Small Business Computer Consulting

Business billing and collection can be an area where new network consultants get themselves in trouble.  To ensure you get paid, you have to start very early setting up good practices for business billing and collection.  

Here are some basic issues you need to understand when setting up your business billing and collection policy.

The most important issue in new network consultants’ minds regarding business billing and collection is, "What software package should I use for time and billing?"

If you’re just focusing on that, you’re missing the bigger issues related to business billing and collection.  Of course you should use a piece of software that makes it a little easier to carry out business billing and collection, but the software is not going to fix any underlying problems you have with actually getting paid.

Business Billing and Collection Premises
First, you need to know that steady clients perceive your company as an insurance policy. What does this have to do with business billing and collection?  Everything. This insurance policy mentality is what motivates clients to pay your company on time.  They fear that if they forget to pay invoices on time, you will not help them (cover them) in the case of a network emergency.  If you bill them regularly, steady clients will pay.

On the flip side are the one-shot deal, cherry picking customers.  These people view your company and services as a commodity.  Here you need excellent and very tight business billing and collection practices if you hope to get paid.

The cherry picking clients don’t value your relationship. They view you as one of hundreds who offer the same service.  There’s no fear motivating them and they have an entirely different mind set. They have no qualms whatsoever about paying you late or not paying you at all.

They’re not interested in building a relationship with your company. They’re just after what they perceive to be the absolute, rock-bottom, lowest price. If they get a late notice from you, they’ll probably laugh at it and throw it out or put it through the shredder.

Bottom Line on Business Billing and Collection
It’s very important from a business billing and collection standpoint that you understand your steady clients come from an entirely different place than one-shot deal clients.  Knowing and understanding this difference will make an enormous difference on your business billing and collection practices.  Think about how you will handle these two distinct situations when you are developing your business billing and collection policy.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Business Billing and Collection. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Business Billing and Collection, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

The seasonal concept is one that many IT consultants fail to consider when making business plans.  It is often easy to relate the seasonal concept to product sales, but services are often not considered part of the seasonal cycle. 

Make sure you are aware of how the seasonal concept affects your selling trends.Here are some considerations you need to be aware of.

• The general rule regarding the seasonal concept is don’t expect anyone to make a major buying decision for a small business IT project in the late summer or during the holidays, unless it’s an emergency of course.

• As a general rule, and in the US especially, don’t expect any major decisions to be made from early July, around the 4th, until Labor Day in early September.

• If you have a stack of hot leads and prospects and proposals that you’ve cranked out, you should be following up very heavily in April, May and June.  The seasonal concept dictates that when July 1st rolls around, it’s going to be a pretty quiet time for those next eight weeks or so.

• For the ten to fourteen weeks in the fall season, early September until mid to late November, you should hit the pavement hard.  Follow up on all the leads you have, get out on as many sales calls as possible, generate as many proposals as possible, and try to get commitments for the big projects.

• Once November 15th to 25th rolls around, unless it’s an emergency or a really hot issue, it’s tough to get people to commit to major things until after the first of the year. When you’re dealing with the seasonal concept you’ll get responses like, “That sounds great. Let’s talk about it in the new year."

• Always build a financial reserve so when lulls related to the seasonal concept come around, you won’t get caught unable to pay your bills. Always make sure you have adequate capital in the bank for the inevitable dry spells.

Bottom Line on the Seasonal Concept
The seasonal concept of selling will affect you as an IT service provider.  Don’t risk being caught unaware.  Plan for the sales fluctuations associated with the seasonal concept and you’ll be able to withstand the business lows that go with it.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to the Seasonal Concept. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about the Seasonal Concept, just 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 rates vary from the very low to the very high.  When you start out with your network consulting business you need to make sure your IT rates are set at a level that will carry your business long term.  

Believe it or not, the act of setting an IT rate is one where a majority of new consultants have troubles.  Here’s how you can avoid the mistakes others have made.

Avoid Common IT Rate Mistakes

What a new consultant does all too often is give away their services for a ridiculously unsustainable IT rate of $25 or $30 an hour.  They are desperate to get customers and they emulate the wrong people in the market.

When you copy the IT rates of a computer repair technician or other moonlighters, you won’t ever be able to transition to full time work and have a sustainable business. Why is this?

There is a very definite relationship between what your clients pay your consulting firm, your hourly IT rate, and the kind of salary package you can ultimately offer your sales and technology staff.

You might say, “I’m not thinking of hiring sales and techno staff. That’s so far down the road, why should I be thinking about it now?”

You need to be thinking about it now, because whether you realize it or not, even if you don’t have anyone working for you in a sales or technical function, YOU are doing that work and you need to be compensated correctly. Why should you accept any less than someone you would pay to do the work?

If your IT rates are set too low, you’re eventually going to have an extremely difficult time attracting the kind of staff that’s required to recruit and service sweet spot clients.

The next reaction to this is typically, “Can’t I adjust my IT rates later?”

The answer in most cases is no. It’s very difficult to adjust your IT rates with your existing clients. Often you won’t be able to keep carrying these grandfathered IT rates.  Then half or a quarter of your business essentially becomes worthless because it’s not profitable. If you charge too little, you may effectively end up having to dump your client list and start over, which could put you out of business really fast.

Bottom Line on IT Rates
When you set your IT rates you have to look to the future.  Don’t succumb to low IT rates just to get clients.  You want long term high paying clients and you need to have IT rates that will be attractive should you need to hire staff in the future.

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

Technology training is a luxury you can’t afford when you first start off computer consulting.  There are more important things to be spending your time on like getting clients and building a long-term sustainable business.

What we hear so often is this:

• "I love to get out and go to networking events, but I have no time!"
• "I’d love to get all my clients on service contracts, but I have no time."

When we dig a little deeper we find there is enough time but a lot of it is being spent on technology training.

Building a strong business is a lot about adjusting your priorities.  My advice, when you’re first starting out, especially during the first six months to a year, is to put 90% of what you perceive to be your research and development time – your technology training – on the back burner.

You need to concentrate on finding paying clients. Technology training, like sitting in a classroom, playing with CDT’s, learning not-for-resale copies of things, and playing around in your lab with new operating systems is not helping your business! You need to put 90% of these technology training activities on hold so you can concentrate and use that time to find paying clients.

When you have some paying clients you’re going to figure out, pretty quickly, whether you need to get more technology training. You’re probably six to 18 months ahead of what small businesses in your area need. They’re not early adopters, they’re late adopters. Put your business development needs ahead of your need to feel like you’re keeping up with the latest and greatest technology training.

Also, along the same lines, you should ignore 90% of your technology magazine subscriptions for the next three to six months. Take all the time you would have spent keeping up and reading magazines, and put it into demand generation, lead qualification, sales calls and follow ups.

Bottom Line on Technology Training
Don’t use the excuse that you’re too busy to stop you from business development.  Stop spending your precious time on technology training.  No more training classes and no more reading through thick stacks of computer magazines every week. Spend your time generating demand, getting good leads and prospects, qualifying them, going out on sales appointments and following up on them.  Do not get seduced by technology training.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Technology Training. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Technology Training, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Target businesses will sustain your business into the future.  Before starting your computer consulting company, you should know what to look for in terms of target businesses.  Here is a brief summary.

Target Business Criteria

• A target business in one that is close to you:  generally within a 30 to 60 minute drive from where you’re located.  

• Your target business should have 10 to 50 PC’s. It should be big enough that it needs a real server, which most of the time translates to 10 to 100 employees.

• The average annual sales of your target business is between $1 million to $10 million.  You can get this revenue information directly from them, through Google, Dun & Bradstreet, etc…

• These target businesses will have their own email domain.

• In almost all cases, a target business is going to have a dedicated server or dedicated Internet access.  

• A business that meets your target profile will require working online and it will use IT to communicate with some of their vendors, key customers, partners or even regulators. Essentially that means that IT is mission-critical for them.  

• In most cases your target business accounts are going to have at least one branch office. They’re going to have some remote staff, and with that comes the need for more sophisticated telecommunications and someone that can help them design and implement it the right way.

• Generally your target business client will have a website. You can Google towns in your area, ZIP and postal codes, area code and telephone prefixes to find some companies in your area.

• More often than not, a business that meets your target profile will have a pretty sophisticated phone system or PBX.

• These companies will almost always belong to a local or regional chamber of commerce or similar organization. To meet some of these people you can join the organizations or attend as a guest.

• Your target business client will also typically have a presence at business to business events, so you can attend these events to network.

• This kind of company will get media coverage in the business section of the local newspaper or in the business journal. You’ll probably want to subscribe to that or read them at the library.

Bottom Line on Target Businesses
When you are networking and marketing yourself to potential businesses you need to have a clear idea of the kind of businesses to target.  You want to be able to tune out some “business fatal attractions” and narrow down your focus to the best small businesses in the area.  Use the criteria given above to develop a profile of your target business client and learn to recognize them quickly and efficiently.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Target Businesses. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Target Businesses, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Computer certifications are not as necessary as you may think when you start a computer business.  The type of client you are targeting does not have an IT manager.  These are the people who care about, or even know about, the various computer certifications you may or may not have.  

In fact, initials behind your name can cause more difficulty than they are worth.  Business owners will think they are paying a premium and wonder how it will help their business if you have the initials or you don’t.

For the most part, you’re not selling to a real IT manager. You’re selling to a non-technical, small business owner. You’re selling to someone who understands his business really well but who is not an IT professional.     Because of that, they usually don’t have an appreciation of the differences between someone like a CNA and a CNE, or the difference between an MCT or an MCSE. This is another case where it’s not absolutely critical that you hold advanced level certifications in everything, or even be certified in the first place.

If you do feel that computer certifications are holding you back and you have an inferiority complex because you don’t have any initials after your name, get some.  You can get really basic ones like an MCT on a desktop OS or CNA or A plus for instance.      

At some point it may be worthwhile for you to start working gradually toward something more advanced that you want to specialize in. However, you can’t allow yourself to get so caught up in your training that you neglect your business responsibilities.

This happens all the time and the new computer consultant ends up not doing enough networking thing, not doing enough follow-up, not going out on enough sales calls, etc…  Months and months pass and they’re running up bills for classes, have no billable hours and they have nothing to show for it from a business development standpoint.
    
Bottom Line on Computer Certifications
The lack of computer certifications should not be holding you back at all in terms of being able to do business in the small business space.  Many times being certified and having too many initials can be a negative. If you do decide you need some computer certifications, it is really important to set your priorities. Remember the reason you are getting the computer certifications is to build your business.  
In this article, you’ve been introduced to Computer Certifications. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Computer Certifications, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

File formats, as we talked about last time, can be standardized as a method for avoiding unnecessary software upgrades.  You save money for your client and you generate revenue for yourself by investing very little time into standardizing file formats.  

Here is a quick guide and information about standardizing the file formats of Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Access.   

Microsoft Publisher .pub File Formats

• Microsoft Publisher 2000 can back save to Microsoft Publisher 98 files directly from the Save As dialogue box, “Save as Type” drop-down list.

Microsoft PowerPoint .ppt File Formats

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 provides similar backward file format compatibility options under its Tools menu, Options command, Save tab.

Microsoft Access .mdb File Formats

• Microsoft Access 2000 and Microsoft Access 2002 are bigger challenges.

• When Microsoft upgraded Access 97 to Access 2000, it changed the underlying database engine. If your clients have several employees who use important Microsoft Access databases, you’ll likely need to standardize on one version of Microsoft Access, as opposed to relying on file format configuration settings.

• Microsoft Access 2000 cannot share a common file format with Microsoft Access 97, but Microsoft Access 2000 can save a database in Microsoft Access 97 format.

Bottom Line on File Formats
Standardizing file formats is a quick and easy solution for file sharing compatibility problems.  The increased productivity your client will enjoy from standard file formats is reason enough to do it.  The added bonus of standard file formats is the fact that is allows you to put off software upgrades until absolutely necessary.  Make standardizing file formats a regular part of your service offering today.  

In this article, you’ve been introduced to File Formats. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about File Formats, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

File formats can be standardized as a method for avoiding unnecessary software upgrades.  This is an excellent revenue generating service for you, and the money the client saves on software can be rolled back into the IT budget and hopefully used for your services. 

Here is a quick guide for standardizing the file formats of the popular Microsoft Office applications Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft Word .doc File Formats

• In Microsoft Word 2000 go to Tools, choose the Options command, then click on the Save tab.
• In the middle of that dialog box, you’ll see a drop-down list called “Save Word files as:”
• From there, change the default selection of Word Document (*.doc) to Word 97-2000 & 6.0/95 – RTF (*.doc).
• Finally, enable the check box immediately below to “Disable features not supported by Word 97.”
• When you’re finished, simply click OK. The file formats will now be standardized.

If you want your clients’ employees to be able to create documents compatible with earlier versions of Microsoft Word they need compatible file formats.  Set this configuration choice on each PC as well.

If more than a dozen or so systems require file format changes, consider delegating the task to the internal guru or using an automation or scripting technique that modifies the impacted Registry keys for you.

Microsoft Excel .xls File Formats

• Microsoft Excel 2000 and Microsoft Excel 2002 have similar features that make workbooks backward-compatible with earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.
• Start at the Tools menu and choose the Options command.
• Click on the Transition tab.
• Toward the top of that dialog box, you’ll see a drop-down list labeled “Save Excel files as:”
• Now change the default Microsoft Excel Workbook selection to Microsoft Excel 97-2000 & 5.0/95 Workbook.
• Then click OK. The file formats will now be standardized.

Just as with Microsoft Word 2000, this configuration choice can take your clients’ files all the way back to 16-bit versions of Microsoft Excel (circa 1994).

Bottom Line on File Formats
Don’t let your clients run up big support bills because of incompatible file formats across different versions.  By making quick and easy changes in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel you can solve this common problem and generate some revenue for yourself in the process. 

In this article, you’ve been introduced to File Formats. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about File Formats, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Company intranets are a very popular idea for many of your clients.  The ability to setup a company intranet is an excellent value-added service for you to provide.  Before proposing that a client have a company intranet setup though, there are some things you should consider.   

Company Intranet Opportunities Per Industry

• Accounting firms. Keeping tabs of new tax pronouncements.

• Realtors. Tracking hot listings, exclusive listings, open houses, and company-wide contests.

• Restaurants. Informing employees of upcoming advertised promotions and coupons, specials, seasonal information, and menu changes.

• Retailers. Disseminating information on store signage requirements, end caps, in-store demonstrations, bulletins from the buyers, product recalls, inventory schedules, and advertised sales.

• Travel agencies. Posting information on cruise and vacation group packages, international travel requirements and advisories, and customer feedback on specific trips.

As well as common industry issues that company intranets can address, there are also common “points of pain” that can be alleviated by a company intranet.  These problems are not industry specific and you should watch out for them in your client organizations.

Deciding Questions Regarding Company Intranets

One-to-many distribution of volumes of paper

• Do your clients have binders of information regularly printed up that are sent out to dozens of account managers and customer service reps?
• Is there an employee handbook that everyone needs? Are copies of press releases photocopied and passed around?
• Is this information basically out of date before the information even makes its way through interoffice mail?

Multiple desktop operating systems, including non 32-bit and non-Windows

• Are your clients frustrated about not being able to have every employee in the same company run their newest custom-developed 32-bit applications?
• Besides their fleet of Microsoft Windows desktops, do they also have Mac or UNIX workstations users who could benefit from platform-neutral browser-based applications?

Multiple geographic locations, telecommuters, and “road warriors” spread across multiple time zones

• Do binders of spec sheets, standard operating procedures, employee handbook, internal training manuals, and similar documents need to be sent out to off-site locations and updated with insert frequently?
• Is the company incurring five- and six-digit monthly or annual overnight freight bills just for distributing all this paper?
• Do employees need bigger bookshelves and filing cabinets in their offices or cubicles just to hold the “mountains” of internally distributed paper?

Bottom Line on Company Intranets
Company intranets make sense in many organizations.  As a computer consultant you can provide excellent service and value to your clients by understanding when and why a business should setup a company intranet.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Company Intranets. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Company Intranets, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Internet policies, as we discussed last time, are not a luxury they are a necessity.  There are so many opportunities for employers to suffer from Internet use abuse.  The best line of defense is having a comprehensive and company appropriate Internet policy.

Last time we presented seven tips for Internet policies, here are four more very important ones that deal specifically with employee abuse of Internet privileges.

Internet Policy Considerations

• Position on personal usage – Spell out detailed examples of what kinds of personal usage are either acceptable or forbidden. In many cases, you can provide additional clarification by relating the company’s Internet policy to analogies of personal telephone usage.

• Acceptable usage of e-mail, Web browsing, and news-groups/message boards – Discuss standards for proper use of company e-mail, including analogies to official letterhead or memos. Give examples of the kind of work-related Web browsing that is both acceptable and encouraged. List guidelines for participation in newsgroups and message boards as official representation of the company’s opinions and positions. This is also the perfect place to list if only certain job functions or departments are authorized for specific resources, as well as if special management permission is required for specific resource access.

• Unacceptable usage of e-mail, Web browsing, and news-groups/message boards -  List any specific activities that you wish to explicitly ban with the Internet policy. These might include unauthorized mass e-mail mailings, online gaming or gambling, stock trading, commerce for personal gain, creation or distribution of computer viruses, dissemination of vulgar, racist, or obscene material, violations of copyright law, leaking sensitive or confidential information, software piracy, or attempting to hack into another system. For any gray areas that are forbidden, listing management justification goes a long way toward end user acceptance.

• Investigation of, and sanctions for, violations – If your client has human resources policies and procedures that document behaviors that could lead to termination, discuss how these policies are related to violations of the Internet policy. If your client has no similar policies and procedures, now is the time to list any investigative procedures and sanctions for blatant first time or repeat violations.

Bottom Line on Internet Policies
Internet policies that clearly spell out employer expectations and define the penalties for violation of that Internet policy are highly effective.  As a way to add significant value to the services you offer your clients, offer to help them draft an Internet policy.  

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Internet Policies. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Internet Policies, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.