Computer Consulting Kit Preview Blog

Becoming an IT Consultant? Ask Your Prospects These 4 Key Questions (YouTube Video)

2010-02-12T22:23:00.000-05:00

Are you becoming an IT consultant?

Wondering how to get some great clients to get the ball rolling?

Make sure you know that not all prospective clients are created equal.

Learn 4 key qualifying questions that you must consistently ask every prospect, to build a great client list as you're becoming an IT consultant.

Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course Sample Template Video Excerpt

2009-10-20T17:04:00.001-04:00

Checking out the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course? This brief sample video excerpt on the Software Review Template for Client/Server Application helps you position yourself as Virtual CIO. Then learn more sample proven tips from the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course now at http://ComputerBusinessTips.com

Small IT Business Start-Up Game Plan for Avoiding Distractions

2009-10-20T13:56:00.001-04:00

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

PC Technician Business Tips

2009-07-10T08:31:00.001-04:00

As a PC technician business owner, you really need to devote some time to working on more than just your technical skills. You must build relationships with your customers and clients so they will stick with you long term and contribute to your revenue.

Sending mailings to current customers needs to be part of your relationship-building activities and one of your marketing strategies.

Why?

The biggest reason is that your loyal customers already know you and believe in your skills as a PC technician. Your list of loyal clients already know, like and trust you – and this “know, like and trust” aspect of building relationships is the biggest obstacle to overcome when you’re trying to build any successful marketing strategy.

What should you say in your mailings to current clients?

1. Remind Clients that Their Data Needs Protecting. If you know a lot about virus protection, firewalls, passwords, data backup and power protection, mention these issues to your current clients … and remind them that they are at risk and should take advantage of your services to protect their data.

2. Offer a Discounted Technology Assessment Package. For customers that haven’t made use of your technology assessment package yet – and have just used you for emergency services break-fix services – you can offer a discounted technology assessment package. For example, if you usually charge $400, offer a special discount good through a specific date -- $299 or perhaps even $199. Think about including a bonus such as an entry-level battery backup unit or a surge protector … or just a CD or DVD of the last data protection seminar you held. Make sure you provide a free offer of some sort in your mailing that has real value to your customers. And by all means, you must impart urgency with a deadline.

Tracking marketing results is just as important as sending out mailings. So as a responsible PC technician business looking to really build relationships with clients, you need to track everything you do. Track responses to every mailing. Keep track of how many inquiries you got and how many ended up taking the technology assessment offer.

Results will help you predict responses to future mailings and make adjustments to get a better response rate if you need to. Remember that your audience of current customers is going to be more responsive than anyone else you target, which is part of what makes the strategy of mailing to your current clients so successful.

Make Your Current Relationships Stronger

When you own a PC technician business, you need to examine your existing customer relationships and determine more ways you can help them use what they own already. They probably have a lot of useful IT assets they aren’t even using, simply because they don’t know how much these tools could increase their productivity.

The important point is, direct mail and talking to your current customers doesn’t just help your customers get the most out of their current IT assets. This strategy also helps you get great long-term clients and build up your monthly service revenue base.

This article presented some tips to help you build real relationships with your current clients through direct mail. Learn more PC technician business tips that attract steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) PCTechnicianBusiness.com All Rights Reserved

How to Become a Computer Dealer

2009-06-28T09:53:00.000-04:00

Do you want to learn how to become a computer dealer in the small business space?

If so, you should understand an important reality -- most technology professionals that start small companies of their own don’t survive when they label themselves as “computer dealers.”

Why not? First of all, when you’re selling a commodity – in this case, a computer – you’re going to attract clients that are looking for “low, low prices,” and not anything particularly unique in the way of services.

You’ll run into some serious problems no matter what you do when you’re focusing on just a product sale. If you don’t offer “low, low prices, you’ll be priced out by competitors that do and make no sales. If you do offer prices that are low enough to attract the attention of small business owners, you’ll run yourself right out of business. Because as a small dealer (or any dealer), you’re already facing very low profit margins on computers in the small business space. And when your prices are barely above what it costs you to get the computers in the first place, you’d have to sell a whole lot of computers to come out ahead … probably more than you as a one- or two-person operation could possibly sell.

What’s the answer to learning how to become a computer dealer successfully? First, you need to focus on services that will add value to your overall offering. These services will include comprehensive small business solutions and on-going maintenance for your client’s technology assets, a business model supported by on-going service agreements that provide tangible benefits to your small business clients and on-going revenue. Go way beyond the product sale and offer something that will set you apart from other commodities brokers and show that you really are unique in what you do.

The following 3 tips can help you learn how to be a computer dealer profitably in the small business arena.

1. Build Real Relationships. Developing a bond and a real relationship with your clients is critical to having a successful computer business. Your relationships are your assets. Success is not about the size of your customer list or about the revenue you get. It’s about the longevity and the long-term relationships you build with your customers. Your best clients could bring you a lifetime value well in the six-figure net profit range, so really getting to know small business owners is worth your time and will pay off in the long run. Remember, the relationship isn't just about selling a box. Not even close.

2. Manage Customer and Client Expectations. If you are running a small computer business, you’ll probably be handling sales initially, so you won’t have to worry that the salesperson talking to your clients will change, causing you to have to start all over again. When you avoid impersonal sales tactics and build personal relationships with your customers, you can much better manage the expectations of your potential long-term clients from the very beginning of the sales process. You won’t have to worry that a slick, hyper-aggressive impersonal salesperson is going to try to make a quick sale by misrepresenting the actual capabilities of your company.

3. Personally Train Your Sales Staff. As you learn how to become a computer dealer offering real value-added services to small businesses and not just products, you have to watch how you grow your business with well-trained staff. When your business gets some long-term clients and you find you need to hire additional staff members to help manage the sales side, make sure you train them properly so they are learning the tactics consistent with your best practices and ethics, so they represent your company well.

In this brief article, we talked about some critical ways to go beyond selling products and add real value with small business solutions for your clients. Find out more about how to become a computer dealer and attract steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) BecomeAComputerDealer.com All Rights Reserved

Start Your Own Computer Repair Business

2009-06-17T11:03:00.000-04:00

As you start your own computer repair business in the small business arena, you might think you need to spend a lot of time learning “sexy” networking product platforms, impressing clients with buzzwords and seducing them with the latest and greatest technologies.

In reality, many businesses you will serve – especially those with less than 25 PC’s – will have extremely modest networking needs that can be met with easy-to-install, relatively inexpensive and highly mature technologies. You can profit from repairing and maintaining simple networks, both before and after the initial installation. There are very easy steps you can take to keep your clients’ systems up and running through long-term, proactive repair and maintenance agreements.

The following 3 tips can help you build strong relationships with steady clients as you start your own computer repair business by providing simple, high-margin maintenance services.

1. Prune the Weeds on the Server. Without internal IT staff, the shared folders on your clients’ servers can get pretty disorganized, bloated and inefficient in as little as a few weeks. If you take an active role as network manager and go beyond just basic repair services, you can help your clients get off to a strong start by instilling specific best practices. Encourage your clients to help you tackle disorganized file server shared folders by appointing one person in charge of server folder structure and file-naming conventions. While implementing a LAN can help your clients’ scale up their personal productivity to company-wide productivity, once there are folders being shared on a centralized file server, things get pretty complicated. Encourage your clients not to just let anyone put anything in the computer “filing cabinet” and follow a uniform structure.

2. Assign Organizational Responsibilities to Your Clients. As you start your own computer repair business, you need to make sure your clients appoint an “owner” of each shared file folder and that this person has four key responsibilities: designing and maintaining an orderly set of folders and sub-folders; monitoring storage space use (checking the MBs and GBs) in conjunction with any quota or storage management tools that you’ve already trained them to use; purging and archiving obsolete folders and files; setting up and enforcing file-naming conventions everyone can follow easily. This job is usually a good fit for a department manager, supervisor or team leader. No matter what, make sure your clients choose someone that is very well-organized and detail-oriented … even if this person is not the most computer literate.

3. Stay Proactive as You Start Your Own Computer Repair Business. You must be proactive about providing services to your clients, no matter which repair services or maintenance services you provide. A few times a year, follow-up with some informal client training on procedures for helping your clients stay organized. And be sure to review the condition of the server shared folders with the internal guru and those in charge of folders.

In this brief article, we outlined 3 tips to help you keep repair services to your clients simple and effective, while still adding tremendous value to your clients' networks. Learn more ways to start your own computer repair business and attract great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) StartYourOwnComputerBusiness.com All Rights Reserved

How to Become a Software Reseller

2009-05-29T10:51:00.001-04:00

If you are working as a technology professional in the small business space and wondering how to become a software reseller, think carefully about how you are packaging your products and services.

The truth is, most technology professionals that want to resell software and other products solely in the small business space can’t expect to see very high, if any profit margins. This is why, if you want to make product reselling a part of your business, you need to think of other services you can provide to your valued clients. This might include on-going service agreements that will have you working with small business clients on a steady basis and bringing them real, total business solutions they can’t live without.

Here are 3 ways for you to learn how to become a software reseller successfully and profitably by building up the value proposition that you provide to your clients.

1. Create Sound Pricing Strategies. Make sure you set your prices for both products and services high enough to put you in line with other high-end technology professionals in your area... and even more importantly, so that your business is profitable enough to survive and thrive. You can’t sell yourself short or give away the store by charging rock-bottom prices. While low prices might attract the attention of some penny-pinching small business owners, this short-sighted positioning strategy will not attract the attention of the right kinds of long-term-focused small business owners. If you don’t set your rates and prices right from the beginning, you will find yourself with a client list full of cheapskates and deadbeats -- essentially those that really don’t appreciate or understand the value of your comprehensive IT solutions. Also bear in mind that if you set your prices and rates wrong at the beginning, you will find the process of changing your prices and rates nearly impossible, which means you'll basically have to dump your client list and start over. So make sure you create sound, sustainable, and profitable pricing strategies right from the start.

2. Leverage On-Going Service Agreements. In order to learn how to become a software reseller profitably, you really need to leverage your long-term client relationships and make sure those relationships lead to on-going service agreements. These agreements give you predictability and financial security for your business and your family, so you don’t have to torture yourself every month with “feast or famine” and jeopardize the long-term survival of your business. If you are too stubborn to implement service agreements, you'd better scale very large very fast (8-figure annual sales or more) or you will go out of business sooner rather than later ... really! So don't procrastinate. You need clients on long-term service agreements.

3. Get Your Prospects and Customers to Commit to On-Going Service Agreements. If you want to know how to become a software reseller successfully in the small business space, you need to set a goal of getting the overwhelming majority of your clients on long-term service agreements. This means you need to get rid of those prospects and customers that are on the fence or just want to cherry-pick you. If you have a lot of customers that only call you every once in a while or just rely on you for low-margin software and other products every few years, you need to really up the ante on your business model. Reselling can be a valuable part of your overall service offering, but you can’t survive without on-going commitments from your clients to provide them with regular services that they pay for on a monthly, recurring basis.

In this brief article, we talked about 3 reasons why you need clients on service agreements if you want to successfully and profitably resell hardware or software in the small business space. Learn more proven secrets about how to become a software reseller and get steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) BecomeASoftwareReseller.com All Rights Reserved

How to Start a PC Repair Business

2009-05-27T08:46:00.001-04:00

Many IT professionals trying to figure out how to start a PC repair business find themselves wondering, “How can I provide a service that will be valuable to my clients, without giving away the store for free?”

A lot of times those trying to start their own businesses give away way too many free advice and services in the beginning as they try to attract and keep clients. There are a lot of reasons why computer repair specialists give away too many free services. Often they lack confidence in their abilities and expertise. Or, they don’t have a grasp on the true expenses of operating their PC repair business. Or they simply have never been taught any other way.

The truth is, if you want to stay alive in the PC repair business, you can’t give away all of your valuable services for free. While the “give it to them free” philosophy might seem to be a way to gain and keep attention of new customers and clients, it’s not the best way to grow a business and will ultimately end up backfiring.

The following 4 tips can help you learn how to start a PC repair business without giving away the store for free, while still building trust and great relationships with your new customers and clients.

1. Know Your Competition and the Prevailing Rates for Your Types of Services. A big mistake that many new and even well-established PC repair businesses make is setting rates too low -- usually way too low. Many of these people find themselves on the verge of going out of business very, very quickly. As you learn how to start a PC repair business, make sure that you know what your credible direct competition is charging. The truth is, if you set your rates too low or wrong at the beginning, you will have a hard time changing them. And if you are able to change your rates, you will probably end up losing a lot of your customers and clients in the process. So be sure to carefully set your rates at the beginning of your business to avoid having to totally start over again later.

2. Don’t Charge Less than Your Competitors. If you are competent, confident and know you have as much skill and talent as your competitors, there is no reason to charge less than your competitors. In fact, some people believe if you charge more, this is a sign you are really, really good. However, the point is not to see how much you can charge before you run yourself out of business. You just need to make sure as you figure out how to start a PC repair business that you don't sell yourself short. Even better, work with your accountant to develop a pro-forma Profit and Loss statement (a P&L), so you can figure out whether or not your planned rate structure is profitable sooner rather than later.

3. Do Your Homework and Provide Efficient, Professional Service. Show customers and clients that your firm’s services are worth every penny. If you build a solid reputation, and are marketing to the right kinds of small business decision makers, price will not be the main deciding factor for your target clients. With a great reputation preceding you, your customers will admire your confidence and work ethic and be happy about doing business with your company.

4. Focus on Your Company’s Service Agreement Plan. As you're thinking about how to start a PC repair business, make sure to consider how you'll develop a great service agreement plan that will bring in steady, high-paying clients and consistent revenue for your business. Even before you open your doors, you should have a plan for on-going contracts in place. A well thought-out service agreement program is mutually beneficial. It gives your clients peace of mind and you the opportunity to know where your next paycheck is coming from at all times.

In this article we talked about 4 tips to help you learn how to start a PC repair business on a solid foundation before you even open your doors. Learn more proven tips on how to start a PC repair business and get more great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) HowToStartAPCRepairBusiness.com All Rights Reserved

Data Cabling Companies Partnering Strategies

2009-05-17T21:22:00.001-04:00

Most data cabling companies face a choice of two distinctly different business development paths.

Some spend most of their marketing, sales, and business development resources pursuing large major bid opportunities with Fortune 1000 enterprises and government entities.

Other data cabling companies do a lot more in the small business space, where installations typically involve networks of anywhere from 10-100 nodes.

However it can be very difficult to profitably market to customers that really only need your services once… with perhaps some small add-on work a few years down the road.

This is because your customer acquisition costs can be quite high relative to the rather limited size of the job.

Think about it…. How much can you really afford to spend on marketing, sales and business development expenses when the upside potential of the projects is say $1,000 - $5,000?

That’s why for many data cabling companies that want to service small businesses, it makes more sense to partner with those technology providers that already have existing relationships with small business owners and managers.

How can you go about finding these movers and shakers that can not only drastically cut the length of your sales cycle, but also provide predictability and stability through constant referrals?

Consider these 5 ways to locate like-minded technology providers that are eager to work with data cabling companies like yours.

1. Look for Those Small Business Tech Providers that Don’t Do Cabling In-House. At the risk of stating the obvious, make sure those VARs, consultants, solution providers, MSPs, and integrators that you choose to partner with are complimentary to your core cabling skills, and not a direct or indirect competitor.

2. Check Out B2B Networking Events. Generally those technology providers that get involved with chamber of commerce organizations, lead sharing groups, and local expos are pretty receptive to building their businesses up on a variety of fronts.

3. Go Where Techies Hang Out. Often-overlooked, IT user groups can be a great way to network both with potential partners and those that routinely subcontract work to data cabling companies like yours.

4. Keep Your Ears Open at Training Events. Ever been to a reseller or channel partner event from an IT giant like Microsoft or Cisco? These confabs are often bursting at the seams with those technology providers eager for opportunity. The key thing… network with those who don’t fulfill the needs that you do.

5. Ask Your Accountant or Attorney to Facilitate Introductions. Chances are, your trusted business advisors like your accountant or attorney have clients that are VARs, consultants, solution providers, MSPs, and integrators. So don’t be shy about letting your trusted business advisors know that you’d appreciate any relevant, appropriate matchmaking. After all, you do already have one important thing in common… you’ve selected the same trusted business advisor.

Most data cabling companies are either excellent marketers or destined to starve themselves out of business. This can be an especially daunting challenge if you work primarily with small businesses. In this short article, we looked at 5 simple, proven, powerful strategies for leveraging the existing relationships of other technology providers to get an instant foot in the door. To learn more about how data cabling companies can attract more steady, high-paying clients, go sign-up for the free tips now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) DataCablingCompany.com All Rights Reserved

PC Repair Contract Tips for Making Your Business Profitable

2009-04-25T08:09:00.002-04:00

Do your offer a PC repair contract to your small business clients?

And if so, are you truly satisfied with the quality and quantity of small business clients that have signed-up for your PC repair contract?

If you answered "No" to either question, you need to start thinking about where the real money is when it comes to providing PC repair services. The truth is, developing a PC repair contract is almost always going to be your ticket to growing your business and attracting better clients. Having an effective, compelling, mutually-beneficial offering can make or break your business. So you need to focus on making yours as strong as possible.

If you are like many others in the PC repair industry, you might have some anxiety about implementing a long-term contract plan. You probably wonder about important issues like how you can get your clients to sign up for long-term services and which types of clients should be on on-going agreements, because after all, these contracts are certainly not for everyone.

The following 4 tips can help you make your PC repair contract offering a vital and rejuvenating part of your core business and marketing plans.

1. Leverage PC Repair Contract Agreements to Make Your Business Secure. Having a contract gives you predictability and financial security for your business and your family. This means you can stop torturing yourself each month with ad-hoc, one-shot repair services that put you in “feast” or “famine” mode regularly and jeopardize your company’s survival. You really need to get past your resistance to do the work involved initially in setting up your business model around long-term relationships. And don't procrastinate. The sooner your business can enjoy this more profitable and predictable way of operating, the better off you'll be.

2. Choose the Right Kind of Clients for Long-Term Business Growth. You need to find clients that will be a good fit for an on-going PC repair contract and target them with your marketing materials. When you properly qualify and pinpoint the best prospects for on-going services, you can focus your energy in the right places and avoid wild goose chases that lead nowhere and eat up valuable time.

3. Stop Dealing with Prospects that Just Want Freebies. When you fine-tune your business model and start only looking for those that will be interested in on-going contracts, you will stop attracting prospects that just want to cherry-pick your services and pump you for free advice. When you have a clear set of lead qualification criteria for what makes a small business prospect an ideal candidate for long-term services, you can see warning signs early enough to prevent losers from derailing the growth of your PC repair business.

4. A PC Repair Contract Will Help You See Red Flags. When you know exactly which type of client is good to work with long term, you will be able to spot hard-to-satisfy small business owners and will have the luxury to "just say no" before you get involved in a no-win deal.

In this brief article, we discussed 4 tips to help you understand why a PC repair contract is necessary for building a strong, profitable, stable business. Learn more about how to create a compelling, mutually-beneficial PC repair contract plan that will attract great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) PCRepairContractSecrets.com All Rights Reserved

I.T. Contract Work and How the Rules of Engagement Have Changed

2009-04-16T09:50:00.001-04:00

If you are looking for I.T. contract work you might be running into some challenges when it comes to finding viable clients. Why is this happening?

In recent years, the rules of standard I.T. contract work have changed dramatically. You can’t just slide by on being a highly-talented I.T. consultant anymore. You have to be proactive about looking for new client projects and opportunities. In this highly-challenging business environment, finding great clients is getting tougher and tougher. And unfortunately without paying clients, you really can’t build a business or a career.

Let's look at 3 ways to take charge of your IT career, so you can build stable sources of project revenue and more long-term relationships.

1. Make Finding New Clients a Priority. Finding new long-term clients should be a top priority. In times like now especially, you can longer afford to back-burner marketing and promotion. Are you prepared to not only survive, but also thrive in the coming months and years? Stop procrastinating and get to work building relationships with both peers and potential clients. This way, you can sidestep unpredictable I.T. contract work and move towards more steady, stable projects.

2. Plant the Seeds for Your Future Business Development Activities. To be a great I.T. provider, you need to focus on real ways to grow your business. This means you must engage in activities like networking and targeted marketing and stop spending all your time learning about gadgets or racking up large numbers of certifications. Success with I.T. contract work is largely about building and maintaining long term relationships.

3. Know which Goals Help You Succeed in I.T. Contract Work. In order to build a successful business based on strong relationships with steady clients, you'll need to start making a dent on getting more word-of-mouth referrals from contacts, customers and clients; looking for revenue opportunities that surround you as you do business; preparing targeted marketing materials that will boost the number of prospects you convert into lucrative clients; uncovering your prospects’ biggest problems and showing how you can solve them in sales calls, and leaving your competitors in the dust by providing stellar customer service that builds tremendous client loyalty.

In this short article, we talked about 3 tips to help you get the most out of I.T. contract work opportunities. Learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying projects and I.T. contract work now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) ITContractWorkStinks.com All Rights Reserved

Become a Software Reseller that's More Than Just a Box-Pusher

2009-04-03T21:56:00.000-04:00

Do you want to become a software reseller for small businesses? If so, you need to know how to do it without coming off as a box-pusher or commodity-broker.

Many that decide software reselling will be a part of the services they provide to small businesses make the major mistake of focusing on the products they sell in their marketing materials. The truth is, if you do this, you will become just a commodity to your small business clients. And you’ll just attract customers looking for dirt-cheap prices and not real solutions to their technology woes.

Your best bet if you want to become a software reseller for small businesses and make an actual profit is to make sure your marketing materials, and your business as a whole, are focused on sophisticated solutions and not just the software you sell. The best small business prospects and clients will usually want you to be an insurance policy for their technology assets. This means you need to provide long-term services, not just short-term fixes and software solutions to your clients.

The following 3 tips can help you become a software reseller that's actually profitable.

1. Play Up the Value of Your Consulting Services. To build real client relationships with steady service revenue, make sure small business owners have a way to get a one-stop IT support solution for your company . Simple software sales will not accomplish this goal. Even if you want to make software reselling a part of your business plan, you need to play up the value of your consulting services and make sure you are focusing on important issues like data protection and security when selling software.

2. Help Clients Secure and Protect their Data. If you want to become a software reseller for small businesses, be sure to weave security and data protection bullet-points into your sales presentations. You may find that some of your prospects are using peer-to-peer networks. This just isn’t going to fly if you’re going to build a dependable, secure, reliable solution for your clients. Educate prospects on the inherent peer-to-peer limitations like share-level access control, lack of granular access levels, and no meaningful audit trail.

3. Stop Using Software Reselling as Your Loss-Leader. If you want to profitably become a software reseller, focus on selling fully-integrated IT solutions and not just being a software reseller. Remember, you only have one chance to make a positive, professional first impression on your new prospects. If your prospects perceive your company to be nothing more than glorified box-pushers, it's pretty tough to overcome that limiting perception. Rather that using software reselling as your loss-leader, consider focusing your marketing activities on the problems you solve for clients as a software solution provider.

In this article, we discussed 3 tips to help you become a software reseller without becoming just a product-pusher or commodity-broker. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

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

IT Maintenance Agreement Tips for Smart Computer Consultants

2009-03-30T13:13:00.000-04:00

Does your computer consulting firm currently offer an IT maintenance agreement option for long-term clients? If not, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to build great relationships with steady, high-paying clients. Plus done right, these offerings grow the annual revenue base of your company, so it can last well into the future.

Many computer consultants fail to understand the importance of why you want every client to be on some kind of an on-going IT maintenance agreement. A long-term agreement helps your clients, because it gives them peace of mind... peace of mind of knowing that someone is keeping their systems running all the time, solving their big IT business problems, and making their companies more efficient and productive. But what’s really in it for you?

Here are 5 big reasons why you should focus all your business growth efforts on IT maintenance agreement clients.

1. Stability for You and Your Business. An official consultant-client agreement gives you a stable foundation on which to grow your business. Even just a few clients on long-term maintenance contracts give you great results and helps you to know that you can expect a certain amount of minimum service revenue each and every month.

2. Predictability. What’s more predictable and comforting for you as a computer consultant than knowing which clients will be paying the bills, when they will be paying them, and exactly how much they will be paying? You can’t get the same kind of predictability in computer consulting from pay-as-you-go customers and one-shot deals that you can get from those that sign on-going agreements.

3. Regularity. When you have IT maintenance agreements in place, you get clients that see you on a regular basis. This way, you can develop deep and trusting relationships with people that can be a joy to work with. Plus regular clients on IT maintenance agreements allow you to put your skills to good use.

4. Confidence So You Can Grow Your Business. Once you add on-going agreements to your business model and see the results in the form of regular, recurring revenue and strong client-consultant relationships, you will feel that final push to go grow your business confidently.

5. Immediate, Obvious Prioritization of Services. If you currently find yourself wondering how to decide which of your clients deserves premium services, wonder no more. With a well-developed IT maintenance agreement, you know which clients are truly on your side and in a relationship with you long term. And these loyal clients are the ones that will get your attention when you have several customers pulling you in many directions at once.

In this brief article, we looked at 5 big reasons why you need to add an IT maintenance agreement program to your business. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients with a well-planned IT maintenance agreement now at the attached link.

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

IT Marketing Ideas that Attract More Great Clients

2009-03-26T17:16:00.001-04:00

Are you looking for some IT marketing ideas to help you really get noticed by potential clients? Perhaps you should start looking beyond all the generalist tasks you are doing as a trusted technology provider for your clients … and start positioning yourself as a real IT specialist.

Why? Well, the truth is you don’t need that much industry experience to position yourself as an IT specialist. But specialization can make an enormous difference in your marketing results, your hourly billing rates, your sales call closing rates, and your clients' lifetime value.

Of course, there are a lot of IT marketing ideas that can help you position yourself as an IT specialist. But the key is identifying something you enjoy doing that many small business owners in your area need. Finding a specialty helps ensure you won’t just look like everyone else providing technology services.

Consider the following 5 IT marketing ideas to help you attract and retain great clients for your business.

1. Be Choosy with Your Clients. If you are like many others in the small business IT consulting field, you are probably doing everything for your clients, including tasks like network design, procurement, project management, dealing with phone companies, Web hosts and ISPs, deciding what to buy and inspecting it when it comes in, and doing configuration, testing, integration, customization, training and troubleshooting. Wow, that's a lot of hats to wear! Your Virtual CIO role as the person that does everything certainly makes you a generalist in some respects. But who says you have to be a generalist for everyone under the sun? IT marketing ideas that really work involve you being all things to only some of the people in a particular niche. You provide true IT consulting solutions and show your clients that the buck stops with you. You become accountable for everything your clients need. But most importantly, you must limit the scope of the kind of clients you pursue, usually by industry niche.

2. As an IT Specialist, You Can Market More Cost-Effectively to Your Niche. Marketing to a niche is actually easier and a lot more affordable than virtually any other IT marketing ideas. You will know exactly where to advertise when it comes to trade publications. You will be able to stop wasting time and money on generic ads in the newspaper, phone book or on the radio. When you understand your specialty and the needs of your niche, you will be able to come up with a marketing message that speaks directly to your target audience and really resonates. All of a sudden you become very valuable to potential clients and find yourself getting a warm response to your sales letters, postcards and any seminars you give.

3. Picking a Specialty Niche Doesn’t Always Require Extensive Experience. Finding your specialty and your niche can be as simple as having two or three clients, in the same or similar industries, who you’ve been working with for a year or two. Perhaps you’ve been doing a project such as migrating an antiquated MS-DOS-based industry-specific application to a 32-bit or to a Web-based application. As you go along, you may get to know a specific applications through work with a client or two. Now that you know that specific application, you most likely stand out from other consulting firms that those that use this industry-specific application could call.

4. Size Up the Market Size When You Think About Your Specialty Niche. One of the best and most important IT marketing ideas is to make sure you do your homework before you decide who you are going to serve. As an IT specialist, sometimes you will have to turn away potential clients, which may be counter-intuitive to the idea of growing your business. However, you are not really turning away any really viable clients. Instead you are making room for, almost like a kind of de-cluttering of your client list, and honing in on a segment that will be a good fit for your solutions and bring you a good source of high-margin, long-term, steady service revenue.

5. Develop a Marketing Message that Fits Your Specialty. Don’t try to speak to the masses with your marketing materials. You can’t possibly create a message that will resonate with everyone. And if you do, you will find yourself competing on price and reduced to a commodity. A well-defined specialty helps others know exactly what you do and for whom you do it. Plus focusing in on a well-defined niche avoids those prospects that would just call 30 companies they found in the phone book, looking for the lowest, dirt-cheap price.

In this article, we discussed 5 IT marketing ideas to help you become a specialist, so you can attract more great new clients. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients with more proven IT marketing ideas now at the attached link.

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

Computer Business Name Ideas for Small Business Virtual CIO's

2009-03-14T21:45:00.001-04:00

Are you trying to come up with a strong computer business name? If you are having trouble landing on that perfect way to brand yourself, think about one of the most critical concepts of running a successful computer business... your role as a Virtual CIO for your clients.

When you build your entire business around being a Virtual CIO for local companies, you get the advantage of working on end-to-end solutions that need to be maintained and expanded on over time. And when your company name reflects this concept, you help build a brand for yourself that attracts steady, high-paying clients that recognize the importance of computers to running successful businesses and will need you for many years to come.

The following 4 tips will help you understand your role as a Virtual CIO, so you can decide on an effective computer business name that reflects your unique expertise and attracts the best small business clients.

1. Know What CIO Means. If you are going to choose a computer business name based on the idea of the CIO, you of course will have to understand what this concept means. In a medium-sized or enterprise-sized company, you will almost always find a CIO or chief information officer on payroll. Although this person is not generally as important as a CEO, a CIO is still a trusted business manager, trusted for his/her extensive expertise in technology. Because you are working with small business clients that have a lot of IT challenges but are too small to have a full-time CIO on payroll in most cases, you become a Virtual CIO for your clients. You may wish to reflect this concept in your computer business name, so you immediately communicate the problem you solve for your clients.

2. A Virtual CIO-Related Computer Business Name Helps Position Your Firm in the Marketplace. You can’t make the Virtual CIO concept an afterthought when you are coming up with your full brand, including your name, logo and business plan. Why? Because how you position you and your company makes an enormous difference on the hourly billing rates you can command with your clients. A strong name based on your mission to provide end-to-end business solutions should convey that you are an expert and the only rational choice for your target small business prospects.

3. Be Prepared to Deliver the Goods as Virtual CIO. If your company had complicated financial needs that included expanding payroll, looming strategic acquisitions or expanding to a different business model, would you feel more comfortable getting advice from a freelance bookkeeper, a freelance accountant, a freelance CPA, or a freelance Virtual CFO? Of course, you would want someone that is an expert in more than just one area of finances and could give you the total package. The same thing applies with your small business clients and the whole Virtual CIO concept, which is why you need to build your computer business name around it. A small business that has a need for things like a high-end database management application, a mission-critical point of sale network, a highly-visible e-commerce site, regulatory IT requirements, and a need to integrate the systems of a recently acquired competitor needs you to be that end-to-end, one-stop solution.

4. Being the Virtual CIO Self-Selects the Best Small Business Clients. When you brand yourself as a Virtual CIO, you help create a decisive strategy for targeting and qualifying small business prospects. A name based on the Virtual CIO concept helps you show you want to be involved with your clients at high strategic levels. It also pretty much guarantees that you will work on projects with very measurable business results and ROI and command the highest hourly billing rates in your area for your services. When your name reflects the idea of truly sophisticated technology solutions, you help build a client roster primarily with those small businesses that need to retain your high-end, premium Virtual CIO services, vs. plain, ordinary break-fix repair and systems integration with no long-term potential.

In this brief article we discussed 4 tips to help you understand why you need to choose a computer business name that supports the whole Virtual CIO concept. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients with an effective, highly-compelling computer business name now at the attached link.

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

Become an I.T. Consultant and Small Business Super-Hero

2009-03-09T10:52:00.001-04:00

Look up in the sky... it's a bird, no it's a plane. No, it's your smart and friendly I.T. consultant here to save the day and protect your small business from data meltdowns.

Are you trying to become an I.T. consultant? Are you interested in solving the problems of big small businesses and medium-sized businesses?

If you want to become an I.T. consultant for the big small business and medium-sized business market, you need to understand their needs and know what they are already getting in terms of technical support.

Big small businesses, those with 50-100 PC’s that do anywhere between 5 million to 20 million dollars in U.S. annual revenue (or your local currency equivalent), get their technical support usually from an internal I.T. person or a small I.T. department.

Medium-sized businesses usually have more than 100 PCs and are doing more than 20 million dollars in U.S. annual revenue (or your local currency equivalent). Here you will see more I.T. departments and companies that have bigger versions of those same I.T. resources you saw with the big small businesses.

The following 3 tips can help you get started as an I.T. super-hero for bigger small businesses and medium-sized businesses.

1. Know Where Most Big Small Businesses Get I.T. Support. Big small businesses will often have a full-fledged I.T. manager or director providing support, though sometimes they will just have a very knowledgeable internal computer guru. However if IT is strategic enough, you may even find a small I.T. department. When you decide to become an I.T. consultant for bigger small businesses, you will find fewer solo practitioner consultants, more small firms, and some deeply-niched specialists.

2. Pick a Specialty to Stand Out from the Crowd. If you want to be successful in bigger small businesses and you don't have the resources to compete as a larger consulting firm, you usually don't want to just be a standard generalist. You need to at the very least be marketing yourself as a specialist. Your best option if you want to work with these types of clients is to pick a few things you love to do for clients and get really, really good at them, so you can be one of those deeply-niched specialists that will help them fill out their existing I.T. departments.

3. Think About How to Complement Internal IT in Medium-Sized Businesses. With medium-sized businesses, you will almost always see an internal I.T. department and especially an in-house generalist. So to become an I.T. consultant for these clients, you need to get really comfortable with working in a deep niche. While this presents a challenge, it also presents many opportunities for you to learn how to do specialized tasks that you love to do. Just do your homework to make sure your narrowly-defined marketplace is big enough to support your tiny little niche.

In this short article, we talked about 3 tips to help you become an I.T. consultant for bigger small businesses and medium-sized businesses. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients as you become an I.T. consultant now at the attached link.

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

Virtual CIO Tips for Helping Your Clients Understand Your Role

2009-02-27T11:39:00.000-05:00

Are you trying to set yourself up as a trusted Virtual CIO for your clients’ businesses? If so, you need to know how to convince small business owners that signing a long-term service agreement is in their best interest.

You have to know what small businesses will need from you. As a Virtual CIO, you provide an outsourced Virtual IT department for your clients and become an extension of their businesses. You will have to give them the continuity of knowing you will be there every week, every month and over the course of several years (at least!) to oversee their IT needs. You will help with strategic planning as well as execution of technology plans, management, supervision and training, as well as coordinating all different types of IT vendors.

An on-going service agreement solidifies your role as a Virtual CIO and formalizes your relationships with your clients. Use these 3 steps to get clients to understand your role so you can build long-term relationships.

1. Establish Yourself as the Main Technology Contact. Your small business clients are not going to have the patience to deal with a lot of different technology vendors. As a Virtual CIO, you need to have the attitude of the-buck-stops-here, and be able to take care of everything IT-related, soups-to-nuts.

2. Use Strong Prospect Qualification Strategies. To attract clients that will be receptive to your role as a Virtual CIO, establish effective strategies to make sure they are a good fit for your services. A prospect survey is a good way to ask important questions that will weed out those prospects that will not be interested in long-term relationships. Ask important questions about the size of your prospects’ businesses, where they are located, how many PCs and servers they have, and which type of industry they are in. You can fax, e-mail or mail this survey directly to prospects, or establish an area on your Web site that allows them to fill it out online.

3. Leverage Your Rate Card. If you want to be a Virtual CIO offering on-going service agreements, you need to have a one-page rate card to show qualified customers the difference between “pay-as-you-go” and service contract rates. This rate card is both a marketing document and a reference for your existing clients. It outlines the unique benefits you provide as part of your service contracts and defines your company as their outsourced Virtual IT department. Stress benefits such as better rates, waiving some premiums, better response time and proactive monitoring to help show customers why they need to sign service agreements to protect and grow their businesses.

In this article we talked about 3 tips to help you sell yourself as a Virtual CIO to local small businesses. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients as a Virtual CIO now at the attached link.

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

Computer Company Tips for Overcoming Sales Objections

2009-02-21T09:39:00.002-05:00

When you’re approaching your computer company clients with network upgrade proposals, often they will dwell on cost. They don’t think about the great cost to them of failing to invest in a network: lost employee productivity; downtime when they don’t think about fault tolerance and additional service costs from computer consultants when dead-end or impossible-to-support solutions are chosen just because they are cheap.

No matter how great you are at explaining your solutions to prospects, customers, and clients, inevitably some sales objections will crop up before you can get authorization to proceed. One minor concern can derail a whole sale, which is why you need to know how to overcome objections so you can close the deal on big network installations.

Use these 3 strategies to overcome common computer company sales objections, so you can be less emotional and defensive, and better prepared when you are trying to turn non-paying prospects into paying customers and clients.

1. Overcome Apathy. Apathy is a formidable force in the sales process. If small business decision makers have an apathetic outlook toward implementing a network, they might take weeks, months or even years before they feel a sense of urgency about your proposed network. Maybe these small business owners don’t see any problem with their peer-to-peer network. Luckily for you, sometimes all it takes is just one little disaster for those who are apathetic to see the light. Maybe a person working on the PC acting as a server accidentally hits the reset button with his/her knee, or maybe the server inadvertently performs an unannounced shutdown and restart due to a software setup issue. Situations that cause catastrophic data loss or interrupted business can be great ways to combat apathy. Suddenly a small business owner will be very receptive to your suggestions and solutions. You can also overcome apathy by discussing your prospect’s or client’s competition (without naming names), citing examples of those you are working with that are buying into more sophisticated computer solutions and changing the landscape of the industry.

2. Overcome Unrealistic Expectations. You may not think there is such a thing as a prospect being too enthusiastic about jumping headfirst into a major IT project, especially if you are a new computer company owner. However, too much enthusiasm can be dangerous. Succumbing to hype is essentially the exact opposite of succumbing to apathy. Be careful to manage client expectations regarding undue optimism … as soon as possible. As an example, maybe a small business owner returns from a trade show with a glossy brochure for an industry-specific application and is incredibly excited, seeing it as the next big thing. While the small business owner may have been really impressed by the demo at the trade show, you need to overcome the hype surrounding the application and save your client from making huge investments in anything that will not be best for his/her business. Part of your responsibility as a computer company owner and outsourced Virtual CIO is to make sure your clients don’t squander scarce IT budgetary resources on ill-advised solutions that fail to deliver as advertised.

3. Overcome Denial. A big question you might get from prospects, customers, and clients, when you’re trying to sell a major project is, “Why do I need something as big and powerful as the system you’re recommending? We’re just a seven-person company and our network works great … most of the time …” Also popular is, “My staff has been with me for years, is very careful about sensitive data and I trust them completely,” as well as “It could never happen to me!” The truth is, in order to overcome denial, you have to sell fear. Be ready to tell horror stories about catastrophic data loss, employee betrayal and other security disasters. Small business owners rarely think about issues like IT security until it’s already too late. You need to get small business prospects, customers, and clients thinking about sensitive files such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, trade secrets, payroll data and annual employee reviews. You need to get them thinking about the big picture and why your solutions will help protect them, so they can understand the pieces of their business that are at risk, and what you can do about this risk. This helps you overcome the “it could never happen to me” denial.

While you will encounter more than just apathy, unrealistic expectations and denial when it comes to small business sales objections, those are three big obstacles you need to be prepared to confront and overcome. In this article we talked about 3 tips to help you overcome computer company sales objections. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients to your computer company now at the attached link.

Data Cabling Jobs Done Right Lead to Long-Term Clients

2009-02-15T19:16:00.001-05:00

Many in the data cabling industry believe that if you do a good job for your customers, you'll be rewarded with repeat business and a nice flow of word of mouth referrals... with lots of profitable data cabling jobs.

How true is this conventional wisdom? Is it just wishful thinking?

Well, it all depends. Obviously it kind of goes without saying, you need to exceed your clients' expectations with all of your data cabling jobs if you want to even have a chance at repeat business or word of mouth referrals.

That alone however is no guarantee of either repeat business or word of mouth referrals. It just means that you don't strike out over something silly and totally under your control, in most cases.

So what can you do to get more repeat data cabling business and more word of mouth referrals?

The simplest approach to getting more repeat business is to diversify your service offerings and broaden the scope of what you deliver.

For example, if you or your staff feels comfortable configuring simple routers and Ethernet settings in workstations and servers, that's a very easy add-on sale when you're pitching a data cabling job.

What if you don't have those skills in house? Or what if your clients want even more diverse, related IT services to go along with your data cabling work?

Or what if they want the holy grail -- the single point of accountability for anything and everything related to their IT needs?

That desire for a single point of accountability is actually a lot more common than many think.

Why?

Because when a small business has no internal IT staff, the non-technical small business owner or manager has absolutely no desire to deal with 5-6 different, potentially conflicting, IT vendors.

As a result, smart small business owners and managers look for a single point of contact.

Is it a cabling problem? A router problem? A device driver problem? A telco problem? An ISP problem?

Who cares?

Non-technical small business owners and managers sure as heck care. They have no ability or patience to referee 5-6 different IT vendors that are all pointing their fingers at each other.

These non-technical small business owners and managers simply want to make a single phone call to their main IT service provider and know that the problem will be taken care of.

No hours of enduring music on hold ...

No struggling to understand the language dialects of outsourced tech support reps in far away places ..

And no feeling like a human ping pong ball.

Now what does this all have to do with data cabling jobs?

It's really simple; if you want more repeat business with your clients, you need to take the lead as their outsourced Virtual IT manager.

Does this mean you or your staff needs to be skilled on every possible piece of hardware, software or peripheral device that could possibly be found in a typical small business environment? Of course not.

However, it means that you do need to build a team of competent, dependable, local, non-competing technology providers to serve as your project partners and subcontractors for your projects.

And it means you need to manage the projects and coordinate all the related tasks and vendors.

Is this a lot of work?

Absolutely. But by going beyond simple data cabling jobs to take on the role of outsourced Virtual IT manager, you'll take customers that in the past may have only spent $1,500 with you once... and now all of a sudden these clients are on annual service agreement commitments with minimum spend levels of $12,000/year each for many, many years to come.

Is it worth it?

Only you can decide. But if you want a lot more repeat business spinning off from your data cabling jobs and you want to position yourself to get a lot more word of mouth referrals, it's high time to broaden your way of thinking to go way beyond simple data cabling jobs.

In this article, we looked at how you can turn one-shot-deal data cabling jobs into clients with much larger long-term lifetime client value and a lot more potential for word of mouth referrals. To learn more about taking your simple cabling projects to a whole new level of profitability, go sign for proven tips on Data Cabling Jobs now at the attached link.

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

PC Repair Showstoppers: 10 Things that Can Derail Your Business

2009-02-12T10:11:00.001-05:00

If you want to run a successful PC repair company, you have to know how to provide end-to-end solutions to your clients and build real relationships. This involves learning to spot and address potential problems proactively... before they turn into total catastrophes that will destroy your business.

First of all, you have to keep communication lines open with your clients if you want to be an effective project manager. During major projects, keep in touch with the main contact person at the client site at least once or twice a week, so you can give and get feedback, and report on project developments.

But which issues can ruin client relationships and derail your business? The following is a list of 10 potential show-stoppers for your PC repair business, so you can identify and learn how you can side-step each of them.

1. Ambiguous Software Licensing, Ownership or Poorly Documented Configurations. If your client is getting new PCs, make sure your client has the media and the right number of licenses. Especially in the case of software installation with non-standard configuration, make sure the proper configuration settings and procedures are well-documented and accessible.

2. A Client that is a Control Freak. You can’t afford to just sit back and take it if your clients want to boss you around. Unless your PC repair clients want to pay for your training, non-billable downtime, overhead, taxes, insurance and fringe benefits, clients need to know your firm’s staff are not their employees.

3. Data Not Transferred from Old PCs. Small business end users often think that years-worth of stored data files will be magically transferred from their existing PC’s to new server folders or computers. Because they believe in this supernatural phenomenon, they hardly ever mention all or any of their data files when talking to you about their IT problems. You need to be responsible for scouring local drives for stray data files as part of your initial assessment.

4. A Project that Drags in the End. With problem clients, you might find yourself embroiled in follow-up work and tweaking for weeks or more. When you are first planning a project, you need to know and define which tasks are in scope and which are out of scope. If you’re not sure, refer to the latest revision of your time budget. Don’t be afraid to use change orders if necessary.

5. Hardware Incompatibility. Be wary of non-standard hardware not provided or recommended by your PC repair firm. It can derail you... big time!

6. Lack of Server Data Backup. Be certain you have a complete and verified backup of all data on your clients’ existing server in case you need to roll back to original configuration settings or find data.

7. Delays on Products or from Service Providers. Because you will be acting as a project coordinator/virtual CIO, you will often be coordinating telco or ISP account activation or product shipments from multiple distributors. And you might run into unanticipated delays. Most small business clients will be content just to be kept apprised of the situation as long as the delay is not too bad. Get scheduling commitments from all subcontractors and write the proper contingencies into your project plans to protect you and clients.

8. A Project Timetable that is Too Rigid. You might think you should print out your project plan and set it in stone, delivering just one version to the client. However, this is dangerous. Make your timetable an amendable, living document. You’ll probably update your timetable on a weekly basis to reflect progress and problems or delays.

9. Skipping the Planning Phase to Save Time or Money. Do you think it might be wise to skip some of the preliminary needs analysis and planning because they seem like wastes of time? Never skip these critical tasks. When you skip important planning and needs analysis steps, you run the risk of overlooking key elements of projects.

10. Incompatible Software. If you want to be perceived as a PC repair professional, make sure you don’t take software compatibility for granted! Ask and test sample configurations to make sure everything works as advertised.

In this article, we outlined 10 potential showstoppers for your PC repair company. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients to your PC repair business now at the attached link.

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

Data Cabling Business Tips for Attracting Great Clients

2009-02-01T11:02:00.002-05:00

Do you own a data cabling business that caters to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)?

If so, one of your biggest challenges likely is attracting repeat clients that have a high lifetime value. After all, without repeat business, it's very tough to properly invest in client acquisition.

Could you afford to spend $500 on a display ad that only attracts an $800 one-shot-deal customer to your data cabling firm? Of course not!

With that in mind, let's look at 4 ways for you to attract more great clients to your data cabling company.

1. Partner with Consultants, VARs, Integrators, Solution Providers, and Managed Service Providers that Don't Offer Data Cabling. Why spend your whole marketing budget and all that time chasing after one-shot customers, when you can spend your time courting those that already have great relationships with small business owners and managers?!? Take time to be-friend consultants, VARs, integrators, solution providers, and managed service providers that don't offer data cabling. Brainstorm about opportunities for you to help other build your client lists.

2. Provide More Comprehensive Virtual IT Services. Besides data cabling, could your existing staff handle adding workstations to networks and configuring routers? If so, why not add-on some additional premium services that position your company for a more long-term, more profitable client lifecycle. And if you don't have staff with those skill sets, consider hiring and managing subcontractors that can. Remember, the real money is in owning the client account for long-term, repeat business.

3. Play Both Sides of the Fence with WiFi. The harsh reality is that WiFi is basically your biggest competitor to selling traditional data cabling solutions. How can you profit from this undeniable competitive force? Make sure you have staff or subcontractors that are also adept at installing, configuring, and supporting WiFi based networks, or networks that include a mix of traditional twisted paid data cabling and WiFi nodes.

4. Consider Adding VOIP Phone Services. One more way to easily attract more great clients, with higher lifetime value, is to get involved in reselling and supporting Voice-Over-IP based phone solutions. Again, you have two basic choices. Either train an employees on the required skills. Or subcontract out the work to a qualified contractor that can function as an extension of your data cabling business.

In this article, we looked at 4 simple ways to attract more great clients to your data cabling firm. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients that need data cabling solutions and on-going services now at the attached link.

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

Computer Contract Planning Tips for Busy IT Consultants

2009-01-23T11:44:00.001-05:00

Does your IT consulting business have a well-designed, compelling computer contract program?

If you are a computer consultant, you probably feel overwhelmed most of the time as you juggle keeping track of your clients’ needs, building relationships with new prospects and customers, and taking care of the many daily tasks involved in running a business. Many small business IT consultants feel like establishing a computer contract program for long-term clients will just be one more thing to add to their already overloaded to-do lists. But a well-crafted long-term support plan can actually help much better manage the solutions you provide for your clients.

Why?

Consider the following 4 reasons why building a computer contract program is so instrumental to the profitability of your IT consulting business.

A Computer Contract Program Is Key for the Busy Computer Consultant. A well-crafted program for on-going maintenance and service can help you manage your time when you have a lot of clients that all need IT support at the same time. You will be able to maximize your utilization rate and still have enough time to handle client emergencies as they arise.
You Are Prepared for Emergencies. When you have a lot of clients that need emergency service at the same time, you can’t possibly be everywhere at the same time. A computer contract program and support plan helps you prioritize your client list. You know exactly to whom you are obligated – long-term, paying contracted clients – and who you need to put on hold.
Force Customers and Clients to Make a Decision. Having a computer contract-based business model forces the people you serve to make a decision. Are they in, or are they out? By insisting that those that want you to provide them with on-going services sign a formal contract, you weed out those that aren’t serious. Once you know who is really committed to you and who is not, it's easy to know who gets priority service.
Manage Prospect, Customer and Client Expectations. A computer contract plan helps you manage everyone’s expectations effectively. Those who have signed an agreement know they are your top priority, and those who have not know you are obligated to those that have committed to you long-term.

Before you decide that a computer contract program is too much work for you, think about the long-term benefits it can offer your business. Do you want to continue to struggle with fly-by-night, non-committal customers? Or do you want to enjoy the benefits of knowing you have stable, on-going service revenue to sustain you long term?

In this short article, we outlined 4 reasons why a computer contract program can help you grow a profitable IT consulting business. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients with a well-crafted computer contract program now at the attached link.

IT Service Level Agreement Tips for Getting Great Clients

2009-01-09T20:33:00.001-05:00

Do you want to offer an IT service level agreement to your clients, but you don't know where to start?

If you are a small business computer consultant, your most profitable clients will be those on service agreements. Besides knowing your own skills and being qualified to solve important business problems, you need to look carefully at the size and type of companies you intend to serve.

How can you plan your IT service level agreement, so you get more steady, high-paying clients? The following 3 tips can help you build a profitable service agreement business.

Choose the Right-Sized Businesses to Target with Your IT Service Level Agreement. When you are just starting your service agreement business, start small. Start with a client size that you can approach comfortably. This will probably be a business in the 10-50 systems range with one or two servers. They will typically not have wide area network connections and will have basic needs when it comes to business software applications. When you start by targeting smaller small businesses, you can set the stage for larger small business clients.
Keep Up Communication with Clients. In order to develop successful IT service level agreement relationships, you need to remain in constant contact with your valuable clients. Keeping communication lines open through e-mails, phone calls, or drop-ins will help you manage client expectations. If the service agreement is set up properly, you and your technical staff will be at each client site at least once or twice per month. Staying in touch on a regular basis is extremely important if you want to build quality client relationships, and manage and even exceed client expectations.
Surveys Can Help You Evaluate Your Progress. Send surveys out to prospects, customers, and clients as a part of your plan for a profitable IT service level agreement package. Surveys, particularly with clients, work best when sent a couple months before you are ready for contract renewals. You can adapt that schedule to twice per year or even quarterly for more interim feedback. Surveys can be informal, but you need to make sure you keep asking for feedback on a regular basis.

In this article, we looked at 3 tips for building relationships with a compelling IT service level agreement program. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients with your IT service level agreement now at the attached link

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

Software Reseller Tips for Growing a Stable Business

2008-12-20T13:12:00.000-05:00

Are you a computer consultant that breaks out in hives when you think about being a software reseller?

You might be confusing the low-margin sales of desktop PC’s, notebooks, or servers with actually integrating software and other products into comprehensive business solutions for small businesses. If you plan carefully, you can profit from your clients’ need for full-service support from their software reseller.

The following 3 tips can help you learn how to incorporate being a software reseller into your more profitable IT services business and attract great clients.

1. Embrace Your Role as a Technology Influencer. An IT consultant that also acts as a software reseller knows that smart selection of products can make installation, support, troubleshooting and upgrading work a breeze. Choosing the right software for systems can dramatically boost system reliability, which helps keep your valued clients happy. If you rely on someone else to choose software, you increase the chances of your solutions being less effective. When software acts up or is incompatible with existing hardware, clients get really frustrated and might actually end up blaming you for problems. As a software reseller, you can enhance the overall solution you bring to clients and give them a single point of contact. This in turn eliminates frustration and nurtures trusting, long-term relationships.

2. Pay Attention to New Advances in Technology … But Be Wary! There will always be new software and hardware on the horizon, but that doesn’t mean you have to jump to incorporate all of it into your small business clients’ solutions just because you want to stay up to date. A successful small business software reseller keeps an eye on new products for clients, but is always mindful of overall solutions and what will work best and most cost effectively. You can’t let your love for new gadgets and bleeding-edge technology get in the way of responding to client needs.

3. Know Where the Real Profit Opportunities Are for a Software Reseller. IT consultants do have a big opportunity for profit from software sales, but often not in the actual profit margins of the software applications themselves. Software resellers are successful when they act as their clients’ primary technology influencers. If you are going to add software sales to your repertoire, you need to not think of yourself as a purveyor of products, but rather as a professional that will recommend what to buy based on end-to-end small business solutions.

In this short article, we looked at 3 tips to help you profit from being a software reseller and build a steady client base. Learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients as a software reseller now at the attached link.

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

How a PC Repair Shop Gets More Repeat Business with Less Effort

2008-11-24T11:08:00.003-05:00

If you run a PC repair shop, you have probably already encountered some major challenges when it comes to selling services to small businesses. And you are probably wondering if there are ways you can maximize your marketing results without taking time away from running other components of your business.

The key to getting more repeat business for your PC repair shop with less effort is figuring out how to frame benefits to your clients in your marketing materials and related pre-sales efforts. Which benefits can you give your clients that will be different from the benefits offered by your local competitors?

In this article, you will learn about 4 tips that will help you stress the benefits of your PC repair shop solutions, so you can rise above the competition and get more repeat business.

1. It’s All about Location. As an example, say XYZ PC Repair Shop and Consulting Services moved into a new location in a 27 story building full of successful small businesses that meet the qualifications for great repeat clients. Should they play up the proximity? Of course! If you are very near to your ideal prospects, customers and clients, you can basically own the neighborhood. Your unique benefit, the benefit that sets you apart from your competitors, is that you are right there, in the heart of the action. You can get things done better, faster, and cheaper than anyone else who is not right there. As a result, it's a lot easier to sell your services to potential clients. Location can be a major benefit for small business owners and could be the primary reason they choose your PC repair shop over all others.

2. Sell Your Unique Benefits. If you own a PC repair shop, think about focusing on long-term clients. Long-term clients will make or break your business. If you are located nearby your small business prospects, you can sell more long-term relationships with less effort by leading with a response time guarantee. When you are located in close proximity to your clients, you can afford to make bold promises and say you will be there within 60 minutes of a server down emergency during regular business hours. If you are really located close by to your clients' offices, you can add weight to your solutions and benefits by offering a discount to clients (basically a late-penalty to your firm) if you are even a minute late beyond the 60-minute promised emergency response time. If you have enough clients in your immediate area, there will be almost no travel time involved. Staff utilization rates will increase tremendously and you will avoid the hassle and expense of driving, traffic, and parking.

3. Identify Local Businesses and Conduct Surveys. To identify local businesses and start a proactive marketing campaign, conduct a survey. Mail something out to every owner in your immediate area. You can include a bribe and give them a gift certificate for a dozen bagels, lunch-for-two at a nearby restaurant, or some other incentive to return the survey. The survey should ask basic questions about your prospects’ business such as how many PCs they have and how many employees. Also make sure to ask how these prospects currently get IT support and whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with current solutions. This survey can help further qualify prospects in your area and provide extremely valuable market research, making related marketing campaigns much easier for your PC repair shop.

4. Get to Know Those that Know Everyone. You should get to know people that are involved in the daily lives of your prospects. Befriend the local plumber, electrician, pizza delivery person, package delivery truck driver, and mail carrier. This will help you gradually network yourself into the area. Because these types of people are in and out of your prospects’ offices all the time, they can often point you in the right direction and help make the job of getting more clients for your PC repair shop easier than if you just relied on cold-canvassing or stranger-marketing methods.

In this short article we discussed 4 tips to help you get more repeat clients for your PC repair shop with less effort. Learn more about how you can get great repeat business for your PC repair shop now at the attached link.

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