Computer Consultants Secrets ™

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 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.
 
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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

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

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

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

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

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

There are varying opinions about whether small business computer consultants should become computer resellers.  Here are some definitions to help you weigh your options.

Pure Computer Consulting Firms

Those that want to completely stay away from being computer resellers choose to be pure computer consulting firms.  They believe they will never make a penny off product margin and that computer resellers don’t make a dime.  They decide NOT to resell hardware, software or peripherals, though they do help clients decide exactly what to buy and how the specs should be.  

Purchasing Firms

Another variation on pure computer consulting firms is the concept of purchasing agents.  They do the purchasing for clients and bill them for a couple hours.  Their job is to review quotes, place and track orders and carry the product purchase to the end.  These types of consultants are still not officially computer resellers, but they are doing more than pure consultants.  

Hybrid Consulting Firms

These types of firms are part-time computer resellers.  They might sell white box PCs – non-branded desktops, servers and notebooks. 

How Do You Decide Whether or Not to Be Computer Resellers?

Your decision to resell products depends on where you want to spend your time.  Do you want to invest the time trying to get incremental profit off product sales or focus on pure consulting dollars?  No matter what you decide, if you want to make money at being an IT consultant, you can’t lead with product sales.  You have to sell comprehensive business solutions that can truly help your clients’ companies thrive.

Today we talked about computer resellers.  To learn more about this topic and others, visit the attached link!

Submitted By:  Joshua Feinberg

You need to think carefully about the pros and cons of IT franchise ownership before you decide to buy one.  

The Pros of an IT Franchise

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

2.    You get a strong peer support network as part of the organization;

3.    You get some valuable tools and resources to help you run your business;

4.    You have people already there to be clients and customers.  

The Cons of an IT Franchise

1.    You have to have significant capital to get started;

2.    You will end up paying a large part of your revenue/profit each month as a royalty to your franchiser;

3.    You will have some restrictions about where you can go with your business.

You need  to think carefully about how you approach IT franchise ownership and weigh the above pros and cons as well as any others you can think of before making your decision.

Today we talked a little bit about the pros and cons of owning an IT franchise.  To learn more about this subject – and much more – visit the attached link!

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

When you are starting your IT company, you have to prepare to put in a lot of time and effort.  You’re going to have to go out and really meet people and make a lot of follow-up phone calls and send personalized notes and e-mails.  Your main goal with your IT company in the beginning is going to be spending time establishing very personal relationships.

Some Tips for Judging Time for IT Company Startup

1.    Don’t expect franchises to be easy.  Even though you get some things set up for you with franchises when you start an IT company, you’re still not going to get a set client list.

2.    If you want set client lists, you’re going to have to buy a current business (but expect to pay quite a lot of money for it!).  Even a small IT company is going to cost you anywhere between a few hundred thousand dollars and a few million dollars.  

3.    Starting your own IT company from scratch is possible with just a few thousand dollars.  You need a business phone number and voicemail, a cell phone, business cards and legal licensing registrations.  And you’ll have to pay for some accounting and legal services to make sure you’re squared away.  

The main point is, starting an IT company is full of opportunities but takes time.  Decide which type of business is for you and then be prepared to put in the hours.

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg

If you really want to be a good IT contractor, the first concept you need to grasp is the idea of the “specialist.”  

You might be saying, “That’s great … but an IT contractor needs to know a lot of general things about computers to make it!”

It’s true that you will need to know about the following topics if you want to be a successful IT contractor working with small businesses:  network design; procurement; managing relations; dealing with phone companies, Web hosts and Internet access ISPs; deciding what to buy and also inspecting it when it arrives; configuring, testing, integrating, customizing, training and troubleshooting for your clients.

The truth is, an IT contractor that is commanding high rates will do EVERYTHING, which is technically being a generalist.  So how can you be a specialist?

A Good IT Contractor is Choosy

If you want to be a specialist in a generalist’s world, you need to provide the soups-to-nuts complete solution to a SELECT group of people.  You’ll provide a virtual IT experience and take full accountability of everything your clients need.  But to survive in the world of IT, you need to choose the type of clients you go after.  Find a niche and a select group of people that could use your help and run with it!  

Today we talked about being a good IT contractor and a true specialist.  To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

As an IT consultant, one of your most important and unique tasks is finding out who your clients are BEFORE you sit down with them in a sales meeting.  Yes, you need to explain what your computer consulting business is all about … but you also have to go into any meeting thinking about the idea of the “mutual interview” and be prepared so you know what you’re doing and how to listen to your clients.  Otherwise, you’ll never be able to help them with their needs.

You’re an IT Consultant … Prepare!

Doing some homework and research on clients before a meeting may take you 30-45 minutes, but you have to invest the time as a responsible IT consultant so you can help close the sale.  In order for prospects to agree to pay for your services, you have to build credibility, and part of this is showing you know and care about their unique business problems. It’s pretty easy to go to Google and type in a person’s name or phone number and address to get a little information.  

An IT Consultant Knows Prospects and Clients

You need to learn …

1.    What their business is about;

2.    Their specific industry;

3.    The types of services they provide;

4.    The number of locations they have;

5.    How long they’ve existed.

You should also look up news stories and see what your potential clients have been up to in the community.

Today we talked about how you as an IT consultant can get more involved with your clients and build a better business.  To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

You need to be careful of people that want you to explain what you do in your computer consultancy.  You need to be prepared to talk clearly about what you do in simple terms so a client can determine whether or not you provide services that would suit his/her business.  

Some Tips for Talking about Your Computer Consultancy

1.    Be ready to talk about your computer consultancy by taking some time to prepare for meetings.  Spend 30-45 minutes before sales calls and other meetings with potential clients to learn something about your prospects so you can figure out how your solutions will fit.

2.    Put together a complete profile of your prospects to make sure you know how you can work with their complex business problems.  Find out what their business is about, which industry they are in, which types of services they provide, how many locations they have and how long they’ve been in business.

3.    Look in the news for information about your potential client.  You will probably be able to find news stories in Google or in the local newspaper through search functions. This will help you know more about your prospects and what they are doing and accomplishing.

Today we talked about some tips that can help you better communicate information about your computer consultancy.  To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Submitted By:  Joshua Feinberg

Recently computer business Hewlett-Packard (HP) made an agreement with Tower Software, a document and records management company to take over its company.  HP is based in Palo Alto and will attempt to expand its compliance business by purchasing the Canberra, Australia-based business.

Tower’s main package is TRIM Context, an enterprise content management system that helps organize information while following best practices.  If computer business HP’s acquisition of the company closes during the second quarter of this year, as planned, the computer business will fold the TRIM package into its information management software business alongside HP’s current Archive platform (known previously as the HP Reference Information Storage System – RISS).  TRIM Context will add important records management to HP’s current platform.  

Tower serves 1,000 global customers, with most of these being in Australia.  Computer business HP plans to take the new offering to larger systems integrators such as EDS of Plano, Texas and BearingPoint of McLean, Virginia.  Also a focus will be mid-market solution providers.

The details of the computer business acquisition have not yet been released.

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit    

Abaca Technology Corporation recently stated it would be starting a new partner program for solution providers – the Abaca Secure Partner Network.  Abaca, a leading innovator in email protection and security management create this program with multiple levels for solution providers, VARs and managed service providers and will finally expand its guarantee of 99 percent accuracy in email filtering and security to new groups.

Abaca’s new partner program will help grow businesses by increasing their margins on the company’s security appliance products and services.  The program will also make it possible for solution providers to offer Abaca’s famous “99 percent accuracy” guarantee for email filtering to their own customers.  

Features of the Solution Providers Program

1.    Resources that will help partners better sell and support products from Abaca.  

2.    Free training in sales and technology.

3.    Incentive programs for participants.

4.    Access to PartnerNet for solution providers.  This is a special online portal that allows partners to manage online sales, marketing efforts and technical resources.

Three Levels of Partnership

1.    Abaca Premier Partners is for solution providers with small-to-medium and large businesses.  At this level, partners work on market penetration and building revenue.  

2.    Abaca Preferred Partners is a level for solution providers that want to work with Abaca and its products to improve the changing security needs of their customers.

3.    Abaca Select Partners give customers email security solutions from the company and can have access to the many resources available on the Web by way of the Abaca PartnerNet system.

For more about this new solution providers program, visit the attached link.  

Submitted By:  Joshua Feinberg

What characteristics qualify the sweet spot for your computer consultant repair business?  First of all, you want to look for small businesses with 10-50 PCs and a specific revenue figure.  Typically companies that make one million to ten million U.S. dollars annually are in the sweet spot for your computer consultant repair business.  

As a note, if you are in Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand or any other nation besides the U.S., please be sure to convert these revenue figures to your local currency.  

The High End of the Sweet Spot

When you start dealing with the top of the computer consultant repair business sweet spot – more than 50 PCs or more than $10 million in annual sales – you will run into more companies that are hiring salaried IT people instead of outsourcing computer consulting needs.  At this point, you start to face stiff competition and people that will add up your invoices and figure out if they can do it more cheaply in house.  

Real Servers

When qualifying computer consultant repair business sweet spot clients, you need to seek out those companies large enough to need a real, dedicated server and not just a peer-to-peer network.  When a business needs a real server, it needs a lot of professional services to accompany it.  This is your chance to become an outsourced IT department and computer consultant repair specialist!

Does the Company Have More than One Location?

Often a sweet spot computer consultant repair client will have just one location, but sometimes there will be a main office and branch offices.  Branch offices become opportunities for your computer consultant repair business because they will need data sharing techniques in real time between many different locations.

Submitted By:  Computer Consulting Business

VARs often work with a lot of different providers when choosing the right products for their clients. Recently, a group of VARs ranked Cherry as the #1 keyboard provider.  Cherry took first place in the 2nd annual “VSR Hardware Leaderboard,” a voting that started in 2006 and just took place again for 2007.  

157 VARs voted on which was the best-performing POS keyboard supplier. Criteria used to determine it was established by VSR.  Cherry also took first place in “Product Features,” Innovation” and “Reliability” categories.  A spokesperson for Cherry, Keyboard Marketing Manager David Michielli expressed the company’s continued commitment to point-of-sale marketing and stated that the company would continue to serve VARs and focus on VARs’ clients.

Added By: Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

Business process management (BPM) leader provides systems integrators and other companies and government agencies with software.  The company has won awards for its technology and services that help customers improve their businesses.  Lombardi offers products for systems integrators that is built on open standards and, according to the company helps with prioritization, planning, visibility and business processes.  Organizations have been helped by Lombardi to be more efficient and flexible and make better decisions for the future.

Lombardi has helped many major systems integrators and companies improve their way of doing business with great software options.  Customers of the company include Allianz Life, Aflac, Banco Espirito Santo, Capital One, Dell, El Paso Corp., Hasbro, ING Direct, National Bank of Canada, Sprint, T-Mobile, Universal Music Group and many other governmental agencies and other companies.

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg

If you want to get your computer consulting business going, you need to get organized.  Choose a company name, get your business cards printed and decide which types of customers you want to go after and where you will meet them.  

Your Business Cards

You need to get your business cards printed even if you’re not sure the information will stay the same.  Start your computer consulting business by handing out a few business cards to friends and family members.  

Spread the Word!

Whenever you get into networking situations, you need to take the opportunity to tell them about your computer consulting business and hand out cards.  These people will be part of your sales force.  

Your Business Community

You need to get active in local organizations and find out where small business owners will be.  Look for three or four trade groups – your chamber of commerce, user group or trade group or other group.

What Do You Know?

When looking for good networking groups for your computer consulting business, find an industry focus that you know well.  You can always branch out as your business grows.  But if you start with a niche you know, you will already have credibility and be able to develop a marketing message that will speak to people.   

Are There Enough Prospects?

Let’s say you have a nursing background.  You can focus your early marketing and business development activities on small doctors’ offices in your area if you think there are at least 500 – 1,000 prospects within an hour of your location.  Your knowledge of the industry will go far.  

With your specialized computer consulting knowledge, you should also think about branding yourself by putting your industry focus in your name.  If you add “health care systems” or something like it, your message will be clear.  

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit