anyway!

To learn technical skills when you’re becoming an IT consultant …

You can get not-for-resale (NFR) copies of products you want to sell, install and support and work on them in the confines of your lab.  If you have a spare hour or half an hour, you can walk through basic installations, break them, and reinstall until you get comfortable.  

A lot of the installations you’ll be handling for small business clients when you’re becoming an IT consultant will be pretty self driven, meaning they have wizards for basic installations and won’t require advanced computer skills.  

Technical Skills You Need When Becoming an IT Consultant:

1.    Strong PC hardware skills;

2.    The ability to handle a peer-to-peer (P2P) set up;

3.    A knowledge of TCP/IP;

4.    An awareness of POP3 and SMTP;

5.    A familiarity with how to work basic SOHO routers.  

If you have these skills, you are on your way to becoming an IT consultant!

To learn more about this topic and many others, visit the attached link!

Submitted By:  Joshua Feinberg

Computer Repair Forms: Three Steps to Using Templates Can Save Your Business Time and Money!

If you own your own computer repair business, you know that your time is money, and a lot of your time can be spent on unbillable hours filling out computer repair forms, networking to drum up new business and countless other administrative activities that suck up time you could be spending working in the field.  

So why not get your hands on some templates that can save you time and money? The Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course offers a large collection of immediately downloadable, field-tested and PROVEN customizable computer repair forms and countless other templates that can get you started today taking YEARS off your learning curve, saving yourself hundreds or even thousands of hours of your time and adding tens of thousand dollars OR MORE to your company’s bottom line.   

If you are like other professional services firms, your time is probably valued at $100/hour or more by your clients, which makes using templates and readily-designed computer repair forms an obvious decision.  

Computer Repair Forms:  Three Steps to Using Templates That Can Save Your Business Time and Money

1.    Open each file from the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course download center;

2.    Customize your computer repair forms;

3.    Print out your document.

To learn more about how you can use customizable, field-tested, PROVEN computer repair forms from the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course, visit the attached link!

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg