Part of understanding how you will provide IT support for businesses is knowing where you are when it comes to the competition.  Making expensive mistakes will take up too much precious time and effort.  

Micro Small Businesses and IT Support

Those businesses with 1-10 PCs that make anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million per year get their IT support mainly from internal gurus.  They also use independent hotlines, software vendors, ISPs and independent vendors.  They are typically used to spending $1.99 or $2.99 per minute to talk to people about their IT issues.  They also scan websites and forums looking for free answers.   

Micro Small Businesses and Volunteers

Micro small businesses usually depend on volunteers – a PC-aware friend or family member – to provide free IT support.  They might be annoyed by the quality of service, but at least the service is free.   

Can You Compete with Free?

You can compete with free IT support, but the going is tough.  You can use micro small businesses as touchstones.  They get their IT support sometimes from system builders too, including white box system assemblers that put together systems from brand name parts.  

Sometimes IT support will come from retail store clerks that make $6 - $10 per hour.  You can compete by highlighting the value of your IT support for micro small businesses.

Blogged By:  Joshua Feinberg