Small Business Computer Consulting

Before you even print up your business card or pick your company name, you need to know where you fit into the whole competitive marketplace of IT support. You don’t want to make a lot of expensive mistakes so you don’t take up a lot of money and time to fix later on.

Where do Micro Small Businesses Get Their IT Support?

Micro small businesses have 1-10 PC, anywhere from 100,000 to a million dollars US annual revenue.  Where do they get their IT support, number one answer: internal gurus.

Also, on that list are independent hotlines, 1-800 numbers, 900 numbers, from different hardware vendors, software vendors, ISPs as well as independent vendors.

That’s where you will see services that charge anywhere from $1.99 to 2.99, 3.99 a minute whatever it is there.  They go to a lot of different websites and forums.  Both vendor website forums, as well as independent website forums looking for help.

Micro Small Businesses Use Volunteers for IT Support

The huge thing about micro small businesses is that they depend on volunteers.  These businesses have a PC-savvy friend or family member, who does their IT support for free.

They may be annoyed that the brother-in-law that happens to know about computers can’t get there until a week from Saturday, but heck, its free.  He works for beer, pizza and donuts.

How Do You Compete With Free?

Well, It’s hard. But you can use micro small businesses as stepping stones. Micro small businesses get their IT support from the system builders, too.  White boxes system assemblers basically put the system together out of brand name parts and assemblies.

Sometimes they’ll get support from retail store clerks 6-$10 an hour store clerks who work in consumer electronic stores, supply stores as well as telesales reps for basically the mail order equalivant of those companies.

The Bottom Line about IT Support

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

In starting an IT consulting business, make sure you avoid extended "freebie mooching sessions" disguised as sales calls.  Make sure you’re not there for endless hours of brain-picking that’s leading nowhere.

You need to know exactly which kinds of prospects to focus on at all times. This will drive your qualification process toward the larger sweet spot small business clients.

Who to Talk to

For your IT consulting business, you need to know what kind of prospects you should be talking to at networking events. You should be sizing up people within the first 30 or 60 seconds of the conversation.

Find out what they do, what their company is like, do they have and use computers, and how many computers they have. These are three or four key questions that will determine, very quickly, whether you’re talking to someone who’s got a future or whether you’re completely wasting your time.

Get an Accountant

Do not try to become an expert on tax code. Get a good accountant early on. That can also be a really great referral source, not only for their business, but for your IT consulting business.

The Client Acquisition Business

Remember that, when forming a new IT consulting business, you are not in the technology business; at least not for the early stages of your business. You are in the client acquisition business.

As your IT consulting business grows, your focus is going to be more on providing technology services to those clients, but in the early stages, don’t worry about keeping up with the latest and greatest IT stuff.

The Bottom Line about IT Consulting

The most important thing for your start-up IT consulting business is finding good, solid, long-term, high-paying, steady small business clients in that sweet spot.

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

Getting various hardware components factory-installed with PC purchases, like CD-RW drives and network cards, can save your clients on initial purchase and installation costs.

At first, it may seem counterintuitive to recommend this strategy of PC purchases to your clients, since doing so takes a service revenue opportunity away from your firm.

Aim Big

However, progressive-thinking computer consultants are always working on the next big solution provider opportunity. These consultants aren’t worried about missing out on some low-margin $49 component of PC purchases. They have their eye on the $10,000 network upgrade or the $25,000 application development project.

Let the PC vendors include these bundled hardware components for peanuts. Bundled hardware components make sense for your clients’ technology budgets, while it frees up your firm to concentrate on opportunities to add real, high-level value as a true computer consultant – not just a hardware technician.

Show Your Clients You Care

Forgoing this revenue also shows your clients that you’re willing to do the right thing for them, even if it means losing out on some billable hours. This forward-thinking approach drives incredible amounts of client loyalty.

Most clients aren’t dumb – they recognize integrity (and reward it by recommending your firm to all of their friends.) You can’t beat that form of advertising.

The Bottom Line about PC Purchases

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

IT marketing requires some work, especially when you first start your business. While you need to bring in the paying clients, you also need to actively market your business so you can be sure it grows.

Read on to see what one of our consultants implemented in his IT marketing plans to increase his client base.

"The biggest single thing I did this year was to sit down and assess my performance. I realized that a large portion of my time I am giving desktop support and putting out fires, the rest of the time is given to my clients’ larger projects. But I have not spent time marketing myself (I don’t even carry business cards, all my clients are by referral) so I decided to buy your Computer Consulting Kit package and put a structure in place. My goal is to place all of my clients on contract, introduce them to the concept of ‘my staff’ attending to their issues and to double my client base through marketing in the New Year."

Roland Bourne, TechService
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

The Bottom Line about IT Marketing

To learn more about IT marketing, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Can you strike up a conversation with a stranger? Do you wake up on the right side of the bed every morning? Do you show up on time? All these variables will be important in your success as an IT consultant. 

IT Consultant Traits: Are You Extroverted?

Computer consulting is very much a people business. You need to be humble; you need to be able to ask for help.  You need to be extremely passionate about what you are doing.

It is a 7 day 24. The good thing about it is if you get the right kind of clients once you are doing this full time, then most of them are 9-5 or 8-4 types of shops and for the most part you are not going to get called in the evening. 

IT Consultant Traits: Are You Patient?

Starting up a business like this is not an overnight success.  Its all based on relationships and it can take anywhere from 3-6 months to get enough of them going, and a lot of times 6 months to a year to get enough of them going to build a solid consulting business that can support you on a full time basis.

Yet, you need to start somewhere. If you keep procrastinating it’s just going to take longer and longer.  Be realistic and be patient.

IT Consultant Traits: Do You Have a Positive Outlook?

There will be good days and bad days. You need to feel strongly and passionately about your business, growth and plan that you stay on track. So you are having a bad day you pull out your plan and you see where you are and what direction you need to go in.

A positive outlook yes you are putting your head out there.  There are going to be some tough days, but tomorrow is going to be better.  Can you just shake it off and move on?

IT Consultant Traits: Are You Reliable?

You need to be self-driven; nobody is going to be sitting there flogging you everyday.  You will not have your boss.  You need to be motivated by your inner drive.  You might get some praise, but no one is going to be clapping for you.

The Bottom Line about IT Consultant Traits

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

A common mistake many IT consultants make that may prevent them from being able to go full-time is that they basically give away their services.  As IT consultants, it is your responsibility to ensure you charge market rate. 

IT Consultants: Prove you are Professionals

To be perceived as a professional, you need to charge similar hourly billing rates to those you aspire to compete with on a full-time basis. If you charge way below market billing rates, you’ll never have enough steady consulting revenue to go full time. It’s really hard to raise your billing rates substantially when contracts come up for renewal.

The full time IT consultants you compete with have already figured out the hourly billing rates they need to cover their overhead.  Ensure that, at this stage of the game, you aren’t overlooking this aspect.

Successful IT consultants know all about the costs including taxes, training expenses, insurance, marketing and promotion, research and administration.

IT Consultants: Don’t Sell Yourself Short

If you’re thinking you can go out there and be the Crazy Eddie of IT consultants in your marketing, or go out there for $25, $35, $45 an hour and ultimately, you’re going to make it up on volume – you’re wrong. There are only so many extra hours you can work in a week, even on a full time basis.

To survive as IT consultants and eventually make the transition to full-time, you need to study the competition when it comes to setting your rates. As you look to move into full time consulting, make sure you have multiple sources of steady consulting revenue.

The Bottom Line about IT Consultants

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket and don’t quit your day job if 90% of your IT consulting revenue is just coming from one or two clients. There’s too much uncertainty. As IT consultants, you want to make sure that you’re diversifying your client roster.
 
In this article, you’ve been introduced to IT consultants.  To learn more about IT consultants, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Although there are really no major compatibility issues to consider between PCs and monitors, most PC vendors offer good deals on monitors purchased at the same time as desktop PCs. In this article, we’ll assume you are IT consultants who recommend brand name PC products to your clients.

IT Consultants: What Are You or Your Clients Actually Paying?

For due diligence, IT consultants should always price the PC with and without the monitor, to see what you or your clients are actually paying.

Then look to see whether that monitor price is in line with purchasing a comparable monitor separate from the PC. However, besides the purchase price, there are some even greater soft cost considerations.

When purchasing the monitor along with a desktop PC, the monitor warranty generally is incorporated into any on-site warranty coverage with the PC. That means, if a client’s monitor needs replacement during the on-site warranty period, the PC vendor usually will arrange to cross-ship a replacement monitor.

IT Consultants: Know The Benefits of Warranties

This provides a few very compelling benefits:

• No need to store and retain packing materials. Your clients don’t have to worry that they’ve thrown away the box and packing materials for the monitor. There’s no need to purchase return shipping supplies as they’ll be able to return the broken monitor in the same box their replacement comes in.
• Save time with freight logistics. Your clients doesn’t have to locate a shipping outlet. In most cases, the PC vendor in-cludes return shipping labels (call tags) for a specific freight carrier – generally the same freight carrier used for shipping the replacement to them.
• Save money on freight costs — If the PC vendor supplies return shipping labels, your client won’t have to pay for return freight. Depending on the monitor size, origination and destination shipping points, this easily can save your client $25 or more.

While the third bullet point affects your clients’ direct out-of-pocket costs, the first two items can be labor-intensive chores for you or your clients’ internal computer administrators ("internal gurus").

So, buying a monitor along with a PC, and getting both purchases folded into on-site warranty coverage, easily can save a half-hour to an hour (or more) every time a monitor needs replacement.

The Bottom Line about IT Consultants

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

Sure, you need technical skills. But to be a successful IT consultant, you also need to be able to work well with people. In this article, you’ll learn about some of the personality traits that make for a successful IT consultant.

IT Consultant Traits: Are You Assertive?

You need to be assertive, but not overly obnoxious. That is a fine line to walk.  You need to make sure people don’t walk over you.  You also need to be able to stick up for yourself without coming across as too aggressive. That really turns people off. 

IT Consultant Traits: Are You Business Focused?

You need to put your business goals ahead of being perceived as being nice.  Sometimes it will be impossible to always be the nice guy. You are going to have to ask yourself what is most important for your business.

Can you put your business financial needs over your desire to work with the latest greatest IT projects?  Sometimes it is a lot of fun; you are working with the leading edge stuff.  A lot of times you are going to have to hunker down and focus on what your clients are asking for and deliver it.

At the end of the day it is your clients that pay the bills.  And that’s your business focus.

The Bottom Line about IT Consultant Traits

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

So you’re looking for quality accounts as you start your computer consulting business.  What are the qualifying criteria for such accounts?

Consider Proximity

First, the potential client for your computer consulting business should be close to you, generally within a 30 to 60 minute drive from where you’re located. This is going to have some impact on the networking events you attend or anything else you do from a marketing perspective.

Potential Client Size

In starting your computer consulting business you will want to target potential clients that have 10 to 50 PC’s.  The prospect should be big enough that they need a real server, which most of the time could translate to 10 to 100 employees.

A good prospect for your computer consulting business would be companies that have $1 million to $10 million in annual sales. This information will help you in your marketing efforts, especially if you decide to do some direct mailing down the road.

What Should Your Prospects Have in Use?
 
In most cases, your computer consulting business’ potential clients will have their own email domain. You will want to address how their users retrieve and send emails when meeting with prospective clients. 

In most cases, they’re going to have a dedicated server or dedicated Internet access, so this will help narrow it down. It also indicates that they have more serious IT needs.

Ensure They Are Serious About IT

If a prospect for your computer consulting business doesn’t have a dedicated server, dedicated Internet access or they’re messing around with peer to peer and dial-up lines, they’re probably not for you.

The Bottom Line about the Computer Consulting Business

Any prospect you are considering as a target for your computer consulting business should make IT mission-critical.  Many times a potential client can end up being a good, strong prospect and future client because they’re in an industry where IT is critical.

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

IT Marketing by referral is virtually painless. Your clients are already familiar with the type of service you can provide and can probably think of others who could benefit.

Read on to find out how one of our clients used this IT marketing idea when business was going through a slump.

"[I] got more referrals by utilizing some of the recommendations from Joshua Feinberg’s How to Find New Clients in Difficult Times. I called up old clients that I hadn’t talked to in a while, and was able to make almost $2000+ on this one idea alone!"

Aaron Brown, NetServ
Royal Oak, Michigan

The Bottom Line about IT Marketing

To learn more about IT marketing, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.