Small Business Computer Consulting

The IT sales call, otherwise known as the initial consultation serves the purpose of qualifying a lead.  If you don’t spend your time during the IT sales call doing this, you will waste time on prospects that are not actually interested in paying for your services, rather just want to pump you for free information.  How do you move past the first IT sales call and actually make the sale?

No More Games of “20 Questions”

Prospects will call you and give you interview questions.  Before you’re aware of what’s happening, you will find yourself playing a game of “20 Questions” instead of focusing on your IT sales strategies.

You have to stop these questions before they get out of hand.  Cut prospects off when you have enough information about their problems or a good list of initial issues with which to work and then suggest a logical next step.  Move quickly onto the next step after your IT sales presentation.  This step would be a site survey conducted by you, your systems engineer or a technician.

Why a Site Survey?

Once you’ve made it through the initial IT sales call, a site survey is an excellent next step.  It inventories issues and helps you sort through them systematically so you and the prospect can prioritize.

Provide a report as part of the site survey and document everything you find so the prospect knows where he/she stands with important issues such as security, software licensing, data protection and other items.

The Basic Idea with IT Sales

Once you sense the end of an IT sales call, ask prospects about doing a site survey and explain its benefits.  This is your first attempt to close an IT sale and helps you prevent sitting around for many hours just to find out a prospect was never serious about using your services.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit

IT consulting firm Tata Consultancy Services recently placed among the top 10 U.S. Application Management Services Vendors, making it the first offshore vendor to make it into this category.

IDC report “Worldwide and U.S. Application Management Services Vendor Shares, 2005” reported the IDC top 10 vendors and IT consulting firms as of October, 2006 based on their geographic regions and management application services revenue.  This report predicts that the worldwide application management systems market will increase to $32.2 billion by 2010, making a 9/5% annual growth rate.  While the U.S. market is not growing quite as quickly, at 7.7%, it will still reach nearly $13.4 billion in 2010.  

According to experts, competition within the AMS market is increasing and causing global competition, which is probably why Tata has entered the U.S. rankings for IT consulting firms.  IDC has been hoping for this phenomenon for a long time to expand the market.  In the management market, IDC’s research confirms that the hosted application model will expand quickly as it continues to increase in value and complexity.

Spokespeople from Tata state that application development and management is one of its main strengths within the world of IT consulting, and it will continue to offer sophisticated solutions as business needs grow and change.  The IT consulting firm is one of the world’s leading IT consulting services, business process outsourcing and engineering service organizations.  The IT consulting firm is based in India.

Blogged By:  Joshua Feinberg

Earlier this week, security vendor SecureWave announced it would be offering a free tool to solution providers that helps uncover properties of portable storage devices connected to networks.  

This new Device Scanner discovery tool for solution providers can help them determine the threat of data theft of breaks in security.  It shows customers how many portable USB storage devices have been connected to the network, including thumb drives, Apple iPods or other MP3 players.

SecureWave is going to offer Device Scanner to channel partners.  Spokespeople for the company state they hope these solution providers will use the tool to help sell some of its Sanctuary products.  According to the company, many customers do not realize the threat devices connected to important networks pose.  Studies show that enterprise PCs each have approximately three to four USB devices connected to them.

Device Scanner analyzes a network to figure out all devices that have been connected to Microsoft Windows endpoints.  The scanner provides a historical log because it gets data from the Windows registry.

Solution providers have expressed surprise over how many portable storage devices are being used by the average employee.  Customers and clients have been equally surprised at results uncovered by the new security device.  This device can be particularly important in health care, financial services and legal markets where customer privacy and data security are incredibly important.

While many companies have policies regarding thumb drives and iPods, enforcing them before this point or at least figuring out if they are being followed has been a near impossibility.  This security device allows businesses to monitor employee use and make network security tighter.

Stenstrom Scientific intends to offer services based on Device Scanner for free or as an extra pat of its network security assessments.  The company hopes Device Scanner will open up opportunities for solution providers to sell other security products.  

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg

If your company needs the support of a computer consulting firm, chances are you have no idea how to determine what you are looking for when it comes to competent computer consultants.  

A previous article laid out an initial set of questions you can ask computer consulting firms when looking for one to provide you with technology solutions.  The following questions can help you delve even deeper into the prospective firm’s qualifications and find the computer consulting business for your company.

Questions for Prospective Computer Consulting Companies

1.    Is your computer consulting company a “pure” company or hybrid tech provider?

2.    Does your company resell hardware and software and other products, and can we shop for products in other places but still purchase your needs analysis and procurement services?

3.    Do you work with any ISPs or phone companies and accept commissions or referral fees for giving vendors business?

4.    What are your computer consulting firm’s payment terms, rates and billing procedures?

5.    Do you charge for travel time, telephone support, e-mail/online support of any other remote support?

6.    Do you have hourly rate billing premiums for emergency service and after hours?  What are your definitions of these types of services?

7.    Tell me about the costs and benefits of your support contracts, if you offer them.

8.    Tell me about a long-term small business client account you currently have.

9.    Discuss a recently signed-on client, and also a small business client that didn’t work out well.

10.    Do you have references?

11.    How do you keep abreast of tech advancements?

12.    What do you bill clients for, and what do you absorb internally?

13.    What’s your stance on in-depth user training, and what kind of training do you provide?

14.    Are you willing to train an internal computer guru to be more independent even if it takes away from more billable hours?

Make sure you get as in-depth as possible when interviewing computer consulting firms so you can get the best fit for your company.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting 101

Microsoft recently announced good news for solution providers by tying in Office SharePoint Server 2007 with the Office 2007 platforrm.  Two new services from the SharePoint Enterprise 2007 edition, business intelligence and business forms will integrate with Office 2007 and help solution providers better use Office, most particularly Excel and InfoPath.

Users will now be able to publish spreadsheets with Excelll 2007 directly into SharePoint, so the new solution providers tool will be important when using business intelligence portals.  For example, users will be able to change views with Excel interactively by going from the portal page from Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.  Installation of Office will not be needed.  The only time local Excel installation is required is during the editing of spreadsheets.

The new integration for solution providers will use similar performance indicators as those used in BI solutoins, allowing for the changing of spreadsheet values.  Developers can build on top of Excel output by adding dashboards.  SharePoint 2007 offers optimized security features to help keep networks and files protected.

Solution providers feel that Microsoft has done well in simplifying the publishing process, adding new development capablities.  Solution providers can now add to many filter lists to automate typically mundane and time-consuming tasks. 

The new design is built on an ASP.Net 2.0 object model that allows SharePoint lists to be lengthened, almost to no limit.  Microsoft is calling this new extensions concept Features.

For more information on this new integration, please visit the article for solution providers.  Microsoft is offering a free book for those interested in these innovative new programs. 

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg

Sales calls with prospects should focus on IT audits.  Spending more than 30 minutes with a prospect should be called a billable IT audit.

The goal of a sales call is to get IT audits.  Unless there is a specific emergency, you need to try to sell IT audits; they will lead to future IT services and hopefully help turn prospects into steady, high-paying clients.

If a prospect gives you very direct points of pain, such as broken equipment or server problems, you have something to do and you should start there.  However, sometimes selling half-day tech assessments and IT audits makes sense.  But how do you approach IT audits?  

Quick = Free With IT Audits

If you do a stripped-down free version, go in for half an hour and offer a basic list of items.  Anything more than half an hour that involves actually investigating hubs, switches and other items is well beyond the scope of a free assessment.

IT Audits:  Get Paid for Longer Assessments

Any calls longer than half an hour that involve detailed work can’t be free.  Come up with a set rate for IT audits that extend beyond 30 minutes and stick to it!

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Computer business Gateway just saw a 44 percent sales drop in the third quarter this year according to reports by the company.  However, the computer business reported a small revenue decline of eight percent in its professional sales units, the first set of earnings for the division managed by the new Gateway CEO Ed Coleman.  

Gateway saw overall a third quarter revenue of $963 million, which was a drop from $1.02 billion for the same period last year.  The company also reported a net income of $18.2 million, taking into account a net tax benefit of $8.2 million.

Gateway spokespeople are noting the drop in direct sales in two areas:  sales from an ISP that had offered Gateway promotions previously but cut this offer; a decrease in extended warranty revenue since the company went for a third-party warranty insurer.

Computer business Gateway’s Professional Sales unit ships products to government and commercial clients and uses solution providers.  This unit saw $263 million in third-quarter revenue.  The Direct Sales unit experienced $75 million in revenue and the retail group received $626 million.

Even though there was a 44 percent direct sales decline, company executives say they will not change the business model, which is currently to ship to retail outlets both directly and through solution providers.

According to experts, computer business Gateway is the Number 3 U.S. PC maker and enjoys a six percent market share.  

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

IT marketing wastes money unless you know what efforts are turning into real business.  Tracking results and measuring profits are essential to IT marketing.

You need to track your responses and track how many of them actually turn into sales.  Your minimum goal should be to see what kind of responses you get from your different marketing strategies. If you have a marketing seminar, for example, how many registrants came from a chamber flyer, a small newspaper ad or through outbound telemarketing efforts?

The Importance of Measuring Response in IT Marketing

IT marketing is important, but how can you track it?

Send respondents to a URL so you can tell how many visited the website.  

Ask directly when you speak to respondents on the phone where they heard about you.

Set up a specific phone number to handle respondent calls.

Use different response vehicles with different marketing techniques.  In other words, postcards could offer a reduced price IT audit and the newspaper ads could present a free seminar.

Real Numbers and IT Marketing

Here’s an example:

You’re mailing 1,000 postcards to 1,000 law offices in your area and offering a seminar, a free report or a free needs analysis.  How many of those 1,000 postcards turned into inquiries?

You may get about a two percent response, which would be great.  So, if you had a 1.7 percent response rate, and of those 17 inquiries one turned into a one-shot deal, you got two business opportunities that added up to $19,500 in the first year.

These results of this IT marketing investment are actually very good, even with list rental, printing and professional copywriting and graphic design services.  For a $500 to $700 initial investment, you got a deal that covered the cost of your mailing and found a huge account.

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit