Small Biz Tech Talk ™

A hundred years ago, all you needed to seal a deal was a simple handshake. Not today. Both you and your clients should sign a service agreement so you are both clear on what your responsibilties are. With the right service agreements and clients, you’ll business will be successful for the long haul.

Read on to find out how one of our consultants benefited from service agreements:

"This year I learned to get things in writing and lay out what I will and won’t do for each company. The section on service agreements made it very easy and logical.  By following this section, I didn’t leave anything out that I would have forgotten or not even known to put in our service contracts."

Shawna Tillotson, Cabintree Consulting
Alpine, Wyoming

The Bottom Line about Service Agreements

To learn more about service agreements, click here now to get access to free tips and an audio training excerpt on service agreements.

The most profitable and stable way to be successful in your computer consulting business is to have your clients sign service agreements–providing you with steady income. Make sure your service agreements are proven to benefit both your computer consulting business and your clients.

Read on to find out how one of our consultants benefited from service agreements while putting his clients at ease:

"We hired a full time employee to run our store while I work on establishing contracts. Our clients have asked for contracts even without me offering them a service agreement. So now I am working on getting together the best service agreements for our clients. The Computer Consulting Kit provided the documents and insight in areas we have not even thought of. Finding the best customers goes hand in hand with the service agreements.  We are looking for those high quality customers that need our services. The Sweet Spot Clients training has helped us there. Finding those customers is explained well. Thank You!"

Steven Addis, Addis Consulting, Inc.
Tampa, Florida

The Bottom Line about Service Agreements

To learn more about service agreements, click here now to get access to free tips and an audio training excerpt on service agreements.

As a provider of computer consulting services, you will want to communicate to prospects and/or clients that anyone, even with the most rudimentary PC skills, who has physical access to a peer-to-peer server, usually has access to every file and folder on that server.

Although many people mistakenly think that the Microsoft Windows 9x/Me logon dialog box provides protection, they are wrong and that misperception can be extremely dangerous.

Address Client Skepticism about Protecting their Files

If your computer consulting services prospect or client is in disbelief, this vulnerability is very easy to demonstrate in about 90 seconds. With a boot disk, a press of the Escape key, or a boot up into Safe Mode, an unauthorized user with no operating system knowledge can "compromise" the entire Microsoft Windows 9x/Me server in just a few seconds.

For your computer consulting services, clients a dedicated server system can enforce a mandatory logon and provide local file level security. In addition, each user account that needs interactive logon access to the server must be explicitly granted that right.

A dedicated server console can also be "locked" when you walk away from the server, either manually or through a time activated screen saver.

Auditing Shared File and Printer Resources

With very minimal effort and no additional software, your computer consulting services clients can use a dedicated server operating system to audit usage of any shared file, folder or printer. Auditing can be especially helpful for tracking use of sensitive files such as payroll, credit card data, R&D documents and proprietary plans.

Auditing is also valuable for tracking usage of expensive-to-operate resources such as a color laser printer or check printer. A Microsoft Windows 9x/Me peer-to-peer server does not have these integrated auditing capabilities.

The Bottom Line about Computer Consulting Services

As a provider of computer consulting services, it is important to address the importance of protecting and auditing sensitive information when meeting with prospects or clients.

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

Most small business owners equate expenses with overhead items and capital expenditures such as buying a PC, notebook, printer, modem or version upgrade to Microsoft Office XP. These kind of small business owners often desperately need your computer consulting business assistance to see the big picture and the total solution.

In order to help your prospects and clients leverage their IT infrastructure, you need to elevate your price quotes, proposals and invoices from transaction status to investment.

Your Computer Consulting Business as an Investment

An investment usually has at least the perception of quantifiable and somewhat immediately measurable benefits. If you’re still proposing individual hardware and software purchase recommendations, it’s time to move your sales pitch toward a more cohesive, proactive technology plan – of which your proposed small business network becomes "mission control". 

Small business IT expenses tend to be somewhat random and haphazard.  When technology is looked at as overhead, purchases are often made only when there’s an emergency.
 
Have a Plan

When IT investments are made, on the other hand, there’s a written plan of attack. This is the project plan that your computer consulting business started developing during your initial consultation and IT audit for how standards are supported, how purchases are made, how projects are implemented and how pilots are rolled into production use.

Take the results of the IT audit, or similar fact-finding mission, and be proactive. To run a successful computer consulting business, you must help your small business clients get out of the fire extinguisher mode.

Understanding Client’s Downtime Costs

While the investments associated with data backup, power protection or virus protection certainly are not trivial, they often become quite small in the whole scheme of things — when you compare costs to the value of the data being stored and the potential business impact if the data were partially or completely lost. It’s crucial for you to understand your computer consulting business’ client’s true costs of downtime.

It’s much easier to protect data when the data is well organized. In many small businesses, you’ll find critical data being stored on an individual’s local "c:" drive. Because the data is so decentralized, it’s nearly impossible to adequately protect the valuable information.

The Bottom Line about the Computer Consulting Business

Alternatively, data may be stored on a server in a disorganized fashion, making it difficult for others in the company to locate the files at a later date. You can add tremendous value to the installation, and help increase ROI on your client’s networking investment, by devising a well-organized file, folder, and share structure.

In this article, you’ve learned about 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.

In the computer consulting business, risk-averse small business owners are very similar to small businesses that are apathetic about moving forward with your proposed small business network.

Apathetic small business owners know they have a need, but they’ll just keep putting the project with your computer consulting business on the back burner; indefinitely, if you let them!

Understand Client Fears

Risk-averse small business owners also keep shuffling your proposal to the back burner, but for totally different reasons. They’re truly terrified of what might happen if everything falls apart during the network installation your computer consulting business is conducting.

Fear of your small business network being "painful" (to the owner, managers and staff) prevents the sign-off from taking place – the kiss of death for your computer consulting business.

Some small business owners become risk averse because they think they might eventually outgrow your proposed networking solution.

Help Your Clients Plan for the Future

To help address this concern, computer consulting businesses need to talk about the built-in growth path options offered by the solution that you propose.

If it’s just a matter of adding more software licenses or stacking up another networking hub or switch, be sure to highlight how simple and inexpensive these options will be down the road.

The Bottom Line about the Computer Consulting Business

In this article, you’ve learned about 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.

The most profitable and stable way to be successful in your computer consulting business is to put your clients on service agreements. Service agreements can help keep your cash flow steady and keep your business profitable for the long haul.

Many of the respondents in the survey found the sections of the Computer Consulting Kit on service agreements, including the templates, most helpful. When service agreements are designed and presented correctly, your clients understand that service agreements are truly a much better value for them.

Read on to find out how one of our consultants benefited from service agreements:

"We implemented service contracts to give us residual income and stable clients. The Computer Consulting Kit allowed us to put together what was missing to create and gather the information to create a good service contract. This brought us an additional $20,000."

Vladimir Nekic, Zonewave-Advanced Micro Design Corp
North Port, Florida

The Bottom Line about Service Agreements

To learn more about service agreements, click here now to get access to free tips and an audio training excerpt on service agreements.

In dealing with apathy toward small business networking, discontinued technical support is another powerful counterforce, especially when you’re talking about vertical, industry-specific software, such as niche applications designed for accountants, attorneys, physicians, realtors, auto body shops and restaurants.

Providing Support

After a certain point, the independent software vendor (ISV) selling vertical, industry-specific software draws a line in the sand and stops providing technical support, annual updates, and patches for older versions of their product.  So, if your client is an accounting firm that needs updated tax tables, your client is forced to upgrade the tax software, which often, in turn, forces an upgrade of the server.

This results in a call to your firm to upgrade their server (and several related highly lucrative product sales and service opportunities for your small business networking firm), all as a result of the "domino effect" from an ISV calling the shots.

Let Them Know What Their Competition Is Doing

In addition to fears of unreliable systems and vendor-mandated upgrades, you can also overcome apathy toward small business networking by discussing your prospect’s or client’s competition (without naming names, of course).

If you work with many small businesses in the same industry, and you’re seeing a software or more general technology trend that drastically alters the competitive landscape in your prospect’s or client’s industry, by all means call this to your prospect’s or client’s attention.

The Bottom Line about Small Business Networking

In this article, you’ve learned about small business networking. To learn more about small business networking 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 is very important to have a website when starting an IT consulting business.  It is easy to tell who is working full time at starting their IT consulting business and who’s not just by looking at their website, or lack thereof.

Keep it Simple

Don’t go overboard on your website. Don’t use flash because you’ll never get decent search engine spidering and you’ll annoy a lot of people with it. Keep it very simple, about 4 or 5 pages.

Your Website Content

Of course you’ll have your homepage. Then, off the homepage you should have a page that talks about the benefits of the solutions that your IT consulting business offers. You should also have a bio page that talks about your background.

Show Your Face

It is important to note that you shouldn’t hide who you are. Often times when you visit a website you can’t figure out who owns the business. Make sure your name is up on your IT consulting business’ website.

You can even put your picture up there. Utilize tools like audio options if you want to build a stronger emotional connection. Definitely make sure that your website conveys who you are as the owner of this IT consulting business.

Make it Easy to Reach You

In starting your IT consulting business and working on your website, ensure you have a contact form somewhere within the site. You may also want to have a links page where you can exchange links and share some traffic with other trusted businesses.

Additionally, you may want to have a hidden referral page on your IT consulting business’ website. This could be a page where it is easy to refer people to.

The Bottom Line about the IT Consulting Business

You should definitely have a website. Write it from the standpoint of what’s in it for the small-business owner. Focus on the benefits and what you bring to the table.

In this article, you’ve learned about the IT consulting business. To learn more about the IT 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.

If you’re new to small business consulting, you may think there is no such thing as a prospect or client being too enthusiastic about jumping headfirst into a major IT project. Enthusiasm is a good thing when it comes to signing your firm’s small business consulting contract, right? Well, not always.

Manage Clients’ Optimism

Although hype isn’t exactly a sales obstacle, you need to manage client expectations regarding “unjustified” optimism at your earliest opportunity.  During small business consulting projects, there is often a need to combat hype with vertical industry software solutions.

Keeping Client’s Expectations Realistic

The small business owner or manager may return from a trade show with a gorgeous glossy brochure (and mouse pad) for an industry-specific application. Since your small business consulting client thinks the application is the best software since Lotus 1-2-3, he is ready to open up his firm’s checkbook — but wants to run the application by the internal guru and your small business consulting firm, first.

Although the ISV’s marketing literature and Web site seem quite professional, upon further investigation you learn this $5,000 per seat package is built on an MS-DOS-based Clipper database engine (circa 1991).

The Bottom Line about Small Business Consulting

While your client might have been impressed initially with the demo at the trade show, you need to overcome the hype surrounding the application and save your client from making a sizable investment in an application that should’ve been retired or supplanted years ago.

Otherwise, your prospect or client may end up squandering scarce IT budgetary resources that could be better invested in the network solution that you’re recommending.

In this article, you’ve learned about small business consulting. To learn more about small business 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.

If you’re new to small business consulting, you may think there is no such thing as a prospect or client being too enthusiastic about jumping headfirst into a major IT project. Enthusiasm is a good thing when it comes to signing your firm’s small business consulting contract, right? Well, not always.

Manage Clients’ Optimism

Although hype isn’t exactly a sales obstacle, you need to manage client expectations regarding "unjustified" optimism at your earliest opportunity.  During small business consulting projects, there is often a need to combat hype with vertical industry software solutions.

Keeping Client’s Expectations Realistic

The small business owner or manager may return from a trade show with a gorgeous glossy brochure (and mouse pad) for an industry-specific application. Since your small business consulting client thinks the application is the best software since Lotus 1-2-3, he is ready to open up his firm’s checkbook — but wants to run the application by the internal guru and your small business consulting firm, first.

Although the ISV’s marketing literature and Web site seem quite professional, upon further investigation you learn this $5,000 per seat package is built on an MS-DOS-based Clipper database engine (circa 1991).

The Bottom Line about Small Business Consulting

While your client might have been impressed initially with the demo at the trade show, you need to overcome the hype surrounding the application and save your client from making a sizable investment in an application that should’ve been retired or supplanted years ago.

Otherwise, your prospect or client may end up squandering scarce IT budgetary resources that could be better invested in the network solution that you’re recommending.

In this article, you’ve learned about small business consulting. To learn more about small business 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.

Partnering and subcontracting can help grow your business by:

• Expanding your areas of expertise
• Taking on bigger projects
• Keeping your overhead low

When you and another business have similar clients, but complementary businesses, join up with them to maximize your prospects and minimize your marketing expenses. 

Read on to see how one of our computer consultants benefited from partnering.  

"I took the time to write a letter to a company that provided outsourced billing for medical offices around town. I stated that we don’t provide the services they do and they don’t provide the services we do and that we could help each other out.  To my surprise, his response was ‘Your timing couldn’t be better.’ We met over breakfast one morning and discussed that fact that we knew they did good work since our client really likes them and that he knew we did good work because the same client liked us. It just made sense for us to make recommendations on each other’s behalf. It got me thinking about partnering with the right kind of service providers that serve the same market but don’t do general technical consulting, yet get asked for that type of support all the time."

Nick LaRosa, Subnet Support Services LLC
St. Louis, Missouri

The Bottom Line about Partnering

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

Before starting your IT consulting business, make sure all your ducks are in a row. In this article, learn some more of the steps you should take before beginning your IT consulting practice.

Step Thirteen: Volunteer if You Can’t Get Paying IT Consulting Customers

If 30 days have passed since you let everyone you know you’re open for business and you still don’t have referrals or paying customers, then take the bull by the horns and volunteer for a non-profit. Give them a few volunteer hours to help them with a PC upgrade or a tune-up.  Help them update their website or give them some computer training.  Just be sure you limit it to a 2 or 4 hour type deal or you may not be getting an end to it.

Contact the executive director or the office manager and be honest. Tell them you have just opened up a new IT consulting business and you would like to donate a couple of hours of your time.  Tell them specifically 2 hours, 3 hours whatever it is, in return for a testimonial from them and introductions to 3 active members that they think may have computer problems and could benefit from your IT consulting services.

Formalize it by putting a couple of sentences down on a piece of paper that gives them a statement of work and what they are agreeing to give you in return.

Step Fourteen:  Keep Repeating Step Thirteen

Volunteer your services until you have 3 or 4 testimonials from business owners or managers. The best testimonials are from well-known people in your community that other businesspeople will recognize.

Step Number Fifteen:  Start attending Local Business to Business Events

Look in the business section of your local paper. Pay attention to the networking and lead groups as well and Chambers of Commerce. See if you can attend as a guest. Plan on going to one networking event per week every single week for the next 4 weeks.

Then go around and be friendly. Tell people you are just starting up a business.  Ask them how they use IT in their business and exchange business cards and see if there is any way your IT consulting business can help them.

Think about helping THEM, don’t make it a me, me, me thing.  It’s very important that you ask them what is going on in their business ask what they are using computers for, what the biggest problems they are facing right now and see if there is any way to help them.

The Bottom Line about IT Consulting
 
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.

During 2002, many vendors were rushing to market 802.11a (up to 54Mpbs) wireless Ethernet products that were supposed to be the next wave in wireless networking. However, at the same time, an "in-progress" standard called 802.11g may supplant both the original 802.11b and newer 802.11a standards.

So frankly, the "safest" bet for now may be to seek out wireless Ethernet hardware that supports all three standards: 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g. 

Wireless Ethernet as a Business Opportunity

As an IT consultant you should be aware that wireless is a great business opportunity for savvy computer consultants.  However, since there is a fairly large installed base of 802.11b (11Mbps) products already, and most 802.11a products are not backward compatible with 802.11b products (although many vendors are rushing to market with hybrid 802.11b/802.11a products), this 802.11a standard faces an uphill battle in the marketplace.

The Bottom Line about Wireless Ethernet

While wireless Ethernet will likely overtake wired Ethernet (Category 5) as the dominant small business networking standard at some point in the future, the “when” and “how” is still very unclear. In the meantime though, many small business computer consultants are still finding wireless Ethernet to be a tremendous marketplace opportunity.

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

To grow your business, you need to have trusted help that can give good service to your customers. Don’t just consider subcontractors for the big projects, they can free up your time and raise your profits.

Read on to see what one of our computer consultants did to help his business.

"I hired a solid part-time contractor. Before, I used to do all the work myself, everything from break-fix, computer won’t boot, ‘how-do-I’ type questions, to network installations. I would hire subcontractors for bigger projects that had a defined scope, but not smaller projects because I thought it was too expensive. I discovered how having a reliable person to do all the small work could free me up to look at the bigger picture and even have time to recruit new business. I also found the tools to negotiate a solid agreement and made sure that for every dollar I spend with him, I am making that plus a dollar back. We also negotiated a solid NDA (non disclosure agreement), so I have comfort that my clients aren’t going to walk out the door. This has made me $15,000."

Daniel Ramos, Genesislogic
Brooklyn, New York

The Bottom Line about Partnering

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

If you sense resistance during the IT network sales cycle, listen very carefully to the prospect’s objections.  Many times, they like what they hear. But small business owners need to hear three or four different opinions in order to bolster their confidence. Take time to understand exactly what’s driving the investment in this planned IT network.

In small business IT consulting, many of your prospects and clients will have similar IT network needs.

Consider Faxing Needs

Most small business employees have similar experiences when it comes to sending faxes. When a document that needs to be faxed is complete, the employee prints the document and cover sheet, gets up from the desk, walks over to the fax machine, and stands there waiting on line until the fax machine is available. This creates an enormous productivity bottleneck.

Ask Questions about IT Network Needs

To understand the cost of not addressing the single Internet access account or fax machine dilemma, talk with the small business owner. Here’s a sample line of questions you can ask to understand the real costs and limitations of sending faxes through a fax machine:

• How many people in the office send faxes regularly?
• What’s the average number of pages in each person’s fax?
• Does each person typically create a cover page to go along with each fax?
• How many faxes a day are sent out?
• How often are people sending the same fax to multiple recipients?
• How far away is the fax machine from most people’s desks?
• How many hours are wasted on a daily basis with people waiting around to send outgoing faxes? How many hours does this translate into annually? What’s the average hourly wage of the people impacted by this productivity issue?

The Bottom Line about IT Networks

It is a good idea to have a blank contract with you when you ask these questions. Why? Because it’s very hard for any rational small business owner or manager to refute your conclusion that their company desperately needs an IT network-based faxing option.

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

To begin your IT consulting practice, there are 21 steps you should take before you hit your first day on the job. In this article, you’ll learn about three of the steps you should take before entering the business of full-time IT consulting.

Step Four. Engage Professional Services

You should have an accountant and an attorney before you start your IT consulting business. Sit down with them for a few minutes and tell them about your business plans. They’ll help you pick out what kind of business entity makes the most sense for you – whether it is a sole proprietor, limited partnership, or a corporation. 

They can introduce you to the pros and cons of each option and you can do your own research, too. A professional’s advice is money well-spent for your IT consulting business. Even buying a half hour or hour of an attorney or accountant’s time can help.

To save money, you can file some of the paperwork if you want to. But at least talk with them about where you are in your IT consulting business and your personal financial situation.  

Step Five: Open a Business Bank Account

Clients are going to write checks to your IT consulting business; not you personally. They are not going to want to end up with you being called a statutory employee.  They want to make sure that they are actually paying a business that they are employing which is corporation to corporation.  So you will need a bank account so you can cash those checks.

Apply for a merchant account if you are planning on reselling products or want more flexibility so you can accept credit cards.  Discover, MasterCard, Visa and American Express are the big ones. 

Step Six: Buy Some Insurance

Talk to a property and casualty insurance agent about getting commercial insurance for your IT consulting business.  General liability and professional liability are good, as well as Errors and Omissions. You want yourself and your business to be protected in case of problems. 

The Bottom Line about IT Consulting
 
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.

If you are like most computer consultants, you are a generalist and can benefit from partnering with specialists.

Consultants often like to hire contractors to add talent to their team without the fixed overhead burdens of salaries and benefits. Subcontractors, like partners, are often brought in for specialty, occasional needs.

Read on to see how one of our computer consultants grew his business last year:

"My biggest achievement was finding and keeping another good technician. It helped with motivation knowing that I am not a lone ranger and it is possible to make money in computers."

Chris Fisher, Computer Guys
Central Point, Oregon

The Bottom Line about Partnering

To learn more about partnering and subcontracting, 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 is very important to educate your small business prospects and clients on key small business networking terms and buzzwords.  After all, in order to "win them over," you need to be speaking the same language.

In fact, you may even want to prepare a "cheat sheet", based on the below definitions, to help you in your prospect and client pre-sales activities.

If you’d like to order a license to reproduce these networking terms for client sales literature, please contact questions@ComputerConsulting101.com and put "Licensing Your LAN Buzzwords" in the subject line.

• 802.11a – wireless Ethernet standard that allows for data networking transmission at up to 54Mbps; operates in the 5-6Ghz range.
• 802.11b – most mature of the widely available wireless Ethernet standards that allows for data networking transmission at up to 11Mbps; ; also commonly referred to as a “WiFi”; operates in the 2.4Ghz range
• 802.11g – newest in-progress wireless Ethernet standard that promises to allow for data networking transmission at up to 54Mbps, operates in the same 2.4Ghz range as 802.11b-based Wireless Ethernet networks.
• CAT5 (Category 5 Cable) – copper, unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cabling that can support voice and data communications at speeds up to 100Mbps and 1000Mbps for Ethernet networking.
• Client/Server Network – a network in which a dedicated server is used to share resources.
• Ethernet Network Adapter – due to the market dominance of Ethernet networks, an Ethernet network adapter has become largely synonymous with the more general term network adapter or network interface card.
• IDE (integrated drive electronics) is a more mainstream, lower-cost interface (than SCSI) for connecting internal peripherals — generally hard drives, CD-ROM drives and tape backup drives.
• LAN (Local Area Network) – set of computer systems and peripheral devices connected for sharing resources and providing near instantaneous communications; today’s small business LANs are typically physically connected using Ethernet network adapters and Category 5 cabling; when extended to one or more additional geographic locations, can become a metropolitan area network (MAN) or wide area network (WAN).
• Network Integrator – a computer services business that designs, installs and maintains heterogeneous computer systems and software; many computer consultants are also network integrators (and vice versa).

The Bottom Line about Networking Terms

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

Effective project management benefits you and your customers–less downtime, headaches and scheduling nightmares for everyone. Sometimes you need to be creative in your project management efforts.

Read on to see how one of our computer consultants was able to do an upgrade quickly and effectively.

"The project management section {of the Computer Consulting Kit} was most valuable to me. It has helped me earn an additional $10,000. I upgraded a customer from Microsoft Windows Server 2000 to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with minimum down time. I used a lab server to temporarily run all customer applications while loading the customer server with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and all applications. Customer down time was less than 2 hours in this process. The key is planning, planning, planning! You can never plan enough."

Rowland Johnson, SiMS
Clearwater, Florida

The Bottom Line about Project Management

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

As you grow in your IT consulting practice, should you go after government, city, state, municipality contracts like school district contracts? Maybe.

They are an entirely different business model. When you are talking about selling to medium sized businesses, again go back and assess your tech skills.

Can You Go Deep into a Skill?

Assess what kind of skills you are bringing to the table and see how close you are to being able to being that deep into a few skills. That’s what these medium sized businesses are looking for with IT consulting. They are not looking for an outsourced version of a central IT manager.

Government and Schools Involve More Red Tape

Going after government, city, state, municipality, public school districts, etc. involves bids, bid packets, bid surety bonds, long sales cycles, and a lot of politics.  It’s a very different business model; very different than selling IT consulting to the sweet spot of small businesses or even small businesses in general.

Have You Exhausted The Sweet Spot Businesses?

Only go after these kinds of things after you have completely exhausted and completely saturated your sweet spot marketing roll out.  In other words, don’t persue them until most of the sweet spot small businesses within a 50 mile radius know who you are, are in your prospect funnel, or have grown them to the point that you have absolutely maximized them out and you still don’t have enough business.  This is pretty unlikely unless you are located in the middle of nowhere.

Consider High-End Micros or Medium Sized Businesses Instead

You should consider supplementing your IT consulting business base with some high-end micros and some medium sized businesses before going after government work.

This is because of the level of aggravation with the bids, then the politics and the waiting to get paid. It’s not a very good place for people to be – especially in their start up stage. 

The Bottom Line about IT Consulting
 
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.