Small Biz Tech Talk ™

CEO and president of computer business Hewlett Packard stated late Friday he had allowed third-party investigators to use illegal tactics to get information about internal leaks.  He admitted to approval of emails with false information to be sent to those within the computer business suspected of revealing sensitive information to the media.  

Hurd apologized at a press conference held at HP’s Palo Alto headquarters and stated that the team of investigators had told him of their plans in February to send false emails.  He said he approved the particular naming convention that was used in the resultant emails.  He also said he failed to read a report that described the final plan in March and missed cutting off illegal practices as a result.  Hurd announced at the conference that Chairwoman Patrician Dunn, head of the investigation resigned and that he’d be taking over her position.

The first stage of the computer business’ internal investigation began in January 2005 and was unsuccessful at determining the source of the leaks.  The second phase began in January of this year, and it was during this particular time that poor judgment and tactics were used.  Hurd extended his deepest apologies to press and employees affected by the investigative improprieties.  

Experts don’t anticipate that Hurd will suffer any consequences for his involvement in the computer business scandal.  

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

If you are involved in computer consulting, you need to conduct research on a prospect before you even meet him.  You have to accept that you will spend money on the initial consultation as part of your computer consulting business.  

The sales process is more about pre-sales that stresses the consultation aspect.  You need to communicate professionalism and how your services are special and potentially more valuable than others in your field.  If you take a real interest in prospects’ businesses, their problems and then get a handle on their problems to come up with a viable solution you will have a better chance of closing a sale quickly.  

Is there Dirt?

You might find dirt on prospects before the initial consultation that makes you unwilling to accept their business.  Because the computer consulting sales call is an interview for both your computer consulting company and the prospect, you should pay attention to strange things you find during the process of doing research and heed warning signs.  

Your Time is Incredibly Valuable

You will need a half an hour to an hour to compile introductory packets for prospects, spend the same amount of time driving to the call and will probably not start or finish the consultation on time.  You can expect to spend two to three hours on a typical computer consulting sales call.  If you are billing, for example, $75 per hour for your services, this means the process will cost you $225 even before gas, parking, tolls and other expenses.  This cost is why doing homework before the call to determine whether a computer consulting prospect is a good fit for your business is essential.  Qualify them as well as you can so you can avoid wasting time and resources.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Ever since computer business Apple moved the iMac all-in-one desktop computer to Intel Core 2 Duo processors and lowered prices to under $1,000 per machine, the company has been enjoying a greater presence in the market.  This effort from the computer business will hopefully position Apple to gain a larger share from PC companies.

Apple released a $999 iMac with a 17-inch screen, 1.83Hz Core 2 Duo processor, 512 Mbytes of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM that can be increased to 2 Gbytes and a 160-Gbyte hard drive.  Up until recently similar iMacs could not be purchased for any less than $1,299.

Also new from the computer business is a 24-inch screen iMac available for $1,999 and a 20-inch model with a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo processor for $1,4999 plus a 17-inch model with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor for $1,199.  Apple resellers stated that the computer business’ Mac computers have been selling very well since the beginning of 2006.

Experts state that 60 percent of those that bought the computer business’ machines right after they switched to Intel were Mac users wanting to upgrade, with the remaining 40 percent being former PC users.  Apple’s Intel switch and new pricing options are giving major PC companies like Dell serious competition.  Many solution providers are stating that the Mac operating system OSX works better on Intel than on PowerPC.  They also state that this switch could give the computer business a larger presence within the SMB market.  

Apple has been particularly competitive with Dell in pricing, which is huge news considering Dell was always the dominant low-price winner in the industry.  The switch from computer business Apple has been developing for about the past two years rather quickly, and great changes can be seen when comparing Macs offered in 2004 to Macs currently being offered.

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Business billing and collection can be very smooth if you have a great policy in place and you follow it consistently.  As a computer consultant, if you have difficultly getting paid, you can often trace back the problem to your practices of business billing and collection.  Here are some tips to follow when outlining your policy for business billing and collection.

Business Billing and Collection Tips

• The first invoice or first project with a new client is like a proving ground. You’re proving yourself as a reliable and knowledgeable vendor and the client is proving they can follow your business billing and collection policy.

• Bill every week without fail for the previous week’s work.

• Send out past due notices at the same time. Get yourself a “past due” rubber stamp from the stationary store.

• If an invoice goes more than a week late, make a phone call and ask them if everything is okay on the invoice and the work you performed.

• Always use a specific due date as opposed to due in a certain number of days.

• Insist on getting paid.  Even if your clients fall on hard financial times, you cannot afford to be their banker.

• Become familiar with your aged receivables.  This is a valuable cash flow tool that will help you manage your business billing and collection.

• Get thick-skinned when dealing with business billing and collection.  If you can’t do it, you have to hire someone who can, like a bookkeeper or virtual assistant.  

Business billing and collection is too important to the health and viability of your business from a long term perspective to let it fall through the cracks.  The harsh reality is there are a lot of small businesses out there that will hire your firm and never have the ability or even the intention of paying your company at all.

Bottom Line on Business Billing and Collection
If you don’t follow these basic business billing and collection practices, you are going to get stuck on bills. It’s inevitable. Be aware that even if you DO do everything mentioned, you’re still going to get stuck from time to time.  The idea is that by developing and adhering to solid business billing and collection practices, you can lessen about 90% of your risk.

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.

Billable hours, as we talked about last time, is an important element of your overall profitability.  We left off with the concept of triple billing where you are left with only one third of your total revenue for salary payment.

When you start putting together a billing rate you need to make sure that given a reasonable number of billable hours, you have enough to pay yourself of someone else a decent salary.   At a $75 per hour billing rate and 30 billable hours per week, you have to consider:

• "What kind of technical person will I be able to find who has the high end technical skills  needed by my sweet spot small business clients if my technical salary budget is only $37,500 a year?"

• With that rate level and billable hours based on 75% utilization, "What kind of polished B to B sales person are you going to be able to find if you can only offer a base salary of $27,500 a year?"  Remember, you lose $10,000 from your sales budget for things like direct mail, attending organization and networking meetings, sponsoring events, doing seminars, etc…

Finding good staff with high skills for such low salaries is like Fantasy Island for most new small business computer consultants. That’s why the rate you set must factor in billable hours and the triple billing concept.

Let’s run the numbers with a rate of $100 an hour.   

• One third ($50,000) will take care of taxes, insurance and overhead items.
• Another $50,000 will pay a technical staff salary – yours or someone else’s.
• The last third is plowed into sales and marketing.  $10,000 of that goes for marketing expenses and now you can afford a base salary of $40,000 for your sales account executive.

The difference between $75 an hour and $100 an hour is significant.  The billable hours stay the same as does the utilization but all of a sudden you are working with acceptable salary figures. A range of anywhere from $100 to $125 per hour provides you with the revenue base you need.  Going beyond the $125 is not recommended though, because you’ll price yourself out of the sweet spot market.

Bottom Line on Billable Hours
Billable hours and your billing rate are key to your business success.  Make sure that when you set your billing rate you take into account a realistic view of the number of hours billable per week.  An hourly rate may seem great at first glance but when you crunch the numbers you have to be able to make enough to account for the triple billing phenomenon.  
 
In this article, you’ve been introduced to Billable Hours. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Billable Hours, 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.

Billable hours are what determines your utilization rate. Your utilization rate determines your gross revenue.  These three things will ultimately determine how much you can pay yourself and future staff.  This two part article identifies the issues you need to consider in terms of the relationship between salary, utilization, and billable hours.  

The percentage of your total hours worked that are actual billable hours is your utilization rate.  When you know your utilization rate you can begin to set a sustainable hourly rate.

In general, you can expect your billable hours to be, at a maximum, 75% of your total hours worked.  Now don’t get too excited about that 75% utilization rate because not all the revenue generated from your billable hours goes to the bottom line.  

At $75 per hour, which sounds like a darn good hourly rate, 2,000 working hours per year is more like 1,500 billable hours a year.  This translates to $112,500 a year in consulting revenue, which sounds awesome.  You think you’ll work from home and keep your overhead low and enjoy a huge income.  Right? Wrong.

When you look only at billable hours and your hourly rate you overlook your future needs as your business grows.  Scalability is the issue.  Think about a consumer grade PC. Think about a tiny server with a minimal amount of RAM. Think about a server that maxes out at 512 MBs of RAM. What happens when you add more applications and you want to grow? You need more capacity.  It’s the same with your business.

As you get busy with more sweet spot clients, you’re going to need to bring in help. Even if you plan your business on just being yourself indefinitely and you’re thinking, ‘I’m not planning on ever hiring employees,’ you still need to understand what comes next.  

It’s called triple billing.  The basic premise is that the revenue from your billable hours, is divided into three. 

• One third goes to sales management:  commissions, referral fees, “schmoozing” time, sales follow-ups, sales calls, etc…

• The second third of your billable hour revenue goes to administrative and management items:   taxes, insurance, fringe benefits, R&D, training certification, and all the other overhead.

• That leaves one third for your salary and the salary you are able to pay contractors or staff.  

So a $75 per hour rate at 1,500 billable hours works out to $37,500 for salary payment.  Not so lucrative a prospect anymore when put in a realistic perspective.

Bottom Line on Billable Hours
The number of billable hours available to you will largely determine your overall revenue.  You need to take your calculations much further than that though, in order to figure out what type of hourly rate you should charge in order to pay yourself, and others, a decent yearly salary.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Billable Hours. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Billable Hours, 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.

Small business development is what you need to concentrate on when you first start out as an IT consultant.  There are a myriad of things that can get you off track, but, if you watch out for them, you will be able to remain focused on small business development.

Here is a list of the most common ways small business development gets derailed:

• Avoid spending too much time on 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 small business development needs ahead of your need to feel like you’re keeping up.

• Avoid spending too much time reading technology magazines.  If you’re like most new consultants you probably spend hours a month in this reading black hole. Take all this time and apply it to your small business development instead.

• Avoid channel programs.  Do not get seduced by an aggressive sales person twisting your arm to join a channel program. Don’t get seduced by tech gadgets that don’t fill an immediate need with your paying clients. When you spend money on these things it takes away precious resources needed for small business development.

• Avoid “freebie mooching sessions” disguised as sales calls. Make sure when you go on a sales call that you are not there for endless hours of brain-picking that leads nowhere. You need to know exactly which kinds of prospects to focus on at all times. This will drive your qualification process and will help you with your long term small business development.

• Network smart.  You need to know what kind of prospects you should be talking to at networking events.  Find out what they do, what their company is like, do they have and use computers, and how many computers they have.  These are the 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.

Bottom Line on Small Business Development
The basic rule when starting out in IT consulting is this:  Remember that you are not in the technology business. Yes you are an IT tech firm but in the early stages of your business, you are in the client acquisition business.  Do not allow other activities or time wasters distract you from your small business development goals.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Small Business Development. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Small Business Development, 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.

Full time employment is generally the goal of most people who start computer consulting companies.  Many of the one-on-one consulting sessions I do involve evaluating a business and telling the person how close he or she is to moving to full time employment with the consulting company.

A lot of moonlighting computer consultants are initially so enamored with the idea of getting some self-employed income that they forget to remember that eventually they need this income to be at least equivalent to their current full time employment. 

Sadly, a lot of them are never going to make it because of one simple shortcoming: they’re not planning ahead for how and when the transition is going to take place. They’re hoping to move the business to full time employment but they’re not planning for it.

There are two very common mistakes these people make.  Here is an explanation of each and how to avoid them:

• First, you should not be messing around with anything but steady clients.  To get full time employment from your business you can’t afford to deal with the one-shot cherry pickers that you hear from once in a blue moon.  You need steady commitments in order to get yourself to full time employment as a consultant. 

Your ideal client as a moonlighter looking to make the transition to full time employment as a consultant, is the $1,000 a month business who needs you for one or two evenings a month, maybe one or two Saturdays or Sundays, and some light phone support in between visits.

• The second common mistake we see that hampers people from getting to full time employment with their consulting is giving away their services. Do not under any circumstances price yourself below the market rate in order to get clients.

Many newbies charge ridiculously unsustainable rates for their services.  First, you can’t sustain those rates if you hope to transition to full time employment and second, you aren’t perceived as a professional when you charge ridiculously low rates.

Bottom Line on Full Time Employment
In order to transition to full time employment from your consulting you need to plan ahead.  It won’t just happen unless you make an effort to do so. Moving from a moonlighter to full time employment as a computer consultant requires a good client base and a good revenue base.  Don’t sell yourself short by keeping poor quality clients or by charging low end rates.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Full Time Employment. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Full Time Employment, 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 for your computer consulting company are typically small businesses.  These are what we call the sweet spot small businesses.  Your target business has generally outgrown their peer to peer network and they have one or more dedicated servers.

That’s a very key fork in the road for the kind of business target you are looking for as a client.  Once they get to the point where they have a dedicated server, they need professional help along with it. They can’t limp along with low budget economy, no-frills options.

The typical target business in your sweet spot will have 10 to 50 computers and 10 to 100 employees. Revenues for your target businesses should be anywhere from $1 million to $10 million in annual revenue – sometimes as high as $20 million.

Beyond the sweet spot small businesses, many new computer consultants are curious about  other types of target businesses there are and what their needs are.  

Medium-Size Small Businesses
If you want to move into medium-size small businesses and make them your target business you need to get into really deep networking skills. Here you start looking at things like enterprise-oriented platforms like Computer Associates, IBM, Linux, Oracle, Sun Solaris – you really need to specialize.

Large Small Businesses
Large-small businesses have 50 to 100 computers and 50 to 200 employees and are doing anywhere from $5 million to $20 million in annual revenue. The big distinction of these larger small businesses is they usually have at least two dedicated servers and you start to see an in-house IT manager who handles most of the generalist work. Because they’re handling the generalist work, they don’t need virtual IT or an outsourced IT department. This is why they are not your target business.

Very Large Small Businesses
Next are the very large small businesses. To appeal to this set as your target business you need to drill very deep in two or three core networking skill sets and be a strong specialist. Here there will be an in-house IT department that will handle almost all of the generalist work. The only things they’re going to outsource are deep specialties.

Bottom Line on Target Businesses
The best place to focus on for your target business is the sweet spot small business client who is too big for economy service but too small for their own IT manager.  With this type of target business you will be able to find your specialty and market yourself accordingly.

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.

Shared files on client servers can become pretty disorganized, bloated and inefficient in a matter of just weeks. As virtual CIO, you can help your clients get off to a strong start by instilling specific best practices in terms of organizing their shared files.    

Pruning the “Weeds” on the Server

To tackle disorganized shared files on the server, each client should appoint one person to be in charge of server folder structure and file-naming conventions.

Implementing a LAN is one of the easiest ways to scale up your clients’ personal productivity to workgroup or company wide productivity. However, once employees begin using shared files and folders on a centralized server, chaos can follow rapidly.

When talking to your client about this issue of shared files, a good analogy in the offline world is, ask your clients to consider what would happen if they bought a new lateral file cabinet and told everyone they could put whatever they wanted in it, without any underlying structure (no drawer labels, no hanging folders, no nothing).

With this type of explanation your clients should easily grasp the importance of organizing computer shared files just as diligently as manual files.

As a result, it’s very important for each of your clients to appoint an “owner” (or custodian) of each shared file folder. This person gets four key responsibilities.

Organizing Shared Files

• Design and maintain an orderly set of folders and subfolders in which to put the shared files

• Monitor storage space use (checking the MBs and GBs), in conjunction with any quota or storage management tools that you’ve already trained them to use

• Purge and archive obsolete shared files and folders  

• Set up and enforce file-naming conventions everyone can follow easily

Bottom Line on Shared Files
Without a system in place to organize shared files they can become an unruly mess.  You don’t necessarily want to have to deal with the fallout so training your clients’ employees how to manage shared files is your best line of defense.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Shared Files. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Shared Files, 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 that are standardized present many opportunities for efficiency improvements for your clients.  Documents can be shared between users of different versions of applications.  As well, the files created in previous versions are able to be used when the file formats are standardized.

These benefits along with the cost savings from not having to upgrade the software every time a new version comes out, make file format standardization a very wise option for your clients to consider.  

Here are some issues you can use as discussion points with your clients to help then decide whether file format standardizing is what they should do.

File Format Discussion Points:

• Are there different versions of Microsoft Office applications in use at various client sites?

• Are the different Microsoft Office file formats causing compatibility problems and preventing staff members from working more effectively with each other?

• Are any of these file format compatibility problems with Microsoft Access database applications? If so, is anyone running Microsoft Access 97, or are all Microsoft Access users running Microsoft Access 2000 or Microsoft Access 2002?

• Are any of your clients’ employees having a problem sharing Microsoft Office files with customers or vendors? Have they tried using HTML file formats to remedy these external compatibility problems?

• Do any of your clients’ employees work with Microsoft Office documents that go back and forth between their file and Web servers? Have they explored using HTML file formats, in lieu of native Microsoft Office file formats?

• Have you helped your clients toggle the backward compatibility settings in Microsoft Office applications?

Bottom Line of File Formats
Clients do not have to suffer with compatibility and inefficiency issues related to file format inconsistencies between application versions.  Discuss the various friction points caused by incompatible file formats and help your client determine the best course of action to remedy the problem.  

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 are an area you can explore as an opportunity to provide valuable service to your clients.  Because most of your small business clients don’t have sophisticated in-house IT departments (if they have a dedicated IT person at all), many things related to technology can become a complete “mess” real fast.  

There are tremendous opportunities in helping your clients straighten out a variety of these “messes”. One opportunity, that’s particularly universal and fairly simple to tackle for you (as the objective, professional outsider), is standardizing software application file formats.

Standard File Formats Bridge the Gap

• By standardizing on a common set of applications and file formats company wide, your clients can drive down their help desk costs – and free up their technology budget for projects that will generate a more rapid and meaningful ROI. Coincidentally for you, these high-level, more strategic projects also tend to be more profitable and more professionally gratifying.

• In large companies, this very subject of standardizing file formats can stir up hours (even weeks or months) of heated internal debate. However, don’t overlook a huge benefit of advising small businesses: It’s a lot easier and quicker for your clients to make across-the-board changes, and much easier for your clients to keep everyone on the same page, figuratively and literally.

• In many companies, it’s fairly common to find several different word processing and spreadsheet programs. It’s also highly likely your clients run at least two, possibly three or more, versions of Microsoft Office programs. Unlike Microsoft’s upgrade from Microsoft Office 95 to Microsoft Office 97, which introduced major changes to the underlying document file formats, the upgrades to Microsoft Office 2000 and Microsoft Office XP bring much more subtle, conservative changes.

Bottom Line on File Formats
Standardizing file formats is typically a very necessary operation for your sweet spot clients.  When they have standard file formats they can work more efficiently and save money doing it.  For you, issues with file formats present great opportunities to generate revenue.  

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.

Network maintenance is something that should be done on a proactive basis.  To avoid hearing from your clients only when something breaks, you need to get yourself and your clients out of fire extinguisher mode and into a system of proactive network maintenance

Proactive Network Maintenance and Downtime
Before your clients can possibly be “sold” on the value of proactive network maintenance, you’ll need to help your clients estimate and understand the real cost of their downtime.

I recommend this very simple, back-of-the-napkin calculation:

• What was the client’s net income or bottom line last year?
• Divide that figure by roughly 250 business days and 8 hours a day.

Following this calculation, if your client had a net income of $1,000,000 last year, your client loses $500 ($1,000,000 divided by 250 business days divided by 8 hours/day) in net income for every business hour of downtime.

If your client loses $4,000 of net income every day that their network is down, is it really all that difficult for your client to justify a small investment in monthly proactive network maintenance?  

Costs vs Benefits of Proactive Network Maintenance
Properly planned, designed and installed small business networks are generally very reliable. However, when pitching a client on the benefits of proactive network maintenance, it’s crucial that you steer the conversation in terms of cost/benefit analysis.

• First, quantify the concrete benefits you’ll provide to your client.

• Next, present a monthly recurring cost (ah… recurring revenue stream!) based on your estimated labor billing and required service margins. Perhaps, you’ll offer a bundle of services that can be profitably delivered for $250 to $500/month based on a 2-year commitment.

• The real deal clincher comes when you begin to discuss the cost of doing nothing to prevent downtime. Your proposed proactive maintenance plan may cost $3,000 to $6,000 per year. However, if you can prevent just two days a year of downtime ($8,000 from the above example) the price is easily made up for.

• If they’re still skeptical and perhaps don’t believe your downtime cost scenario, take a look at their IT service invoices for the past 12 to 18 months. How many times do you see phrases like, “Server down emergency”?

Bottom Line on Network Maintenance
Proactive network maintenance makes sense for the client and for you.  Clients who pay for  proactive network maintenance inevitably save money in the course of the first year.  By providing network maintenance on a proactive basis, you save yourself major troubleshooting headaches and you guarantee yourself a revenue stream.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Network Maintenance. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Network Maintenance, 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. 

LAN networks help businesses maintain greater control over external threats and internal misuse.  By using a centrally based and centrally monitored LAN network to deliver Internet and email access, your client companies will be able to vastly improve their IT security and perhaps enhance employee productivity.

When you discuss the option of installing a LAN network with your client talk to him/her about the following issues:

• Discuss how providing Internet through a LAN network secures the external network connection to the Internet by using sophisticated firewall and intrusion detection features.

• Note that a LAN network provides senior management with a more effective tool for monitoring and enforcing company policies on appropriate use of the resource.

• Point out how LAN network based Internet access can explicitly grant or deny access to specific users and Web sites. These steps will ease small business owners’ concerns about employees accessing sites with adult-oriented material or other “offensive,” non work-related content. Your solution may also be able to enforce time of day/day of week restrictions, as well as application-specific restrictions.

• Often the strongest motivator for installing a LAN network is the fact that Internet access logs can be monitored periodically. Communicating this monitoring capability to employees  provides an incredibly strong deterrent to using the Internet inappropriately.  

• While you certainly don’t want to give legal advice to your clients, you can provide extra value by helping your clients devise a company policy on appropriate use of Internet access and e-mail.

Bottom Line on LAN Networks
Incorporating a LAN network delivery system for Internet and email access makes sense from a security and productivity point of view.  Pointing out the obvious benefits of using a LAN network should more than offset any objections your client has to doing it.  IT security is a huge issue in today’s work environment and one of the key ways to boost it is to provide Internet access via a LAN network.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to LAN Networks. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about LAN Networks, 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 software training, as we talked about last time, is definitely an area you should consider for revenue generation.  Any objections or hesitations you might have, should be alleviated by the comprehensive list of topics we suggest you offer for your computer software training. Here are the remaining five.

5 More End User Computer Software Training Topics*

• Microsoft Office – Demonstrate the value of ScreenTips for hovering on top of toolbar buttons and getting a concise explanation of the button’s function.

• Virus Prevention – Warn users about opening unsolicited file attachments. Discuss any company prohibitions on downloading or installing unauthorized software.

• Internet Usage – Review company policy on acceptable Internet use. Explain any monitoring of Web browsing and e-mail that your client has in place. It adds more impact to the discussion of Internet usage policy if you can get your client’s CEO or HR director (or equivalent) there at your training session to explain the company’s monitoring policies and ramifications.

• Data Backup – Point out where data files should be stored in pre-configured default folder paths for various software applications. Advise users on which drive letters and folders are included in nightly automated backup routines.

• Shutdown – Make sure each user knows the right way to turn off a PC to prevent file corruption. Highlight the differences between “Shutdown” and “Shutdown and Restart”.

*NOTE:  depending on the desktop OS and applications in use, you may need to make some very minor tweaks to these topics.

Bottom Line on Computer Software Training
Computer software training does not have to complicated, nor does developing the curriculum have to be time consuming.  Follow the guidelines we have presented in this, and the previous article, and you will certainly cover-off the most requested topics for end-user computer software training.    

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Computer Software Training. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Computer Software 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. 

Computer software training is something you can start profiting from today.  Many new computer consultants fail to capitalize on this opportunity though.  The reason is they think it takes too long to develop a curriculum for computer software training.  

Luckily, you won’t have that problem because the following is the first of a two part list of topics you can incorporate into your computer software training.

5 End User Computer Software Training Topics*

• Network Logon – Start with the basics to ensure that each user knows their company’s logon procedures. Highlight any password requirements, such as case sensitivity or automatic password expirations.

• The Windows Desktop – Explain the purpose of the Windows Desktop and how Shortcuts can be used to quickly launch commonly used programs, folders and files. Show how to create and remove Desktop shortcuts.

• The Start Menu – Give a quick tour of the Program groups that are most relevant to your clients’ needs. Point out how the Documents folder keeps track of the last 15 files opened — preventing “lost file panic” and saving many help desk calls.

• Windows Explorer – Provide an overview of local drive letters and your clients’ standard network drive letter conventions for shared folders. Demonstrate how to use “Search” and “Find File” functions to locate missing files. Offer examples of how to turn on View All Details and sort on various file attributes, such as filename, size, and file type, within a folder.

• Printers – Review the location of shared network printers, usage restrictions and default assignments. Show how to change the default printer in the Printers folder, as well as how to change the selection through the File, Print menu command.

*NOTE:  depending on the desktop OS and applications in use, you may need to make some very minor tweaks to these topics.

Bottom Line on Computer Software Training
By using this simple checklist you can help your clients plan their end user computer software training.  This increases your perceived usefulness to the company and it is an excellent source of revenue.  

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Computer Software Training. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Computer Software 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. 

Utilization is one of the key factors in profitability.  When you use your time efficiently, you have more time available for the activities that generate profit.  

A key time drain is administrative work.  The more time you spend on these tasks the lower your utilization rate will be.  We have found that by creating a boilerplate for common administrative and customer service tasks, we have increased our utilization significantly.

Top 2 Utilization Tips For Boilerplates

• Create a boilerplate for your email signature.  

This way you can include your website address and a short sales message with each email.  By not having to type this information over and over again, you save lots of time, which has a large impact on overall utilization.  Plus, if you don’t use a boilerplate you will be tempted to leave out this information and miss a valuable marketing opportunity.

• Create boilerplate email responses.

Time is money and automation of anything will make a huge difference in your utilization rate.  Here are some common customer and contractor points of contact you can create boilerplates for in order to improve your utilization:

• Prospect profile form
• Qualification tool
• Credit application
• Product purchase authorization
• Order confirmation
• Client scheduling form or letter
• Contractor scheduling form or letter
• Schedule confirmation
• Change order
• Request for proposal
• Request for quote
• Work order

Creating a boilerplate doesn’t mean you should just blast these letters or forms out without reading them.  You will need to do some customization to each.  You get significant increases in utilization from the fact that 90 to 95 percent of the work is done already.  

If you find yourself typing the same email more than once or twice to a prospect, client or a subcontractor, go back and strip out any of their specific information and create a boilerplate with the letter and email signature.  Then start reusing this form over and over again to improve your utilization.

Bottom Line on Utilization
Boilerplates allow you to complete 90 to 95 percent of the work before hand.  This leaves you with only needing a few minutes to add in custom touches to your most common customer service communications.  Take some time to create boilerplates and watch your utilization improve.  

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Utilization. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Utilization, 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. 

Profitability is what will determine if your business succeeds or fails.  There are a variety of ways to maximize your utilization rate and your profitability. We’ve talked about many of them already, and here is a summary.

Profitability Factors

• Operate in the sweet spot.  These are the people that need your regular IT support and they are willing to pay for premium service.

• Maximize your marketing efficiency by tracking every hour and every dollar that you spend.  Evaluate what’s working and what’s not working. Profitability is built on good marketing.  

• Follow-up with people.  Many times you will get work because you’re in the right place at the right time.  

• Form strategic business relationships.  In terms of profitability, we can’t overemphasize this enough.  Look to trusted business advisors and niche technology providers in your area.  

• Implement a $1,000.00 a month minimum on a service agreement.  Your profitability will increase immensely because these contracts will typically amount to much more than $1000.

• Diversify your clients.  You may enjoy profitability with only two or three clients, but what happens when one of those clients decides to bring the tasks in-house? What happens when one of those clients gets bought out?  Where does that leave you?

• Track and forecast your utilization rates.  Look at both your actual rate and your goal rates.  Maximum profitability goes hand in hand with maximum utilization.

• Monitor your sales funnel.  This is a utilization issue that, when well managed will contribute to your overall profitability.

Bottom Line on Profitability
Profitability is of utmost importance.  The eight factors listed above are all key to maximizing it.  You need to ensure you are following and/or implementing each in order to maintain and sustain long term profitability.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Profitability. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Profitability, 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.

Excellent customer service is often judged by the decision maker, or internal computer guru.  Treating these people extra special is often the key to delivering excellent customer service.

Here are some tips for scoring huge points with the guru or other key decision maker that will ensure you are perceived as a provider of excellent customer service:

• Make the guru look good, like a hero, in front of his/her boss.  The more you make the guru look like a genius, the more he or she will tell the guys who sign your check, what excellent customer service you provide.

• Really get to know the key people on the account.  Take a real interest in them.  Try to remember little details like where they went on holidays, activities their kids are doing, etc… When you ask about these things later, your reputation for excellent customer service is solidified.

• Acknowledge the personal side of these people’s lives.  If they have a baby, get married, suffer a loss, etc.. send an appropriate gift or card.  Here again, small courtesy, big reward in terms of the perception of excellent customer service.

• Whenever appropriate, share some extra productivity tips to help them get more out of their software.  Don’t worry that you’re teaching them something that could cause you to lose an hour or two of billing here and there.  They’re in it for the long haul with you; you need to be in it for the long haul with them.  This builds tremendous loyalty.  Whenever you put your client’s needs above your own, you are delivering excellent customer service.

• Keep a running wish list of what they want and need IT-wise.  Prioritize it by month around their scheduling needs.

• Help them clean out old IT assets and de-clutter. Spend 10 or 15 minutes with them, helping them sort what should be kept versus tossed.  This is another great way to deliver excellent customer service.

• Offer to share best practices with the guru. Share things that you learned from other clients as well as outside sources.  

• Conduct a formal customer satisfaction survey at least once a year.  Excellent customer service is all about exceeding expectations.  Using your surveys as a benchmark is a great place to start.  

Bottom Line on Excellent Customer Service
Excellent customer service is key to your business.  By focusing attention on the guru and/or decision maker, you put yourself in the best position to be known as a consultant who delivers excellent customer service.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Excellent Customer Service. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Excellent Customer Service, 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.

Customer expectations are a huge management issue.  You have to strive to exceed customer expectations with every transaction.  Knowing you have to do it is one thing, understanding what the customer’s expectations are, is quite another.  

Here are three questions you can use to elicit from your clients, what their definition of exceeding customer expectations is.

What do you like, and what do you dislike about how you’ve gotten IT support in the past?  

With this question, the client will start to open up about the good, bad, and ugly customer service they have had.  Listen carefully and let them vent.  

This is where you will pick up invaluable information about their customer expectations. Take tons and tons of notes.  Once they’ve told you all the things they hate and despise, all you need to do to exceed customer expectation is overcome the issues they just told you about. When you do, you look like a knight in shining armor.

Is there anything I can do to make your job easier when working with us?  

Here again, the responses you will typically get address what past consultants have done that they don’t like.  Turn their experience with you completely around.  When you don’t do the things that have upset them in the past, you will succeed at exceeding the customer’s expectations.  

Is there anything else that would be helpful for me to know about supporting your company’s IT needs?  

With this question you will likely get into the politics and the nuances of the company that will determine how well you handle customer expectations.  If you can navigate the political mine field, and make the process as smooth as possible for everyone, then you will be perceived as the ultimate in exceeding customer expectations.

Once you have your responses to these three customer expectation questions, you need to record the answers and make sure you have a way to refer back to them often.

Bottom Line on Customer Expectations
Customer expectation can’t be left to chance.  You have to prepare yourself to meet and exceed customer expectations every time.  By asking the right questions, you will get the answers you need regarding customer expectations.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Customer Expectations. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Customer Expectations, 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.