Computer Consulting Blog

Becoming an IT Consultant? Ask Your Prospects These 4 Key Questions

2009-10-28T14:14:00.002-04:00

One of the most important parts of becoming an IT consultant is making sure you know which type of small business clients you want to attract.

How can you find the prospective clients that will most benefit from your services long-term?

Look for companies that are big enough to need your services on a regular basis. So these potential clients are candidates for signing on-going service contracts, that bring you the steady revenue that will be the foundation of your business. Doing this successfully, as you are becoming an IT consultant, means you absolutely need to know the major qualifying questions inside out and backwards, like the back of your hand.

Geographically Desirable? Because most small business clients need a lot of hand-holding, potential clients need to be located nearby to you. Look for prospects located within a 30 - 60-minute drive from your location. If you live in a large urban area, for example, your service area may shrink considerably, as there will be a high concentration of viable prospects very nearby. Also think about proximity as you attend networking events and develop your marketing campaigns.
Big Enough, But Not Too Big? Think Goldilocks: not too big, not too small. As you are becoming an IT consultant, target clients that have 10-75 workstations. At this size, the prospect is big enough to need a real, dedicated server … but not so big that the prospect needs a full-time, in-house IT department. Another way to think about this is that the prospect will likely have $1 million - $10 million in annual sales, or your local currency equivalent. Know this type of information about your potential clients, so you can develop much more powerful, affordable, and cost-effective marketing strategies.
A Platform You Can Support? Before you get too far into the sales process, be sure to properly qualify prospective clients based on their installed platform of OS's and NOS's. For example, if your specialty is Windows-family OS's/NOS's and a prospect is 100% standardized on Mac's, you should refer that prospect elsewhere.
Serious About IT? If you come across a small business prospect for your IT consulting business that doesn’t have a dedicated server, because they're messing around with peer-to-peer ad-hoc networking, you probably want to run the other way. Before you spend too much time on a potential client, make sure the prospective client is really ready for your solutions.

In this short article, we talked about 4 simple, but very powerful qualifying criteria for prospective clients. By consistently asking these questions, you can more proactively manage the selling process and utilize your limited time more effectively. Learn more about becoming an IT consultant and attracting steady, high-paying clients now at http://www.BecomingAnITConsultant.com

Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course Preview Webinar

2009-10-20T09:46:00.003-04:00

Learn how you can get more of the best, steady, high-paying small business clients in your local area. This free live preview event is exclusively for those who are not currently owners of the Computer Consulting Kit™ Home Study Course. As no recording will be made available, this event is only available live. Registration is limited to the first 100, first-come, first-served.

Sign-up now so you don’t miss out!

Title:		Computer Consulting Kit™ Home Study Course Preview Webinar

Date:		Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Time:		8:00 PM - 9:30 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/239429297

Open a Computer Repair Shop with the Right Priorities

2009-07-08T08:47:00.001-04:00

If you are planning to open a computer repair shop, you need to remember that “slow and steady wins the race.”

When it comes to starting a repair shop, you can’t just go in there with guns blazing on Day 1 of business and expect to get instant clients just by being aggressive and talking about how great your services are.

What can you do to build trust among your customers and really get your business started on solid footing as you open a computer repair shop?

Remember Computer Repair Marketing is a Systematic Process.

Maybe you feel like you’re doing everything right when it comes to marketing your repair company. You’ve joined some organizations, gone to some networking meetings, met some non-competing business owners in the IT field, and have been giving out your business cards everywhere … but you’re still not getting any response.

What’s the problem? Likely, you haven’t given your efforts enough time to produce results. Merely joining an organization is not enough to get people through the doors of your shop. However, if you have been active with your marketing activities for six months and still nothing is happening, you probably need to try another organization and some other marketing approaches.

Your Computer Repair Shop is Built on Personal Relationships.

As you open a computer repair shop, take everything slowly with new customers and let relationships evolve naturally. You usually can’t expect to go to one or two meetings and make a $25,000 sale. And if you do seem to have that beginner's luck, go right out and buy a lottery ticket because the odds are just about the same. Sometimes an unexpected client project windfall will come up and literally land in your lap because your timing is perfect, but most of the time you really need to work on building the essential “know, like and trust” of personal relationships.

If you have a warm personality and are friendly and charismatic, you will be able to build great personal relationships. Working in computer repair means working with people; you can’t be a loner, or hide in the back room and expect to do well when you open a computer repair shop.

Also, remember that with personal relationships, first impressions are really important. You need to build a rapport with the people you meet by dressing professionally and working on building your business chemistry. Make sure to also send business their way if you find someone that needs their services.

In this short article, we talked about 2 ways to ramp up your computer repair marketing and customer relationships as you set the stage for a new business. Learn more about how to open a computer repair shop that will attract steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) OpenAComputerRepairShop.com All Rights Reserved

Computer Repair Contracts that Keep You Profitable

2009-06-28T09:15:00.000-04:00

If you are trying to set up profitable computer repair contracts for your small business clients, you might have some questions about their real benefits, or at least how to clearly explain these benefits to non-technical small business decision makers.

Many small business technology providers choose not to use on-going agreements and build their business around customers that have short-term needs or need immediate emergency services. If you fall into this category, you need to start thinking about your business realistically and planning long term. Unless you intend to spend a lot of time and money on aggressive marketing tactics or hire a huge number of employees to handle thousands of clients every year, you’re just not going to build sustainable revenue. You need to be prepared to build a solid foundation for your business, and this means focusing on long-term, sophisticated repair and support needs that will require you to enter into on-going relationships with clients that will pay you predictably a certain amount of service revenue each and every month.

Consider the following 3 points when building a solid foundation for your business on computer repair contracts.

1. Computer Repair Contracts Are Essential to Your Business. On-going agreements formalize your working arrangement with clients and provide your company with very highly profitable recurring consulting revenue. This is nothing like the commodity-oriented managed services business that puts you into a low-margin "box-pusher" mentality. Repair agreements contribute to your longevity in a way that no number of quick fixes or short-term solutions can, because they represent your commitment to cater to the real long-term needs of your small business clients … and most importantly, your clients’ commitment to pay you regularly for your expertise and high-end premium services.

2. The Customer is Not Always Right. Just because a large potential client wants to have his/her attorney rewrite your entire agreement doesn’t mean you should go along with it. If you have done a really good job of building a relationship with each client, you will not likely run into this situation. Start out each new customer on some kind of mutual proving ground project to make sure the relationship will work before you present the idea of your computer repair contracts. And there will be a certain amount of faith and good will build up between the key people in your company and the key people in your client’s business. Most of the time, the only reason a client will ask for a contract revision is because he/she senses weakness and the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Of course if you focus on the legal niche, it often becomes a matter of price and ego for your customers to bully-you into adopting their one-side contract mentality. So unless your clients are power-hungry attorneys, just follow a set, step-by-step sequence for engaging with new customers and clients, and the issue of a client that wants and demands a total rewrite will usually be a moot point.

3. Be Prepared. You need to have your entire computer repair contracts package planned out and ready to go, because you never know when a new customer or client will be ready to sign. Delaying for a few weeks will not only kill your credibility, but it will also potentially make you miss a valuable opportunity to strike while the iron’s hot.

In this article, we detailed some important points about building a plan for long-term agreements with clients. Learn more about how to build compelling, mutually-beneficial, highly-profitable computer repair contracts that will attract steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) ComputerRepairContract.com All Rights Reserved

Printer Service Business Tips for Service Company Owners

2009-06-18T09:31:00.000-04:00

Does your company provide printer service to small businesses?

And if so, would you like to build a recurring service stream from more long-term clients, rather than constantly chasing down one-shot-deal customers?

Many owners of printer service companies cringe when they think about the complexities of setting up payment policies, terms and credit/collections. However, it doesn’t have to be difficult. Just make sure you take into account your own unique business model and the types of clients you serve when you are determining how to set up important items like credit and payment plans.

The following 3 pieces of advice will help you establish sound printer service payment terms.

1. Seek Help from Your Accountant to Set Up Credit Policies. Your accountant will be in a great position to help you set up a system to evaluate completed credit applications and credit reference letters. Make sure you have credit policies in place so you can safely extend credit to your clients and ensure that you get paid. In addition, be sure to discuss how you’ll arrive at, monitor and enforce established credit limits with your important clients. Writing off debt can be extremely painful, both financially and psychologically. So you really need to spend serious time discussing important credit issues with your accountant and setting up procedures and controls. Because credit and collections can also cross over into legal issues, you should also consult with your attorney before finalizing procedures.

2. Know How You Will Get Paid. Regardless of how you set up and communicate your payment policies for long-term printer service contracts, you must have a firm grasp on how you will get paid by your clients. Those in the computer business are literally all over the map when it comes to payment terms, credit policies and billing procedures. Some insist on cash-on-delivery (COD). Others trust their gut feel or a handshake and just assume all the financial risk. You need to have a really good plan for ensuring you get paid ... or you’re not going to last long.

3. Explain Your Payment Terms and Retainer Deposits. You’ll do fairly well with printer service contracts if you explain your payment terms and require up-front retainer deposits. Attach firm due dates to payments and make sure your clients understand that your policies and expectations are not just suggestions. Don’t even think about granting any substantial amount of credit to a client without first securing and processing a completed credit application. Your payment policies and retainer deposits need to be worked clearly into your contracts and discussed before you agree to work with any client.

In this brief article, we presented 3 tips to help you establish payment policies with your clients so you ensure you get paid on time and in full. Learn more ways to improve each printer service contract and attract great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) PrinterServiceContracts.com All Rights Reserved

PC Repair Price Best Practices for Those Billing By-the-Hour

2009-06-13T09:54:00.000-04:00

Are you trying to set a fair PC repair price that will also bring you enough revenue and profitability to grow and sustain your business?

PC repair prices vary from business to business, as there are a lot of different fee structure options. One popular choice is to use billable hours, sometimes called time and materials, to estimate and quantify your time spent servicing clients.

As you develop a more long-term relationship with your clients, you will definitely want to get their commitment to on-going services through a PC repair service contract, as this will ensure you get on-going, steady revenue for your business. And for your clients, they'll have peace of mind knowing that you'll be there to take care of both their urgent and ongoing PC repair and other IT-related needs.

But as you are starting out and doing initial projects to gain trust and establish a good working relationship, setting a sustainable, profitable precedent for your PC repair price and billable hours is important.

Consider these 4 tips and best practices to make sure that you select a PC repair price structure that's a mutually win-win for both your company and your clients.

1. Understand Billable Hours and Hourly Billing. Your PC repair price can be based on a variety of fee-structure options. If you decide to use billable hours, you need to do your homework. You need to ensure that clients find your rates fair, but also that you can sustain your business profitably on the rates you set. The basic concept behind billable hours is that you set an hourly rate for your work. When the project is completed, you get paid for the number of hours you spent on the project. This often works well for consultants because it abides by the philosophy that time is money (which it most definitely is in the PC repair business), and it helps ensure those that use this structure are compensated for their time. From your perspective, it's important to note that billing by-the-hour, again often referred to as time and materials, is by far and away the most popular option for most PC repair businesses with diverse client lists.

2. Know How to Start a Project Using Billable Hours. The most important tip to remember when you estimate a PC repair price to your clients is to be upfront about all costs. There should be no surprises. Before work begins, plan carefully and provide a written estimate calculating the amount per hour that will be charged. Also make sure you include a fair projection of the number of hours you will need to finish the project and be very clear. For instance, you could say, “Client agrees to pay $100 per hour for 6 hours of work.”

3. Be Prepared if the Project Goes Over Budget. Often a project is bigger or more time consuming than you originally expected. Before beginning work, you need to address this contingency in the written estimate and include it in your PC repair price estimate. A clause can be added that the client must approve additional hours. This is often called a “change order” and is critical to ensuring that you get paid appropriately for the time you spend.... especially if the client introduces additional requirements after the original PC repair price is quoted. When working on long-term projects, make sure you keep your client informed of your progress with a regular detailed report of any additional costs or schedule changes. This will help you build solid relationships and decrease the chances of disputes over fees.

4. Track Your Hours Well. Before you set a PC repair price in stone for a project, discuss all details with each client. Will you be charging for travel time, documenting time, research time and phone time? And regardless of which software or service you use to keep track of your billable hours, you need to keep careful track of your hours expended and make sure that you are taking into account all possible time and financial costs.

In this short article, you were introduced to how to manage a pricing structure based on billable hours. Learn more about setting a PC repair price structure that will be mutually beneficial for both your clients and you now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) PCRepairPriceSecrets.com All Rights Reserved

Computer Repair Employment Ain't What IT Used to Be

2009-06-11T00:04:00.002-04:00

If you want steady computer repair employment, you need to understand that the game has changed in a big-time way.

Let's face it. Computer repair employment ain't what it used to be. This isn't 1999 or 1989 or 1985. And unless you have access to Marty McFly's DeLorean time machine and its cultural-icon flux capacitor, it's time to face reality.

Don't put your career in the hands of someone else. Take control of your own future. What's one of the best ways to do this? Take your hard-earned computer repair skills and build your own computer repair business around the needs of local small business clients.

Because unless you’re ready to really go head-to-head with computer repair giants, you need to build relationships with clients that will need you for on-going computer repair services and all of their other IT-related needs. This means you really have to get to the heart of their biggest business problems and IT needs.

If you want to build a strong enough business, so you never have to worry about computer repair employment ever again, consider the following 4 tips that help you learn about your clients' true needs.

1. Ask Clients about Their Top 3 Business and IT Problems. When you first meet with prospects, you need to get them talking about their top 3 business and IT problems. You might learn that the problems your prospects have are not the ones your business can solve. In this case, you will know immediately you are barking up the wrong tree and need to move onto better opportunities. The key point is to get your prospects talking.

2. Ask about Your Prospective Clients’ Preferences. You need to get prospects talking about what they like and dislike about past computer repair they’ve received. This process can give you a lot of clues about what they ARE seeking. Remember, most non-technical small business owners and managers have very little experience in computer repair employment-related issues. So you'll really need to take charge of the discussion if you want it to be a productive dialogue.

3. Find Out if There is an Emergency. When you first talk to prospects, you also need to make sure you find out if they have an emergency that has to be addressed in the next 24-72 hours. Or they might just be looking for something like an IT audit, site survey or technology assessment, but you have to find out in the first meeting.

4. Bring Your Prospects to the Next Step. You need to move your prospects from non-paying prospects to paying customers and clients. In order to do this, you have to make sure you don’t let them pick your brain too much in the first meeting. You need to get them to write a check to your company sooner rather than later, so you can make the most out of each prospect and not just provide a free advice session. If you don't take charge, it's almost like pro-bono computer repair employment. Make sure you have something ready to offer prospects that allows them to get started with you right away in a relatively low-risk setting for both parties. That's what a proving ground project is all about. If you want to be really prepared, you can bring blank forms with you so you are ready for them to sign on for your initial proving ground project at the end of the meeting.

In this article, we talked about 4 tips to help you build a profitable and sustainable computer repair business around the unique needs of local small business clients. Learn more about how to avoid dead-end computer repair employment by building a business with great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) ComputerRepairEmployment.com All Rights Reserved

How to Start a Computer Repair Shop

2009-06-07T08:16:00.001-04:00

Many that are trying to learn how to start a computer repair shop wonder, “How can I do this when the economy has been so tough?”

Even before the recent economic downturn, the rules of computer repair and technology businesses have changed dramatically. It’s not enough to be a highly-talented repair person or technology expert anymore. You have to be on the lookout for new client business opportunities all the time.

Those starting computer repair shops face not only a tough economic client, but also a highly-challenging business environment. If you are trying to figure out how to start a computer repair shop, you do need to know that it’s going to be tougher for you to find new clients, but certainly not impossible. The flip side, the economic turmoil has also created a lot of new opportunities that didn't exist as recently as 12 months ago.

Finding new customers needs to be one of your top priorities, so you can not only survive, but thrive. You will need to stand apart from your local competition and constantly plant the seeds for future business development activities.

To help you organize your lead generation activities, use the following 5 field-tested, proven low-cost, high-impact tactics for starting a computer repair shop.

1. Think about Word-of-Mouth Referrals. In order to help you as you learn how to start a computer repair shop, you need to know how to get more word-of-mouth referrals. Think about how you will stay in touch with your existing contacts and get back in touch with those that have lapsed over months and even years. For a retail store-front computer repair shop, this almost screams for the idea of planning a super-cool, high-excitement launch reception or open-house event.

2. Uncover All Service Revenue Opportunities. Chances to grow service revenue for your computer repair shop surround you every day. You have to learn to look for networking opportunities and methods to help you provide better and better solutions to your valued clients everywhere you go. You should always be on the lookout for new clients and partners, and be proactive about building relationships... especially with those small businesses that need IT service on a regular, scheduled basis.

3. Make Your Marketing Materials More Response-Driven. As you're figuring out how to start a computer repair shop in difficult economic times, you need to prepare marketing materials that can dramatically boost the number of prospects you convert into lucrative clients. Focus on low-cost opportunities to attract ideal clients that will build long-term relationships with your firm. Work on creating a very strong brand and logo that communicates your unique solutions and for whom you provide these solutions. Then put together a Web site and business card that supports your overall business plan. Remember it's the problem-solving that clients pay the big bucks for, not the break-fix repairs, technical features, or IT buzzwords.

4. Learn How to Make Great Sales Calls. You need to make sure you avoid making common mistakes in sales calls as you think about how to start a computer repair shop. Avoid dwelling on the price of your services when you are talking about your solutions to clients and always outline the unique benefits you provide. This will put you on the right path to presenting yourself professionally and truly communicating the strength of your complete business solutions.

5. Always Remember Customer Service. You can really leave your competitors in the dust if you are mindful of providing great customer service. When you really show you care about your clients and helping them grow their businesses, you will gain their trust and loyalty and build the lifetime relationships that will bring you steady, on-going revenue for your new computer repair shop.

In this article, we talked about 5 concepts you need to grasp as you build your new computer repair shop. Learn more about how to start a computer repair shop with the best steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) HowToStartAComputerRepairShop.com All Rights Reserved

Computer Repair Service Software is More About You than Bits and Bytes

2009-06-01T09:02:00.001-04:00

Are you looking for computer repair service software that will help you work more efficiently with your clients? If so, you need to understand that your ultimate success, or lack thereof, with computer repair service software depends a lot more on your business strategy than just some piece of code, or bits and bytes.

The truth is the type of software you use is not as important as the plan you implement for organizing your time spent with clients. A big way to organize your time and prioritize clients is to establish a very clear service contract plan and get every long-term client on that plan. If you don’t set clear boundaries for what you will and will not do or how you will work with clients, no software can help you organize your business. You need to have a way to clearly decide who will get services now… and who will have to wait until later.

In other words, if your business plan is either weak or non-existent, no amount of money that you spend on software will be worthwhile.

With that in mind, let's look at 4 ways to better organize and prioritize your day-to-day business activities, so you can deliver the best services no matter which type of computer repair service software you use.

1. Don’t Promise More Than You Can Deliver. Many small computer repair companies make the mistake of trying to deliver on promises like unreasonably quick response time with very sophisticated services, often without a real service agreement plan in place. One of the major reasons why this major business-planning mistake is made is a failure to identify real competitors in the marketplace. The truth is, if you run a one or two, or even five-person shop, a Fortune 1000 company is not your direct competitor. As a result, you need to focus on building long-term relationships with clients that will pay you high rates for specialized, personalized work. In other words, you need to fill in gaps in the marketplace that are being overlooked by bloated Fortune 1000 bureaucracies. This type of mindset combined with your computer repair service software will help you deliver high-quality solutions to the types of clients that will pay you for on-going work through long-term service agreements. In other words, focus on the relationship, not just the initial sale. Remember, your business needs to be profitable and sustainable, not just busy.

2. Manage Client Expectations. Most clients want instant results; however, their IT budgets can rarely afford this kind of service. To realistically accommodate this type of client and even exceed his/her expectations, make sure your service agreements for computer repair are lucrative. In other words, you need to set rates high enough so you can afford to provide this high level of prioritized service to your most valuable clients. You will also need to make sure you are appropriately staffed to handle the number of clients you take on, so you can really be on call to respond rapidly during service hours and make use of your preferred computer repair service software.

3. Tier Your Response Time. Tiering your response time with different modes of response as part of your service contract plan can help you handle response time issues. For example, during normal business hours, you might offer callback for emergency phone support within 30 minutes, remote troubleshooting within two hours and on-site response within four hours or the next business day. When you can really micro-manage who gets prioritized response as part of your service contract plan, you will help make more efficient use of the time you have available, regardless of whether or not you choose to use specialized software.

4. Partner with Other Local Computer Repair Specialists. When 90% of your clients all have network emergencies on the same day, even the most sophisticated computer repair service software won’t save you. You need to prepare yourself for this inevitability by partnering with other non-competing computer repair specialists in your area so you are fully supported and can continue to deliver on promises to your clients when everything hits the fan at once. If you don't think this could ever happen, think about earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, flash floods, and other natural disasters that can hit thousands of small businesses simultaneously.

In this article, we outlined 4 tips to help you build a service contract plan that will help you deliver the best services to your computer repair clients, no matter which type of software you use. Learn more about how to use service contracts alongside your computer repair service software to get steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) ComputerRepairServiceSoftware.com All Rights Reserved

Sales IT Strategies for Turning Prospects into Long-Term Clients

2009-05-28T07:42:00.000-04:00

Could you use some proven sales IT strategies that help you more easily and more rapidly turn your prospects into long-term clients on ongoing support agreements?

If you want to get more clients for your IT business, you need to be able to effectively and persuasively overcome prospect sales objections. In order to do this, you need to turn the tables on your prospective clients and ask questions that make them decide on their own that they need your help. Because after all, don't most ideas sound better when they are "your" ideas?!?

Now in order for your sales IT strategies to be successful, you need to convince your prospects that what you are trying to sell is both crucial and urgent. The following 3 tips can help prospective clients overcome their own objections and get on the road to being great new clients for the long-haul.

1. Suggest Potential Problems to Your Prospects. In order to get your sales IT strategy to work with potential clients, you need to set up in their minds that there are some potential problems with their current systems that they simply aren't aware of. You need to ask questions that will get them thinking. “When was most of our system infrastructure installed?” “How long ago was that and who did the work?” “Is that person or company still maintaining the systems?” After you ask these questions, your prospects will start to think, “Gee, it’s been a while since we had these installed, and I don’t even really remember who did it. No one’s been maintaining it for at least the past six months, if not more.” They will start to realize the need for more consistent, responsive, proactive professional support. And of course, if you have some client case studies and testimonial letters to support this all, don't be shy about flaunting your credibility enhancers.

2. Ask Questions about Maintenance. The next part of getting your clients to do the work with your sales IT strategy is asking questions about how often their systems are maintained. These questions will help you get a better idea of the current condition of their computers and technology assets, while also showing prospects that they are more disorganized than they believed and need your expertise. You have to rattle their cage a little, get them to second-guess their previous judgment and become a little bit borderline-obsesses about rectifying this severe oversight on their part. “What kind of maintenance is done and how often is it done?” “Do you have a log showing the maintenance activities and routine support requests?” “Do you have any support history, or do you have copies of some support invoices or something similar?” "What kind of encryption is being used?" "What's your automated data backup and restore plan?" "When was the last time your firewall was tested and updated?" "If your office was devastated tomorrow by a tornado, flash flood, or earthquake, could your business survive? Really? How?"

3. Get An Idea of How Many IT Professionals Your Prospects Have Used. To really get your prospects to buy what you’re selling and ease them along the sales IT process, you need to ask about the number of people that have been involved with their systems over the years. If they are like most typical business owners, they have had three or five different companies in the past several years. This means they probably have a very messy IT environment and a much bigger blob of blurred accountability and botched, highly-vulnerable infrastructure than they probably even realize.

In this short article, we talked about 3 sales IT strategies to help you turn the selling process around on your clients, so they can overcome their own sales objections. Learn more proven secrets about creating strong, profitable sales IT strategies that get you steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) SalesITSecrets.com All Rights Reserved

Computer Repair Business Opportunity that Gets You More Great Clients

2009-05-26T10:33:00.001-04:00

Many that look for a computer repair business opportunity spend most of their time and energy thinking about the technology side and give relatively little thought to how they'll get paying customers and clients.

While computer repair certainly is an IT-intensive business, ultimately it's quality and quantity of your marketing campaigns and relationship-building that will be a much better predictor of your success in pursuing a computer repair business opportunity.

When it comes to building these long-term relationships, getting involved in local business-related organizations can be one of the most cost-effective ways to consistently generate very highly-qualified prospective clients.

By getting involved in organizations such as your local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary Club or even an IT Professionals User Group, you can meet people with common interests in a very personalized setting. These contacts can be great future partners or clients of your company. As you meet people through organizations, you will start to develop personal relationships that will be the very foundation of your business. When you join organizations and attend regularly, you can show people that you are dependable, trustworthy and worthy of their consideration.

The following three tips can help you make the most out of any computer repair business opportunity when you network through organizations.

1. Think about Trust. People look for computer repair professionals in the same way they look for good dentists, internists, attorneys or accountants. Yes, some people will go to the phone book for these highly-professional services or look in coupon packs or billboards. But most will find their trusted business advisors through referrals and other very personalized methods. The reason for this is because when people are looking for services involved with their personal health, personal well being or their businesses, personal word-of-mouth referrals carry a lot of weight. When it comes to computer repair services, business owners want to make sure they find someone that can be trusted 100% with their most important technology and business assets.

2. Become Well Known in Your Community. One of the best ways for you to seize every possible computer repair business opportunity is to reach important decision makers earlier on in the sales cycle, before they're even looking for a business like yours. To train key movers and shakers to know that your company is the only one to call, you need to raise your personal and business profile in your local community within your target market. There are a couple of ways you can do that, but you have to have a mature enough outlook to understand delayed gratification. Networking through organizations is one of these strategies and can make or break the success of any kind of computer repair firm. And networking is all about relationships. Even though you are in the technology business, you are really in the people business. So focus on your interpersonal skills and building trust.

3. Get More Personal Recommendations. You need to think about personal recommendations as you network through organizations and tap into every possible computer repair business opportunity. In order to get personal recommendations, you have to know more people who are either in a position to hire you and/or recommend you to others who can hire you. Plain and simple. Join organizations and attend events on a regular basis. It's not rocket science and it's not something that will break your budget. $100-$250/mo can go a very long way. You don’t have to go to every single breakfast, networking luncheon or business after-hours function under the sun. But you do have to go to key functions and really meet and get to know a lot of people. If you really participate in organizations, over time you will get very good at identifying the kinds of people that are best at leading you to great client opportunities.

In this article we talked about 3 ways to network through organizations, to grow your computer repair business. Learn more proven tips on pursuing the right kind of computer repair business opportunity and attracting great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) ComputerRepairBusinessOpp.com All Rights Reserved

Starting Your Own Computer Business the Right Way

2009-05-23T00:52:00.001-04:00

Are you starting your own computer business? Do you want to make sure you launch it the right way, the first time around?

Then make sure you're aware of your new company's sales cycle.

If you are like a lot of other new computer business owners, maybe you don’t quite know how to sell your services or get long-term clients and predictable revenue. One of the first steps to building a successful computer business is knowing the sequence of the sales cycle and following it consistently every time you come into contact with a potential client.

There are six steps in the sales cycle, and often new or naive computer professionals think these are just the ideal of what they ought to be doing in a perfect world.

The reality is, the sales cycle is not just a hypothetical best case scenario. Following its steps is the only way for most to consistently sell the high-margin services you need to get steady, high-paying clients. Methods that are limited to selling products, canned solutions, and even managed services that are pretty much just commodities put lots of downward pressure on your profit margins and won’t help you build your business.

To keep you away from profit-destroying methods as you are starting your own computer business, follow the 6 steps of the sales cycle below.

1. Targeted Marketing Activities that Generate High-Quality Leads. As you are beginning the process of finding the best clients for your computer business, you need to plan and implement a whole bunch of targeted marketing activities that will find those most likely to benefit from your unique services and the solutions you provide.

2. Careful Lead Qualification. As you are starting your own computer business and building your potential client roster, you need to qualify leads to make sure they fit your criteria for what makes a good client. For example, are they geographically desirable? big enough to need steady weekly or monthly sophisticated technology services? small enough to not have a big in-house IT department? and invested in, or planning to invest in, a platform supported by your particular computer business?

3. Sales Calls as Mutual Interviews. Once you’ve qualified your prospects, you need to go on initial sales calls. You need to have a written-down, plotted-out agenda for these meetings, but also treat them as mutual interviews. They are checking you out as a potential service provider. But when you're prepared, calm, cool, and collected, you are also able to more proactively figure out whether or not they have the potential to become good clients for your company.

4. Proving Ground Projects Build Credibility and Trust with New Customers. This step in the sales sequence is often overlooked, especially when you are just starting your own computer business. If you did everything right up to this point, your next step will be selling a small billable project – an emergency service visit or a technology assessment. This project will act as a proving ground of sorts, during which your company will prove its value to new customers. And conversely, your new customers are proving themselves to your business as being able to work well with you and your staff.

5. Remediation Projects, Major Upgrades, Installations, and Rollouts. The fifth step in the sequence of the sales cycle only happens if the proving ground project works well. This step involves talking about fixing a larger problem... often a major upgrade of systems, a big installation, or some sort of rollout project. Naive computer business owners might try to sell this type of project right out of the gate, before the process of lead qualification or a smaller project have been completed. However getting impatient can be a big mistake if you want to build long-term relationships.

6. Annual Service Agreements for On-Going Maintenance. As you present the major project or installation, talk about how on-going maintenance will be handled and present an annual service agreement program of some sort. You really need to have this service agreement program in place as you are starting your own computer business, so you can create the framework for creating long-term relationships. This final step of the sales cycle will take some time to reach as you let relationships evolve naturally. If you start talking about this major commitment in the first sales call with your potential client, before you have even built trust or proven yourself, you will in nearly all cases sabotage that relationship. Make sure you don't propose marriage on your first date. Take time to let new customer and client relationships evolve naturally.

In this article we went over the 6-step sales cycle for new computer business owners. Learn more about starting your own computer business with the proven sales cycle that gets you great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) StartingYourOwnComputerBusiness.com All Rights Reserved

Voice and Data Cabling: 3 Tips for Outsourced IT Consultants

2009-05-21T10:54:00.000-04:00

If you are an IT consultant designing total small business solutions, choosing the right kind of voice and data cabling for your network application, installing it properly and verifying compliance with the necessary standards is the key to ensuring your clients get the most out of their technology investment.

If you take a casual attitude towards the design or installation, you could cost your clients unnecessary money and waste time with unnecessary long-term troubleshooting issues and devastating downtime.

When it comes to laying the proper foundation for a reliable network, voice and data cabling is as important as pouring a solid foundation for a building construction project.

But how can you ensure you give your small business clients the best voice and data cabling options that fit in with your overall solution ... especially if you are coordinating services with an outside vendor and acting as their outsourced IT manager or virtual CIO?

Consider the following 3 tips that can help you be a great “go-between” for your clients and ensure your technology solutions work well for them, even if you are working with outside vendors for voice and data cabling services.

1. Map Out All the Parts of the Project and How They Fit Together. First, you need to know how to get from Point A to Point B. But you also need to know all the intricacies of the steps along the way, even if they are not being carried out by you personally. You have to know exactly what Point A and Point B are. Then you have to figure out how the overall project can be broken down into phases and who will be doing what, including which outside vendors you will be using and what you will be able to do in-house. To be a real virtual CIO, create a technology roadmap for your clients and be in total control of how it is executed. And be sure to communicate regularly with any outside vendors you use throughout the course of any project so you are all on the same page.

2. Allow Ample Time for Voice and Data Cabling Projects. Smooth IT projects do not happen magically. Major systems upgrades are generally carried out over the course of several weeks and sometimes even several months. And when you are coordinating voice and data cabling with outside vendors, you have to do a lot of advanced planning and pay close attention to a lot of interrelated details. You also have to understand that while you might have a specific timeline in mind for completing a project, you can’t always expect that other vendors will have the same exact idea, or that your timeline will even be reasonable for them. As an effective virtual CIO, you need to be realistic about timelines and work with all members of your team to develop a definite plan before the start of the project.

3. Prepare for Potential Problems with Conservative Time and Money Budgets. Seasoned virtual CIO's and project managers learn to spot potential problems before they evolve into major catastrophes that can drastically increase budget and time spent. When you are working with other companies that provide voice and data cabling, you need to make sure any outside companies you use are doing their jobs in the agreed-upon amount of time and for the agreed-upon cost. If you are watchful of every component of a big project, even those pieces you are not doing yourself, you can handle most unexpected problems efficiently and expediently.

In this article, we discussed how you can work more effectively with outside vendors to oversee major network infrastructure projects, such as voice and data cabling. Learn more about how to provide great voice and data cabling options to better serve your steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) VoiceAndDataCablingBusiness.com All Rights Reserved

IT Marketing Plan Tips for Fine-Tuning Your Elevator Speech

2009-05-18T10:17:00.000-04:00

If you want to attract great, steady, high-paying clients to your IT consulting business, you need to develop a very solid IT marketing plan. Many in IT consulting naively believe that marketing is only something that merits attention when business slows down. The problem however is that because of the length of your sales cycle, most can't afford to back-burner their IT marketing plan.

An important marketing element many IT professionals neglect to fully develop is the elevator speech. The elevator speech is a short little description of your business, and is necessary to reach prospective clients in networking situations. You need to really practice it and make it a reflex as you are meeting prospective clients and partners that will be essential to the growth of your business.

An elevator speech, named for the amount of time you have to deliver your message between getting on and getting off the elevator, must be very concise -- 30 seconds tops, though 10 seconds is more ideal. Remember, if you're still blabbering away when the person you're sharing the elevator ride with exits, you're talking way too much.

If you have a well thought-out compelling business plan and unique problem-solution-benefit value proposition, writing your elevator speech is a piece of cake.

The following 3 IT marketing plan tips can help you fine-tune your elevator speech.

1. A Fine-Tuned Elevator Speech Helps You Compete with Other IT Professionals. If you go to an organizational meeting, like a Chamber of Commerce breakfast or Rotary Club luncheon, you will probably not be the only IT professional giving a 30-second commercial as you mingle around and meet others. If there are two or three other computer service companies there at the same event, you need to make sure your elevator speech resonates with those you meet that might be great candidates for your services. A huge part of success in IT marketing is showing how you are different from your competitors, and how only your unique solution can fully solve the problems of your target business prospects. An effective problem-solution-benefit elevator speech can often get your foot in the door, which is key to your success in your IT marketing plan.

2. Focus on Benefits and Problems Solved … Not Features. The key thing with an elevator speech is that you need to focus on the benefits you provide for a particular business as well as the problems you can solve. For example, “Hi, my name is Bob Johnson from Johnson Computer Solutions. We help small businesses make better use of their computer systems to grow their revenue, lower their costs and raise their overall productivity and bottom-line profits.” Your elevator speech needs to focus on what you can do specifically for small businesses in actual business language. It cannot just talk about how great you are, your laundry list of certifications or the technology services you provide.

3. Make Sure Your Elevator Speech is Sincere. Any IT marketing activities you do need to be 100% sincere. Therefore, as you are delivering your elevator speech, you have to come across as someone that can help business owners and has a genuine interest in hearing more about them and their most important issues. The general rule of thumb with networking is to try to let the person that you’re talking to do most of the talking. Make sure to use active listening and find the opportunity for you to help the business owner. Networking as part of an IT marketing plan is learning about prospects … not about hearing yourself talk.

In this article we discussed 3 quick tips to help you fine-tune your elevator speech to use effectively in networking situations. Learn more about how to develop an effective, results-oriented IT marketing plan tips that will get you great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) ProvenITMarketingPlan.com All Rights Reserved

Information Technology Consultants Tips for Overcoming Sales Objections

2009-05-15T09:33:00.001-04:00

Many self-employed Information Technology consultants believe that they are in the IT business. The reality, however, is quite different. Being a successful Information Technology consultant often hinges on your ability to build and maintain high-value relationships.

And when it comes to getting the ball rolling during the sales process, Information Technology consultants working with small businesses should understand that overcoming sales objections is a critical aspect of sales. In order to be successful, you need to become an expert at learning how to get rid of fears surrounding paying for technology support and showing the value proposition of your sophisticated solutions.

The key to overcoming objections is to be quick. You need to convey confidence, professionalism, and know what you are talking about.

The ability to overcome sales objections is particularly useful when you are trying to sell an IT audit, also sometimes called a technology assessment. There aren’t really hard and fast rules when it comes to overcoming objections, but there are definitely some common objections you will hear.

The following are 3 common sales objections that Information Technology consultants often hear when selling to small businesses, as well as some pre-scripted objection handlers that you can use out in the field.

1. Your Prospective Client Says, “Isn’t Your IT Audit Overkill for a Company Our Size?” If you hear this objection, you can come back with, “If technology is important to you, think about this. Would you go on a long trip without checking out your tire pressure, oil level, and fuel gauge? Would you make a huge real estate purchase without having an independent property appraisal? You need an independent assessment of what’s going on with your IT systems, because often what appears to be the problem on the surface when it comes to technology is not at all the issue. In fact, for many small businesses, their previous Information Technology consultants did such a masterful job of disguising problems, that the IT audit becomes a huge eye-opener. And if you'll indulge me for moment, to help illustrate this I've brought along a few video case studies and testimonials from our clients, who were until very recently in the same situation as you.”

2. Your Prospect Asks, “Can’t You Just Throw It All Away and Start from Scratch?” If this kind of question appears, consider responding with similar like, “That might sound good, but there can be a huge danger in buying too much or buying too little. If you under-buy, it means you’ve underestimated your true needs and just picked the cheapest alternative. What happens in this case is that you have to throw away what you bought just a few months ago when you realize your system is big-time inadequate. On the flip side, over-buying means you will end up spending too much of your budget on technology that is not going to work best for your company. You need a needs analysis from Information Technology consultants that will be able to tell you exactly what you need to make your most business efficient, and give you the best for the buck from your IT investments."

3. Your Potential Future Client Says, “Can’t Our Internal Guru Do Some of This Work to Save Us Some Money?” When you hear this objection, you can reply with, “If this is how you want to do it, I can tell you specifically what you’ll need for an untrained person to do an IT audit, and you can decide whether or not your internal guru can handle it. You will need seven critical elements if you choose not to use trained Information Technology consultants: a complete, up-to-date system documentation; a maintenance history of what’s been done so far; a supporting call log; a list of the kinds of support calls that are being generated on a regular basis; a complete up-to-date asset inventory; a history of any recent projects that have been started or completed; a data protection vulnerability analysis. On top of this, you’ll need to give your internal guru an incredibly detailed list of exactly what needs to be done to bring you up to date. What we can accomplish in a few hours might take an non-IT professional literally weeks of time... and he or she will probably still miss a lot of key areas. It's like trying to train someone who knows how to do their own simple tax return on the intricacies of forensic accounting or tax planning for a $100M company.” This long list of items will almost always prove to your prospective client that he/she does not have enough time or the right resources or expertise to do this type of assessment alone.

In this article we outlined 3 IT audit-related sales objections you might encounter working in the small business space and how you can overcome them. To learn more about how Information Technology consultants handle sales objections and the sales process as a whole, sign-up for free proven tips on how to attract more great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) InformationTechnologyConsult.com All Rights Reserved

IT Support Contracts Build a Stronger Business

2009-05-13T01:36:00.000-04:00

Does your small business IT company offer IT support contracts?

Some small business IT professionals question the power of IT support contracts and whether they will really help them build a solid business. The truth is, as a small firm, you can’t afford to just rely on unpredictable pay-as-you-go customers that will only call you once in a blue moon. You need some sort of recurring service revenue and a guarantee that you will have a very specific amount of money coming in each and every month.

Otherwise, you will find yourself treading water and potentially hitting a dead end while trying to build your business before you really even get started. You need to build solid relationships with on-going, steady, high-paying small business clients that have signed IT support contracts and made a promise to work with you long term.

The following 3 tips can help you understand why on-going agreements are essential to building a solid IT consulting business and having fulfilling, mutually-beneficial relationships with your clients.

1. IT Support Contracts Are Mandatory for Building a Strong Business. Support contract agreements are an essential part of small business IT consulting. These agreements formalize the consultant/client working arrangement and provide your consulting firm with very highly-profitable recurring revenue that can keep you in business for many years.

2. Don’t Rewrite Your Offerings for High-Maintenance Prospects, Customers and Clients. You can’t be at the mercy of your clients’ every whim if you want to be perceived as a real, professional, necessary part of their business and IT plans. If you’ve followed a steady sales process and let your relationships with prospects, customers and clients evolve, you will use a very calculated sequence that will help build faith and goodwill between the key people in your company and the key people at your clients’ companies. If a client asks you to completely revise your support contract agreement the client probably sees a weakness or is trying to take advantage of the situation. Imagine if a client of an IT giant like Microsoft or Apple asked one of these companies to rewrite its standard contract just to accommodate him/her. You should see the essential details and terms of your IT support contracts as standard and non-negotiable, just like the details of the contracts of companies much larger than yours. If you are following the same sales sequence with each client and letting relationships evolve, a scenario where a qualified, lucrative client asks for significant changes in your basic contract will not usually arise.

3. Don’t Neglect Your Proving Ground Project. Your proving ground project is an essential part of the sales cycle, and you can’t forget about it as you build relationships with your prospects, customers and clients. You will have a very difficult time selling IT support contracts to small business owners that have never done any work with your company. You need to turn prospects into paying customers by getting them to agree to pay you for an initial small project to make sure you will work well together long term. This way, you and your new customers get to take your relationship out for a test-drive with a very nominal project commitment before you commit to each other for the long haul. Your proving ground project is an opportunity to find out whether or not you and a customer will be a good match for on-going work.

In this article, we went over 3 tips to help you understand the power of building your business around on-going IT support contracts. Learn more about designing IT support contracts that will get you great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) ITSupportContractSecrets.com All Rights Reserved

Computer Business Plan Tips for Getting Great Clients

2009-04-25T08:12:00.001-04:00

As you are writing your computer business plan, you need to think about a very important question: WHO will be benefit from your services?

Many computer business owners make the mistake of chasing after prospects that only need services now and on a short-term basis. What you should be doing however is marketing to those prospects that will be with you for many years to come and bring you predictable, steady revenue. This is the core, but potentially $100,000+ difference between transactional-oriented cherry-picking, one-shot-deal customers and long-term, steady, high-paying great clients.

Although many mistakenly use the terms customer and client synonymously, it's a huge oversight because of their enormous differences in long-term potential to your computer business.

They fail to see how working for fly-by-night customers will leave them scrambling to make their next buck and dissatisfied as they move from customer to customer, never establishing solid, mutually-beneficial relationships that can make computer consulting work more rewarding and successful.

Consider the following 4 ways to build a computer business plan around the needs of great clients, rather than one-shot deal customers.

1. Think About Customer and Client Acquisition Costs. As you are creating your computer business plan, think about the time and money that will go into your marketing campaigns. Customer or client acquisition costs are simply defined as those time and out-of-pocket expenses that can be directly traced to the acquisition of new customers or clients. In order to measure this correctly, you need to have controls and techniques in place to help you measure where your customers or clients originate.

2. Track the Origins of Your Customers and Clients. Tracking where your customers and clients originate is critical to understanding how to get more of the clients that will stick by you long term … and less of the customers that have no interest in building long-term relationships. For example, when you send out a postcard or other piece of marketing collateral to a set of leads or prospects, you can send them to a Web site landing page to fill out a form, register for a free seminar or request a free CD. If you use a special URL and landing page, you easily can count how many clicks you got and how many sign-ups you got. Then after the campaign, you can measure which percentage of sign-ups got qualified, which ended up becoming customers or clients and finally, how much new and eventual revenue can be traced to these specific new customers or clients from that specific campaign.

3. Measure How Much Time and Money Goes into Seminars and Relationship-Building Events. You need to know how much time and money goes into the seminars that you hold for your prospects, customers and clients, so you can understand the cost of acquiring a real client... and even more importantly, understand exactly what a really great client is worth to your computer business. As a simple example, think about what would happen if you invested $1,000 and 16 hours of time (that you value at $100 per hour) planning, marketing and holding a seminar event. From this, perhaps you got a new customer that spent initially $400. Then, that same customer might become a steady, high-paying client on a $12,000 per year on-going service contract. This basically means you spent $2,600 in money and time finding a new client that was worth $12,400 in the first year of your relationship. The client acquisition cost was $2,600. But what if you didn’t push on-going service contracts, and that client just spent $400 with you once? Then, that $2,600 cost was certainly not worth the trouble. The customer vs. client mindset makes all the difference in your computer business plan.

4. Target Clients with Your Marketing Activities. Unless you have a huge Fortune 1000-sized marketing budget, you have to work smarter when it comes to marketing. You have to focus on small businesses that are most likely to become steady, high-paying clients. There’s a world of difference in the lifetime profitability potential or lifetime value between customers and clients. As you design your computer business plan, you can’t afford to market to any companies that don’t have the potential to become steady, high-paying clients. The targeting and lead qualification becomes mission critical.

In this article we gave you 4 tips to help you build your business around getting great clients rather than one-shot-deal customers. Learn more about creating a computer business plan that will get you great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) ComputerBusinessPlans.com All Rights Reserved

Computer Business Ideas for Getting More Steady, High-Paying Clients

2009-04-18T12:48:00.001-04:00

Are you trying to come up with computer business ideas that will get you the stable revenue you need to survive, even in challenging economic times?

Many new and inexperienced computer business owners spend most of their time and energy chasing down one-shot-deal customers and keeping their fingers crossed that these clients will call them again in a few months or a few years. If you are relying on this same business model (or lack thereof!), you are headed down a dead-end street.

You can’t build a successful computer business around the needs and wants of one-shot deal customers. First of all, it is just not financially viable to spend all that time and money acquiring customers for one-shot deal transactions. But secondly, you are going to drive yourself crazy waiting for the phone to ring and constantly find yourself scrambling to make ends meet. The answer to your problems is to get steady, high-paying clients on lucrative annual service agreements.

Consider the following 3 computer business ideas about why service agreements are the way to go if you want a more stable, predictable, profitable client base and business.

1. Annual Service Agreements Give Your Business Stability. When you scrap the one-shot deal, short-sighted computer business ideas and pursue more lucrative annual service agreement clients, you give your business the recurring revenue, stability and predictability that it so desperately needs. Annual service agreements are also vital prerequisites to have in place when contemplating major expansion, such as hiring new staff or opening up a new office.

2. Service Agreements Help You Plan an Exit Strategy. You might think the beginning of the life of your new business is not the time to plan its end. But there is no more perfect time! If you ever want to be able to sell your computer business -- for example, if you move, get bored, get burnt out, or get disabled -- the list of your clients on annual service agreements become one of your company’s few tangible assets. Of course, the overall valuation of your company is best left to an expert, such as your trusted accountant. So make sure you do this as you start to set up your service agreement program and business plans.

3. Understand the Math Behind Service Agreement Clients. As an example, if your company has been averaging $200,000 in pure consulting revenue over the last three years and ¾ of that ($150,000) is locked in on annual service agreements, this is a pretty nice asset for someone looking to acquire at a multiple of your overall gross service revenue. As you consider other computer business ideas besides those based on on-going service agreements, think of the flip side of this concept: how much will a competitor pay to purchase a list of one-shot deal customers that only call once in a while? Even if your company has some decent revenue track record, without annual service agreements, you don’t have that $12,500 head-start on revenue each month ($150,000/year divided by 12 months). When you don’t have annual service agreements, you will be literally starting from scratch every single month.

At the end of the day, or the end of your interest in owning your own business, your list of service agreement clients becomes a very valuable, tangible asset and one that should be continually cultivated and strengthened.

With all the compelling evidence in support of service agreements, why would you possibly consider computer business ideas rooted in other concepts?

In this short article, we talked about 3 reasons why you should build your computer business around the needs of your clients on service agreements. Learn more proven computer business ideas that can help you get great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) ComputerBusinessIdea.com All Rights Reserved

PC Repair Price List Tips for Designing Your Rate Card

2009-04-15T21:50:00.001-04:00

Are you having trouble figuring out how to present your PC repair price list?

As someone working in PC repair, your best bet is to make sure you’re not setting yourself up as the source for “low, low prices” on repairs and related services. Why? Because you will only attract customers that are looking for rock-bottom prices right now and will leave you as soon as something cheaper comes along.

Instead, focus on small business clients that need on-going support. This will help you attract more steady, high-paying clients that are looking for higher-end, long-term solutions, rather than what appears to be the cheapest price. And your best bet for presenting an organized PC repair price list to your potential clients is to design an effective, high-compelling rate card.

The following 3 tips can help you set up your rate card so you can communicate your solutions and prices clearly to your new customers.

1. Know that Every PC Repair Specialist Struggles with the Task of Setting Prices. Many new computer repair specialists have trouble figuring out what they should charge clients. Many perceive presenting a PC repair price list as a big, hidden mystery of running a business. However, it is entirely possible to set rates for your services so that they will not only bring you a stable source of service revenue, but also help you build satisfying, mutually-beneficial client relationships.

2. Understand the Factors that Help You Decide on Prices. There are a number of factors, depending on your skill set and local marketplace competition, that can help you decide what to charge your PC repair clients. Make sure that you do your homework before you decide on a set PC repair price list. For example, be sure to Investigate what other equally-qualified professionals and firms in your area are charging, the demand for your services, as well as your own cost of doing business and monthly overhead.

3. Decide What the Goal(s) of Your Rate Card Should Be. A properly-designed rate card accomplishes many objectives that are critical to your PC repair business: it sets the tone for your level of professionalism; it fully discloses and clearly communicates your prices and shows how they are a critical investment; it ensures you are fairly compensated for after-hours and emergency repairs; it allows you to bill more for highly-skilled work; and it reinforces the value proposition of your on-going agreements with long-term clients. Some of these goals and objectives may be more important to you than others. But before you decide on your price list, be sure to think about what matters most to you and your business.

Establishing and presenting a PC repair price list doesn’t have to be a complicated process if you plan carefully and know the factors that go into setting rates.

In this short article, we introduced 3 considerations for establishing and presenting a strong PC repair price list. Learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients signed onto your PC repair price list now at the attached link.

Copyright (C) PCRepairPriceSecrets.com All Rights Reserved

Information Technology Service Tips for Subcontracting and Partnering

2009-04-08T10:24:00.000-04:00

Are you trying to build your Information Technology service company? Sometimes in order to provide complete, fully-integrated, end-to-end solutions to your valued clients, you have to rely on subcontracting and partnering.

Subcontracting and partnering can be an excellent way to grow business and improve your relationships with clients. But many professionals in the technology business do not quite understand the difference between the two concepts or how to work them into their plans for working with small businesses.

The truth is, subcontracting and partnering can improve your ability to work with clients and help you efficiently run your business . It also frees you up for your most important business-growth activities so you have enough time to focus on important administrative, sales and marketing activities that will keep your sales funnel full of viable prospects, customers and clients.

The following 3 tips can help you better understand how to use subcontracting and partnering as you build your Information Technology service business.

1. Understand the Difference between Subcontracting and Partnering. There are several key ways that subcontracting differs from partnering. With subcontracting, your client has a single point of contact with your firm. The subcontractor primarily communicates with your firm, with only minimal direct communication with your client. Basically, the subcontractor functions as an extension of your firm, and the client does not necessarily even have to know that some of the larger project is being farmed out. With a subcontractor, the client gets one proposal, one contract and one invoice from your firm. Subcontractors also get paid by your firm, not the client. If your Information Technology service company is talking about partnering, you are working with another non-competing technology provider that is retaining its own corporate identity and presenting its own credentials to a mutual client. The client is aware there are two or more distinct technology providers involved in the project, and your partners communicate directly with the mutual client. The client communicates with the main contact person at all partnering computer consulting firms and gets proposals, contracts and invoices from all of them.

2. Clarify which Party Handles which Details. With partnering and subcontracting, you need to clarify which party is handling which details of each project. In a master contractor/subcontractor relationship, the master contractor (your Information Technology service firm) will handle most, if not all administrative and management tasks. Unlike a partnering arrangement, you won’t need to spend a lot of time with your subcontractors reaching a common ground on whose billing and administrative procedures you will adopt. When you are a master contractor, you call the shots. However, whether you are working with subcontractors or partners on a project, you will still want to create a planning document that helps you define the rules of engagement and spells out individual responsibilities so everyone is always on the same page.

3. Take Stock of the Skills You Are Retaining. Most of the time when you seek out a potential partner or subcontractor, you’re looking specifically for a certain skill set. After all, you’re trying to enhance your own offering so you can best serve your clients' needs. For example, if client of yours needs a relational database designed to track wedding bookings for their catering business and this is not a skill you have in house, you will probably be looking for a subcontractor with expertise in the appropriate database platform and front-end design. Make sure as you engage with a new subcontractor or partner that you get an idea of his/her baseline level of knowledge on a variety of products and platforms beyond his/her specialty. You can create a skills inventory worksheet that you use with all your subcontractors and partners to collect information efficiently and consistently.

In this article, we talked about some of the most important differences between subcontracting and partnering, and how you can use subcontracting and partnering to grow your Information Technology service business. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients to your Information Technology service firm now at the attached link.

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How to Become a IT Consultant and Attract Great Clients

2009-04-02T11:22:00.001-04:00

Are you trying to figure out how to become a IT consultant, but you’re not at all sure where to start?

Before you run out to chat up every friend, family member and former colleague or print out fliers and take out ads in your local phone book, think carefully about who you want as clients. You also need to get ready for a lot of hard work pounding the pavement and honing your people skills.

Becoming a IT consultant can be very rewarding, but it’s not necessarily easy. You aren’t going to get your clients handed to you on a silver platter, no matter what your business model is or where you are located. Of course if you have several hundred thousand dollars or more in working capital, you could buy an existing IT consulting business. But there'd be no guarantees that you'd be as successful as the previous owner. And that option just simply isn't practical for 99.99% of those reading this article.

You also aren’t going to immediately attract great clients just because you have a real way with technology, or a deep roster of close friends that know, like and trust you.

The following 4 pieces of advice can help you understand why you need to engage in targeted marketing activities if you really want to learn how to become a IT consultant, attract great clients, and build a solid business.

1. Don't Get Complacent About Building Relationships and Keeping Your Sales Funnel Full. Many new IT consultants make the mistake of assuming that just because they have enough business today, they will have enough tomorrow, next month and next year. This way of thinking can be the death of even the most seemingly thriving IT business. You need to be diligently and regularly meeting new people through networking organizations and targeted marketing activities so you are prepared if one or more of your clients suddenly jumps ship, goes out of business or simply can’t work with you anymore. Make time for marketing activities and follow-ups... now.

2. Don't Rely on Co-Workers, College Buddies, Relatives or other Close Acquaintances. If you want to become a IT consultant, you need to be prepared to meet new people. You can’t rely exclusively on contacts that have taken years, decades or even a lifetime to cultivate as you build your business. While these people can be helpful in the beginning, they will not build a stable foundation for your business. Branch out and focus on continuously building your network of potential clients and partners.

3. When You Don’t Market, You're Threatening Your Company's Survival. Unless you have a never-ending supply of former bosses, former co-workers, college buddies, cousins or other relatives, you will sooner or later have to confront a harsh reality – you to be able to confidently and effectively market to strangers. You need to develop skills that will help you relate to people that don’t know you yet so you can continue to build a network that extends beyond just those that already know you.

4. Know the Great Results of Targeted Marketing. Be very aware of which types of clients will help you succeed at starting your own business. Develop a marketing message that speaks to those that will most need the IT solutions you are providing. When you can do this well, you will find targeted leads that will have the best possible potential of becoming your next, steady high-paying IT consulting clients.

In this article, we discussed 4 tips on how to become a IT consultant. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients as you become a IT consultant now at the attached link.

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Technology Assessments Sales Strategies

2009-03-29T08:49:00.000-04:00

Do you offer technology assessments to your new IT consulting clients?

If not, you're really missing the boat. Why? Simply put, technology assessments are a very important part of a well thought-out, step-by-step sales process.

These small initial proving ground projects show prospects that you know your stuff. And they help start real, long-term relationships with steady, high-paying business owners that will sustain your business long term.

However, technology assessments can be a difficult sell if you don't know what you're doing.

In order to overcome resistance from prospects, approach the sale from a features and benefits perspective, and be prepared to answer the important question, “Why do I need a technology assessment?”

Answering this question involves making sure you are explaining the benefits and not just generic features.

The following 3 pieces of advice can help you stress the benefits of technology assessments to your prospective clients.

1. Know What Features Are. Features are great, but they don’t get to the heart of why prospects buy technology assessments. Features are often loaded with technical jargon, a big turn-off to non-technical business owners that want to hear things in business-focused terms. Features of technology assessments include the following examples: “I will review your existing network;” “I will look at your PC configurations;” “I will examine your telco circuits;” “I will critique your IT policy;” “I will analyze your existing data security and data protection measures;” “I will tell you about some of the more common data loss risks.” Features will often leave your prospects saying, “So what?” They don’t answer the important question, “Why do I need a technology assessment?” Benefits provide a definitive and irrefutable answer to, "And this matters to me because?"

2. Know How to Present the Benefits of Technology Assessments. Some of the benefits you can present to your prospects include: “You’ll be able to understand what it is that you already own;” “You’ll become aware of the inherent limitations of what you own;” “You’ll understand the weaknesses in your systems;” “You’ll learn about untapped potential that you could be using more efficiently;” “You’ll be able to get stronger bottom-line benefits out of your existing IT assets;” and “You’ll be able to take steps to prevent expensive disruptions and unplanned emergency downtime.”

3. Emphasize the Benefits of Technology Assessments in Your Marketing Materials. Once you are clear about the benefits, be sure to clearly articulate these benefits in all of your marketing materials that you use to convert qualified leads into new paying customers. A benefits list is an excellent addition to fliers, postcards, e-mails and any other marketing collateral you use with your prospects. But first, you need to know the difference between “features” and “benefits.”

In this article, we discussed 3 proven strategies for more effectively selling technology assessments to your prospective clients. Learn more about how you can use technology assessments to attract great, steady, high-paying clients now at the attached link.

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Opening a Computer Repair Shop Made Simple, Step-by-Step

2009-03-21T11:22:00.000-04:00

Are you opening a computer repair shop, but aren’t sure exactly what you’re getting yourself into?

Many technology professionals that decide to start a new business don’t know what to expect and don’t plan their company’s model or build real relationships. Thus, they end up without an organized business plan or a strategic method for finding high-quality, long-term clients and partners. And as you can probably imagine, going into any business venture blindly is a recipe for failure.

The following 7 best practices for opening a computer repair shop can help you understand what to expect as you start your business so you can build relationships with crucial clients, partners and subcontractors.

1. Small Business Clients Expect Your Firm to Be Knowledgeable. When you are opening a computer repair shop, your clients will often unrealistically expect you to be knowledgeable on every conceivable technology problem under the sun. To deliver on this want and need, focus on providing the complete solution to your clients. This way you can build long-term relationships that produce predictable recurring revenue, great reference accounts and ideal clients that are not as price sensitive as others looking for just a one-time purchase. To fill in gaps in your skills, you'll want to build-up your team with non-competing technology provider partners and subcontractors. (More on that in a moment ...)

2. When You Partner, You Retain Account Control and Appear Bigger Than You Really Are. When you partner with other technology providers as you are opening a computer repair shop, you give yourself access to varied skill sets and are able to pool resources. Thus, your firm will appear to have many specialties, as well as a deep ability to solve big IT business problems and engage in major projects.

3. Partnering with Technology Professionals Helps You Manage Clients’ Needs that Are Beyond Your Immediate Reach. You will help yourself succeed at opening a computer repair shop when you partner with non-competing technology providers in your area that fill in your skills gaps. For example, your potential partner might be intimately familiar with a specific client/server or industry-specific software application. Regardless of your specialty, look to find professionals that can help you manage major IT projects and better fulfill your clients’ needs, while you still remain each client's main contact and project manager.

4. Find Partners You Can Comfortably Work With and Trust. Make sure you consult an attorney as you are building relationships with potential partners. But remember that even the most thorough attorney can’t possibly cover every single contingency and scenario in an official partnership agreement. Gut feel and trust are important elements as you are opening a computer repair shop and building relationships with partners. Many that own repair shops like to start partnerships with smaller projects and gradually progress to larger projects.

5. Find a Hook. To stand out from the crowd, look to find a hook, or something special that differentiates you from the pack. You need to also know the hooks of your partners so you can go to clients with a full set of real skills and not just a load of marketing hype. Understanding these hooks will also help you know which partnerships are long-term viable and which potential partners are your direct competitors. As an additional tip, you can print up a second set of business cards geared towards potential partners, with your hook clearly described.

6. Understand the Difference Between Subcontractors and Partners. When you work with partners, you can potentially spend a lot of time trying to reach a common ground on whose billing and administrative procedures you will adopt. But with a master contractor/subcontractor relationship, you will handle most, if not all administrative and management tasks. This can be beneficial, because it saves time and lets you call all the shots.

7. Be Sure to Set Up Mutually-Beneficial Relationships. No matter what, as you are opening a computer repair shop, and throughout the life of your business, you need to set up relationships with clients, partners and subcontractors that are mutually beneficial. Set up relationships with long-term interests in mind. For clients, this means providing ample benefits that make them hesitant to switch computer repair professionals because of the huge potential for disruption and loss of continuity. For subcontractors and partners, this means showing them that working with them for just a single, one-time client project is too expensive for both of you when you figure in the screening, hiring and managing duties.

In this brief article we discussed 7 best practices to think about as you are opening a computer repair shop. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients as you're opening a computer repair shop now at the attached link.

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IT Consultant Company Factors for Determining IT Audit Prices

2009-03-19T10:35:00.001-04:00

If you are the owner of an IT consultant company, you may be unsure of what to charge for an initial IT audit with a new small business customer.

IT audits are incredibly important to the sales process and necessary to building strong relationships with new customers. Pricing can be intimidating to many IT professionals because it on the surface seems to be such an individualized decision. Often scouting around to see what the competition is charging can be helpful to figuring out your own prices. But you need to also consider your own expertise, your overhead expenses and who your clients are before you can come up with a structure that works for your company.

Consider the following 5 factors that can help you determine how your IT consultant company should price out its initial IT audits for new small business customers.

1. Geography. Typically, IT consultants within large cities can command higher billing rates than those in the suburbs or rural areas. Many of these geographic issues are due to monthly overhead or a general cost-of-doing-business that tends to be higher in densely-populated urban areas.

2. Scarcity of Skills. Does your IT consultant company focus on a specialty, or do you do general computer work? In the same way as a medical specialist like a cardio-thoracic surgeon charges more than a general practice physician for an office visit, a company that specializes in firewalls, virtual private networking (VPN) or some other type of service will be able to command higher billing rates than a generalist firm just installing basic PCs and LANs.

3. Local Demand. You need to know how busy your competition is in your area. When your IT consultant company starts approaching a 75% utilization rate (30 billable hours/week consistently for months at a time), prices start to firm up. When you are doing nothing on Monday morning but hoping the phones will ring, it’s time to get more aggressive about promoting yourself. In this kind of scenario, perhaps your IT audit prices should be lower for new small business customers.

4. Overhead. Think about how much it costs for you to get trained annually, the cost of lab/test equipment, how much time and money you need to invest in marketing to keep your calendar full, insurance, taxes, professional services (accountants, attorneys, etc.), cell phones, electricity and auto-related expenses. Basically, think about the additional costs that will keep you up and running.

5. Client Size. A home-based micro-sized small business will almost always have a smaller IT budget than a 10-person downtown law office. And of course, a 10-person law office will have a much lower budget than a 100-employee or 50-PC manufacturer. Keep in mind how big the clients of your IT consultant company are when determining IT audit prices. While supporting more workstations almost always means more work, larger clients typically demand more highly skilled support and are willing to pay a premium for the highly skilled support.

In this article we discussed 5 factors that can determine how much your IT consultant company charges for IT audits. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients to your IT consultant company now at the attached link.

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Information Technology Business Plan for IT Support Contracts

2009-03-14T02:21:00.001-04:00

If you are trying to come up with a good Information Technology business plan, you may be wondering about what your focus should be. Usually the top priority is creating a plan that will help you get great clients, so you can effectively manage and grow your business.

Many Information Technology consultants make the mistake of thinking they can just get by on one-shot deals and fly-by-night customers. But in reality, this type of approach just leaves you frazzled and worried about where you will get your next big project or next paycheck. You need to build a stable business based on on-going relationships with long-term clients that will pay you each and every month, and bring you predictable service revenue.

The best plan for developing a strong Information Technology business plan is to insist that every one of your clients sign a support contract. The following 4 tips can help you understand how to build your business plan on the solid foundation of support contracts.

1. Support Contracts Are Key for the Busy Information Technology Consultant. If you are like most IT consultants, your time is incredibly valuable. When you choose to base your Information Technology business plan on support contracts, you help better manage your time, particularly when you have many clients that all need service at once. When you insist upon support contracts, you maximize your utilization rate while still having enough time to deal with client emergencies when they occur.

2. Better Manage Emergencies. When you base your business model on support contracts, you can prioritize your clients’ emergencies. When you have a bunch of clients all with emergencies at the same time, you can’t be everywhere at once. You need to narrow down the list of who gets your immediate attention and who will need to wait. Basically, those people that have committed to you long term get the royal treatment and those that do not have to accept that you will get to them when you have the time to spare.

3. Force Customers and Clients to Make a Decision. You need to base your Information Technology business plan on support contracts in order to force those you are serving to make an important decision – are they “in,” or are they “out”? A solid plan based on long-term relationships with clients weeds out those that are just testing the waters and are not serious about working with you long-term.

4. Manage Expectations. A solid Information Technology business plan based on support contracts also helps you manage your customers’ and clients’ expectations more effectively. Those that have a support contract know they are top priority … and those that don’t know you have clients with support contracts and that they are the ones that will be responded to first.

In this brief article, we discussed 4 tips to help you create a strong Information Technology business plan, so you don’t have to stress out about being everything to everyone. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients with an Information Technology business plan built around support contracts now at the attached link.

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