Computer Consultants Secrets ™

When it comes to providing clients with IT support, you have a lot of responsibilities.  There are specific areas that you need to include as part of your IT support services.

IT Support:  Coordinate Telecommunications Solutions

When it comes to sweet spot clients, you will most likely have to coordinate IT support with a local telephone company.  You will probably work with either a CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier) or an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier).  Research the types of connections you need and check out dial-up networking solutions.  You also have to be prepared to coordinate tech support with an ISP.

IT Support:  Test

Your firm will probably have to know about vertical industry applications.  You will either have to bring in the vertical applications or test them at the request of your clients before they make an investment.  You are responsible for telling clients how the application will fit into their networks.  

IT Support:  Guru and Employee Training

Whether you want to be involved or not, part of IT support is conducting formal end-user training.  You will probably have to train small groups when you add new applications.  Also be prepared to provide informal training with the internal guru, who in turn can train the rest of the employees about more mundane issues.  

IT Support:  Predict Disaster

Part of IT support is dealing with disaster recovery planning, which includes regular data backup checks, virus scans, power protection and other security items.  Don’t forget that part of IT support is maintenance.

IT Support:  The Main Idea

Your problem-solving and strategic-planning skills are your best tools for clients.  You have to deal with everything IT when it comes to clients, write it down and really get organized so you can take a proactive stance with IT support.  

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Asking the following three questions of all your computer consulting clients will improve customer service and help grow your company.

“How Can We Improve the Service We Provide?”

Regularly ask computer consulting clients this question – at least a few times annually.  They will probably give you plenty of suggestions that will help your customer service, including many items you will be able to add to your services without charging them more money.  E-mail reminders of your visits are a great example.

Some services will be a little more difficult to deliver, such as the request for niche specialists.  The main point is, some computer consulting services will require more or in some cases too much extra work on your part (and not enough benefits!) but some might be wonderful chances to earn more revenue.

Questions Number Two and Three

“Is There Anything Else Related to IT That Your Company Needs?”

“Do You Know Anyone Else – Business Associates, Friends, Family Members – in the Area That Can Use Help with IT Problems?”

You Can Help Computer Consulting Clients Help You

If you spend a few minutes talking to computer consulting clients and telling them what to look for, they will think of you when talking to their own associates, friends and family members that are dealing with IT issues.  If you train computer consulting clients to listen for clues that are opportunities for you and they are happy with the work you do for them, they will recommend you.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

Many IT specialists use the Computer Consulting Kit in all stages of their careers to help them manage all aspects of their business and plan for a long-term future in the computer consulting industry.

The tools presented by the Computer Consulting Kit can benefit both IT consultants and their clients.  They can help manage expectations and build the strong connections between clients and IT providers that mark the very best long-term relationships. 

The Computer Consulting Kit:  Using Best Practices to Manage Expectations and Grow Business

Ernie Neve is an IT consultant based in Plymouth Meeting, Massachusetts.  Like a growing number of  computer consultants, he uses the Computer Consulting Kit as the ultimate guide to direct his business and provide the best solutions for his clients and customers.

With the help of the sophisticated concepts presented by the Computer Consulting Kit, Ernie has been able to reshape his business plan to enhance benefits to clients and keep them happy.  

“Attention to even small details is critical to improving client satisfaction, reducing callbacks and keeping clients happy.  The Computer Consulting Kit continues to help us formalize and structure our computer consulting practice and helped us earn an additional $10,000 last year.  We have a long way to go, but the Computer Consulting Kit is our guide.”

Ernie is confident that by continuing to use the ideas learned in the Computer Consulting Kit, he will make 2007 “the big year” for his business.

Ernie Neve and the Computer Consulting Kit:  A Closer Look at Client Services

Ernie Neve has learned a lot from the Computer Consulting Kit about ways to interact with his clients:

“We consistently paid attention to detail and it virtually eliminated ‘day after’ call backs, which can lead to client dissatisfaction. Since 90% of the small business client users we do work for are somewhat unsophisticated when it comes to their use of the computer/network, any small change to what they do or the way they do it can wreak havoc on their world.  This can be as simple as them seeing a different network login name come out on a workstation restart because they were so used to just typing a password only each day because their user name was already there and literally did not know what to do.  If a change made to the server or their workstation rendered one of their programs not usable exactly as they had used it in the past etc. they also panicked.  For the client/user these types of things would result in downtime, unhappiness and the proverbial ‘Every time you guys come in here and fix something, something else doesn’t work’ comment.”

Ernie created a formal Quality Control system with a checklist and provided interaction with each user before completing work on the site.  

“We pay close attention to detail and leave each system (with the exception of our fix, upgrade, addition, etc. service) exactly how we found it.  We test each system to make sure that not only our new items work properly but also that existing applications work as well.  We interact with the end user to make sure he/she sees this is being done and agrees the system is as it was before we started.”

The Bottom Line About the Computer Consulting Kit and Managing Client Expectations

Ernie Neve and the Neve Group along with other computer consulting professionals are using the concepts offered by the Computer Consulting Kit in order to improve relationships with clients and present the most sophisticated solutions to small businesses and grow their own businesses in the process.

To get the same competetive edge as Ernie Neve and learn more about how the principles of the Computer Consulting Kit can help you and your business, visit the preceding link. 

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Computer gurus can help you to build your computer business.  The computer guru at your client’s site is not competition and their work will not reduce your profit.  Anything that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the computers makes you look good.  For this reason you should take every opportunity you can to improve the computer guru’s skills.  

Providing orientation and training sessions for the computer guru is an excellent way to accomplish this.  Here are eight competencies you should instill in the computer gurus working at your client sites:

Top 8 Computer Guru Tasks

• Administrator Password Sanctity - The administrator user account is all-powerful. Use these credentials only when absolutely necessary. If a breach is suspected, change the password immediately. Otherwise, follow your computer consultant’s suggested guidelines for regularly changing passwords.

• Antivirus Software - Since new viruses are discovered al-most daily, antivirus software needs constant updates. Be-cause automatic updates don’t always work, show how to check the date of last update and how to force a manual up-date.

• Lock the Server Console - Even if kept in a locked room, the server keyboard should always be “locked” – either manually, or with a password-protected blank screen saver (and a very short time delay).

• Log File Watching - To nip problems early, show where to look for log files for data backup, power protection, virus protection and security systems. Just as important, show examples of what a “success” and “failure” looks like.

• Password Changes - Sooner or later, someone will “forget” their password — or leave the company. Show how to manually reset a password.

• Printer Job Administration - If a problematic print job in-advertently goes to an expensive-to-operate printer, such as a check printer or color laser printer, the guru should know how to rapidly locate and delete the job from the queue. Also, consider using network permissions to restrict printer access.

• Rebooting the Server - Show how to properly reboot the server(s): check for open files, manually stop key services to speed up the reboot, and shut down/power cycle the server.

• Tape Backup Management - Although backup systems are generally reliable, they do malfunction occasionally. Besides monitoring the tape backup log and rebooting the server to un-jam a stuck tape, show how to restore a file. File restoration is also a great way to test if the backup system is working as well as you think it is. Also, demonstrate how to launch a manual, off-schedule backup job.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Computer Gurus. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Computer Gurus, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Computer software training is an area of huge revenue potential for the savvy network consultant.  Not only are you the computer department for your client companies, you are also the computer expert.  By offering computer software training you increase the value of your services many times over.  

Here are some helpful ideas regarding computer software training.

• When you do computer software training you add value to the human resources of the company, not just the IT based resources.  This puts you and your services in a whole new light and it allows you to deepen your relationship with your client.

• Computer software training also helps to prevent one of the biggest potential obstacles of server and LAN installations.  When clients lack training it prevents them from fully utilizing the new system.  This causes them to devalue the service you provide.  

• Small business end users rarely have the luxury of taking full-day or multi-day off-site computer software training classes. Now more than ever, the small business network consultant is often the only way that clients’ staff will ever get any formal software training – even if it’s relatively informal one-on-one or small group sessions.

• When you get a new client, be sure to discuss computer software training outset.  This way you can craft a custom training solution appropriate for each client’s unique needs.

• Be sure to strongly recommend and factor in a few hours of one-on-one or small group end user computer software training sessions into every server or LAN proposal.

• Remember that your clients desperately need this computer software training to get maximum value out of their IT investments. Incorporate this message into your marketing and sales approaches.  

• Computer software training is a significant factor for helping clients avoid buyer’s remorse.

• You and your clients should see a dramatic reduction in relatively frivolous help desk calls. (“HELP! I lost my toolbar again!”)

• By providing computer software training you’ll almost always uncover future sales opportunities for your consulting services. (think of it as hidden gold bullion!)

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Computer Software Training. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Computer Software Training, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Excellent customer service means exceeding customer expectations.  We have put together a checklist of the top ten things to do to provide excellent customer service.  By following these tips you will stay on the right side of the customer and exceed their expectations as much as possible.  

Top 10 Ways To Provide Excellent Customer Service

• First strategy for excellent customer service, stick to your standard configurations as much as you can.  Warn the client in advance if you need to deviate from your standard configurations, which should be their standard configuration too.

• Second strategy for excellent customer service, look through Google and newsgroups in order to proactively preempt any compatibility risks, bugs or workarounds that you’re concerned about.

• Third strategy for excellent customer service, never use your client as a guinea pig.  Even if the client is the first to run a product, try it out internally before you run it in the live client environment.  

• Fourth strategy for excellent customer service, when in doubt, hire a specialist.  If you can’t see the project through from end to end you need to hire a specialist as a subcontractor to get the job done.    

• Fifth strategy for excellent customer service, recognize that there is no such thing as over-documenting or over-communicating.  If a client wants a checklist, give it to them.  If they want to talk to you once a week, do it.  

• Sixth strategy for excellent customer service, avoid procrastinating on longer projects.

• Seventh strategy for excellent customer service, always build a cushion of time into your schedule to accommodate unexpected delays.

• Eighth strategy for excellent customer service, make your invoices as clear as possible.  Clients shouldn’t need a decoder ring to figure out what’s going on with your invoices or statements.  Use plain English and avoid techno-speak and jargon at all costs.  

• Nineth strategy for excellent customer service, don’t assume anything.  Continuoulsy ask if the client has questions.  

• Tenth strategy for excellent customer service, offer to train the internal guru.  Even if that training causes you to lose some short-term consulting revenue, you are in this for the long run.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Excellent Customer Service. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Excellent Customer Service, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Customer expectations are often built around project management issues.  If you use good organization and make sure projects are completed properly and timely, you will surely exceed customers’ expectations.

Project Management Tips For Exceeding Customer Expectations

• Meet with the decision-maker and the guru about four times a year (once a quarter) to review things like the projects you completed, what projects are pending, and what projects you are planning on starting.

• Exceed customer expectations by going over your week by week schedule with them.  

• Make sure the schedule you planned doesn’t conflict with anything the client has going on.  Exceeding customer expectations means going out of your way to ensure the client’s experience is as smooth as possible. Make sure you do things at their convenience, not yours.

• When you sit down with the guru or decision maker, find out if there is anything else outstanding that needs to be addressed.  Is there anything that they would like to see happen over the next 90 days?  Again, exceed customer expectations by placing their needs first - even if that means rearranging your work to accommodate.

• Set clear guidelines for interim deliverables. When you set up phases or milestones you give both parties opportunities to discuss the project, make changes, and ensure the schedule is still doable.   

• Provide weekly progress reports for any substantial offsite work you do. This is an excellent way to exceed expectations because many clients have never been treated to such service.  Call or send an email once a week, whether you are on-site or not.  Little  things like this, that take a minute or two, can make such a huge difference in exceeding customers’ expectations.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Customer Expectations. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Customer Expectations, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Customer expectations have to be met, consistently, in order for you to grow a successful business.  If you expect to get the big bucks as a small business computer consultant, you have to meet and exceed customer expectations.

Clients are going to expect a lot from you.  They have very little tolerance for anything less than their notion of what is perfection.  The key to meeting customer expectations is defining exactly what their idea of perfection is.

What’s involved in exceeding customer expectations?  

The big secret here is, you need to get your clients to define their expectations right at the outset.  This is not as easy as that sounds.  There is no textbook for this, so you have to try a bunch of things until one of them works.  

The best way to understand customer expectation is obviously to ask the client directly.  However, because most of your clients don’t come from consulting backgrounds, they’re not B2B professional services providers.  This means they don’t typically have experience talking to other businesses about their needs.  

In order for you to define their customer expectation, you are going to need to help them along during the process.  You need to get them to open up about how they define meeting and exceeding customer expectations.  

Many new computer consultants will assume this conversations about customer expectations should come once a lead becomes a paying customer.  If you want to exceed customer expectations, you actually need to start gathering this before they are clients.  If you understand up-front what their customer expectations are, you can determine whether your skills, knowledge, and ability are sufficient to exceed them.

Bottom Line on Customer Expectations
You have to know and understand customer expectations before you can hope to meet and exceed them.  By asking potential customers to define their expectations before hand, you are in a position to qualify your clients based on your ability to exceed their customer expectations.  This is extremely important if you want to find and keep well paying, sweet-spot clients.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Customer Expectations. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Customer Expectations, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business. 

These are the final three of the 21 steps you need to take to make your transition from part-timer moonlighting into full-time IT consulting.

Step 19: Never Stop Meeting New People

Attend networking meetings regularly. Keep expanding your IT consulting prospect file even when you’re really, really busy. You’re always going to need people in your funnel. Get to know the organization’s programming needs, what kind of speakers panels and educational programs they have, etc. Volunteer to speak at an upcoming meeting on an IT-related topic.

Speaking is such a powerful way your clients. Speaking at a chamber of commerce event or rotary seminar can get you a huge pool of potential future IT consulting clients and business contacts.

Step 20: Plan your First Cold Direct Mail Postcard Campaign

It’s really important to use some kind of targeting method. Narrow it down to something so you’re picking a list of certain occupation certain industry so you can write advertising copy that can address their needs. Set a deadline for a free analysis.

Mail a 1000 card postcard test and measure response. Assuming you get a decent response and you establish a control, mail 1000 or 2000 cards a month. You should look to spend $300 - $700 depending on how much your rented mailing list is. A good modest goal would be a 1 percent response rate so you get 10 to 20 inquiries for you to add to your IT consulting sales funnel.

Step 21: Set Up an Effective Follow-Up System

Keep attending networking events, get the contacts that you meet at those networking events into an effective follow-up system, keep going to the meetings on a regular basis, and do targeted mail and keep doing those four things until you have enough leads and billable work. Even when you’re really, really busy, with IT consulting, keep up these activities.

Go to a networking event every other week and still try to get some postcards out once a month because. Within ninety days, a good modest goal would be to pick up at least 3 to 5 steady clients so you can be well on your way to full-time IT  consulting income. Go to the events so you can understand what’s driving your prospects nuts with their computers and how you can help.

Develop a follow-up system so you can stay in front of them until they’re ready to raise their hands and say, "We need you now." Keep going to more of those meetings, get on the radar screen as an expert so you can be on panels and then gradually start to do some targeted direct mail.

The Bottom Line about IT Consulting
 
In this article, you’ve been introduced to IT consulting.  To learn more about IT consulting, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

After you have learned to explain the concept of a "real" network to small business prospects and clients, you can look into the vendors out there providing small business server suites (both client/server and Web-based).  The following is a listing of various technology vendors and websites for product or reseller/partner information.

Apple Server Solutions
• Reseller/Partner Information:
http://consultants.apple.com/

IBM Small Business Suite for Linux –
• Reseller/Partner Information:
http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/consultants

Microsoft Small Business Server –
• Product Information:
http://www.microsoft.com/sbserver/
• Reseller/Partner Information:
http://www.microsoft.com/partner/

Novell Small Business Suite –
• Product Information:
http://www.novell.com/products/smallbiz/
• Reseller/Partner Information:
http://www.novell.com/partners/channel/

Oracle Small Business Suite, powered by NetLedger –
• Reseller/Partner Information:
http://www.netledger.com/portal/partners.jsp

Red Hat Linux
• Training/Certification Information:
http://www.redhat.com/training/

Sun Cobalt Qube 3 Appliance –
• Product Information:
http://www.sun.com/hardware/serverappliances/qube3/
• Reseller/Partner Information:
http://www.sun.com/partners/

Trustix Small Office Server
• Reseller/Partner Information:
http://www.trustix.com/index.php?kat=Partners&p=77|

The Bottom Line about Technology Vendors

VARBusiness Magazine has two great online resources to help you research technology vendor partner programs.  You can access the VARBusiness Annual Report Card at http://www.varbusiness.com/sections/main/2002arc.asp. In addition, the VARBusiness Partner Program Guide, listing over 340 partner programs, resides at http://www.varbusiness.com/sections/main/2002ppg.asp .

In this article, you’ve learned about technology vendors. To learn more about technology vendors click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business

Use these simple, low-tech tips and best practices to minimize your handheld device support headaches and maximize the security of your clients’ incredibly valuable data.

Pay Attention to Product Reviews

Don’t take Plug-and-Play claims at face value.  Over the years, Microsoft Windows hecklers have taken many a cheap shot at the OS family by branding it "plug and pray".

Before making a handheld device purchase recommendation, check out some independent product reviews in leading personal technology magazines and online portals.  Pay particular attention to comments regarding device drivers and ease-of-installation.

Make an Informed Recommendation

Do your homework before making the handheld device purchase recommendation.  Because of their small size and minimal costs, PDAs are often impulse purchases for your clients.  However, making the "right" hardware and software selections can have an enormous impact on clients’ computer support costs.

Iron Out Who Will be Responsible for Installation and Support

Watch out for dangerous end user installation snafus.  Unless your clients’ end users are very PC savvy, you probably don’t want to leave users to install and support their own handheld device to desktop connectivity. All too often, a user inadvertently will break a multitude of key software configurations while accepting default installation settings.

Determine What Can Be Stored on Handheld Devices

Consider if any proprietary data should be "PDA-banned".  Be sure you and your clients have thought through what kinds of sensitive data can be stored on these handheld devices, given that the pocket-sized PDA devices are inherently vulnerable to theft.

The Bottom Line about Handheld Devices

In the same context of data security, establish some kind of backup procedures for your clients. We’ve all heard the horror stories of users losing three years of appointments and 2,000 customer names that were stored on their handheld device and not backed up anywhere else. Don’t let your clients’ organizations or supported users become one of these statistics.

In this article, you’ve learned about the handheld device. To learn more about the handheld device click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business

While it’s tough to make much of a profit margin on sales of desktop or notebook PCs, it’s next to impossible to profitably sell personal digital assistants (PDAs) to your small business clients.

After all, these handheld devices are generally positioned more as consumer electronics devices than full-blown "computers".

The Popularity of Handheld Devices or PDA’s

Nevertheless, today’s PDAs, based on the Palm and Microsoft Windows CE OS’s are quite powerful.  Because of power and flexibility, PDAs have become quite popular with organizations of all sizes.  However, lurking behind PDAs soaring popularity are some hidden IT support dangers where your small business clients really need you to step in and save the day.

The Whole World in the "Palm" of Your Hand

In most cases, either your consulting firm or your clients’ internal gurus get the first handheld device or PDA support request.  Even when an employee purchased the handheld device on his or her own or received it as a gift, they will call on you for support.

Inevitably, regardless of whether your small business clients purchase them for employees, handheld devices or PDAs sooner or later will make their way onto your computer support radar screen.

Will Your Client Fund PDA Support?

Just be sure to have a heart-to-heart with your main client contact person to decide what the "official party line" will be on PDA support.

Consider all the different product and operating system variables when deciding how your company will cost-effectively support PDAs.  There are two additional main issues to think about when considering offering handheld device support to clients: data security and desktop connectivity.

The Bottom Line about Handheld Devices

In this article, you’ve been introduced to the handheld device. To learn more about the handheld device click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

As an IT consultant, you should know most PC vendors would be happy to cover inexpensive items like a mouse under the standard warranty.

However, given that your client could purchase a spare replacement mouse for about $10 to $30, is it really worth one of their employees being without a mouse, or worse yet without a PC, for a day or two while they await the replacement part under standard PC warranty coverage?

Clients Should Have Spare Parts on Hand

If your clients have spare mice on hand, warranty claims can be deferred a few days, or a few weeks, until time permits. In the interim, as their IT consultant, you’ve helped your clients mitigate the downtime for a very nominal advanced planning expense.

As your clients’ IT consultant, keeping a spare keyboard and monitor at their site also makes sense.  The cost of these items is very inexpensive versus the potential productivity loss resulting from waiting for replacement parts to arrive. These three external items can all be installed rapidly by internal gurus.

Spare Desktop PCs

As the price of entry-level desktop PCs has plummeted and expectations for zero downtime have risen, we’ve seen many small businesses purchasing an extra PC, to keep fully-configured and plug-in ready.

Today, if the standard, fully-configured entry-level desktop PC only costs around $600, an office with as few as six PCs can fully fund the purchase of a spare desktop PC, simply by self-insuring on the warranty coverage for years two and three.

Advise Your Clients Wisely

As their IT consultant, you should recommend to your client that they invest some of their technology budget on select spare parts, and a full desktop PC.

This way, they can handle warranty claims at their leisure, not when their company is swamped and functioning in panic mode.  If your clients are outsourcing this sort of project management work to you as their IT consultant, keeping spares on hand will lessen the need to pay costly emergency rate premiums.

The Bottom Line about the IT Consultant

In this article, you’ve been introduced to the IT consultant.  To learn more about the IT consultant click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

In running an IT consulting business, do not be too quick to give new clients credit. Even when you give them credit, keep their lines of credit relatively low until they’ve built up some history with you.

Provide Low Lines of Credit

If you have new IT consulting clients, it may make sense to start them out, even if you get a credit application and send out some credit reference letters, with a $500 or $1,000 line of credit.  Don’t go allowing them to hang you up on a $5,000 or $10,000 leash before they’ve proven they’re able to pay small invoices.

If they need a lot of work before that, it makes sense to get larger deposits and be able to accept credit cards, but do not be too quick to give new IT consulting clients credit. It’s a way to get yourself in big financial trouble really fast.

Require Written Agreements

It’s even worse if you’re selling products like hardware, software and peripherals. Always insist on written agreements for your IT consulting business. Verbal promises are for amateurs and belong in an era of time that disappeared decades ago.

State what you’re going to do, how you’re going to do it, when you’re going to do it, what it’s going to cost and the payment schedule, in four to six sentences. Of course, on larger IT consulting projects you will need multi page proposals.

The Bottom Line about IT Consulting

Always insist on written agreements, even if it’s a very small job. Just type up a couple sentences, a letter of understanding, to ensure you and the client are on the same page.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to IT consulting. To learn more about IT consulting, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Over the past five years, the price points on notebook PCs have been driven down dramatically. However, lower purchase prices not withstanding, notebook PCs still have a rather unique warranty service dilemma.

If a keyboard, mouse-equivalent (tracking-stick or touch-pad) or display fails on a notebook PC, you won’t find inexpensive, third party replacements parts readily available at local retail stores.

Study the Warranties

So as your clients’ virtual CIO who decides on what particular brands and models of notebook PCs to recommend, it’s important to scrutinize notebook PC warranties.  With notebooks, individual hardware components are much more specialized than components used for desktop PCs.

For example, notebook hard drives are not as generic as desktop PC hard drives (although notebook PC hard drives are getting more standardized).

Parts Not so Common

As your client’s virtual CIO, you would have great difficulty trying to find a replacement notebook PC hard drive locally at a warehouse club or office supply superstore.

And even if you or your clients miraculously could find one, the price likely would be at least double the cost of a comparable desktop PC hard drive. As a result, the value of hardware component warranty coverage on a notebook PC is substantially greater.

The Bottom Line about the Notebook PC

Unlike desktop PC hard drive replacements, notebook hard drive replacements can be expensive, both from a soft cost perspective as well as the cost of the actual replacement part. Moreover, because notebooks require specific parts, it’s pretty difficult to quickly obtain appropriate replacement parts on your own.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to the notebook PC.  To learn more about the notebook PC click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

No computer consulting business can afford to be sitting at a client site, running up a big bill, staring at a blue-screen-of-death, facing an angry mob of irate users and sitting on hold for two hours with tech support.

This scenario is your absolute worst nightmare in running a computer consulting business and can be the kiss of death to your client relationship.

The Need for Good Vendor Technical Support

Good vendor technical support will preserve your credibility as a computer consulting business during times of crisis.  No matter how experienced you are at PC hardware troubleshooting, calling on a specialist is a necessity.

Understand What Is Offered

Rather than get an unpleasant surprise when you need help the most, get the lowdown on vendor technical support before you make the purchase recommendation.  Although many top PC vendors have similar capabilities and services, ask about included technical support services, and preferably get a description of them in writing.

Ask Questions

As a computer consulting business, you will want to ask questions to determine the reliability of PC vendor technical support.

Find out if they are available by phone, if the technical support phone number is toll-free and if the support is free or not.  Also, find out if there are different technical support phone numbers for different products.

In operating your computer consulting business, you will also want to know if vendor technical support has 24/7 support in case you have a need for emergency support.  Ask if online tech support resources are available as well. 

Deal With a Specialist

As a computer consulting business, you want direct, rapid access to a specialist who deals with nothing but that particular product all day.  So test the technical support group’s responsiveness at a time when your heart isn’t racing in the heat of a client server-down emergency.

Also, PC Magazine regularly evaluates PC vendors’ technical support quality, so this is a good resource to look into.

The Bottom Line about the Computer Consulting Business

In this article, you’ve been introduced to the computer consulting business.  To learn more about the computer consulting business click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Regardless of whether your clients are considering PC purchases of desktops or notebooks, they need to consider compatibility issues with a CD-RW drive, the accompanying operating system and other hardware components.

With a notebook, you’re generally restricted to proprietary parts that only work with a particular brand, make and model of notebook. So if your clients want internal CD-RW drives, they’ll probably need the sole supported brand and model from the notebook manufacturer.

With PC purchases of desktops, your clients have many more options for adding a CD-RW drive. While they could purchase internal CD-RW drives later and have your firm install the devices, it’s much simpler to get the CD-RW drives bundled with PC purchases.

Foreward Thinking

Even though your firm could be forfeiting some short-term revenue by recommending hardware bundled component PC purchases, your clients will be much happier paying your hourly rates for high-level consulting work, as opposed to turning screwdrivers and connecting up ribbon cables.

By having CD-RW drives factory installed, you and your clients know the drives will work with the PC and operating system. No guesswork. No tedious calls to technical support. Minimal, if any, frustration.

Tech Support and Warranty Benefits

The PC vendor who bundled the CD-RW drive with the desktop notebook or PC purchases should stand behind the configuration as "supported," if and when you or your clients need to call for assistance.

• This one-stop shopping approach also can prove invaluable, as your clients won’t be subjected to the all-too-typical finger-pointing and accountability shirking between a component manufacturer and a PC vendor.
• The bundled CD-RW drive will be covered by the PC’s warranty.
• The incremental cost of upgrading from a standard CD-ROM drive to a CD-RW drive at time of PC purchases is usually minimal.

The Bottom Line about PC Purchases

In this article, you’ve been introduced to PC purchases.  To learn more about PC purchases, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

If your clients’ recent financial results have been so spectacular that they feel now is the time to make significant technology investments in their companies, consider the following alternatives to solely devoting their IT spending to PC hardware purchases.

Influencing What Your Clients Do with Budget Surpluses

Think about encouraging clients to reallocate the surplus funds for IT spending on something else technology-related that they really need.

This may be end user or administrator training, so they can get more out of their PC hardware, software and networking investments. Planned wisely, training will do wonders to improve system uptime, reduce repetitive help desk calls and boost productivity.

Offer Training to Your Clients

Whenever feasible, make sure your company provides this kind of formal or informal one-on-one training. Otherwise, you may be leaving some really easy money on the table, exposing your clients users to potentially conflicting information and opening up your primo client accounts for poaching.

Look at Their Connection Speeds

Now may be a good time for your clients to upgrade their Internet access to boost performance and dependability. How your clients finagle their IT spending is a very individualized decision.

Encourage them to think big picture and don’t be afraid to recommend that they break tradition if it makes sense for their intermediate and long-term business needs.

The Bottom Line about IT Spending

In this article, you’ve been introduced to the topic of IT spending.  To learn more about IT spending, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Your clients might be tempted to outfit their top managers and producers with the latest and greatest PC hardware. After all, a CFO or senior account manager has a tremendous amount riding on his or her daily performance and productivity. But they need to consider better ways to spend their money.

What Does Your Client Really Need?

Look carefully at clients’ software application requirements before you allow their “emotional” needs to drive tech PC hardware purchases. If a client’s CFO spends most of a typical day crunching numbers in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and communicating via e-mail in Microsoft Outlook, he or she really has only very basic PC hardware requirements.

Would Their Money Be Spent Better Elsewhere?

As virtual CIO to this client, you may find at least a dozen financial software-related projects you could work on for this CFO that would bring greater bottom-line results than an ego-driven PC hardware purchase.

These consulting projects will be infinitely more profitable to your consulting firm than the slim profit margin on a high-end, commodity-like desktop PC hardware purchase.

What about Notebook PCs?

Also help your clients keep their egos in check with notebook purchases. Your clients can get some really useful multimedia features in high-end notebooks in the $4,000 to $5,000 price range.

But if the CEO of one of your main clients merely wants to access e-mail remotely, you easily could equip him or her with a reliable, high-performance, brand-name notebook for one-third to one-half of that price.

Use Your Knowledge To Help Your Clients

As your clients’ virtual CIO and technology visionary, you have an awesome responsibility. Don’t allow clients’ objective judgments and technology budgets to get seduced by superfluous bells and whistles - especially when these bells and whistles take away from technology spending that can have a much greater impact than PC hardware purchases.

When in doubt, ask yourself this basic question:

“If my client took the $5,000 that was about to be spent on the “Rolls Royce” of notebooks and reallocated the amount toward computer consulting services, what kind of an impact on their business could my firm make with a $5,000 budget for a consulting project?”

The Bottom Line about PC Hardware

In this article, you’ve been introduced to PC hardware purchasing decisions.  To learn more about PC hardware click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Your clients might be tempted to outfit their top managers and producers with the latest and greatest PC hardware. After all, a CFO or senior account manager has a tremendous amount riding on his or her daily performance and productivity. But they need to consider better ways to spend their money.

What Does Your Client Really Need?

Look carefully at clients’ software application requirements before you allow their "emotional" needs to drive tech PC hardware purchases. If a client’s CFO spends most of a typical day crunching numbers in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and communicating via e-mail in Microsoft Outlook, he or she really has only very basic PC hardware requirements.

Would Their Money Be Spent Better Elsewhere?

As virtual CIO to this client, you may find at least a dozen financial software-related projects you could work on for this CFO that would bring greater bottom-line results than an ego-driven PC hardware purchase.

These consulting projects will be infinitely more profitable to your consulting firm than the slim profit margin on a high-end, commodity-like desktop PC hardware purchase.

What about Notebook PCs?

Also help your clients keep their egos in check with notebook purchases. Your clients can get some really useful multimedia features in high-end notebooks in the $4,000 to $5,000 price range.

But if the CEO of one of your main clients merely wants to access e-mail remotely, you easily could equip him or her with a reliable, high-performance, brand-name notebook for one-third to one-half of that price.

Use Your Knowledge To Help Your Clients

As your clients’ virtual CIO and technology visionary, you have an awesome responsibility. Don’t allow clients’ objective judgments and technology budgets to get seduced by superfluous bells and whistles - especially when these bells and whistles take away from technology spending that can have a much greater impact than PC hardware purchases.

When in doubt, ask yourself this basic question:

"If my client took the $5,000 that was about to be spent on the "Rolls Royce" of notebooks and reallocated the amount toward computer consulting services, what kind of an impact on their business could my firm make with a $5,000 budget for a consulting project?"

The Bottom Line about PC Hardware

In this article, you’ve been introduced to PC hardware purchasing decisions.  To learn more about PC hardware click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.