http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog Get the Computer Consultants Secrets You Need to Take Your Computer Consultant Business to the Next Level Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:03:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A huge part of a successful IT marketing campaign is making yourself memorable and setting yourself apart from the hundreds of consultants in your area that your prospects could be choosing to provide them with business solutions.   How do you make yourself memorable?  You have to sell YOU by focusing ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/438/it-marketing-make-yourself-memorable/ If you want to know if prospects and customers are going to be good candidates for service contracts, you need to test out proving ground projects.  In fact, proving ground projects are an ESSENTIAL step to building the relationships necessary for service contracts to work. What is a Proving Ground ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/437/service-contracts-use-proving-ground-projects-to-build-relationships/ 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 ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/436/what-does-it-mean-to-be-an-it-contractor/ Relationships with clients are critical if you want to make meaningful IT sales.  Your relationships are your greatest assets when you are trying to sell prospects on your unique IT solutions.   What about the size of your customer list?  Actually, list size is unimportant, as is revenue.  The real key ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/435/it-sales-tips-for-building-relationships/ 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 ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/434/as-an-it-consultant-you-need-to-pay-attention-to-who-your-clients-are/ 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. ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/433/tips-for-talking-about-your-computer-consultancy/ Are you happy with all your computer consulting materials?  Having good services agreements samples to follow when creating your own documents can often help you improve how you do business and strengthen relationships with your clients. When you have a good service agreement document (created from high-quality services agreement samples), ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/432/services-agreement-samples-you-can-use/ Having templates for your computer service agreements presents your customers and clients with an excellent display of professionalism and credibility, which is ESSENTIAL if you want to break down sales resistance and get the high rates you deserve for your very specialized services. Besides creating a steady stream of recurring ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/431/computer-service-agreements-why-templates-are-great-for-your-it-business/ When you use direct mail postcards as part of your IT marketing plan, you don’t have to worry that they will get thrown in the garbage bin without being read.  Because they are already open, they will at least be seen by your prospects.  You also will save money on ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/430/it-marketing-why-are-direct-mail-postcards-so-great/ Many VARs are starting to incorporate environmental awareness into their daily business lives at great benefit to their growth and services.  Virtualization technology in particular is helping VARs grow their own businesses and also save customers money, reduce energy consumption and costs to themselves. According to Virtual Iron, climate change and ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/429/the-green-movement-helps-vars-grow/ The simple answer to this question about computer repair and national service organizations is, “Absolutely not.” Why?  Basically, you’ll spend a great deal of money and more importantly TIME getting certified and learning cutting-edge technologies.  But, when it comes down to it, computer repair – hardware repair – is a commodity ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/428/should-you-sign-computer-repair-contracts-with-national-service-organizations/ Sending a mailing to current customers should be part of your computer repair business marketing plan.  Why? First of all, your customers already know you and know what your computer repair business is all about.  You already own the list, and the people on it already know, like and trust you, ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/427/computer-repair-business-marketing-mail-to-your-current-customers/ 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 ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/426/computer-business-hp-buys-australian-company/ Providing IT support to your important clients is full of responsibilities.  But which are really required to be part of your services? 1.     Coordinate Telecommunications Solutions.  When you are dealing with sweet spot clients, you will have to coordinate IT support with a local phone company – CLEC (competitive ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/425/it-support-what-are-your-responsibilities-with-clients/ People starting their own computer repair businesses make the decision to open many different types of companies for a variety of reasons.  But how do you decide? The decision really depends on whether you want to build a business from the ground, up or take some shortcuts by opening a franchise.  ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/424/which-type-of-computer-repair-business-do-you-want-to-start/ When you are trying to become an IT consultant, do you get computer consulting training first and then look for clients or do you start out looking for clients and then work on getting training?   The answer is simply, “Both.” Become an IT Consultant by Getting Training and Clients Client recruitment and ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/423/become-an-it-consultant-training-or-clients-first/ When you are starting your own computer consultant business, you will need to spend a lot of time going to meetings and shaking hands.  You will have to make plenty of follow-up calls and use display ads and direct mail campaigns to establish connections. Because you need plenty of hands-on time ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/422/starting-your-computer-consultant-business-is-hard-work/ You will not always get what you perceive to be “ideal” IT marketing results.  How can you create postcards that will avoid the common mistakes many computer consultants make? An IT Marketing Case Study Consider a consultant that says this: “I’ve send out over 300 postcards that offer general computer troubleshooting services, automated ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/421/it-marketing-a-look-at-postcards/ When you decide to become an IT consultant, you will find that small business IT support requires many different types of expertise, depending upon your niche and specialty.  Which expertise do you need to become an IT consultant?There Are Experts for Every Type of Business If you want to become an ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/420/become-an-it-consultant-by-getting-specific-expertise/ Virtual IT innovators Tek-Tools Software, based in Dallas, Texas recently announced a new product – Profiler for VMware – as part of the Profiler Suite that helps increase utilization capacity and performance in virtual IT environments.  The company, with offices in the U.S., UK and India is a top provider ... http://www.computerconsultantssecrets.com/blog/index.php/419/a-new-virtual-it-tool-introduced-by-tek-tools/