Computer Consulting Blog

Wow! It's Been a While Since a Post to the Computer Consulting Blog!

2014-03-29T16:13:00.001-04:00

Holy guacamole! Has it really been that long?

If enjoy reading this blog, definitely check out our newer, more up-to-date Small Business Computer Consulting Blog.

Make sure you also subscribe to its companion SP Home Run Weekly Update Newsletter!

Thanks for your continued support!

And we look forward to helping you get great clients, building up more recurring IT services revenue, and grow your business.

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

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

PC Repair Services: Provide Stellar Support for Your Clients

2008-11-29T10:46:00.000-05:00

Most small businesses are overwhelmed by finding professional PC repair services to help them manage their technology. So how can you understand their needs and concerns to develop the best PC repair services and solutions to their business problems?

You have to remember that your prospects, customers and clients have many options when it comes to PC repair services. The key to making sure you become their best option is to provide exactly what your target small businesses need and truly distinguish yourself from the competition.

The following 4 quick tips can help you provide cost-effective, convenient and secure PC repair services to your valuable clients.

1. Most PC Repair Services Clients Will Also Want Remote Support. Remote support is the simplest and most effective, low-cost option available to small businesses. And it can often solve simple problems, while avoiding costly travel time and unnecessary on-site visits … so you can focus on more complicated, involved work when you go on site and maximize efficiency. Make sure you set your PC repair services business up so you can access your clients' computers and networks remotely.

2. Save Your Clients Time and Money. The right software and hardware can help you save your clients time and money when things go wrong. Desktop sharing software can help create a lot of options for remote support, which becomes a cost-effective way to solve minor problems. The time spent on PC repair services when your clients have easy-to-use software will be much less than without it, allowing you and your clients to get back to their work quickly. You need to advise your clients on the inexpensive nature of this software and tell them how it can improve important key parts of their technology infrastructure, and system up-time and reliability.

3. Don’t Try to Compete Head-On with Larger PC Repair Services Companies. On-site PC repair services may seem very expensive initially to small businesses; particularly because huge corporations like Best Buy and others are offering support through entities such as “Geek Squad” to home and business users at what appears on the surface to be rock-bottom hourly rates. Keep in mind, you are not in competition with Fortune 1000 companies. You need to sell the value of your services and not the low cost. As someone offering sophisticated, total business solutions through personalized PC repair services, you are in a totally different league. You are selling long-term relationships and your specific expertise.

4. Be a Professional Consultant. Small businesses are best served when they find a trusted local PC repair services company that can take end-to-end responsibility for all their technology assets. You need to make sure you are offering personalized, complex solutions. Many large retailers and national computer manufacturers will look to point fingers at problems outside of their control. What sets you apart from these large retailers is that you provide personalized solutions, peace of mind and high-quality relationships that will help your clients be a lot more efficient with how they use IT. A big selling point and benefit of your PC repair services is relationship equity. Build these mutually-beneficial relationships solid enough and you'll be rewarded with tremendous client loyalty.

In this article we discussed 4 tips to help you provide your clients stellar support as a PC repair services professional. Learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients for your PC repair services business now at the attached link.

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

IT Freelancer: How Do You Start?

2008-10-06T16:18:00.000-04:00

If you are like many other smart IT professionals, as you move towards opening your own computer consulting business you will probably have to be an IT freelancer for a while before you can go into business full time. While many IT consultants choose to be freelancers in the beginning, you can’t afford to mess around with anything but steady clients.

As an IT freelancer, you have to stay away from one-shot deal customers that you will only hear from irregularly. How will you get into business full time when you can’t get steady commitments?

You need to focus on working with small businesses that have many and complex IT needs and need you at least a couple evenings per month or one or two Saturdays per month.

What do you need to do?

1. Watch your schedule! You need a schedule that allows you to really be an IT freelancer. If you already have an 80-hour work week, you just can’t do it! The ideal situation for you if you want to transition into a full-time computer consulting gig is a typical 9-5 job. You can take off a morning, afternoon or a lunch here and there.

2. Look for the right kind of IT freelancer jobs. You need to be seeking $1,000 per month clients that need you for one or two evenings per month, one or two Saturdays or Sundays and with some light phone support in between businesses. NEVER accept a client that gives you less than $500 per month.

Today we touched on how you can be an IT freelancer as a transition from your old job into your own business. To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

Start an IT Business with 5 Helpful Tips

2008-09-30T20:12:00.000-04:00

Before you start an IT business, you need to make sure you’re organized and know where you are going. Which steps do you need to accomplish your goal of getting started?

Tip 1: Print Your Business Cards

In order to start an IT business, you need to get business cards printed, even if you don’t think your company name or any other details will stick. If you decide to change your contact information or business name in six months, you can just get them reprinted. But you HAVE to get momentum going by handing out business cards to friends and family members.

Tip 2: Get the Word Out

When you are in networking situations as you start an IT business, you need to talk about your venture and hand out business cards. People at your church, synagogue, at the movies, at your kids’ soccer games, anywhere can become a part of your extended sales force, so you need to seize the opportunity.

Tip 3: Get Active in Your Business Community

You need to start getting involved in local organizations for business owners to give yourself organized networking opportunities when you start an IT business. Look for three or four fitting local trade groups such as your chamber of commerce or a related user group or industry-specific trade group.

Tip 4: What Do You Know?

When you are starting your IT business, you should start where you know and branch out from there. If you start with a niche you already know, you’ll have some credibility and an easier time creating a strong marketing message that really hits home. You will have an easier time being remembered because you won’t look like every other generalist and will offer something unique.

Tip 5: Think about Your Prospects

As you choose your niche, you need to make sure there are enough prospects in it to sustain you. For example, if you decide to focus on doctors’ offices in your local area, you need to research to make sure you have at least 500-1,000 prospects that fit into that category within an hour radius of your location. Another way to find-tune your niche and specialty and communicate it to prospects is to put an industry focus in your name, in this case, “health care systems,” “medical office systems” or “medical office technology.”

Today we talked about 5 tips to help you as you start an IT business. To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link.

Blogged By: Computer Consulting Kit

Balance Your Computer Services Business Portfolio

2008-09-22T23:40:00.000-04:00

In order to have a strong computer services business, you need to balance your portfolio. What does this mean? Basically, you need to keep 70% (or more!) of your business sweet spot small businesses with 10-50 computers. You can keep a very small amount of your business geared towards home networks and consumers and a few larger small business clients, but you will achieve the best balance if you focus on the sweet spot small business side.

No Matter What, DIVERSIFY

No matter what you do with your computer services business portfolio, you need to DIVERSIFY. This means that no single one of your clients can account for more than ten percent of your computer consulting revenue.

What’s the theory? If you’re getting most of your money from one source and then lose that client for any reason, you could potentially lose a LOT of revenue and have a hard time bouncing back!

Fire Your Bad Computer Services Business Clients

While you may not think firing a client is a good idea, sometimes you just have to do it. There are some problem clients of your computer services business that will just not be worth the trouble. They will drive you and your staff crazy and you might even LOSE staff over the ordeal. These types of clients eventually need to be cut loose. But if you make problem clients too big a part of your roster, you will end up having a really hard time firing them.

Your Ideal Clients Are Your Focus with Your Computer Services Business

You need to make room for ideal clients and just say “No” to those that are verbally abusive, harass you, cause you too much stress and generally are impossible. If you have enough really good, long-term, steady, HIGH-PAYING clients you will be able to replace the bad ones much more easily and will not waste time “reforming” anyone.

Today we talked about how to diversify and balance your computer services business portfolio. To learn more about this subject, visit the attached link!

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

Create a Good Computer Technician Job Description by Asking Key Questions

2008-09-16T21:11:00.000-04:00

If you are looking for a technology professional to help your small business, you may feel overwhelmed at the prospect of creating a solid computer technician job description that will get you the best candidates. Many small business owners don’t have a lot of technical knowledge and don’t know where to start when it comes to figuring out how to handle their own IT needs OR how to find a qualified consultant that can!

Skills in a Typical Computer Technician Job Description

Here are just some of the duties a good technician will probably need to perform for your small business:

1. Installs, configurations and upgrades of operating systems and software (typically using Microsoft products);

2. Installs, assembly and configurations for computers, monitors, network infrastructure and peripherals like printers, scanners and other hardware;

3. Troubleshooting for computer system problems and problems with hardware and software, e-mail, network and peripheral equipment and making necessary repairs and corrections;

4. Acting as a technical resource to help users resolve equipment problems and data and performing some help desk functions;

5. Recommending hardware and software solutions that fit your small business needs.

6. Helping with planning, designing, researching and acquiring new or upgraded hardware and software and implementing them into total business solutions.

Ask Key Questions to Create a Computer Technician Job Description

If you want to get just the right candidates for the job of maintaining your IT assets and helping you create an efficient small business environment, you need to ask important questions. Here are just some examples:

1. “Are you a part-time or full-time computer technician?”

2. “Are you a solo computer technician or do you have other employees and contractors?”

3. “Are you a generalist or a specialist? Which software specialties do you have and in which markets have you worked?”

There are many more questions you will have to consider as you are interviewing candidates and also creating your computer technician job description. To find out what these important questions are … and much more … visit the attached link!

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

A Computer Repair Class: How Can You Find One?

2008-09-08T10:33:00.001-04:00

While technical skills often are, surprisingly often not as important to starting a computer consulting business or computer repair business as business skills and people skills, they still are necessary in order to best serve your clients … but where do you find a computer repair class when you need one?

Many computer repair technicians serving small businesses mistakenly think they need to spend hours of time and a lot of money on expensive certifications and very formal classes. However, this is not often the case, as most small business owners will actually look down on extensive certifications and lofty qualifications; it means they will think they need to pay you more for your services or that you are overly qualified to handle simple problems.

Look at the Skills of Your Competitors before Seeking out a Computer Repair Class

Computer skills are important for you and the staff of your small business computer repair company, and when you are deciding which computer class to take in the time you have allotted for training and skills development, you have to look at which skills your competitors have.

What will a small business computer repair company need to know?

1. Some necessary networking platforms: Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS); Novell Small Business Suite or Novell NetWare; Linux (usually RedHat); Mac OS.

2. Advanced expertise in the following areas: Network Attached Storage (NAS); Storage Attached Networks (SANs); complex security solutions; CheckPoint firewalls; Citrix Terminal solutions; high-end Wi-Fi solutions; managed hardware.

Keep in mind that VERY advanced computer skills are only necessary once you start selling computer repair services to a real IT manager, which usually happens only the case of large small businesses. For the “sweet spot” of small business computer consulting (10-50 PCs), you really only need one or two entry-level certifications and to be working towards an MCSE or its equivalent.

Look for a Computer Repair Class

Once you decide what it is your clients need for their businesses and how your current skills fit into the picture, you can search for a computer repair class that suits you. Thankfully, there are many viable options that don’t involve going to a real “classroom,” such as on-line classes and seminars, tele-seminars and study courses that you can complete, even while sitting in your pajamas at home or between appointments with your customers and clients!

Today we talked about which skills you need and how to find a computer repair class that suits your needs. To learn more about this subject and many others related to business development, visit the attached link!

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

Tips to Get Your Computer Contract Air Tight

2008-09-03T15:46:00.001-04:00

Each computer contract you have that details the terms of on-going support for your clients is important to the health of your business. A computer contract requires advance planning to inspire confidence in your customers.

You need to know which benefits and prices you are going to offer ahead of time and do careful planning to create a compelling case for why each of your customers should be a client on a computer contract or on-going support contract.

Here are several steps you can take to ensure you have an air-tight computer contract with every client.

Tip 1: Make a Rate Card

A rate card is a simple, one-page document that shows typical prices vs. computer contract prices. It is basically a marketing summary of the benefits you provide to clients. You should brainstorm a list of at least a half a dozen compelling benefits for why someone should sign a long-term service contract with you instead of paying by the hour. You need to have your rate card ready before you go out on a sales call.

Tip 2: Carefully Consider Travel Time

When you think about developing on-going support contracts, you might have to re-think your service area. Competitors will be willing to travel 45 minutes or an hour for a good client on a computer contract, so you should figure out a way to do this affordably too. Usually you can enforce a minimum of an hour or a half day, depending on the situation.

Tip 3: Know When to Offer a Computer Contract

When can you offer a computer contract to clients?

1. Right after emergency service calls (when you’ve just saved the day and are at a high point!). This is a time when prospects and customers are very receptive to talking about how to prevent panic in the future, which is a HUGE benefit of an on-going support contract.

2. Once clients know, like and trust you. This means you need to give your relationships time to evolve!

3. After conducting IT audits. A computer contract is a logical next step once you’ve analyzed a customer’s systems.

4. When a customer expresses frustration with their other technology provider.

Today we talked about how to set up a strong computer contract. To learn more about this subject, visit the attached link!

Important Note: The blog post is not legal advice. This blog post is being provided for education purposes only. You are STRONGLY advised to consult a qualified local attorney to have your computer contract reviewed for appropriate to your personal financial situation, your business financial situation, your business entity type, your target client base and enforceability in your own local jurisdiction.

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

Computer Repair Books: Encourage Your Staff to Read More and Learn about High-End Network Installations

2008-08-25T11:55:00.000-04:00

As a computer repair business owner, if you want your staff to be happier with their jobs, earn more per hour and stay with you long term, you have to encourage each member to read computer repair books and do other activities that will help them learn about high-end network installations.

Higher-end solutions are worth more per hour, so why wouldn’t your staff want to enjoy this perk that can be as easy as reading a little every week or practicing on not-for-resale software, etc.? Most of your technical staff will have the basic skills to set up small LANs, do troubleshooting, cleanup jobs and desktop rollouts. But you need to start booking some of their time to work on honing skills that will be useful for long-term projects.

Keep Your Staff Happy through Professional Gratification

When you encourage your staff to read computer repair books to help hone sophisticated skills, you move them towards advanced networking projects. “Techies” enjoy working on difficult projects that tax their knowledge and will be frustrated if they spend time getting certified and reading up on complex subjects and then have to just rescue lost Microsoft Office toolbars or tell people to reboot, disconnect and reconnect.

When You Challenge, You RETAIN

When you encourage your staff members to read computer repair books and take certification exams and then put new skills to use in the field, you have a lot happier employees. They are working at their technical peak and feel challenged and will enjoy working for you and not look elsewhere for better opportunities. Training becomes an excellent retention tool.

Encourage Long-Term Client Relationships

When your staff members have high-end technical skills obtained through reading and training, they will be ready to engage in long-term client relationships as part of complex projects and end up being more excited about what they do. They get to know clients very well, get attached and want to stay with you and your company.

Today we talked about how computer repair books and other types of training can help your computer repair business staff thrive. To learn more about this subject – and many more subjects – visit the attached link!

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

Three Important Computer Repair Tools for Your Business

2008-08-18T20:26:00.000-04:00

When you start your own computer repair business that serves the sweet spot of computer consulting (businesses with 10-50 systems or employees), you will come across businesses with different needs, which means you will have to come up with computer repair tools to help you solve your clients’ biggest problems. The following three types of computer repair tools for your business can help you best serve clients.

1. Know with which tasks your clients will need help. Typically you will need to have computer repair tools that help you deal with applications like Microsoft Office, Intuit QuickBooks, Interact ACT! and hardware upgrades. Clients will need help with their shared folder backup software and antivirus and firewall software. You might have to do work with PDAs, syncing them and helping the work with Microsoft Outlook. And of course, expect to help with networks.

2. Remember that your micro small business clients will have very different needs. If you choose to work with these small businesses that have less than 10 PCs, you won’t need to worry about having advanced computer repair tools or certifications. In fact, the more experienced you are, the more unappealing it will be for these clients because they will worry they are paying too much for simple tasks.

3. Think LESS about certifications with the sweet spot. You will only really run into people looking for advanced computer repair tools once you get past the sweet spot into businesses that have 50 or more systems. These clients will usually have real IT managers and will know what different certification levels mean. If you’re dealing with basic computer repair you will probably not run into this situation because these types of companies will be looking for deeply-niched experts and specialists and not more general work.

Today we talked about three computer repair tools you should think about when working with “sweet spot” clients. To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

Get More Computer Business Opportunities through On-Going Service

2008-08-11T09:35:00.000-04:00

Most IT consultants find they get the most results when they create computer business opportunities through on-going service and build their businesses on the concept of virtual IT. Providing this on-going service to clients gives you steady business and ensures you continue to attract and keep only the clients that understand the true benefits of your services and will be willing to pay you on a regular basis.

The Concept of Virtual IT and Computer Business Opportunities

Virtual IT is based on the idea of you acting as your clients’ outsourced IT department. Your goal is to become a virtual CIO, responsible for integrating technology into your clients’ companies to solve complex business problems. Virtual IT can create great computer business opportunities because it is a convenient, flexible, comprehensive technical services program that lets client get what they need when they need it without investing in full-time staff.

Creating Computer Business Opportunities through Virtual IT

You have to know about computer business opportunities and typical small business solutions to be able to deliver virtual IT successfully and earn a living. You have to know the traditional types of services you can sell to existing and future clients and which other computer business opportunities exist.

Virtual IT grows your relationships and adds value to your existing customers and clients’ businesses as well as the businesses of new customers and clients. It helps you be proactive and create on-going relationships that will be the bread and butter of your business.

Today we talked about creating computer business opportunities through the concept of virtual IT. To learn more about this subject and much, much more, visit the attached link!

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

Your Computer Consultant Business: 5 Steps to Startup

2008-08-05T12:08:00.001-04:00

Before you start a computer consultant business, you have to get organized! The following steps can help you get ready to open your doors.

1. Print Your Business Cards. Even if you don’t think your cards are going to be good forever or if you believe you will eventually change your company name or any other information, you need to at least make a card with your information on it to get momentum going. Reprinting is always possible, but you have to be prepared to hand out some business cards to friends and family members.

2. Announce Your Computer Consultant Business. When you find yourself in networking situations, meeting people in any capacity, you will have a chance to tell them about your computer consultant business and even hand out business cards. These people can become invaluable to you, so you need to talk about your endeavor whenever possible. You never know who you’re going to meet!

3. Be Active in Your Business Community. You should get involved in local organizations where small business owners meet, like trade groups, etc. Find a few high-quality local trade groups like your chamber of commerce, user group or industry-specific trade group and start attending key events.

4. Start in a Place that Suits You. You should start where you know, pick an industry focus where you come from when choosing how to build your computer consultant business. If you start with a niche in which you’re already familiar, you will already have some credibility (which is critical!). You will have an easier time coming up with a marketing message that resonates and sets you apart from every other computer consultant business in the phone book.

5. Are There Enough Prospects in Your Niche? Focus your marketing efforts on your niche, but only after you decide you have at LEAST 500-1,000 prospects in a one-hour radius of where you are that fit your ideal qualifications for potential customers and clients.

Today we talked about some tips for starting your computer consultant business. To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link.

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

IT Jobs and How Trusted Business Advisors Can Lead You to Them

2008-07-29T23:15:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of ways to get IT jobs, but one of the best is through trusted business advisors.

Who does your business look to for advice? Basically, a trusted business advisor is someone like an accountant, attorney, banker or some other person that provides professional advice on business matters.

You can really use your trusted business advisors to connect you to IT jobs and get very qualified leads and prospects out of the deal. Start with asking your trusted business advisors a basic question: “Do you need help with your technology?” If you can help this type of person, you can get a lot of credibility through a testimonial or case study if you do a great job for him/her.

Even if you DON’T do work for your small business advisors, you should talk to them about their own clients and their clients’ computer problems.

Often, your accountant or attorney will get some questions about computer problems from his/her clients. This is your chance to find out about IT jobs you might be able to connect to through this person. You can of course return the favor as another trusted business advisor whose clients usually value what you have to say about other major business issues – health insurance, life insurance, accounting, etc. – by recommending your OWN trusted business advisor to handle specific requests.

Sometimes connecting to great IT jobs is as simple as talking to those you trust with your important decisions. To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

How to Start a Computer Business: Tips You Can Use

2008-07-24T00:41:00.000-04:00

Do you know how to start a computer business? If you’re new to the idea but really interested, sometimes the most difficult part is just beyond making the leap – deciding which type of computer business you want to start in the first place.

Some Tips about How to Start a Computer Business

1. Decide whether you want to start an independent computer consulting business or be part of a franchise. Do you want to build a business completely by yourself or take some shortcuts? Just remember that with a franchise you’re going to have to be able to follow some rules and put in some real time and care.

2. Get ready to work! During the startup phase when you are trying to figure out how to start a computer consulting business, you’re going to have to work really hard to get it off the ground by really getting out there and getting your name known in the community. You won’t get lots of billable projects in the beginning. And this work won’t go away even if you buy into a pre-established franchise.

3. Everyone is different. The right choice for one consultant is not necessarily the right one for you. You need to think about your goals, your skills, your available time and how much money you have to spend.

Today we talked about some tips regarding how to start a computer business. To learn more about how you can start your own business and be successful, visit the attached link!

Submitted By: Computer Consulting Kit

IT Audit Management

2008-07-14T21:16:00.001-04:00

Your first real “sales” step in the IT sales process is going to be an IT audit. If you’re not dealing with a prospect that has a major emergency that needs to be triaged, you have to move towards an IT audit … so you can go beyond that and start a relationship that will eventually lead to long-term support contract agreements.

Sometimes your prospects will have something in mind already that needs attention like a broken tape drive that needs fixing or some other immediate need, but for the most part, an IT audit – or a tech assessment where you go in and take notes on all their IT assets and start to create a plan of action for doing a “makeover” on their small business systems – is the way to go.

What is an IT Audit?

An IT audit is most of the time the best way to get the ball rolling with services for prospects and new customers. An IT audit is basically a half-day technology assessment. But how should you approach charging or performing this service to new prospects and customers?

Think about “Free”

One option for an IT audit is to do a stripped-down version where you go in for half an hour and give a basic list of what you find and charge them nothing to get a taste of the work you do. However, be very careful with this, as when you spend more than half an hour and start to look more deeply into hubs, switches, etc., you are moving beyond the realm of “free” and into something for which you need to be compensated.

Don’t Get Stiffed!

If you are spending more than half an hour and actually getting into how systems work with prospects in an IT audit-type situation, you need to make this service billable. You can come up with a rate that matches what other high-end professionals are offering in your area or set a limited-time discounted offer as part of a marketing campaign to a limited number of people to get some new qualified prospects on board.

Today we talked a little bit about how an IT audit works. To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

Your IT Consulting Business: Tips for Getting Your First Clients

2008-07-08T12:13:00.000-04:00

Looking for the initial clients for your IT consulting business can be a challenging task, but not impossible if you have the right plan in place and are following it very carefully. The following tips can help you out significantly as you start own company.

Tip 1: Create a Plan of Action to Get You Ready for Clients

You need to complete the following tasks before looking for clients for your IT consulting business:

1. Choose a start-up date;

2. Print business cards;

3. Tell everyone you know about your new IT consulting business;

4. Get some reference accounts;

5. Get strong referrals.

Tip 2: Volunteer to Get Clients

Getting your first clients can be as easy as doing a closed-end volunteer job with an organization in which you believe strongly. Just make sure you put a cap on the work you do, or you could get someone taking advantage of you before you’ve even really started your IT consulting business in earnest!

Tip 3: Make an Offer to an Organization

You need to make a compelling offer to an organization for a closed-ended volunteer job and make sure the two of you make an agreement to get something valuable in return. For example, say, “I’m going to really do a great job upgrading your PC or your Web site! Here’s what you can do for me – can you give me a reference letter and also be available to take the occasional phone call from prospective clients and be a strong reference for me? Also, could you introduce me to some qualified leads for my IT consulting business that are active in your organization and own their own businesses and might benefit from my computer services?”

A director or office manager for a non-profit organization will know which board members have been complaining about computer problems or any other technical issues.

Volunteering is a great way to get new clients!

Today we talked about some tips you can use to get your first IT consulting business clients. To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

Consulting Business Firms: What's Your Focus?

2008-06-30T16:31:00.000-04:00

When you are first starting a computer business, you might wonder which types of consulting business firms are out there for technology providers. What exactly are pure consulting business firms, and how do they work best?

Pure Consulting Business Firms and Technology Providers: A Definition

Many computer consultants decide to start pure computer consulting companies because they have no interest in reselling products because they believe they will not make a profit off product margin or for some other major reason. A pure computer consulting firm is one that provides solely technology business solutions for its clients and does not bother with reselling hardware, software or peripherals. These types of consulting business firms WILL help their clients decide which products to buy and tell them which specs they should look for and where they can buy quality products.

Many computer professionals enjoy great success with this business model because of the pure profit margins and the opportunity to really get in there and provide comprehensive business solutions without having to bother with messy product sales.

Alternatives to Pure Consulting Business Firms

1. Purchasing Agents: A purchasing agent does the buying for clients and then bills them for a couple hours for this. These types of agents review quotes, place and track orders and take the purchase to the end.

2. Hybrid Firms: With this type of business model, consulting business firms will resell just some products. A lot of times this means reselling a white box PC (a PC clone), which means selling non-branded desktops, servers and sometimes notebooks.

Today we talked about pure consulting business firms and how they differ from other types of computer consulting businesses. Ultimately you should choose the business model that works best for you, but be sure whichever you choose suits your specialty and goals.

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

IT Careers: 3 Tips for Computer Consultants

2008-06-25T15:11:00.000-04:00

Those computer consultants looking for real IT careers have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to build strong businesses with steady, high-paying clients. If you are looking for IT careers, the following tips can help you organize your services and skills as you start your business.

Tip 1: Your “Ideal” Clients will Need Help with Specific Tasks

Your ideal or “sweet spot” clients will need help with some popular desktop applications; Microsoft Office; Intuit QuickBooks and Interact ACT! will be important to know if you want IT careers. They will also probably need your expertise setting up shared folder backup software and updating antivirus and firewall software. You will also most likely run into PDA syncing tasks and work with Microsoft Outlook. Generally, your clients NETWORKS will be of the utmost importance as well.

Tip 2: Remember, Differently-Sized Businesses Have Different Needs

Micro small businesses (those with fewer than 10 PCs) will usually have peer-to-peer networks and very low-end computer needs compared to your ideal clients. You will NOT need certifications to work with this group, and they are often seen as negatives by small business owners that won’t want to pay someone who is overqualified.

Tip 3: IT Certifications Are Really Only Important to Real IT Managers

When you sell to a real IT manager in a larger small business (with 50 or more systems) as part of IT careers, you will be dealing with someone that knows more about certifications and will see them as important. However, this is probably not going to be your target market as a “generalist” computer consultant because these types of buyers will be looking for very deeply-niched specialists that can fill in skills gaps.

Today we talked about some tips for building and thinking about IT careers as computer consultants. To learn more about IT careers, visit the attached link.

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

IT Proposals: Should You Write Them for National Service Organizations?

2008-06-16T22:21:00.000-04:00

To put it bluntly, do NOT write IT proposals for national service organizations … unless you want to spend inordinate amounts of time getting certified and learning the latest and greatest platforms and technologies. Hardware repair is a commodity and a very low-margin business, and it’s becoming a real commodity as we move into the future.

Why are IT proposals for national service organizations a waste of time for small business computer consultants?

1. Computers are replaceable! When you’re dealing with a $600 consumer-grade PC (or even lower these days!) – which is what you can expect from national organizations on a budget – do you really think you’re going to get a call to repair it that is going to net you a huge amount of money from IT proposals. How much would anyone spend on this? It would be more advisable for these people to simply buy a new computer.

2. There are low labor allowances with national organizations for IT proposals. National service organizations in particular are going to be dealing with very inexpensive hardware, so they will not have a large labor allowance, especially not on a $1,200 notebook. So, you can’t expect much in the way of revenue for your efforts.

3. Consulting contracts and IT proposals sent to national service providers will NOT be profitable. If you are a subcontractor for a national service provider, you’re not going to be able to run a good consulting business. You’ll be in eight different offices every day and you won’t get to bill out $100-$150 an hour for high-end computer support.

Today we talked about why IT proposals to national service organizations just won’t work for the typical small business computer consultant. To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

4 PC Maintenance Contract Tips

2008-06-11T10:30:00.000-04:00

When you are starting to build your own business based on the concept of the PC maintenance contract, you probably will get pretty overwhelmed with the amount of information you need to digest to get organized.

To get things started right with your computer consulting business and incorporate the PC maintenance contract into relationships with clients, think about the following tips.

Tip 1: Pick a Start-Up Date

Picking a launch date for your business seem really simple, but it’s something that many professionals fail to do and then stick to when they’re just starting up. You need to choose a real date for starting your business that is accurate TO THE DAY and write it down. No matter when it is, look at it regularly as you are managing your business and organize everything around it.

Tip 2: Narrow Down To-Do Lists

You need to have manageable to-do lists when you’re building a business based on having a PC maintenance contract with each client. Narrow down the list to just the top 10 priorities and start to do them in order. For example, you might have things like meeting with an accountant, getting a business resale license, opening a distributor account, etc. or things that seem simple like choosing a company name, coming up with a rough business card, etc. Manage your list before launch, and you will be more likely to complete them on time and successfully.

Tip 3: Organize and Order Your List

Once you get the top 10 things you need to do before launching your business based on the PC maintenance contract, rank them in chronological order and work on a manageable one or two per week. You can do this in Microsoft Excel or Word.

Tip 4: Get Together a Timeline

Think about it – if you’re launching your computer consulting business five weeks from now and you have 10 things total that are an absolute priority to get done, you’d want to do about two things each week. When you think of your tasks on a timeline, they will be much more manageable.

Today we talked some tips to get started building a business around the idea of the PC maintenance contract. To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

IT Marketing: It's about Diversification!

2008-06-03T11:56:00.000-04:00

When you think about IT marketing as a computer consultant, one of the most important words is “diversification.”

What does this mean? You need to make sure you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket; don’t rely on just ONE IT marketing technique to get leads, prospects, customers and clients … instead throw out a very targeted net in different directions to cover all your bases.

IT Marketing and “Targeting”

For example, when you do a direct mail campaign, you need to know exactly who you are trying to reach and come up with a very targeted message for this particular person or group of people. You can’t just send out a stock, generic message about your computer consulting business and expect to get results; you need to know the unique problems and business needs of those you are trying to reach and speak to these issues through your IT marketing message.

Diversification Can Be Overwhelming

If you are just getting started with your computer consulting business, you will probably feel a little overwhelmed when you find out there are about 30 IT marketing tasks you can do. DON’T do them all at once, by any means … instead pick four or five that look appealing and start working your way through the list a quarter at a time. The main point is, you need to have a few IT marketing tasks going on simultaneously to get the best results.

Some IT Marketing Tasks

Here is just a list of some IT marketing tasks you can try …

1. Outbound telemarketing;

2. Postcard mailings;

3. Follow-up mailers;

4. Direct mail letters;

5. Trade shows;

6. Seminars.

The Main Idea about Diversification

No matter what you do with your marketing, make sure you are hitting different areas and measuring and tracking your successes and failures.

Today we talked about IT marketing and how you can get more from diversification. To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

Tips for IT Training and Your Computer Consulting Business

2008-05-27T21:22:00.000-04:00

Many computer consulting entrepreneurs wonder how much training they should have when they start to get clients. Do you get IT training first and then look for clients or learn as you go?

The answer it simple – do both at the same time!

IT Training and Getting Clients: Some Essential Tips

1. You want to be doing both client recruitment and skill acquisition at the same time. You just can’t take six months off to get your IT training done, because you will not be able to pay the bills when all is said and done. You NEED paying clients or you’re not going to survive.

2. IT training is still very important! You might sometimes wonder, because clearly relationships are so essential to your computer consulting business, why you need to focus on extra skills development in the beginning at all. If you don’t keep skills sharp, you will at some point stop being able to take on high-end projects and will not be able to get the accounts you need to develop long-term relationships that will sustain your business.

The key with IT training is BALANCE. Today we talked about IT training and your computer consulting business. To learn more about how you can balance IT training and client acquisition visit the attached link!

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

Computer Consulting Business: How Do You Make a Living?

2008-05-20T17:20:00.000-04:00

What is a computer consulting business? If you own or manage one, it might be something you have trouble growing into a profitable business. You need to focus on your firm’s profit and bottom line and avoid the pitfalls of “tech love” (falling in love with the latest and greatest) in order to create a good computer consulting business.

After all, the key word in computer consulting business really is “business.” You need to have a good business sense and a real plan in order to make sure your company will stay alive for years to come. Your love of technology, while a plus for running your own tech-based business, will not keep you afloat.

For more information about starting a computer consulting business – and growing your profits – visit the attached link!

Added By: Joshua Feinberg